OK, so I installed some LED lights under my dash a while ago and just had them plugged into the cigarette lighter. I bought an add-a-fuse so that I could add them into the fuse panel so that they would turn on and off with the interior lights. I put them into slot 27 labelled interior lights and came to realize that the interior lights always have power to them. All you have to do is switch them on.

Now my question for everyone is where does the wire that goes to the map lights (turning them on when any door is opened or lock/unlock buttons on keyfod are used) run? I am trying to make it so that my lights will turn on when either a door is opened or the lock/unlock button on keyfob is used at night.

Does anyone have any other ideas as in to where I can tap into to allow the lights to function the same as the map lights(dome light on cars with no sun roof)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

is ur power fuse just a wire? try stripping it and putting it on the single output of the fuse 27 that doesnt have constant power. see what that does...

 

I'm pretty sure even the maps lights have a constant power, thats why they have an override feature where if you leave them on, they turn off after 20 minutes to save your battery. I mean I'm interested in doing this too, my dash leds run off the cig lighter with a toggle switch, and I've been meaning to wire it up to a switched 12v source (I only put em in last week, I was too busy to change em after I saw they were getting constant 12v). You could try and tap into the wires that run to the door switches, I'm not sure if it would work.


Oh here we go:

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/how-guide-43/add-courtesy-lamps-solved-not-56k-friendly-27689/

Keystone did exactly what you want to do. I might see if I can get a relay today and try this!

Edit: Actually these would only turn on with the doors on.. so yea, I think Emp has your solution

 

Its going to do absolutely nothing if you stick it into the side that doesn't have constant power. That side gets power when the fuse is inserted, and it has constant power just like the other side when the fuse is inserted (but running through the fuse).


If you want them to turn on the same time the map lights do as when hitting the fob or opening a door, you need to trace out which wire running to the rearview mirror goes hot when you unlock or open a door. Then, tap your power off of that (preferably through a relay) for your new lights.

According to Keystone's post that was linked above, you're looking for the gray wire running into the rearview mirror. Shouldn't be hard to figure out which wire to use with a voltmeter.

 

Hey, i actually jsut put my interiors lights in yesterday, i wired them to a switch then wired to a fuse in my box, i used this tool the find a fuse that only has power when the battery is on so i cant accidently leave my neons on when i park. Thats your best bet find a fuse like that, jsut becarful when wiring them. Im not sure how but i blew 3 fuses yesterday trying to figure out what was wrong. It turns out when i took the ground wire off the switch no fuses blew.

 

Does anyone know where the gray wire that goes to the map lights allowing them to come on when the car is unlocked or doors opened runs to. I would like to splice into that allowing the lights to come on when the doors are opened yet shut off when the lights dim off so they are off while driving. Im also going to have a constant power wired in so I can turn the lights on with a switch while driving if I need them.

Just trying to save the hassle of having to trace the wire to find a more reasonable location to splice into it if anyone knows or has a wiring diagram.

 

ok do you want the LED's to brighten up the car when you step in or just for show..cause if it is just for show i say, throw a switch on it and clean up the poer wires by tapping into the wires behind the ciggarette lighter, thats what i did.. check my photos for pics it looks super clean i places the switch right below the HVAC controls

 

im confused on how to run my LED wires....

i want them to only be able to be turned on with a switch.period. and the same thing for the LEDs under the car, cuz in michigan its illegal to drive with neon/underglow on

PS email me on how to do this please

 

buy a switch with 2 prongs... hook one up to a constant 12v... and the other to the leds power.

 

I have been wondering the same thing. I was looking into a simple method to add an LED or two into my new head unit dash pocket that would auto shutoff when the engine is started. It might not be stylish to highlite all the crap I leave in the pocket, but that thing is going to be a black hole otherwise.

Uppon thinking about it the wires pretty much haveto run down one of the A-pillars. The only thing that should be going up there is lighting power/dim and sunroof power. They dim to dark though, so it may be PWM.

 

I may have found what we need. If you checkout the pinouts section of bulldog security site, they have one for the cobalt. The "Dome light supervision" wire appears to be a gray wire connecting to the center console fuse box. It shows (-) by it, which I guess means negative activation ("on/off" signal = gnd/nc and NOT +12v I think).

They also found some wires for ignition and accessory, which may prove usefull for a better HU accessory connection.

 

ummm, dont you mean a 3 prong switch?

power, accesory, ground ?

your way is either goingto blow fuses left and rigth or the switch will be hot constantly !

i run all my blue lighting in my intereior off 1 switch ,3 prong and lights up blue as well.

tapped into the 12volt accessroy plug ( cig lighter by the shifter) spliced into the wire.put a in-line fuse in then ran that wire to the power prong on switch.ran the positive wire from the lighting and leds to the accesory prong on the switch. wired the ground to the switch and also drilled a hole in the metal and ran a sheetmetal screw through it for a ground.

i have had hothing wrong with this setup ! it works so well,i've done 4 or 4 cars out of the crew and i've had the same lights in 3 of my cars.i sell the cars and take the ligths out. good luck and ask if you have any questions