Jazza
Active Member
Ok, well here's something pretty easy to do if you can find the parts, and it's pretty cool when it all works!
*I'm not responsible if you break your key ring resulting in not being able to start your car. As always, this is just a guide*
Things you need for this.
- A clear ring with the induction loop wiring*
- A relay**
- T5 plug and a T5 light globe
- Wiring
- Spade connectors (x4)
- Eye terminals (x1)
- Heat shrink/electrical tape
- Wire strippers
* There are two types of rings, make sure you get the correct one. The type that won't work doesn't have an induction loop. This loop of wiring detects what key you are using to try and start the car and sends the signal to the ECU. If the signals don't match up, car won't start. It's the immobiliser which all Australian cars must have
** I chose the factory Mitsubishi relay they use for this. It has a built in 10 seconds delay timer, so after you close the door, the light will stay on for 10 seconds and then turn off. Bought it from UK ebay for 20 bucks delivered, a bit pricey but I wanted to keep it factory. You might be able to find one for cheaper. Part number for this is MB818524
You could possibly get a different relay, ones that you can program to open the switch after as long as you like. 20 seconds would be nicer IMO. The relay has to be a normally OPEN relay. So the switch inside is open, then when it gets a signal from the door being open, switch closes, lighting up the ring. Then when the door is closed, switch stays closed for however many seconds then opens, turning off the light.
If you don't want to use a relay, just connect the key ring wires to what would be pin 85 (ground) and pin 86 (door sensor). Doing this will mean your light turns off when you close the door, instead of being on a delay timer.
Ok now for the actual DIY.
It's going to be easier if you remove the lower dash. 4 screws, 1 where rheostat switch is, 1 beneath where bonnet release is, and the other 2 are opposite that on the other side.
Here's a diagram for the factory relay. If you get a different relay the numbers are standard for all relays, so just match them up.
First to connect up pin 86, take off your drivers side A pillar to reveal the wiring going up to the roof light. There should be a black wire, and a black with grey wire. You want to splice into the black wire. This wire receives power when the door is open, and looses it when it's closed.
In the picture, I've spliced the red wire into the black wire.
Next, we need to find a constant 12V source for pin 30. I couldn't use my cig lighter because its on the ACC. I looked in my head units manual and found which colour wire is the constant 12V (yellow for me) and connected it to that.
Now we need to extend the wires from the T5 plug. All I did was twist and heat shrink. Works well enough. One of the wires will go to ground, and one will go to pin 87.
Now to ground the relay. Make sure you ground the key ring light with it also, just put both the wires together and put an eye terminal at the end. Find any screw or bolt that's connecting onto metal and put it on there. Here's where I did mine.
If you got the factory relay, find a place to mount it so it can't move around. I put mine here.
Give it a test and hopefully the light lights up. Close the door and see if it turns off after 10 seconds.
Now if you're a lucky bastard and already have a clear ring, all you need to do is remove your steering column covers and just plug in the light you just wired up, and you're done!
If you have the black plastic ring, keep reading.
Now to mount the ring, you first need to remove your old ring.
Here's what the ring looks like. Those wires will hopefully have a plug on the end for the immobiliser. Bit on the left is where is screws in. Hole on bottom is where a T5 globe mounts
The first method is to remove your steering wheel and take apart everything just to get to the screw. But an easier way I found was to come at it with brute force and just rip it out. The ring will come out but the bit of plastic held in with a screw will not, so just get some scissors or something and cut it out (plastic is only thin). Then you gotta take off the plug which is clipped in. Took me a while to get it off but eventually I just levered it up with a flat head and it came off.
Before mounting the new ring, put the light you just wired up in first to make it easier. To mount your new ring, for the black plastic that's meant to get screwed in, just cut a gap from the hole to the edge, just like the clear part behind already is and slide it in place behind the screw, should fit in snug. Plug in the plug and clip it in place, and you should be done.
You should now check to see if your car turns on. If it doesn't fire it might be because you didn't plug in the ring properly, or it's not sitting good enough around the barrel. When you put the steering column cover back on it should hold it in place better.
Now if anyone is actually going to try this and succeed, enjoy your illuminated ring!
Here's a video of what mine does.
*I'm not responsible if you break your key ring resulting in not being able to start your car. As always, this is just a guide*
Things you need for this.
- A clear ring with the induction loop wiring*
- A relay**
- T5 plug and a T5 light globe
- Wiring
- Spade connectors (x4)
- Eye terminals (x1)
- Heat shrink/electrical tape
- Wire strippers
* There are two types of rings, make sure you get the correct one. The type that won't work doesn't have an induction loop. This loop of wiring detects what key you are using to try and start the car and sends the signal to the ECU. If the signals don't match up, car won't start. It's the immobiliser which all Australian cars must have
** I chose the factory Mitsubishi relay they use for this. It has a built in 10 seconds delay timer, so after you close the door, the light will stay on for 10 seconds and then turn off. Bought it from UK ebay for 20 bucks delivered, a bit pricey but I wanted to keep it factory. You might be able to find one for cheaper. Part number for this is MB818524
You could possibly get a different relay, ones that you can program to open the switch after as long as you like. 20 seconds would be nicer IMO. The relay has to be a normally OPEN relay. So the switch inside is open, then when it gets a signal from the door being open, switch closes, lighting up the ring. Then when the door is closed, switch stays closed for however many seconds then opens, turning off the light.
If you don't want to use a relay, just connect the key ring wires to what would be pin 85 (ground) and pin 86 (door sensor). Doing this will mean your light turns off when you close the door, instead of being on a delay timer.
Ok now for the actual DIY.
It's going to be easier if you remove the lower dash. 4 screws, 1 where rheostat switch is, 1 beneath where bonnet release is, and the other 2 are opposite that on the other side.
Here's a diagram for the factory relay. If you get a different relay the numbers are standard for all relays, so just match them up.
First to connect up pin 86, take off your drivers side A pillar to reveal the wiring going up to the roof light. There should be a black wire, and a black with grey wire. You want to splice into the black wire. This wire receives power when the door is open, and looses it when it's closed.
In the picture, I've spliced the red wire into the black wire.
Next, we need to find a constant 12V source for pin 30. I couldn't use my cig lighter because its on the ACC. I looked in my head units manual and found which colour wire is the constant 12V (yellow for me) and connected it to that.
Now we need to extend the wires from the T5 plug. All I did was twist and heat shrink. Works well enough. One of the wires will go to ground, and one will go to pin 87.
Now to ground the relay. Make sure you ground the key ring light with it also, just put both the wires together and put an eye terminal at the end. Find any screw or bolt that's connecting onto metal and put it on there. Here's where I did mine.
If you got the factory relay, find a place to mount it so it can't move around. I put mine here.
Give it a test and hopefully the light lights up. Close the door and see if it turns off after 10 seconds.
Now if you're a lucky bastard and already have a clear ring, all you need to do is remove your steering column covers and just plug in the light you just wired up, and you're done!
If you have the black plastic ring, keep reading.
Now to mount the ring, you first need to remove your old ring.
Here's what the ring looks like. Those wires will hopefully have a plug on the end for the immobiliser. Bit on the left is where is screws in. Hole on bottom is where a T5 globe mounts
The first method is to remove your steering wheel and take apart everything just to get to the screw. But an easier way I found was to come at it with brute force and just rip it out. The ring will come out but the bit of plastic held in with a screw will not, so just get some scissors or something and cut it out (plastic is only thin). Then you gotta take off the plug which is clipped in. Took me a while to get it off but eventually I just levered it up with a flat head and it came off.
Before mounting the new ring, put the light you just wired up in first to make it easier. To mount your new ring, for the black plastic that's meant to get screwed in, just cut a gap from the hole to the edge, just like the clear part behind already is and slide it in place behind the screw, should fit in snug. Plug in the plug and clip it in place, and you should be done.
You should now check to see if your car turns on. If it doesn't fire it might be because you didn't plug in the ring properly, or it's not sitting good enough around the barrel. When you put the steering column cover back on it should hold it in place better.
Now if anyone is actually going to try this and succeed, enjoy your illuminated ring!
Here's a video of what mine does.
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