DIY: Courtesy Lights to Dome Light w/PICS

[peliROJO]

Sorry about the quality of these pictures. Low light and a camera phone aren't very useful. But hopefully it can help others.

I planned on installing lights under both front seats and in each footwell. So, I needed wire going from the fuse box (where we will tap in later) going to all four places. I used the existing wire from the Pods for the footwells and some seperatly purchased 18AWG wire for the seats.

I have to suggest you read the Courtesy Light installation instructions as they have nice diagrams on taking apart the dash. It also shows where to route your wires through the dash.

http://www.collegehillshonda.com/civicaccessories.htm



First I used Street FX ElectroPods for the motorcycle. This, by far, is the best deal. You get 3 pairs of 6-LED Pods and 2 seperate 6-LED strips for about $90 (depending on tax and/or shipping). They look great; no spotlighting, hotspots, banding on the walls, etc. Clean, diffused light that works on 12V circuits.




This is your kit:





It comes with a rocker switch and fuse.





-Begin install-

Materials:
Less than 20 feet of two wires. I choose Red for (+)Postivie and Black for (-)Negative.
Medium Phillips head screwdriver
Zip ties (tie locks)
ElectroPods kit
2 T-taps - 22AWG
2 Male Crimp Connectors
Double-sided tape
Wire stippers (or knife)
Wire nuts (Scotchloks)
Electrical tape
Crimping tool


1) Pull apart your dash




2) Route your wires. I went across the bottom of the door jam. All these plastic pieces come off easy. Just pull.




Then, I used a straightened coat hanger and pushed the pair of wires under the carpet to an existing opening in the carpet located directly under the seat. Once the wires were out I could leave them alone. We will attach the lights later.

All the wires ended at the drivers footwell. I spliced all the reds together and left a pigtail as the one exposed end to them all. I did the same with the Black wires.




3) All the wire were routed and I tapped into the fuse box. I used the T-taps like these, however mine were Red because we are tapping into 22AWG wire. Electrical connectors are color coded. Keep in mind you have to pair up a T-Tap with a Male Connector (shown on the bottom). They are sold seperatly.

2 T-taps and a male crimp connector. A male crimp connector.


The two wires to tap are the (+) Positive, Blue/Grey, and the (-) Negative Pink/Grey located in the Blue harness mounted underneath the main fuse box. The Blue T-Tap shown is to my aftermarket amp, please disregard. It's connected to a Purple/Grey wire and only comes on if the car is in the ON position. (See post #9 - Si uses the Light Blue wires)





Same picture, different angle. Some of you may see that 6-pin connector in the upper left corner of the fuse box. And if you read the Courtesy Light installation instructions that come with the OEM kit, you would plug your Courtsey harness into that spot. Also, if you have Fog Lights, I believe this is the same spot that the Fog harness plugs in to.






Well, I finally finished. The only hard part was finding T-taps. I even had an audio installer tell me not to use them because the wire would eventually break. He worked for the same company that installed my AMP and that used a T-Tap. Get your T-taps and hook in! :) I spent over 5 hours driving around looking for T-taps. I spent an easy 5 hours looking for the ElectrPod kit. When I finally found where they were at it was an hour drive each way.

I went all out when taking apart my car. I may have removed more dash than necessary for some of you (I also removed the radio and glove box, and later the RPM instrument panel :) ), but it's really easy to take out and put back in. And I wanted to know exactly where I had routed my wires, as I later used zip ties to clean things up. Total install time (not counting looking for parts) about 2 hours. It could be done in 1 if I had to do it again.

And a video of the light fading out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80yKL09a2_4

[rytnxt2me]

how much did you spend all in all?

[peliROJO]

$90 on lights. About $4 on connectors. $4 on wire. I had the other tools, ties, tape, etc.

[PBJames23]

Great DIY! Very thorough and well written. I am going to attempt a similar setup within the next two weeks. I would like to tap into the dome light as well.

Thanks peliROJO!

[ominous8204]

Same kit on ebay for $65.45 shipped. Hopefully this will save some time for others. I plan to start working on mine real soon.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Elect...ayphotohosting

[GulfCoastGhostHunters]

Thank you so much for the DIY!!! I've been looking around forever trying to find a good tutorial. Nice Work ;-)

[Zephbane]

I'm wondering if the wiring is different. Your DIY is done to a standard Honda Civic correct?. I'm modding an Si.

Following your DIY to the T (including materials and LEDS), I was unable to get it to work. I know the lights work because I tested all of them with the included battery/testing button.

The blue harness you have tapped into for the dome lights... I tapped into the Blue/Grey(+) and Pink/Grey(-). Twice... And nothing happened. There is a Light Blue/Grey, (True) Blue/Grey, Pink(or Peach)/Grey and Red/Grey. If anyone has done this DIY on an 06 Si. Please let me know which wires you tapped into.

Alternatively. Is there a place that shows wire diagrams/colours for the Civic Si?

[peliROJO]

I'm sorry it's not working for you. I don't know why. I didn't do the testing on the wires, xtv-sidecar was the one that found these two. If you have a voltage tester you could troubleshoot it. Just make sure your dome lights turn on and off while testing to find your controlled ground wire. And I assume any 12v positive wire will work as the lead.

Anyone else have suggestions?


And you're using the Red T-Taps correct? They are made for these small 22awg wires.

[Zephbane]

Called the parts department at my local Honda Dealer.

2006 Civic Si Wiring:
Postitive = Light Blue/Grey
Negative = Pink/Grey

As I said in my previous post. The colors for the blue modular connector (harness as everyone calls them) can be confusing. There are two blues on it. True Blue and Light Blue... :)

(EDIT)One other thing about T-Taps. There are several varieties of T-Taps. Some that connect Perpendicular and some that connect Parallel to the wire.. I suggest getting the smallest sized (NOT AWG size) you can (such as the parallel ones). Those wires are in there tight :).. Infact.. I've bought both styles (two different trips to find stuff for this DIY) I'll take pics of both lol

[peliROJO]

Thanks, updated the DIY. Let us know if that indeed woks for you.

[Zephbane]

peliROJO,

Could you do me a favor and take a couple pics of the positioning of your LED's? In your video they look exceptionally well placed (evenly lit, etc)... I'm trying to replicate it but can't :)

[peliROJO]

Are you using the same brand of lights? Because I just evenly spaced them and they're stuck there with sticky tape... which is not holding well at times. One light dropped and I had to replace the tape. I was thinking of screwing them down.

[peliROJO]

[Zephbane]

Exact same brand :). I had planned on ordering them online... until the other day when I was browsing Best Buy.. lol.. they carry a big line of Street Fx gear.. I even added thier Bass Reflector which I mounted in the trunk near the Sub-Woofer. Down side to this was I had to run all LED wires to the trunk to be hooked into the Reflector unit and then again, run a set of +-'s up to the fuse box.. It was worth it though, picking up a friend and as he opens the door and the tunes are thumpin, and the lights are pulsing (you can control the sensitivity of the unit also).

I had already though of mounting them, but I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with the blue theme (plan on doing dome lights blue). Originaly I was going to go with red lighting to match the black/red si theme. But I couldn't find any reference pics to give me an idea of what it might look like. And then today (after already buying blue leds) I see a pic of a cats Si and he was sportin red LED's inside...My jaw dropped, lol. At any rate.. blue is an easy fall back color. I may give red a try..

[peliROJO]

Yeah, the guy with the Red LEDs was tight, it's what convinced me to do it. I'd always wanted blue though to match my Atomic Blue paint. :)

Post some pictures of your lights when you can.

[Zephbane]

Originally Posted by peliROJO

Post some pictures of your lights when you can.

I will once my cam charges.

By the way, I addressed the double sided tabe not sticking issue :) That part of the front console (where your actaully attaching the lights with the DS Tape) is that "slick" type of plastic. Simply take a piece of electrical tape (same size as the one for the double sided tape). Take it and put it on the area where the LED will be mounted (pretend you're placing the actual LED). Press tape firmly, even rub with your thumb. Then take your LED, with the piece of DS Tape stuck to the back, and press firmly again over the electrical tape. Solid as a rock. LoL... try it both ways, w/ and w/o electrical tape :)

[dentrecords]

Thanks peliROJO.

[peliROJO]

Thanks Zephbane. I'll try it!

[PBJames23]

peliROJO, would it be possible for you to draw a rough schematic of your setup and post it? I'm kinda new to this so i want to make sure i don't screw anything up. Thanks!

[peliROJO]

You asked for it, one rough schematic:

You have the Blue wiring harness, 3-way rocker switch (later I want to add a constant ON power source: Dome/Off/ON), and the 4 lights. Red is your positive and Black is your ground.

Note: I'm going to have to double check my installation to be sure that drawing is correct. I'm a little confused about the connections to the rocker switch at the moment. I know I reversed them from the package directions.