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Floorboard lights on with dome light?

Discussion in 'Lighting' started by Taylor, Jun 3, 2013.

  1. Jun 3, 2013 at 8:20 PM
    #1
    Taylor

    Taylor [OP] Check out NASA Spec3!

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    Hey guys, I know there's a few threads on this, but none have what I need specifically. Can someone give me (with a decent amount of detail) a description on what I have to do to hook up these lights up in my floorboard to come on with the dome light? I heard there is a wire near the A pillar I can tap, because I DO NOT want to mess with my headliner.

    I need some good descriptions here, what wires do I need, exactly what goes where? Can I just tap into the dome light with the positive and ground it out and be done?
     
  2. Jun 4, 2013 at 10:19 AM
    #2
    Taylor

    Taylor [OP] Check out NASA Spec3!

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    Bumpity bump bump
     
  3. Jun 4, 2013 at 3:49 PM
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    Riverdog

    Riverdog Well-Known Member

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    I'm planning on this exact same thing. Except my lights are white. I was planning on doing it this weekend but didn't know exactly how.... until I found this. Its not exactly what you or I are looking for, but its pretty close. The description of how he wired everything starts in post #7.
     
  4. Jun 5, 2013 at 6:53 PM
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    6spd

    6spd Well-Known Member

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    kinda similar, but here is my post on another thread
     
  5. Jun 10, 2013 at 9:16 PM
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    Riverdog

    Riverdog Well-Known Member

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    Did you ever tackle this project? I did mine this weekend and I'm really happy with how mine turned out. I hooked mine up directly to the dome light. It was fairly straightforward. I just pushed a wire from the opening in the headliner towards the pillar between the front and rear door, and then pulled that wire down the inside of the pillar. So whenever the dome light comes on, these lights come on also. I thought about putting a switch in to control them independently, but I don't know how to do that. Maybe I'll research it and do it in the future. I also replaced the bulb in the dome light with LEDs.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  6. Dec 18, 2013 at 9:33 PM
    #6
    Taylor

    Taylor [OP] Check out NASA Spec3!

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    Nope, I still have my LEDs, I just don't know where to start.
     
  7. Dec 21, 2013 at 2:49 PM
    #7
    TRD Toy85

    TRD Toy85 Well-Known Member

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    I have a set of leds on the driver and passenger floor board wired right to the dimmer switch. So pretty much every time my lights are on, my floorboards are too.

    The lights I have aren't super bright, but enough to give it a nice look.

    If you go with something too bright It might distract you while driving.
     
  8. Dec 21, 2013 at 8:02 PM
    #8
    Taylor

    Taylor [OP] Check out NASA Spec3!

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    I didn't think about the dimmer switch! Is it drawing power from it too?
     
  9. Dec 22, 2013 at 6:30 AM
    #9
    TRD Toy85

    TRD Toy85 Well-Known Member

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    Yup There's 12v there
     
  10. Dec 24, 2013 at 5:58 PM
    #10
    Riverdog

    Riverdog Well-Known Member

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    Hey. Sorry, I didn't see your post until today. If you want the floorboard lights to come on with the dome light, is super easy to wire them directly to the dome light. You don't have to take the headliner off either. Here's what I did:

    First, I removed the fuse for the dome light so I wouldn't blow it.

    I removed the plastic cover for the dome light, then the bulb (so I wouldn't break it), then the plastic housing. At this point, it was hanging by the wires out of the headliner.

    Then I removed the B pillar plastic panels. I ran some wire up the B pillar and pushed it above the headliner to the hole where the dome light was hanging.

    Then I used a multimeter to test which side of the light bulb holder was positive and negative.

    I then soldered the wires to the backside of the light bulb holder. I used red wire for the positive and black wire for the negative.

    I put the fuse back in and tested the ends of the new wires, which were down by the drivers door. They worked, so I took the fuse back out and started running the wires to the drivers' and passenger footwells. Once I had the wires ran I started soldering the LEDs to the wires and wrapping the connections in electrical tape.

    Then just put it all back together.

    If you have any questions let me know. I can take some pictures or give more details if you'd like.
     
  11. Dec 24, 2013 at 8:24 PM
    #11
    Taylor

    Taylor [OP] Check out NASA Spec3!

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    I wonder if it'd be the same on a first gen. Can't imagine they'd be too different.
     
  12. Dec 24, 2013 at 10:43 PM
    #12
    Riverdog

    Riverdog Well-Known Member

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    I'm sure it's pretty similar. I'm trying to imagine my dad's old first gen and it seems like the process would be about the same.
     
  13. Dec 27, 2013 at 9:30 PM
    #13
    Taylor

    Taylor [OP] Check out NASA Spec3!

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    Nevermind for now, guys. The lights I got turned out to be pretty sketch. I've never seen such a low gauge wire.
     
  14. Dec 27, 2013 at 9:35 PM
    #14
    Tlook

    Tlook Well-Known Member

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    i thought the same thing about mine but mine draw 0.81 amps or something like that.
     
  15. Dec 27, 2013 at 9:40 PM
    #15
    Taylor

    Taylor [OP] Check out NASA Spec3!

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    I just didn't like the look of it. The wire inside was way too small to even work with when I stripped it.
     
  16. Dec 28, 2013 at 12:01 PM
    #16
    Riverdog

    Riverdog Well-Known Member

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    These are the lights I used. They're slightly more work than the type you previously bought though. You have to be comfortable soldering if you use these.
     

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