PathyDude17 Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 As a Christmas break project, I'm considering adding an Led Backup light and a pair of rock lights. For the rock lights specifically, I want to be able to get them to come on when I unlock the car (key less entry). The lights are only .35 Amps and 9 Watts each. Does anyone know if I can hook these up to the stock wiring for the dome light without any issues? Or is there a simpler place to access that wire and achieve the desired effect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlabamaDan Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 interesting ideas. I'm in to follow. Where do the rock lights go, wheel well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathyDude17 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 Somewhere on the undercarriage (I’ve taken off the running boards) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathyDude17 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 The idea is lighting up the ground when getting in and out of the vehicle. Some new cars come with a light that does this, so I wanted to see if I could rig my own setup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjotrainbrain Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 If you're just looking to light up the ground rather than put light in the wheel wells where rock lights are normally put for offroading uses, I would consider putting them in the door shining down; you'd avoid running wires outside of the vehicle that way, although you would have to take the door panels off and snake the wire through the rubber piece between the door and body. Anyways, that's what I would do. I don't remember, do Pathy's have lights in the doors (pretty sure they don't)? If so, you could tap off of that pretty easily and I'd imagine it will be fine, and then you can keep all the wiring contained in the door. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjotrainbrain Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 Kinda like this, but without a logo...although it would be pretty slick if you could work out a clean Nissan logo to shine on the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathyDude17 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 True, though if I understand what you're saying, you still wouldn't have any light available when getting in the car. Also, I'm already going to have to go from the outside of the car to the inside with the reverse light, so I'm not sure how much more work it would save to keep the rock lights inside 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathyDude17 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 Regardless of location, the important question is whether or not I can tap into the existing wire that goes to the dome light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjotrainbrain Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 4 minutes ago, PathyDude17 said: True, though if I understand what you're saying, you still wouldn't have any light available when getting in the car. Also, I'm already going to have to go from the outside of the car to the inside with the reverse light, so I'm not sure how much more work it would save to keep the rock lights inside Oh yeah, forgot you wanted to add reverse lights too. Also, good point on the lights not coming on prior to opening the doors, that would be a nice feature... As far as tapping into the dome light, I'd get out a good ol multimeter and take readings off of it, see if it puts out any significant amount of power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathyDude17 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 5 minutes ago, mjotrainbrain said: Oh yeah, forgot you wanted to add reverse lights too. Also, good point on the lights not coming on prior to opening the doors, that would be a nice feature... As far as tapping into the dome light, I'd get out a good ol multimeter and take readings off of it, see if it puts out any significant amount of power. Oh, right. Sorry, wiring is not my specialty (planning on having a buddy help me put this all together.) Thanks for the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathyDude17 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 Measure amps and volts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjotrainbrain Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 6 minutes ago, PathyDude17 said: Measure amps and volts? Volts should be 12, but always good to double check. And yes, amps are good to check. There's actually a recent thread on a very similar topic, but about tapping into the cigarette lighter. May be useful to you. I'm no expert with electronics either (hence studying MECHANICAL engineering), so it's always a bit of an adventure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjotrainbrain Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 Ok maybe not as on-topic as I had remembered, but may be useful info if you end up deciding the dome light doesn't supply enough power and you have to set up a dedicated circuit (but then you run into the issue of it not coming on when you unlock...maybe there's an extra fuse slot that's part of this circuit? Or perhaps you could run a separate circuit that's powered all the time but only activated by a low-power line from the dome light circuit via a transistor or something? Again I don't have a ton of knowledge of electronics so kinda shooting in the dark/brainstorming.). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathyDude17 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 I’ll probably just stick with tapping into the dome lights if I can. That or give up.thanks though 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjotrainbrain Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 8 minutes ago, PathyDude17 said: I’ll probably just stick with tapping into the dome lights if I can. That or give up.thanks though Worst case scenario there's fuses to make sure you don't wreck stuff, good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathyDude17 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 Haha same, gonna start studying Civil engineering next year in college. Well thanks for the start, I’ll probably figure out the rest with my friend, who is much more electrically adept. I’ll keep the thread updated if I install this after all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathyDude17 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 I was just hoping someone had tried something like this before. Guess I’ll be the first to know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPLORx4 Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 While the security circuit for the dome light may support additional electrical current for your lighting needs, it's safer to isolate your new lighting circuit with an automotive relay that is triggered by the dome light circuit. I have considered making a similar mod, but it requires tapping into the security/dome light output on the body ECU, and making the mod hasn't ever been near the top of my priority list. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 Seems like you could relay it off the dome light circuit easy enough. If your dome light comes on when you unlock the doors, then yeah, there you go! I installed LED reverse lights on mine a while ago and made a video on it if you want to see how I rigged mine. Great mod, though I can't entirely recommend the LEDs I used, as the housings weren't sealed at all and required a "the bigger the gob, the better the job" application of RTV silicone before they'd keep water out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathyDude17 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 Alright. Ya I’ve definitely heard that using a relay is the right way to do this stuff. Thanks for both of your input! @Slartibartfast thanks for the video, and I’m going ahead with name brand LED’s with an IP69 rating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathyDude17 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 13 hours ago, XPLORx4 said: While the security circuit for the dome light may support additional electrical current for your lighting needs, it's safer to isolate your new lighting circuit with an automotive relay that is triggered by the dome light circuit. I have considered making a similar mod, but it requires tapping into the security/dome light output on the body ECU, and making the mod hasn't ever been near the top of my priority list. When you say body ECU, is that the same thing as the ECM? I see that on alot of diagrams, but no "ecu" per say. Its located somewhere by the steering column and the stereo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawairish Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 As others have noted, a relay off the dome light circuit is probably the best bet. In my FSM (04), it's listed as pin 50, red w/ white wire, coming off the smart entrance control unit located to the right of the interior fuse panel. One notable is that I think the circuit provides a low-level voltage even when "off". Can't recall if I read this in the FSM, or simply experienced it, but sometimes the LED in my dome light stays dimly lit when it should just be off. I want to say I measured it once and got something like 3V-5 when I expected nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathyDude17 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 Alright, I'll look into that, see if I can find what you're talking about. As for the LED dome light, I have the same thing happen. It stays dimly lit, but within 5-10 minutes it fully shuts off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawairish Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 21 minutes ago, PathyDude17 said: Alright, I'll look into that, see if I can find what you're talking about. As for the LED dome light, I have the same thing happen. It stays dimly lit, but within 5-10 minutes it fully shuts off. Yeah, mine’s lit when I’m driving sometimes. That wouldn’t be a good lead to use if it means your ground lights staying on. But, I think there are ways to work around that issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathyDude17 Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 It is a soft glow though. I’m not sure how problematic it would be to have the lights barely on for 10 minutes after I leave my car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now