Forward Cabin Lighting

[Franzy]

This is for some of the wiring freaks... LIKE ME.
I have a 2006 5, basic sport with A/T & the 6 CD setup. No Nav & no Sat.

I have successfully added some some cool LED lighting in the Cargo area ( I'll have to post that). Now I'm trying to add some up front.

I am looking for a power supply point, in the shifter/ front Cig lighter area, THAT ONLY goes hot when you turn the lights on. IE.. parking or headlamp.

I have attached some lighting already to the leads that connect to the Cig lighter, up front. But that just means that when I turn the key to the full off position, that those wires are not hot.. IE.. can't run down my battery.

I am specifically wanting to hook up a 4 LED floor-board lighting setup, so it will be very low leeching from whatever/ wherever the power source is. If you can name an area and even post a pic that would be much appreciated. With my luck, someone will have a very obvious area.
More minds are better, that's fine with me.

Thanks in advance 5'ers.

PS, the rear LED lighting was so awesome and easy to install. That OEM cargo lighting is a joke on the 06'

 

[jimp]

If you want the new led's to light up when the lights are on, you will need to tap into the wiring near the light switch imo.

 

[A1an]

Please share photos and info on the rear lighting. You are right...it is a joke (both the placement of the light and how "bright" it is).

 

[Franzy]

What you'll love about the rear lights A1an is the fact that I incorporated that rear switch to still turn the new rear LED's on and off. I still kept the light there too. I'll quit teasing on that. I'll get the Pics setup this weekend.

Here is a quick parts-list though. I'll get the actual parts numbers later.

High Temp mini hot glue gun with about 4-5 glue sticks.

Dual conductor 22 or 20 AWG wire. I just got a 22 AWG spool from Radio Shack. Remember, it's low power LED's. (22 gauge speaker wire essentially)

2 pair of insulated Male & Female crimp connectors, disconnect style (Both sides really need to be insulated). I would not use a permanent "Butt Connector" or "Wire Cap" here.

2 12" bright LED slim strips. (I just got mine at Auto Zone. About $15.00 each) I went with the White Light myself because I wanted actual use from them, not just bling. They had some slightly larger ones, but I wanted as slim and unobservable as possible, when not in use.

A regular slotted screw driver.
The right sockets to remove the bolts I'll indicate.

A very small slotted jewelers screwdriver. (yep, the simple ones you get at the dollar store).

Some small needle nose pliers. Narrower is better. I work on computers too, so I already had exactly what I needed.

A very sharp knife or box cutter (to cut out the notches on the top rear fascia piece.)

I'll work on Pics, as I said, and it should take about 1.5 hrs to complete, including all the disassembly and reattaching.

 

[Franzy]

Jimp, I appreciate your input. Here's the issues I want to put out there as a consideration. When you try and leech off of switches, they can be attached to relays. Since relays usually rely on low power to begin with (for actuation of a circuit), even a low power LED can be too much of a drain and mess with vehicle systems. I'd rather leech off of an end product, such as a light. That's why I've had my small 12V Lead tester trying to check for these very specific hot wires. Since I drive this car, I had to put it all back together.

Think of those few lights that come on when you turn your parking lights on. I just want to know if anyone else has found one and where it is. Wire color and system it's attached to.

 

[flcruising]

Headlight Wiring

See if this helps you...

 

[A1an]

Curious to see what you come up with for the front ambient lighting.

My old '04 Passat (replaced by the 5) and my wife's current '07 Rabbit both had red ambient lighting. Adds a really nice touch to the interior at night and I as weird as it sounds I kind of miss it in the 5.

Oddly enough the Passat's ambient lighting turned on when the car was running (regardless of whether or not the lights were on). My wife's car, on the other hand, has them come on only when the headlights are on.

 

[Franzy]

Not to be greedy, flcruising, but you wouldn't happen to have that schem where it's under the dash board?

Much appreciated.

 

[flcruising]

Try this...


BTW, please post pictures of your LEDs in the cargo area. Is it overhead? The existing cargo light is pretty pathetic.

 

[Franzy]

OK all. I'm gonna put this (Adding Rear Cargo Lighting) in the "How To" section, for Obvious reasons. I just took all of my pics. So give me a few to label all the pics & post. With a good pair of wire strippers, this should be able to get done within about a Hour and a half.

Toodles.

 

[A1an]

Sweet...looking forward to the DIY!

 

[Silentnoise713]

I am looking for a power supply point, in the shifter/ front Cig lighter area, THAT ONLY goes hot when you turn the lights on. IE.. parking or headlamp.

Thought: use the radio's dimmer wire to trigger a relay and use the radio's 12V or Accessory/Ignition (headlight on and key has to be in ACC) for power source.

Did you intend to keep the LEDs constanly on whenever the parking or lowbeam lights are on? OR did you want them to go on/off with the cabin/dome light?

 

[skyhawk]

Thought: use the radio's dimmer wire to trigger a relay and use the radio's 12V or Accessory/Ignition (headlight on and key has to be in ACC) for power source.

Did you intend to keep the LEDs constanly on whenever the parking or lowbeam lights are on? OR did you want them to go on/off with the cabin/dome light?

The add-ons and 'mods' will exponentially increase in number down the future anyway. So why not, run a dedicated 12volts line from the battery going through the entire car. It will have its own fuse (and switch- if you need to isolate your mods). Then you can use relays as suggested above. Your add-ons will get 12volts supply from your new 12-volt bus via relays thats triggered by whichever 'signal' you want to tap it to.

That way, there is less chance that your mod will blow a fuse or affect
any of the OEM electronics.

 

[Franzy]

REAR CARGO LIGHTS mod is up.

Just wanted to FYI you guys that I fianalized the ADD REAR CARGO LIGHTS mod in the HOW TO section. I did it from a newbie standpoint. I can take addl pics, but sometimes I'm saying DAMNIT to the 5 pic post limit.


On my front light issue:
I have a good fused 12V connect from the battery already. It's for my trailer wiring. I'm not looking for the bling, I just want to add some floorboard lighting to be on when the parking and/or headlights are on. It will be a few bright LED's. Nothing to crazy.

That's a project still in the works. Thanks for the input guys.

 

[Silentnoise713]

The add-ons and 'mods' will exponentially increase in number down the future anyway. So why not, run a dedicated 12volts line from the battery going through the entire car. It will have its own fuse (and switch- if you need to isolate your mods). Then you can use relays as suggested above. Your add-ons will get 12volts supply from your new 12-volt bus via relays thats triggered by whichever 'signal' you want to tap it to.

That way, there is less chance that your mod will blow a fuse or affect
any of the OEM electronics.

Absolutely agree that the proper way to add mods should be done by drawing power directly from the battery via a distribution block with an inline fuse or the through the in cabin fuse box to keep it clean.

It sounds like the OP is only adding a few flood lights (low power LEDs to boot) so tapping off the radio will be fine and will help to keep the job neat since he'll have to tap off the ILL wire (should he choose to do it this way). This mod does not need a dedicate 12V directly from the battery, which require running a wire through the firewall -but it sounds like he has this setup already.


If I were doing this I would use a two wire quick connect adapter (plug in adapter) and tap one end to the OEM side of the radio harness and other end to the LED lights so I can disconnected them easily as needed for servicing. I would also use a higher gauge wire than 22AGW so it is not as bulky and easier to run through, and to keep it neat so it matches the rest of the wires back there. I would also follow the general color code (red and black twisted pair and not use speak wires)(2cents). But if you got free wires and other stuff lying around, that works too!

 

[Franzy]

Wiring through firewall

Myself and Bennett5 did a "How To" on the trailer wiring. Found a way to safely go through the firewall. Found a plastic piece behind and just below the battery, up against the firewall. Goes directly into the floorboard above the brake.

Don't know what module was originally supposed to go between there, but it was an easy go between.

 

[flcruising]

^Looks to me like that would accomodate a clutch pedal master cylinder.