Open Door Lights Options

[6GenCircleLghts]

The only lights that come on, when the door is opened, are the two on the doors. I do have the convertible and well I was just wondering if anyone did a conversion to have one of the two lights at the top, turn on when a door is opened? As you can see both of mine are manual.

[richee3]

One of my friends did something like this with his Civic EG6. It's not a convertible, obviously, but the principle is the same. I'll give him a call and find out what he did to do, but I believe it was as simple as running a wire from his other lights to the lights he wanted on when the door opened. It involves cutting and splicing factory wires, but if you are brave enough, it can be done I'll call him and send you a PM.

[6GenCircleLghts]

Oh dear god, splicing factory wires. What the hell, what is the worst that could happen. Yea just let me know, and then if I can do it, anyone can.

[richee3]

I wouldn't worry about splicing them a whole lot. For the lights, it's fairly straightforward. There is only a positive and negative wire, and as long as you figure out which is which, then it's one of the easiest things you can do. Just be sure when you splice that you don't just wrap some electrical tape around the connection and call it done. I'd use wire crimps and do the job right. But our cars don't have a warranty them anymore, so you aren't voiding anything. Worst case scenario, you splice the factory wires back together and you finish where you started, with only door lights.

My friend didn't answer his phone, so if anybody else has any input, I'm curious about this too. I have some spare LED's sitting around, and wouldn't mind having a light in my back seat. My factory dome light is pretty wimpy.

[Cutrara]

Edit: the door trigger wire is for both doors and the pin on hatchbacks... not sure about the trunk on a vert, but as long as you splice into th red/white wire you're all good

This post has been edited by Cutrara: Dec 20, 2008 - 3:05 PM

[njccmd2002]

whoahhh there. My car they do light up when open.

its just tricky to put them in the middle position. play with it and youll see ..

[6GenCircleLghts]

The diagram isn't helpin' me. But I'll fool around with it, I have off monday and tuesday. So I'll do it then.

But as far as what njccmd2002 said, I'm gonna go try that now, to see what happens, if it works THANK YOU!

This post has been edited by 6GenCircleLghts: Dec 20, 2008 - 4:37 PM

[6GenCircleLghts]

Nope sure doesn't work on my 95. Maybe it only does it with 96+.

[Cutrara]

You need an SPDT automotive relay and some female spade(?) connectors. all available from advance auto/autozone/whatever. Just connect the wires to the relay and hide it somewhere.

[richee3]

Cutrara has down exactly what needs to happen. I didn't think about a diagram! Basically, you need to run a new wire from where Cutrara said to the lights. The only part about this that doesn't seem straightforward to me is where to run the wires into the lights themselves. Would the wire need to splice into the lights AFTER the switch on the light unit? So that he can still use the switches, but they don't cut off the power from the new wire.

Poor explanation ^^^. Hopefully you guys get what I'm saying.

[6GenCircleLghts]

Actually I am completely lost. But I wouldn't even care if I couldn't use one of the lights manually, so if I lost one to only turning on when I open the door. I have no problem with that.

[richee3]

Sorry, I'll try again lol. Basically, you splice your new wire into the wire for the lights in the door and run it to your lights overhead. Once you get to those lights, you know they only turn on with that switch. You know how a switch works, by completing the circuit and allowing electricity to pass through. My thinking is, if you splice your new wire into the wire for those lights BEFORE that switch, you've done nothing because that switch won't let your current pass through. But if you splice your new wire into your lights at some point AFTER that switch, it should work just fine. Sorry for yet another bad explanation. I'm kind of hoping somebody else can catch the gist of what I'm trying to say and do better.

[Cutrara]

You splice in before the switch and leave the switch in the on position. With the diagram I've posted the light will have 2 functions: when the switch is in the on position the lights will turn on with the door, when the switch is in the off position it will not come in at all. Wiring after the switch would require soldering on the PCB. Possibly a better idea (if you don't want to lose the standard on/off function of the lights is to buy some LEDs, drill and install them in the map lights and wire them to the relay I've posted... I remember seeing a topic where someone did that, and I thought it was a good idea... maybe it was njcmmd2002(?)

[D-Man]

The only lights that come on, when the door is opened, are the two on the doors. I do have the convertible and well I was just wondering if anyone did a conversion to have one of the two lights at the top, turn on when a door is opened? As you can see both of mine are manual.

Yeah. I relayed mine off the door lights.

[Nial]

Thats odd...Import and UK celicas, the lights near the rear view mirror come on when you open the doors ...I wonder why they changed this for the US cars??????

[6GenCircleLghts]

Thats odd...Import and UK celicas, the lights near the rear view mirror come on when you open the doors ...I wonder why they changed this for the US cars??????

That's cuz you guys get better cars than we do. I would love to own a Peugeot 207CC, but they don't sell them in the US.