Dome light leads???

[J-Ro]

Does anyone know how to access the positive lead for the dome lights?
I want to put in LED courtesy lights, but I want them to turn on when you open the door and fade out when you start the car, so I'm guessing there should be a lead under the dash somewhere? I tried looking, but I got pissed off and quit... fortunately I have 8thcivic to fall back on

Thanks!
J

p.s. I'm going to go wash the bugs off my car while I wait

[J-Ro]

Okay, I'm stupid and I don't know how to edit...
The reason I mentioned the dome lights is because if I splice the dome light lead, I can have the LEDs behave exactly the way they do... if I can find that lead.

J

[Pumpdog]

The domelight wire should be a pink wire on the back of the fuse box in an 8 pin plug. Not 100% so make sure you check the wire before just connecting.

Also, you don't want to power it with 12 volt power. 12 volts can actually burn up an LED. If you have LEDs hooked in series it should be fine, because less voltage is going to the LEDs. You can also use a resistor inline if you are just powering one LED.

Here are some good sites about LEDs, especially if you are making your own groups of LEDs and not just buying a pre-built light bar of them. The pre built ones from stores should be fine to hook up, they come with resistors and crap in them I believe.

http://www.theledlight.com/ledcircuits.html
http://metku.net/index.html?sect=vie...calc/index_eng

[J-Ro]

Originally Posted by Pumpdog

The domelight wire should be a pink wire on the back of the fuse box in an 8 pin plug. Not 100% so make sure you check the wire before just connecting.

Also, you don't want to power it with 12 volt power. 12 volts can actually burn up an LED. If you have LEDs hooked in series it should be fine, because less voltage is going to the LEDs. You can also use a resistor inline if you are just powering one LED.

Here are some good sites about LEDs, especially if you are making your own groups of LEDs and not just buying a pre-built light bar of them. The pre built ones from stores should be fine to hook up, they come with resistors and crap in them I believe.

http://www.theledlight.com/ledcircuits.html
http://metku.net/index.html?sect=vie...calc/index_eng

I got some 10mm blue LEDs on ebay, so I'll play around with those and see what kind of brightness works for me... they're 3V for full brightness, so something around 2V or so should be good. I just want diffuse lighting... I'm not trying to light up my feet like the 4th of July or anything
Thanks for the info though... me and my voltmeter have a date with the fusebox... yahoo

J

[Pumpdog]

Haha! nice!

[woohoo]

I tried to hardwire my V1 without success today.

But I think I found the wire you're talking about! Because after the dome lights went out, so did my radar detector. I'm still looking for the 12v accessory/ignition wire.

I have the dome light with map lights, sunroof, and navi. So, if you have this as well, it *should* be the same. If you take out the assembly, you should see two connectors, one 3-pin, and another massive one that houses many more wires.

On the 3-pin one, there is a turquiose wire (not the dark blue one). That is the positive wire. The dark blue one should be the ground. (check first before you start splicing!!!)

HTH!

[J-Ro]

Originally Posted by woohoo

I tried to hardwire my V1 without success today.

But I think I found the wire you're talking about! Because after the dome lights went out, so did my radar detector. I'm still looking for the 12v accessory/ignition wire.

I have the dome light with map lights, sunroof, and navi. So, if you have this as well, it *should* be the same. If you take out the assembly, you should see two connectors, one 3-pin, and another massive one that houses many more wires.

On the 3-pin one, there is a turquiose wire (not the dark blue one). That is the positive wire. The dark blue one should be the ground. (check first before you start splicing!!!)

HTH!

So what's the easiest way to actually remove the fusebox? I removed the two panels under the dashboard on the driver's side to get at it, then I removed the large Phillips bolt, but the doorsill trim still seems to be getting in the way.
I would have played around with it more yesterday, but I was gearing up for a 250-mile trip later in the day, so I didn't want to have any problems with the car before heading out

[woohoo]

Originally Posted by J-Ro

So what's the easiest way to actually remove the fusebox? I removed the two panels under the dashboard on the driver's side to get at it, then I removed the large Phillips bolt, but the doorsill trim still seems to be getting in the way.
I would have played around with it more yesterday, but I was gearing up for a 250-mile trip later in the day, so I didn't want to have any problems with the car before heading out

I've never tried to get at the fuse box. Did you check out the instructions for the day-night mirror? There are a couple of steps about getting at the fuse box in it.

[J-Ro]

Originally Posted by woohoo

I tried to hardwire my V1 without success today.

But I think I found the wire you're talking about! Because after the dome lights went out, so did my radar detector. I'm still looking for the 12v accessory/ignition wire.

I have the dome light with map lights, sunroof, and navi. So, if you have this as well, it *should* be the same. If you take out the assembly, you should see two connectors, one 3-pin, and another massive one that houses many more wires.

On the 3-pin one, there is a turquiose wire (not the dark blue one). That is the positive wire. The dark blue one should be the ground. (check first before you start splicing!!!)

HTH!

Okay, I'm really confused...
Is the turquoise wire you're referring to on the back of the fusebox or the front? I played around with the fusebox again yesterday, and I still can't get it out or find the lead that goes to the dome lights. I thought this was going to be an easy install, but it doesn't seem to be turning out that way...

J

[PBJames23]

Originally Posted by J-Ro

Okay, I'm stupid and I don't know how to edit...
The reason I mentioned the dome lights is because if I splice the dome light lead, I can have the LEDs behave exactly the way they do... if I can find that lead.

J

I would like to do something similar to this. Have you found the lead to the dome light yet?

[J-Ro]

Originally Posted by PBJames23

I would like to do something similar to this. Have you found the lead to the dome light yet?

No, unfortunately. It's hard to find time to work on it and I have NO IDEA how to get at the harnesses on the back of the fusebox. I think I've checked every single wire on the front, and it's none of those, so it's got to be on the back.
If you find out how to access those harnesses, PLEASE let me know!

J

[PBJames23]

Would the lead wire run through the driver's side A pillar? If it does I could remove the pillar and splice the wire there.

[J-Ro]

Originally Posted by PBJames23

Would the lead wire run through the driver's side A pillar? If it does I could remove the pillar and splice the wire there.

I think it does. I saw another post about removing the pillar cover somewhere. It seems kind of dumb to splice it up there, then run it back down past the fuse box, but if it's a near-impossibility to access the back of the fuse box, then that might be our only option.
Let me know what you find out!

J

[PBJames23]

Will do, j. I'll probably mess around with it on saturday. I've got a date with my dad's volt meter.

I found this link for installing an auto day/night mirror that might help.
http://www.hondapartsdeals.com/honda...ght_mirror.pdf

there is a three pin connector shown on the page 2 (left side) of that install guide. Would that be the connector woohoo was talking about?

[J-Ro]

Originally Posted by PBJames23

Will do, j. I'll probably mess around with it on saturday. I've got a date with my dad's volt meter.

I found this link for installing an auto day/night mirror that might help.
http://www.hondapartsdeals.com/honda...ght_mirror.pdf

there is a three pin connector shown on the page 2 (left side) of that install guide. Would that be the connector woohoo was talking about?

It might have been the one, but I'm not sure... I'll bet that the three pins are ground, low voltage (plus fade) and high voltage. Successfully wiring those three into an LED might get a little interesting, but not impossible. It doesn't make much sense to me to splice the wires up in the roof there, because you'd have a ***** of a time trying to feed the new wires back down. I think it would be easiest to splice them as close to the intended location as possible, to avoid stringing wires around as much as possible, provided the wires can be properly identified
The idea of having to hammer on the A-pillar cover to get it off doesn't thrill me either, but if it has to be done... I can just envision the airbag going off in my face the moment I hit the cover

[PBJames23]

haha

yeah, it would suck to have the airbag go off. I don't think it is possible to set it off my hitting the airbag itself. The sensor needs to be activated for an airbag to deploy.

[xtv-sidecar]

Has any one found the wires that need to be used for this before I start the hunt my self???????
I am Doing the same thing with red LEDs for my si.

[xtv-sidecar]

I found it
Under the fuse box there is a blue connector. On this connector there is a pink wire and a light blue wire next to it.
The light blue is your positive wire. And the pink wire is a controled ground wire.
With it being a controled ground wire, a test light would not always light up, so you might have tested it and moved on to other wires with out knowing you had the correct wire...
Ah I think that search deserves a beer.

[dentrecords]

Originally Posted by xtv-sidecar

I found it
Under the fuse box there is a blue connector. On this connector there is a pink wire and a light blue wire next to it.
The light blue is your positive wire. And the pink wire is a controled ground wire.
With it being a controled ground wire, a test light would not always light up, so you might have tested it and moved on to other wires with out knowing you had the correct wire...
Ah I think that search deserves a beer.

Ah ha! Good find.

[J-Ro]

Originally Posted by xtv-sidecar

I found it
Under the fuse box there is a blue connector. On this connector there is a pink wire and a light blue wire next to it.
The light blue is your positive wire. And the pink wire is a controled ground wire.
With it being a controled ground wire, a test light would not always light up, so you might have tested it and moved on to other wires with out knowing you had the correct wire...
Ah I think that search deserves a beer.

Frig, I'm at work right now... but I know what I'll be doing the second I get home
Thanks for the find! I think you saved me a lot of work!

J