I have no experience with LEDs, but it can't be too difficult to stick some under the dash to light up the footwells. Do I need anything other than a tap from a battery line?

 

just tap your cig lighter. its not too bad. i did it myself with no prior experience. the 1st time i did it it came loose and fcked up though. the 2nd time i soldered and heatshrinked all the connections.

 

It's pretty easy to do, get some 12v LEDs and you can't really do anything wrong as long as you don't short them out by connected the + to the - lol. A switch will be nice to control them too, which are very easy to wire.

 

yeah, pick up a switch at an auto store for ~4$. a couple fuses too - ive blown like 4 while wiring them and making careless mistakes or letting the wires touch. for the strips, this is where i get mine. they're great and only 5$ for 2. you need 2x30cm (12inch) and you can cut them down too, i cut one down to 6inches and put it under the stereo/above the cig lighter & cup holders (above the cig lighter outlet)

http://shop.ebay.com/lucy3624/m.html...1&_from=&_ipg=

 

I want to wire it to the door ajar fuse so that it comes on when I open the door, but I also want to be able to have the LEDs on with the overhead light off.
Is there anyway I can do that?

I also want to be able to dim the lights, what type of resistor should I get.

 

check out oznium .com they have it all....

just splice into the cig lighter, as well as splicing into the int Light panel on the pass. side fuse.. then put a on/off/on switch so u can choose either door ajar or always on from the cig...and on the cig end put the dimmer..its pretty simple..

leds

on/off/on switch

and dimmer

lemme know if you need anything else.. make sure you also put a fuse from the switch to the lights just in case..like 2 amps should do..maybe three depending how many you are going to put..

 

I connected mine to the dash light dimmer switch, they only come on with the dash lights at night and a controllable dimmer

 

Same here

 

I can't believe I hadn't thought of that (not sarcasm). Thanks. I popped the panels out to see what I'm dealing with. Which wire of the two is positive and which is negative?

 

or does it matter as long as I match the wires making sure they're the same wire to each LED strip.

 

I did something like this for my one set of lights (hidden under the door itself) come on automatically when I open the doors. How I did it, was I wired the grounding wire to the button on the door jam there, this way when the button is release (IE the door opens) it completes the circuit and turns on the LEDs.

I used to have my LEDs wired up to the dash light dimmer switch but I have too many lights and I kept blowing fuses... I could have used a relay but I didn't feel like wiring that up so now I just have a switch. I might get a relay soon and wire it up that way because it was cool to have everything come on automatically when it got dark... but I'm taking a break from projects for now.

 

^ thats a good idea but wiring can get pretty confusing lol

 

once I get my led strips, can i just run a wire directly from the dashboard dimmer to the passenger led strip and tap the driver side led strip off of that wire?

Do I need any resistors?

 

If you get 12v LED strips then you're set. You won't need anything extra.

 

I made a mistake in my wiring. I tapped off the dashboard lights dimmer which until now i thought were 12v. Turns out they're 3v. I ordered 12v leds *bangs head on table*

 

Well... you would pick one of the other. A switch is easy to wire:

Switch
__/___
+ ----------| |---------------\
=LEDS
- --------------------------------/

If that makes sense.