DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lancer

Ryan

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Ok so the instructions I am going to give are for installing Neons/LEDs to come on when your doors open in the same manner your roof lights do. To do this you will need some basic skills soldering and depending on the method of connecting you chose know how to use electrical lugs. Materials Required:
*Fuse (Say a 3A fuse for a few LED or neon lights) and fuse holder (not a must have, but definitely recommended as I have no idea what sort of fused protection if any that mitsu has put on the wire you will be tapping for power)
*3 position switch (ON-OFF-ON type)
*Soldering iron
*Solder
*Pliers and a wire stripper if you wish
*Drill and drill bits
*Small cable ties
*Electrical tape The switch and fuse holder can be obtained from Jaycar or *Richard* Smith.

Here is a diagram for the electrical circuit we are making:
Diagramsmall.jpg

From this you will note its the ground that the car switches for the doors opening, which to me seemed odd but I imagine it does this as it will be a transistor or relay inside the ETACs that controls this I believe..... I have used a red line to show the + wire of the neons and a black line to show the - wire of the neons, in the step below we'll work out which is which on the wires to the LED/neons. If your neons have a ciagrette lighter plug attached you will need to cut it and work out the polarity of the wires (one tends to be black and the other black with a white stripe).

For this you'll need a multimeter ($20ish for a basic one from *Richard* smith) and use the following picture below to test between the highlighted points on the plug and the wires to determine which is which.
Cigarette_Lighter_Plug_2.jpg


The plug we are going to tap into is located behind the glove box (I presume by now most of us know how to do this??? I might look at making a DIY for this).

Here is a picture:
Plugposition-small.jpg


Removing that large plug as indicated makes access to the plug we want much easier. To ensure it is the right plug, turn on your dome light to "DOOR" and when you unplug the 3 wire plug that is circled you will find that roof dome light should go out.

Here is a close up of the plug:
plugsmall.jpg


If you do these next steps with the above plug removed from its socket there will be no need to disconnect the battery. Now connect the ground (0V) as shown in the diagram to the yellow wire. To do this you can strip back the insulation to solder it on (rather tight space for soldering though) or you can cut the wire and then use electrical auto lugs to join it back together with the wire to the neons included. If you have never done this sort of stuff before I highly recommend practicing on some scrap wire first or find a mate who can do it. Similarly attach one end of the fuse to the red wire from the plug and attach the other end of the fuse to the positive wire for your neons as per my first diagram. Now choose a location for your switch. i decided to place mine in the centre console as to the front seat passenger and driver it is out of view :D
switchlocationsmall.jpg


To put that in you need to remove the stereo and then use an appropriately sized drill bit to drill a hole. Now you no where you switch will be bring the wires necessary to it and solder them to the back of the switch. Always remember to use a old towel to catch any stray solder when soldering inside your car and as a safety precaution you should try and minimize contact with solder and wash your hands immediately after as solder has high concentrations of lead. Lastly remember to use electrical tape on ALL connections to keep them from short circuiting and use cable ties where appropriate. Email me for larger pictures if required.

Note it has been confirmed that the ES uses Solid Black, and Black with white stripes instead of the yellow and red wires like the VR/VRX. The black color with white stripe is (+) and black color is (-)
 
Thats awesome ryan, good to do things properly, i would of just tapped into the roof light wiring...lol
 
Re: DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lanc

Images are hosted at photobucket and are working fine for me.... Have you tried another computer?
 
Re: DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lanc

working for me
 
Re: DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lanc

:thumbup: good diy for the noobies so now we have somewhere to point them when they say "how does i get neonz?"
 
Re: DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lanc

also good if you want to go VIP style on your lancer an put in puddle lights
 
Re: DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lanc

also would be good to get a DIY going for those eBay copy fogs, which require an in-cabin power take-off to activate them up front. Seems like a get a few emails (in the past) from people wanting to exploit those cheaper OEM-style fogs).
 
Re: DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lanc

I dunno exactly how people wired them up,etc and no way of taking photos....
 
Re: DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lanc

I might buy a set and use the loom for another purpose... be really neat to have a spare set of housings and fog covers... They're only about $150 delivered and I could use the factory-like dash button switch for my illuminated emblem or something...

Wonder if has been done on other sites and therefore useless here!?
 
Re: DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lanc

not much changes, just the look of the plugs and location
 
Re: DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lanc

One of the things I had planned for the first week of having my car, has now been made so much easier...Great write up mate!
 
Re: DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lanc

A few questions having taken out my glove box.

Does the plug need any clips pushed to come out? ie. how do I get it out without damage?

With the 3 way switch does it go on-off-door?

Sorry for the n3wb questions but yeah. Don't wanna break anything.
 
Re: DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lanc

Well can't figure out how to delete my last post...

I noticed that when i click my window buttons the roof lighting goes dimmer for a second...Would connecting LEDs into the circuit make it even dimmer or should it not effect it?
 
Re: DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lanc

You won't notice the difference. Motors draw a significant in-rush current and LEDs pull bugger all current.
 
Re: DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lanc

So today I tried wiring up my led. Got the switch fine and wiring done. But my lights don't turn on. Copied your diagram and can't get it to work. Now I can turn my roof lights on from the switch while driving but no red floorlight :(
 
Re: DIY: How to wire LEDs to the door lights on your CJ Lanc

You'll have to get a multimeter and check the plug. It's possible yours has a revised design. Other than that check you wired it correctly.
 
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