Hi all. So I've got it into my head to do the footwell illumination with led strips on my fit (2015, Canada). Been reading till my eyeballs bled but still have questions.

I want them to come on with the interior lights when the doors open (preferable with fade out) also I want them to be on a switch so I can turn them on independently.

My thinking was to use an add a fuse on the interior light fuse (under the hood, since I can't find the dome light wire), then another add a fuse on an EMPTY (do I need add a fuse?)12V constant fuse under the dash (multimeter indicates a few empty ones).

Get a three pole switch, on-off-on, interior to one pole, 12V to the other end, leds coming into the middle pole. So when interior is on they light up with doors, 12v on they are always on, middle position they are off completely. Of course I also ground the negative from the LEDs.

Ok so is this viable? I have seen wiring that just taps the dome light instead of using the interior fuse, but have not been able to find the dome light wiring under the dash.

Thanks in advance for any answers/advice!

 

Look up my posts i have done what you describe with the foot wells and door sills. Its hard to search my posts on the mobile app but if you cannot find let me know ill dig a bit tomorrow.

 

Ok will do, And yes, hard to find anything with the mobile.

 

Hey bassguitarist, looked through all your posts, I did see that you installed sills along with your led footwell light and tapped into the sill wires, that was all I could find.

Basically I have a fairly good grip of how to do what I described above, was mor concerned with wether tapping the "interior lights" fuse with add a fuse would make the LEDs work with the dome light (fading out after door closing) and overall safety of what I am doing.......brand new car and still have a lot of payments lol, just don't want to fry anything....and I'm chewing at the bit to get this little project started . It's an LX as well...forgot to mention that.

Worst case I could just wire a basic switch to the battery but I'd really love that dome light on/fade accent

 

Tapping the interior light fuse will not give you the fading effect. The fuse only powers the unit that does this function. Instead follow my post on the door sills and foot well lights. The connector is where you tap off with your positive/negative wires with a small fuse in line with that wire to prevent overloads.

Connecting in this fashion allows my footwell lights and door sills to turn on with the dome light, and fade along with it. Pretty slick looking at night I might add!

 

Ok thanks for pointing that connector. Looked around and saw some folks tapped into it using spade connectors, think I can manage that. Now for the second half of my plan, can I connect that (the dome light pos/neg) to a switch AND also a constant on 12v source (was considering one of the unused fuse slots under the dash, if so how strong a fuse would I use)......gah I believe I've gone beyond my limited wiring knowledge at this point and have confused myself. Maybe I'll simply run the LEDs of a basic on off switch and skip the dome light part.

 

So this diagram....
untitled-3.jpg Photo by shft_99 | Photobucket
Will this give me what I am looking for? Tapping the two pins you pointed out as opposed to the wires in the diagram? I assume the positive in the dome is always hot. So with a three prong switch two position, "on" would power lights continually and "off" would provide only dome light effect? Or am I way off.

Srry for link, every time I try to insert pic safari closes.

 

If you want the same switch type as the dome light then yes get a two position switch like an AB-Y type. So you will have OFF DOME and ON (Constant)

Tap the positive connector i showed you for the dome light position. and fuse constant 12vdc for the 2nd position. The negative goes to ground.

 

So would a switch like this work? And thank you for your help...I realize it can be monotonous.

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B00E6RC...+on+off+toggle


Or would it look like something else. I apologize for my ignorance

 

Basically you need a 3 pole On-OFF-ON switch. The common is the anode of the LED array, and the two poles are one for constant 12VDC that's fused, and the other pole fused for the dome light connector I pointed out. The Cathode negative goes to ground on the LED array.

http://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-Ill...dp/B001PNKF06/

Something like this for example.

 

Alrighty, too much wiring for me plus I'd need to see that diagramed out, not making sense in my noggin! And those switches are huge, I'm trying to keep it low profile lol. I didn't realize I'd need all that wiring to get it working the way I'd planned.

I thank you for your time sir! Think I'm just gonna stick with an on/off illuminated switch and just connect to the 12v constant to keep it simple and have less risk of messing something up.

 

Am I right that there are 6 connections on the back of that switch? Any chance yourself or someone could diagram the switch wiring that you described above?

 

I'm a bit slammed these days on other projects. What you need is a SPDT, thats single pole, double throw switch. Seems I gave you a DPDT switch example above with 6 pins. You should only need 3 pins. My fault.



This hopefully will give you an idea. The middle is common to the LED array positive anode, and the outer pins are for power, one for 12VDC constant, and the other for the dome light output with fade function. The negative cathode goes to ground.

 

Ok does my abomination of a drawing make sense? I'm not sure about the negative connection from the dome, the Amp value for in line and fuse for the 12v constant (using a fuse tap for that in an empty slot). Thanks!!!

 

You need a 2A fuse only on the incoming power feeds from the dome and fuse panel. More than one fuse in a circuit is fine but not necessary. Yes your drawing makes sense. The common pole of the switch connects to the LED anode positive. Ground the cathode to the frame instead of the dome light ground.

 

Ok! One (maybe two) final (hopefully?) questions do I do anything with the negative of the dome light? In my diagram I was trying to indicate I would splice it (negative from dome) into the ground going to the car frame off the LEDs. Is that necessary? And a question regarding the "add a fuse" it has two slots, one I put a 2A fuse for the power line going out, do I need another fuse in the second slot or is just the one ok? Or should I just not bother with the adds fuse and use a Make spade connector into the fuse panel with an inline fuse...just want the best protection.

And once again thank you, I realize I turn something quite simple into a big task, but I like learning everything I can

 

No need to splice grounds. The add a fuse splices into an existing circuit that is already fused. You will need to put the original fuse in the bottom slot and the additional fuse where the red wire comes out will be your 2A fuse.

 

I plan on using an empty slot in the fuse panel, no fuse in there, hence why I'm not sure if I need to put an additional fuse along with the 2A fuse in. So in my diagram where do I wire the negative pin in the dome light? Or is that taken car of since the LEDs are grounded

 

Anyways thanks for all your help. Pretty sure I have a handle on it. I'll leave the negative pin alone and just tap the positive in the dome pins. Can't wait to get this done!

 

We are all waiting. Bass has a lot of patience.

So you near me to show me this?