Lil help with dome tappin

[sleestak]

Thanks sangria I am scheduled to leave town tomorrow, but I will try to make some time to try this out tonight and post back with my results.

Kipp - Thanks for the offer. Wouldnt mind more info as back up, I have a 2002 svt.

[kipp]

here's some info fro directechs.
this is what we would use for doin keyless entry or remote start. just tap into the door trigger wire in the kick panel. a lot less work than runnin somethin all the way up to the light

wire
Door Trigger
color
black/yellow and black/blue
polarity
( - )
location
low in drivers kick panel

[orionlion82]

Wait, you can drive a CCFL undervolted when it "fades out"? "theatere dimming" ?

i thought undervolting wrecked flourescents/ccfl?


ive been wanting to find the end of this circut under the dash to branch for LED's... no luck and i gave up.
ill have to re-read this again soon to see what i dont understand now...

edit: i got into it with my multimeter once just as well, and the "constant on conductor" part is to power the "on" position and the maplights. to some sort of common.
how the black/blue one worked in relation is beyond me... i tested open-circut and maybe it needed a load?



the rest of how it works, i havnt figured out...
its a really wacky setup to me and allmost looked positive-grounded (reverse polatrity)?

[sleestak]

Originally Posted by kipp

here's some info fro directechs.
this is what we would use for doin keyless entry or remote start. just tap into the door trigger wire in the kick panel. a lot less work than runnin somethin all the way up to the light

wire
Door Trigger
color
black/yellow and black/blue
polarity
( - )
location
low in drivers kick panel

I think I read about this in another thread where a person had issues with their alarm going off...they were tapping in the wrong spot and I think the door was the key. This has been rolling around in the back of my mind. I may have to give that a go as well...lol. Wow, I gotta whole other day of experimentation now...time to go buy some fuses

Originally Posted by orionlion82

....how the black/blue one worked in relation is beyond me... i tested open-circut and maybe it needed a load?

the rest of how it works, i havnt figured out...
its a really wacky setup to me and allmost looked positive-grounded (reverse polatrity)?

uh oh...dont get sucked in !! lol.

well its damn cold here and I think this is going to have to wait till I get back in a few days, but I am stoked to see people chiming in on this. thanks to everyone

[SangriaS2]

Originally Posted by kipp

wire
Door Trigger
color
black/yellow and black/blue
polarity
( - )
location
low in drivers kick panel

Hmm, that does seem like the simpler option. So does this mean the wire is "ground" when the door is open? Does it still trigger when the keyless entry button is pressed?

Originally Posted by sleestak

well its damn cold here and I think this is going to have to wait till I get back in a few days, but I am stoked to see people chiming in on this. thanks to everyone

I hear ya, I'm sick of this weather already. I've been putting off too many things because of it.

Originally Posted by orionlion82

Wait, you can drive a CCFL undervolted when it "fades out"? "theatere dimming" ?

i thought undervolting wrecked flourescents/ccfl?

...

the rest of how it works, i havnt figured out...
its a really wacky setup to me and allmost looked positive-grounded (reverse polatrity)?

You are correct, if you were to power the cathodes' ballast directly from the "fading" voltage, it would destroy the ballast. In this case, though, the ballast is simply being switched on and off with a relay whose coil is powered from the "fading" voltage. Unfortunately you can't "fade out" the cathodes...that would probably take a different type of ballast (if one even exists).

And yeah, the dome light circuit is difficult to wrap the mind around at first. The "ground" side is switched instead of the "hot" side, if that helps.

[kipp]

Originally Posted by SangriaS2

Hmm, that does seem like the simpler option. So does this mean the wire is "ground" when the door is open? Does it still trigger when the keyless entry button is pressed?

should as far as i know. it will function the same way as normal and that does mean you're testing for ground so hook up the negative wire from the relay to it

[SangriaS2]

Thanks...good info!

[sleestak]

still in NJ, leave today to head back to CO....cant wait to try some more and hopefully get this working.

[orionlion82]

okay, so there are two grounds, and one of them fades and one of them is constant? positive is constant... okay... i think i see now...

is the fader the "blue" stripe negative?

if we can find this under the dash, it would open up a whole new world for some slick LED type stuff with a stock fade...

but i havnt been at the kickpanel yet.
(maybe ill run take a look...)

EDIT:

I could wride a thousand words... but...



I found what i suspect is mister Black/blue - but i cant tell weather it goes to the domelight or... (as mentioned above) the door trigger thingy.
boom. right there. (freed up for a good visual, hope 1024 isnt too big)
i diddnt have to dig for it at all.
now all i need is ampacity and overcurrent of that circut, and were playing a whole new ballgame...

EDIT2: http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm
totally a guess, but it looks like #22 so good for 1-7 amps according to this (sounds high - 1-7 amps), and no assurances the black box (likely with PCB traces and computery whatnots) will handle that kind of load.

remember our 10W domelight is 0.8A at 12V...
so maybe its at its limit allready?

[SangriaS2]

Good point on the current limit...probably just a transistor output, but who knows what kind of current it will handle.

Looking at the wiring diagram, though, I see a "rear interior lamp" connected to that same circuit...so perhaps it can handle a bit more?
I guess I need to find a module to dissect...

[orionlion82]

Originally Posted by SangriaS2

Good point on the current limit...probably just a transistor output, but who knows what kind of current it will handle.

Looking at the wiring diagram, though, I see a "rear interior lamp" connected to that same circuit...so perhaps it can handle a bit more?
I guess I need to find a module to dissect...

looks like its the rear lamp that ford never decided to use. means theres an output for it somewhere as well..

so then MAYBE 20 watts peak, if we assume the CTM and wire are near their limit.

edit: NOTICE there are two black/blue wires going to the CTM...

[sleestak]

wow, ok so I come back to this thread and its blowing up! This is good stuff going on here, thanks to all who are contributing. I will have to sit and digest all this and come up with a new game plan for wiring.

[sleestak]

well, last week it was drawn to my attention that my brake lights arent working...further testing shows that all the lights work, but they just wont get brighter or flash (I have no signals either). Wires good, bulbs good, switches good...

I think I may have fried the GEM in the process, so this project has been cancelled and my car is going in for a diagnosis tomorrow AM. Would have loved to made this happen and god bless whoever wishes to carry the torch on this one. Maybe it was coicidence, I dunno but this electrical system is whacky enough as is and I dont want to potentially cause any more damage.

Thanks all for the help, I really hope this goes somewhere for someone.

[orionlion82]

Originally Posted by sleestak

well, last week it was drawn to my attention that my brake lights arent working...further testing shows that all the lights work, but they just wont get brighter or flash (I have no signals either). Wires good, bulbs good, switches good...

I think I may have fried the GEM in the process, so this project has been cancelled and my car is going in for a diagnosis tomorrow AM. Would have loved to made this happen and god bless whoever wishes to carry the torch on this one. Maybe it was coicidence, I dunno but this electrical system is whacky enough as is and I dont want to potentially cause any more damage.

Thanks all for the help, I really hope this goes somewhere for someone.

uh oh, what happened?

please fill us in on what went wrong so we dont repeat your mistakes.

ive got my hands full recently, but i was going to get into this someday...

[SangriaS2]

If my "advice" contributed to this, I owe you.

[sleestak]

nah, its all good. I appreciate you trying to make this happen and I hope someone gets this figured out. It would be cool. I am just taking a time out for now....turns out my GEM was fried. how I dunno or if I did it...its doubtful this was the cause. I had stopped messing with the wiring a while before I had issues. just bad juju around it right now...electrical = spooky

[aljenkins88]

I shall make this happen!!!

I have followed the dome light wires down the A pillar. I will tap into them their and run the fade wire into the cabin for my interior led strips.

[orionlion82]

Originally Posted by aljenkins88

I shall make this happen!!!

I have followed the dome light wires down the A pillar. I will tap into them their and run the fade wire into the cabin for my interior led strips.

just make sure you pay special attention to the load of the lights, and read this thread completely. there is a price to pay for getting it wrong.

[aljenkins88]

got it! I have two lights under the dash and two under my sideskirts that come on when the doors open and fade when they close.

I tapped into the dome wires at the a-pillar. The are leds so they should be alright.

[orionlion82]

Originally Posted by aljenkins88

got it! I have two lights under the dash and two under my sideskirts that come on when the doors open and fade when they close.

I tapped into the dome wires at the a-pillar. The are leds so they should be alright.

sweet, please clarify how you put all the info together and got it to work.

[orionlion82]

i just traced the black/blue UP from the footwell, but it looked like it went into the door. i felt around and only got cut up for it.
its misery trying to get at that stuff...

i guess i have to remove some plastic and follow them down?

[PhilMayfield]

I did this mod a little while back.

Tap your positive on the lights your adding to any +12v source, like the cigarette lighter.

Tap the negative on the lights your adding to the "Dome Supervision" wire indicated here:

http://www.geocities.com/kellykeeton...cal/common.htm

On the GEM, black / blue wire, grey plug, pin 3.

[orionlion82]

^^^ thats a good reference!

turns out you just have to yank on the plastic of the A-pillar really hard and the sucker comes loose.

about 3/4 of the way down there is a splice at a connector.
i diddnt really pay attention to the wire colors, (they do change at the connector) but they are WAY buried in the dash after that.

since its allways HOT you have to remember to disconnect your battery first, but as i see it you can splice in anywhere in there, and drop a line down the skinny plastic trim by the door seal into the footwell, then off you go from there.

i might try this soon.

[orionlion82]

I tapped the positive and the fader in the A pillar, ran a line down and put in a 3 led (5mm) footwell light. made a realy proper job of it and...

It works!!! fades and everything!
WOOOO!!!!

next, to splice into that and do the passenger footwell...

[aljenkins88]

well now that we figured that out. Does anybody have a clue about how to get an led Map light bulb to work. The polarity is reversed from what it needs to be? any comments or suggestions?