Hey, so I recently installed some LED footwells on my 2008 GT hatch and although it works great it doesn't do what I want it to do.
Basically this is what I did, I wired it to the Illumination Fuse in the passenger side fuse section so that when I turn on the lights the footwells would turn on. I then wired the negative to the Negative wire of the Dome lights which is also found in the fuse box (black/blue wire) but I don't get any effect when opening or closing the door...
I've researched (googled, youtube etc) and everything I read and watch tells me I can connect it to the negative of the dome lights and the footwell would respond like the dome lights do when I open a door. Even the How-To-Video of the manufacture of the footwells I bought mention that.
So in short my question is, what did I do wrong?
Oh, also when I unlock/lock the door with the remote the footwells seem to respond just like the Parking Lights do (you know 'On-Off') which I found strange...
OK well I'm not 100% sure exactly what you're trying to accomplish despite reading the description twice, but if you researched it and everyone says to do it the way you tried doing it, my guess is that perhaps you followed the instructions too literally- it's not about wire colors, it's about the pin-out.
I remember with the indy fog mod for example a lot of people ran into problems because the how to's said to cut a particular colored wires and several people did and it didn't work. Turned out it was because the wires weren't the same colors on everyone's cars. Perhaps you made the same mistake?
Basically I want the Fade In Fade Out effect for my footwells but I also want to keep the switch on/off for the footwells with the headlights.
I think I know what's wrong, if you guys can answer this for me... Is the Illumination Fuse a 12v constant? Bc if it's not then that's why I'm having issues.
You will not get the fade effect as it is an LED, and will need a capacitor to do so. it will instant on and off with the door even if you get it wired properly.
the LED kit I got has a capacitor... I think. Because it has a fade effect with the brain box thing it brought. This is the LED I got
My concern is that it reacts with the Parking Lights, because like I said when I unlock the doors (the parking lights flash) the LED's flash as well which is odd... I'm gonna wire it to the ashtray lamp see what happens.
My concern is that it reacts with the Parking Lights, because like I said when I unlock the doors (the parking lights flash) the LED's flash as well which is odd... I'm gonna wire it to the ashtray lamp see what happens.
Ignore what i just said, it will work with the parking lights switch if you use the ashtray light. but it wont function with the doors. I mean if you wanted them that bad to be on with your parking lights and work with the doors, you could always run an additional set of lights using the same mounting locations as before. So when you open the door ittl power the secondary light bars as well. Giving the Lights more brightness to them so you could see everything below the footwells when the doors are open.
The way the dome light works is by switched ground. It has constant 12 volt and when you open the door the PJB fades on the lights via the ground. And when you hit the map light button they turn on by supplying ground.
If you use that wire yes you need a constant 12v for the positive side.
I was just about to say the same thing. Yes it would and should work. My concern however is that you want them to be on constant with your parking lights. you won't be able to do both. You could have them work with either the doors and fade out after 30 secs +-, or you will have them to the parking lights, which is basically always on when your on that particular setting. If you wired them both ways they will be on constantly.
Well you probably could, but would require more electrical work --> relays and more splicing.
i.e. when parking lights on ->relay energized -> constant ground
when parking lights off ->relay de-energized -> dome light ground for the fading effect
It can be done; but perhaps an easier solution is to use a two-pole-two-throw switch. Connect the two center points of the switch to the +'ve and -'ve of your LED strip setup. One end of the switch goes to the +'ve and -'ve of the dome lights (so when the switch is flicked onto that side, the LED strips are powered by the dome lights); the other end of the switch will be the +'ve and -'ve from the astray light.
So normally, you'd leave the switch to the dome light side so that the LEDs will turn on when you open the doors; at night, when you want the LEDs to turn on, then you'd flick the switch over to the other side.
This is not fully automatic light you want it but at least you have control
Ok so from what I understood from the thread:
- You want your LEDs ON when you turn your lights on, and when the courtesy lights come on.
- Dome light (lets call that D) has a switched ground (D-) that gives you the courtesy lighting + fade out effect. Would be applicable when you don't have switched power (Cig Lighter light for example, lets call that L+)
So if all that is correct and accurate, to put that in terms of the relay connection, when the lights aren't off you want the LED to be in series with Dome light:
D+ > Your LEDs > (Common) > (NC) > D-, which is a switched ground
Then with the lights on, and the switch to the NO position you want:
D+ > Your LEDs > (Common) > (NO) > Any ground
That means that your LEDs are hooked up to Common (and are fed from D+), D- is hooked up to NC, and NO is any other ground.
Only question remaining, is how to power the relay to get it to energize the switch? Answer: L+ on one contact, and L- on the other.
It is easiest to draw it out as a circuit, it will also help it make sense and aid troubleshooting. I encourage you to do it.. I could spell everything out for you but then you won't learn
Sorry I lied about the relay I originally showed you being the simplest. The relay I showed you was a single pole double throw (SPDT). The amazon one you linked was the SPST (single pole, single throw)
4 wires is 2 for the coil, 2 for the input/output. Basically a SPST would switch one circuit ON/OFF depending on another circuits ON/OFF state.
The SPTD (the one you would use) allows you to change the routing of a circuit depending on the ON/OFF state of another circuit (in this case, your parking lights) and has 5 wires.
I think this is more along the lines of what you would want (i.e. 12V, SPDT):
Note that this is a heavy duty automotive relay, you don't need anything nearly that big, but this might be the easiest one for you to find...
Alright I got it so far regarding what pins to connect what to, but it concerns me if I read correctly to connect LEDs with D+ to the common. Do you mean to splice into the D+ with the LEDs + wire and then connect it to the relay? Sounds really weird to do me but again I know nothing of it, so I wanna make sure that's what you mean. Also what contacts for the L+ and L- are you referring to?
Bc im looking at it as if I'd need to LED + on common, D+ on NO, and L+ on NC and the ground wire from LED kit wire it to D- ...? Since it doesn't matter where L+ gets grounded from, it only matters for the dome light effects... What do you think?
Alright I got it so far regarding what pins to connect what to, but it concerns me if I read correctly to connect LEDs with D+ to the common. Do you mean to splice into the D+ with the LEDs + wire and then connect it to the relay? Sounds really weird to do me but again I know nothing of it, so I wanna make sure that's what you mean. Also what contacts for the L+ and L- are you referring to?
D+ > - LED wire
Bc im looking at it as if I'd need to LED + on common, D+ on NO, and L+ on NC and the ground wire from LED kit wire it to D- ...? Since it doesn't matter where L+ gets grounded from, it only matters for the dome light effects... What do you think?
Gahhhhh ok fine a picture is worth a thousand words.
You owe me a beer.
My picture doesn't make it clear, but basically your dome light will be wired in parallel with both LEDs (while the relay isn't energized) so they will all behave the same way.
Disclaimer: I'm not an expert. Hope it all works as planned.
Like that it pulls the coil or whatever whenever the D+ is active and closes the circuit to turn on the LEDs and since it's already connected to the D- it should react like the Domes(sorry for my lack of proper terms)
I finally get what you mean. Since the Dome Lights are a 12v constant and if I ground it to a normal ground with a switch (parking lights) it'll turn on. And when it's grounded to the D- it'll do the courtesy lights. Thanks man, whenever I'm in Canada beers on me!
I had a similar question when I went to do mine years ago. I ended up just changing my project so it didn't really matter. I never installed my floor courtesy lights, and instead just put my puddle lamps in my mirrors. Those are wired up with the dome light 12v power and switched ground. I ended up doing a super subtle accent lighting under each side of the front, and out the back of the center console shining on the floor with just three LEDs. Each is a 5mm blue LED, and the brightness is about equivalent to the blue light above the shifter. Definitely no the degree of any of the LED strips people commonly use in their floor lighting. I may eventually end up putting some interior courtesy lights in, but then I'll just wire them with the puddle lamps.
Yes you can do the relay route. Alternately you can have two different kinds of lamps wired separately to different sources. This is helpful if you want white courtesy lights and colored accent lights especially.
Heh, never even thought of that. The relay route seems cleaner though. Funny thing is, when I joined this forum I didn't even know what a relay was. I remember the first time I got one was when I installed my HIDs back in 2009 and the electrical aspect was so confusing for me that I had my friend do most of the installation for me.
I've come a long way...
...and now that I think about it, I have everything I need to do this mod. If I decide to keep my car a few more years (due to lack of cars I want on the market) maybe I'll do this mod too!
Just tried it I couldn't resist. The LEDs stay on forever even with the car off. I used this as a reference
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