More interior lighting?

I'm wanting to add more interior cab lighting. What are my options for tying into the dome light circuit? Is there an easy access point under the dash?

What I have in mind is adding some LED lights (under the dash and seats) that come on with the dome light.

Anyone done something similar?

 

I tied a few LED's in with the dimmer circuit at the shifter lighting wires. Give me a sec and I"ll look up for possible wires under the dash.

 

some have. i plain on doing L.E.D’s in the cup holders, storage in front of the cup holders, and strips under dash and seats. all this will be on a switch so i can turn them on when i want. you don’t want to much light on inside, it limits seeing out in to the dark/ messes with your night vision. but i want more light for, like camping, hanging out, or trying to find something small that i lost.

 

You'll be happy to know if you'd like to have them work with the dome light, you'll be tying into your ECU.... it provides the signal. You can download the manual for yourself if you're delving into that, I'm not going to give you that information over the interwebs.

There are two signals which are ground feeding from the ECU to the light. I wouldn't dare tap into the circuit for fear of overloading the ECU.


My best advice for you is to install a new door switch for your circuit.... and run that circuit with discrete wiring.

 

Send a constant hot to the new LEDs and switch their ground through the blue wire in the driver's side A-pillar.

This will turn them on when the door is open or when the keyless "commands" the lights, but it will not turn them on when you switch your dome on from inside... maybe not exactly what you want, but it also keeps the added lights from killing your night vision if you want to turn the dome on while on the road.


Try to keep the current low... I wouldn't add any additional lighting without replacing the factory dome with an LED.

 

On second thought, IF and ONLY IF, you replace all incandescent interior lights with LEDs, and do your math as to not exceed 7.5A current draw, then MAYBE you could get away with it. Chances are the LED's wont play well with the dimmer though.

 

If you want to switch them on when you want, then you don't want to tie them in with the dome light wiring.

Just connect them to a switched hot using an add-a-circuit.

It is possible to wire them to come on automatically or with a separate manual switch, but it's also REALLY easy to fuck up your truck.
This falls under "If you have to ask, you shouldn't be attempting it"

 

In theory he could run both signal wires from the ECU to the light switch into his circuit with diodes in line to prevent a reverse current scenario. Ideas are popping into my head now that I never thought of before. Thanks!

 

I haven't added any aux lighting, but the "Festoon" that I installed in my dome works just fine with the dimmer.

And 7.5a is a fair amount. Even dropping to 80%, that's still 6a (and you should not run more than 6a on a 7.5a fuse), that's still 72 watts.
You could drive a freaking headlight bulb off of that. The ECU's driver might run warm, but if the factory fuse is 7.5, it's rated for it.

 

I was thinking simpler... just use a SPDT switch wired the same way the factory dome is wired. One way is auto, center off, the other way is on full time. No feedback that way.

We were discussing a similar circuit a couple of weeks ago, and diode isolation seems to be a smart thing in that case because we were talking about either having an aftermarket keyless, or a dash-mounted switch (like the Scion dimmer) operate the dome(s).

 

Damnit, stop giving me ideas... LoL

 

yeah, i’m not going to tie them in with the dome light. i was just telling OP how i was doing mine, and another way of doing them. mine are going to be set up just like RAPR’s http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/li...ished-leds-cupholders-console-bed-lights.html

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Good info. Seems to be a bit more complicated than tapping into the dash light system. For reference I've already changed out the factory interior lighting to LEDs (dome and map).

To keep things simple, I may just tap into the map light circuit for added cab light, but would prefer additional lighting when the door is opened. I'm hoping that because the current draw is so low on LEDs that I can tap into dome light circuit without problems - but don't know if I want to risk it.

Sounds like the safest thing would be to use the dome light circuit as a trigger to turn on a separate lighting circuit???

 

One of the guys already tried that.
No-go.

When the ECU dims the interior light, the relay chattered and buzzed.
You'd need to build a buffer circuit that held enough current from a capacitor to keep the relay closed until voltage drops and then kills all power to the relay.

And that circuit would need external power, because the ECU is switching a ground.

 

Might not be exactly what you're looking for, but it will give you more light in the cab...

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/gr...signs-l-e-d-lighting-group-buy-round-2-a.html

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/gr...signs-l-e-d-lighting-group-buy-round-2-a.html

 

do you have any pictures on how you did the cup holders or where you bought the lights?