Electrical Assistance Requested

3rd Gen Toyota Tacoma -
It is very important to me to learn how to work on my vehicle myself. My dad was going to teach me and then sadly, he passed away. So now I am trying to learn everything I can on my own in his memory. I currently have an Opt7 Interior lighting kit installed. I got it all wired in and set up myself. I used the add a fuse for the main power. I've got the alternate wire spliced into the dome light wires in the A pillar. And it works exactly like it's supposed to. Doors open, it turns to white. Doors close, it changes to the preset color. There is just one part that I can't figure out.

For the main power, my options with the add a fuse are a constant powered fuse, which then leaves the lights at the pre-set color even when the vehicle is off. Which obviously that is going to drain the battery. So that's not an option. So the only other option is a switched fuse, which then the lights do not work when I initially hit the unlock button and my dome light comes on. And that is what I have been trying to figure out. It seems like, to me, that I would have to wire the main power for the lights past the point where the switch is being flipped to allow power to flow to the dome light when the doors unlock.

This has been driving me nuts trying to figure out. So quite simply, I'm just asking you guys for help and knowledge. If you tell me there isn't a way to do it, then so be it. But if there is a way and it's simple, could you please explain it to me? Like I said, it's very important to me that I learn these things for myself. Thank you in advance for your time and help.

 

Correct. The 'trick' here is that dome lights are usually ground switched. Meaning one side is hot all the time and the ground leg is where the switch is.

I can't tell you where that is, but I do think it is what you are looking for.

Maybe someone who has done a lot of custom work, like @mesojdm can help out here.

 

I can probably help you find a solution but first I have a question.

What do you want the lights to actually do? Only be on when the vehicle is on? Only be on when the vehicle lights are on?

 

I figured it out. Well, I figured out that it was outside of my skill level anyway. lol.

Got ahold of one of the local shops here in Nashville and had to get a solid state relay installed to be able to handle everything. And even they admitted that it was something that no one has really asked them to do before now. But they liked the idea so maybe it starts becoming more common. But now it totally does everything I want it to do. If the dome lights come on from the doors being unlocked/opened, the lights turn to white even if the truck engine/accessory mode is off. Soon as the doors shut and it the dome light fades out, it changes to the preset.

The dome light fading on and off is what required the solid state relay to be added. We tried a regular relay first but anytime the lights came on/went off there was a buzzing sound from the relay. Thank you for trying to help though!

 

Yeah the fading is due to a change in voltage, and regular relays don’t like that one bit. They’ll last a handful of cycles and then they’re done for