Ambient lighting?

harrisonhunter · July 11, 2018

I just installed footwell lighting and tied into the gray wire underneath the dash and now I want to add one or two lights that only turn on with the ambient light that is up in the headliner. I've read that if you tie into the purple wire with green stripe I can accomplish this. Is this correct

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

harrisonhunter · July 11, 2018

The purple wire with the green stripe in the white connector?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

bc-chris · July 14, 2018

when i did my ambient lighting i just tapped into a fuse that has power when the truck is on. so the lights are always on when the truck is running - they're LEDs so i'm not too worried.

something you might want to consider is to add a dimmer (and make sure the lights you are putting in are dimmable). i found my ambient lights too bright for driving at night (they light up the footwells and the little cubby holes on either side of the center console)

when i did the ambient footlighting i just used a string of 3 LEDs...

passenger side:

driver's side - the illuminated LEDs are the ambient. the other string comes on with the dome lights (when the doors open)

and this is a brightness comparison:

door LEDs:

ambient LEDs:

Penguin VII · July 15, 2018

@bc-chris Looks great man! Love the lights in the center console, adds a real upscale look to the truck. Did you tie into the dash dimmer or added a separate dimmer? Generally how hard was it to wire those bad boys in?

bc-chris · July 15, 2018

13 hours ago, Penguin VII said:

@bc-chris Looks great man! Love the lights in the center console, adds a real upscale look to the truck. Did you tie into the dash dimmer or added a separate dimmer? Generally how hard was it to wire those bad boys in?

thanks!

i added a separate dimmer for a couple reasons... i didn't know what wire was the dash dimmer (ha!) and i also like the ambient light really dim (i wanted them very subtle and a lot lower brightness than my dash)

i used this: https://www.oznium.com/switches/rotary-led-dimmer

the wiring was really easy - pull power from the fuse box into the dimmer, then that to a splitter here and then to the lights you want on the dimmer. the dimmer is hidden on the drivers side under the dash near front of the center console. it's out of site but still adjustable (the only way to see it is to have your head down by the pedals) - you can kinda see the bracket it's attached to here (circled/arrow)...

Penguin VII · July 15, 2018

@bc-chris Good call. If I ever decide to put in the center console I may give this a shot. Believe it or not I actually turned down multiple trucks that had the center console as it seemed like such a waste of space at the time and I'm so used to having the center console a seat on every truck I've been in. Took me forever to find a crew without the console and now I kind of wish I hadn't. Although it's nice every once in a while when the lady gets frisky ;)

Crstfr · July 16, 2018

Looks awesome Chris... i like the 2.. never thought of that... one for the doors ..one for driving!... good work man~..still trying to find time to do my footwell lighting.. i'm doing the one .. on the dome light circuit.. but i like the idea of the other.. on during cruising... very cool.

jlozan2 · July 20, 2018

On 7/15/2018 at 9:21 AM, bc-chris said:

thanks!

i added a separate dimmer for a couple reasons... i didn't know what wire was the dash dimmer (ha!) and i also like the ambient light really dim (i wanted them very subtle and a lot lower brightness than my dash)

i used this: https://www.oznium.com/switches/rotary-led-dimmer

the wiring was really easy - pull power from the fuse box into the dimmer, then that to a splitter here and then to the lights you want on the dimmer. the dimmer is hidden on the drivers side under the dash near front of the center console. it's out of site but still adjustable (the only way to see it is to have your head down by the pedals) - you can kinda see the bracket it's attached to here (circled/arrow)...

How do you "pull power from the fuse box"? I'm going to do the exact same setup.

jlozan2 · July 20, 2018

On 7/14/2018 at 10:44 AM, bc-chris said:

when i did my ambient lighting i just tapped into a fuse that has power when the truck is on. so the lights are always on when the truck is running - they're LEDs so i'm not too worried.

something you might want to consider is to add a dimmer (and make sure the lights you are putting in are dimmable). i found my ambient lights too bright for driving at night (they light up the footwells and the little cubby holes on either side of the center console)

when i did the ambient footlighting i just used a string of 3 LEDs...

passenger side:

driver's side - the illuminated LEDs are the ambient. the other string comes on with the dome lights (when the doors open)

and this is a brightness comparison:

door LEDs:

ambient LEDs:

How do you remove the trim like that? I haven't been able to find a decent write up.

Racindave · July 20, 2018

I wired mine with a add a circuit into the fuse box using the trailer light fuse under the hood. When you hit unlock the lights are on when you open the door. Also they are on with the park/head lights. Put a switch in footwell to turn them off when I’m tired of them. Keeps from having to run to sets of lights.

bc-chris · July 21, 2018

17 hours ago, jlozan2 said:

How do you "pull power from the fuse box"? I'm going to do the exact same setup.

i watched a video a while ago about hooking up an amp/sub (not that i really wanted to, was just more curious as to how it's done) and they showed where to pull power from - so i did a couple of screen captures. if you go under the dash you'll see a bunch of wires going into the BCM (body control module). there is an 'empty' panel that has some power options - it's right beside the blue/green one:

and here is what the pins do:

i'm pretty sure i used #8 (blue square) as i think that's the one that has power when the ignition is on, and keeps power on after ignition is turned off until you open the driver's door (i did this mod over a year ago so my memory is a little sketchy! ha!)

bc-chris · July 21, 2018

17 hours ago, jlozan2 said:

How do you remove the trim like that? I haven't been able to find a decent write up.

i'm assuming you are referring to the side panels of the either side of the center console??

i think one part of the side panel (right by the dash) sits under the top trim, so you need to pop the top trim off of the center console first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y2Z_S6VQak

once you have the top part lifted you pull the side panel away from the center console and to the back. there are a bunch of clips that let go as you pull away from the console and you need to pull to the back becuz it also has a piece that hooks behind a bracket and if you don't pull back it will snap off (that's experience talking - ha! ha!)

they are pretty easy to take off - just take your time and be gentle since you don't want to break stuff

jlozan2 · July 23, 2018

On 7/21/2018 at 2:46 AM, bc-chris said:

i'm assuming you are referring to the side panels of the either side of the center console??

i think one part of the side panel (right by the dash) sits under the top trim, so you need to pop the top trim off of the center console first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y2Z_S6VQak

once you have the top part lifted you pull the side panel away from the center console and to the back. there are a bunch of clips that let go as you pull away from the console and you need to pull to the back becuz it also has a piece that hooks behind a bracket and if you don't pull back it will snap off (that's experience talking - ha! ha!)

they are pretty easy to take off - just take your time and be gentle since you don't want to break stuff

Thanks for your help! I was able to remove the side panels pretty easy. I installed some lighting in the pockets of the center console. Where else have you installed ambient lights? I need some ideas lol

bc-chris · July 23, 2018

1 hour ago, jlozan2 said:

Thanks for your help! I was able to remove the side panels pretty easy. I installed some lighting in the pockets of the center console. Where else have you installed ambient lights? I need some ideas lol

just a few places...

the sides of the center console

front/passenger foot wells

the back cubby

in the front of the cup holder (pointed towards the dash) - i 'blue-ed' all my interior lights, so the little ambient light that is above the dash/center console is even more dim than when it was white - just took apart the cup holder and drilled a tiny hole and added 1 LED

back cubby:

cup holder:

before light in cup holder:

after light in cup holder:

oh... i also added light to the inside of my cup holder

slj2008 · July 23, 2018

2 hours ago, bc-chris said:

just a few places...

the sides of the center console

front/passenger foot wells

the back cubby

in the front of the cup holder (pointed towards the dash) - i 'blue-ed' all my interior lights, so the little ambient light that is above the dash/center console is even more dim than when it was white - just took apart the cup holder and drilled a tiny hole and added 1 LED

back cubby:

cup holder:

before light in cup holder:

after light in cup holder:

oh... i also added light to the inside of my cup holder