Hello again all,

Having recently changed my festoon bulb in my interior dome light to a blue LED, I wanted to put some lighting into the front - probably in the footwells, but maybe under the seats.

I've a cold cathode to hand, but I'm considering 2 LED strips having read through the forums.

Anyway..... coloured, visible lighting is broadly road-illegal in the UK, but is allowed when stationary. Also I've read and heard horror stories about how distracting the reflections are..... so...... is there a way to tap into the dome lighting power so that my underseat lights came on only when the door opened or the interior dome light was turned on? I've read through the forums and tried googling but can't find an answer.

 

you can hook the lights up onto a switch so you can turn it on or off. or you can try hooking them up with the door.

 

I have considered a switch, but I thought it more professional (and more practical for me) to have the the leds/cathodes linked with the dome lighting.

I've looked at the fusebox diagrams but can't see which fuse (if any) controls the dome light.

 

I was talking to a friend about this the other day. You can figure out where the wire to the dome runs back.
Or you can make the door have to be ope for the circuit to be completed. So for example when the door would open the ground wire would contact the body somewhere.
Hope this helps.

 

You can make a switch look nice and it will be way easier. Just mount a little rocker switch or something similar in a spot where it looks normal. The little tabs that pop out is what I used.

 

get the wiring tech sheet for your car and find your dome light wire... splice your positive feed into it, may need a relay may not, depending on if it has too much draw for the one wire, that way when the 12v + is sent to turn on your dome lights it will also turn on your interiors. I did this with my parking light switch on my old mustang... so just get a tech sheet and good luck!

 

Thanks for this advice. I am suprised this hasn't been tackled (in detail) before really on the forums (as far as I can tell!), but I'd like to give it a shot.

I presume the dome light isn't fused to the interior fusebox then? I've checked the list of what each fuse is linked with, but didn't spot it.

That all said, I might go for a switch if it really is that much more simpler. Has the forum ever assertained which rocker switches fit the pop-out tabs in the back/handbrake console exactly?

 

www.oznium.com has flex strips and switches. They are great. I used the round rocker and it worked fine. Took no time to install every thing. I put one strip in each well up front, and on under each set towards the back seat floors. No glare on the windows either.

 

I have no idea about the switches, I used to be a proffessional car audio video tech, I wire em but I dont find em. If you are having trouble locating the wire grab a probe, pull your dome light out and test the wires while pressing the door trigger in and out... the one that flashes the light on your probe when you press the switch will be your positive feed... you can always run a wire from that down your headliner down and around until you get it under your steering will and hook all your hardware up from there. You may or may not need a relay.

 

Also, what year and model is your car? I will try and locate the tech sheet for you and it will tell you where the wire is located