Hello, well i want to put LED's in areas where they are needed (and some areas that its not needed lol) i already put 2 led's in the cupholders, now i want to put one led in each door right on top of the door handle, but i have no idea how to do it, i know how to take the door panel off and everything but i dont know what to connect the wires to for the LED to work and turn on with the headlights, basically like the ashtray light does, also want to put LED's in the cupholders in the back seats and stuff, and other places not sure of yet lol, well can someone please help me out and give me ideas of what to connect them to so they turn on with the headlights, please lol

 

Hey, here is a quick DIY that i wrote up for a fellow member on this site. I did this real quick for him and PMd it to him. Its wired so it turns on with the doors opening only and then to a switch for control yourself. If you want them to turn on with the headlights, then splice into the headlight wire near your fuses. Here, this should give you the idea: PM me if needed.

By splicing into the interior dome lights NEGATIVE wire, this will allow the LED lights to come on when you open your car door to be able to see and will turn off when the door is shut just like you dome lights would. If you add a switch into this mix, it will allow you to also turn them on and off whenever you want. If you do not want them to turn on when you open the door, then do not splice into the dome lights neg. wire, just ground it elsewhere like a bare metal screw in you footwell. Here is a picture of the wiring that should sum it all up, its not hard at all.

In this pic above, you can see the blue wire that is spliced for a negative. That is the dome light wire that allows the lights to come on and off with the doors opening and closing. The red wire is a 24/7 constant power source and should ONLY be used if you using a switch to turn them off...otherwise your LEDs will never turn off which is bad. Thats why some people wire to the cig. lighter but i don't want my LEDs on when my car is on all the time so i use rocker switches on my switch panel. Here is a different pic i took that shows a ground spot if your not splicing.

From these spots in either pic, you will want to run one positive wire from this spot to the switch and a ground from here to the switch. Then you will want to run another positive wire from you switch to you LEDs which would be the source. Then again, you will also run the negative wire from the LEDs to a ground source. You can either choose a bare metal spot or you can use the location as above. here is a pic of my switches to give you a better idea:

The wiring isn't hard at all man. Like i said, run a positive from the source spot to the switch and a negative from the main source to the switch. Then run the LEDs positive from the LEDs to the switch and then run the LEDs negative wire to a ground spot or the place i showed you in the 2nd pic. Hope this works for you. It may not be my best right up and i apologize for that. I just woke up. had a long fun night. If you need more information on anything at all, do not wait to ask me. Im here and will be checking my mail all day. Im here if ya need help. Hope this helps for now man. I do recommend disconnecting the battery if your not use to doing this because you may blow a couple fuses if you dont. I learned this. You choice. you'll only blow a fuse if you accidently touch a positive wire while its plugged in. Youll alos need electrical tape and the connector end that are shown in the pic for connecting wires. they are cheap at walmart or radioshack. good luck. ask if you have questions. Later man.

P.S. It is much easier if you use a 3 prong switch like i did and not a 2 prong.
If you need a better write up for your specific need, PM me or ask me on the post. later

 

so lets say i have a 3 prong switch, i connect the upper wire which is a negative, the middle which is connected to that thing that you had showed in the 1st and 2nd picture, and the bottom wire which goes to the possitive of the led, correct so far? but also where does the negative from the led go?

 

Correct but you need to also ground the LED negative wire to the switch or to the metal chassis of your car.

 

got it, so ill try it out, but where can i buy a 3 prong switch

 

Not sure if it will help you much (depends on what you are doing), but here is a link to some info I wrote up to clarify led design info. Doesnt cover where to tap power on the tC, but does explain how an LED works and how to calculate load resistors.

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=158943

 

ScionJim - do you have lighted single-throw switches? Just asking because if they're double-throw you're going to fry something. That negative on the switch is only needed if they have lights in them.

I'm not real clear on how you wired everything. Where does the ground from the dome light come into play? If you are using that for the LED's you need to run it into the doors, along with a constant power wire (that is probably available inside the door). With a single pole switch like that you can only switch ground OR positive, not both.

All my lighting is wired to double-throw OFF-ON-ON switches so the choices are 1) all lighting off 2) lighting comes on when door opens 3) all lighting on.

 

You can go to any auto store and find numerous styles of 3 pronged switches to fit your taste or you can do what I did and go to www.onzium.com, where they have OEM Scion switches for like 10 bucks. Wicked cheap, clean and it makes it look stock. There are two styles, one with LED indicator and without. I got one with an amber led and it looks great. I think the LED switch has 3 prongs while the other one doesn't I think.

 

how do i set up a switch for me to choose how i want it, all lights off, lights on with doors, or all lights on, how would i do that? and also where are the headlight wires so i can tap into them, because i still want the lights to go on with the headlights, i connected the front cupholder led lights that i put in to the ashtray lights, but where is there something closer for the doors?

 

you guys are making things to complicated. Im using a 2 way rocker switch with a LED on it. I wired my ground from the switch to a ground spot NEAR THE FUSES and my LED negative to my chassis. I've had no problems at all. And the dome light wire only comes into play when wanting THE LEDS TO COME ON WHEN THE DOORS OPEN AND OFF WHEN THEY CLOSE. I then applied a switch into the mix for when the doors are closed, i can have control of the LEDs on my own for OFF and ON. This isnt that hard at all. If you want a power source in the door, im not sure of the wire, but its the power wire for your windows that you need to splice in to. good luck.

P.S. I've sent this simple DIY to many people on this site through PM and its worked perfect for them with no problems at all. They were total electrical newbies asking for help and they did this with no problem at all and it works perfect for them so it isnt that hard. As for the headlight wire, i think its orange or white in place of the blue.

 

I'm just confused about how the switch is wired. By two-position switch do you mean ON-OFF-ON, or just ON-OFF? If it's the second then you only need to connecto the ground wire to the switch if it's lighted. The ground tab is there to provide ground for the light in the switch. If it's an ON-OFF-ON switch then I don't understand how your circuit works without frying anything because all of the ON-OFF-ON switches I've seen switch the center tap from one end terminal to the other with a no connection position in the center.

 

Yes its an ON OFF SWITCH only with a Blue LED on it. I have the switch grounded to that prong. I just suggested to him that he needs to ground it like i did and he can also ground his LEDs to that point also if he wants incase he cannot find a bare metal spot on the car or a groud point.

 

too many replies, can someone just write it out....example

switch:
positive you put ......
negative you put......

led:
positive you put.....
negative you put.....

and which wires connect to each other, btwn switch and led

im sorry for making it so complicated, but i dont get it lol

 

Alright well lets try this now. This is my last try. This should be understandable even though i did this in less then 5 mins here at work while i have some available time. Here. try this. It shows 2 leds but you can use and hook up more together and also off of one switch. You can also ground everything together like in the pic( did it this way because i thought it be easier) or ground the switch and leds seperatly. As for what color the headlight wire is, im not sure. I only know the dome one. Anyways, when you find it, you would splice it into the negative wires and ground it with them. Here ya go:

 

so wait, the ON position is the negative, and the off is positive?

 

no, i just placed those prongs in that order for reference. They have nothing to due with whats written next to them. On the back of a rocker switch, you will see 3 prongs. 2 positives and one negative like in the pic. I just placed them in that order for reference so you could see how to hook them up. They will be labeled on the back of the switch you buy or on the package.

 

well i bought a switch in radio shack today, and i got the one that has 3 prongs, ON - OFF - ON, so im guessing the OFF is the negative, which is ground, one of the ON's is as shown above, but how about the 3rd ON...what do i plug that one into?

 

no, the off has nothing to do with the negative. It just grounds the switch and grounds an LED if the switch has one on it. And just because it has 3 prongs doesn't mean its ON OFF ON. mine is 3 prongs and mine are ON OFF. The switch had a ground prong for the switch itself, a positive for the incoming power source, and another positive prong for the power that it is sending out to the source your using (in your case, to the LEDS)

 

So OFF is ground rather than negative?and it actually says on the switch, ON -- OFF -- ON....so top and bottom switch position is ON and the middle position is OFF....so one of the ON's goes to the LED's, the other ON goes to the 12v, and the OFF is grounded to the chassee somewhere?

 

No. Your switch doesn't have a light (LED) internally. The switch you've purchased is known as a "SPDT" (single pole, double throw) - meaning it will switch whatever is applied to the center pin (+12V in this example), to either of the output pins (marked 'ON'). Your switch does not need the ground applied, anywhere. You can wire your switch with the center pin having +12V, and either of the pins marked "on" with the LEDs. The only thing that will change is the direction of the switch (up/down) to turn them on.

Also, for safety's sake, PLEASE install an inline fuse near the power source!!