Map Lights on with Dome light Mod

^ Agreed. If you can't handle a few diodes and wires, and very clear instructions, you probably shouldn't be modding your car at all.

^ Agreed. If you can't handle a few diodes and wires, and very clear instructions, you probably shouldn't be modding your car at all.

 

Well, I don't know about that...maybe some people aren't electrically "comfortable" but can turn a wrench blindfolded. Who knows?

 

But, if you meant that if he can't handle a few diodes and wires and very clear instructions, he probably shouldn't be ELECTRICALLY modding his car at all...well, I'd agree.

....anyway...

I am electrical engineer and made VERY sure I knew what the circuit

was and how I was modifying it. It DOES seem like a fairly foolishly

risky thing, if you're not capable of this understanding. For example,

as to those "very clear" instructions - the instructions assume the

wiring shown in the manual is incorrect (the wires to the dome light

are reversed from what is shown); but imagine some serial numbers

of the car agree with the manual, then doing the wire reversal as

described in the instructions would fry the BIU.

Will this work with LEDs, since they are polarity sensitive?

Put LED light in... nothing. Flip LED light around... it works.

ta-dah

I can do as the instructions say - that's not what my problem is. The issue doesn't seem to be getting it to work - it's how do you prevent the BIU from burning out?

 

From what I read, we're taking a circuit off the BIU that is designed to handle 12v, right? We're forcing it to handle two additional 12v loads? That's what causes the burn out? So is resolution is to do the mod but go with LEDs to prevent the heavy load on the BIU?

 

That seems like it's less about the skill of the installer and more along the lines of how long will it last before it burns up, or reducing the load on the BIU.

 

So an answer of 'easy, you go with LEDs' would suffice as opposed to 'if you can't handle a few diodes and wires'.

Put LED light in... nothing. Flip LED light around... it works.

 

Right on! I got tomorrow night's project!

From what I read, we're taking a circuit off the BIU that is designed to handle 12v, right? We're forcing it to handle two additional 12v loads? That's what causes the burn out? So is resolution is to do the mod but go with LEDs to prevent the heavy load on the BIU?

 

 

No one knows what causes the BIU to fry... it's most likely a direct short to ground or a sending voltage down the wrong way on a wire.

gah. so i ordered leds from autolumination.com

instead of sending me the 31mm bulbs that I ordered, they sent 39mm ones. Are these people going to be trouble dealing with trying to get the right ones? any advice?

 

superbrightleds.com. never had a problem with them. they always send the right stuff and its really cheap. cheap usually means it doesnt last but so far all of my leds ive done are still fully functional

subscribed. I just got my LEDs from diode dynamics off this site, going to go out to radio shack in a few to pick up the diodes.

I finally got around to doing this mod today. I went with a solderless route as I do not have a soldering iron at home but I do have a ton of crimp connectors. Like others here I slip the anode end of the diode under the flat part of metal and around a screw to hold it in place. The cathode end (end with gray ring) gets trimmed a little and crimped to a short section of wire. I used:

 

1. A package of "IN4005 rectified diodes" from radio shack, #276-1104. I do not know if these are the best for the application but they work.

2. Two "red" butt connectors

3. One "blue" female spade connector

4. One "red" male spade connector

5. One splice connector.

6. a few feet of 18gage wire

 

I disconnected the 20amp fuse (#8 in the engine compartment, used vacation pics to find which is #8), very good idea as it's nearly impossible to not touch the two power terminals together when you swap them in the connector. This took the longest time of the entire mod, figuring how to take the wires out of the connector w/o destroying everything. I had to use one flat eyeglass screwdriver from the wire side to pry one part up/out, and another flat from the terminal size to pry up/out the typical clip, and a third hand to pull out the wires (I used my mouth cause I'm that good).

 

Pics:

http://www.absurdflow.com/obxt/maplightmod1.jpg

 

http://www.absurdflow.com/obxt/maplightmod2.jpg

 

Running the wire around the sunroof was very simple, the trim piece just pulls away. I figured it was held on with glue but that's not the case. Very simple.

http://www.absurdflow.com/obxt/maplightmod3.jpg

 

A BIG thanks to the OP for this mod.

Edited December 24, 2011 by timmafod
Fixed broken picture links

Looks good Tim, I'm definitely impressed with the effort to take the prongs out of hte plugs the "right" way. I would have hacked that shit right apart.

 

We might have to tackle this when I come talk to you about the Miata piping.

Really wanted to see this one work. I'm comfortable with wiring and soldering and could not see any way to screw up good, clear directions. But somehow I managed not only to blow the #8 20 amp fuse, now I have no power to my whole center stack (HVAV, CD/radio, and clock/computer.) I do have the driver's map light switch overheated/stuck and I'll see about fixing that first. I wanted to see if anyone could help me figure out what i need to do to get power back to the console.

Addition to the early A.M. post:

I also have no power on the interior lights and the remote door unlock doesn't work. Did I bone the BIU?

probably

How hard is it to find a used biu?

Maybe here http://stores.ebay.com/android-ver8?_rdc=1 or others like it?

Just re-read the thread and when I read icy's post from 12/04/06 thought I should re-check the fuse. Lo and behold some idiot put the fuse in the wrong spot!!! Wonder who?? Thanks to all who repied and I think I might try this again.

I hate to have to filter through 7 pages of posts....but does anyone know if this mod is compatible with LED interior lights? Since they are polarity sensitive, I thought I'd ask....THanks!

put LED in. No light. Flip LED around. Light.

Wow!! I just did the rewire on my 2005 Legacy GT and it is awesome. They should have wired it this way in the first place. Nice to have the whole car light up instead of just the backseats. Thanks for your clear instructions.

I did this mod... Thanks! Works terrific! And I used 2 31mm 6 LED Super High Flux festoon bulbs per page 5 of this thread and within a few days both LEDs burned out. Has this happened to anyone else? I plugged the old bulbs back in and they work fine. I am returning the bad LEDs back to autoillumination who btw have been great to work with.

I did this mod... Thanks! Works terrific! And I used 2 31mm 6 LED Super High Flux festoon bulbs per page 5 of this thread and within a few days both LEDs burned out. Has this happened to anyone else? I plugged the old bulbs back in and they work fine. I am returning the bad LEDs back to autoillumination who btw have been great to work with.

I believe I used those same bulbs and they've been going strong for

over a year. I found autolumination good too, when the LED array I

used for the dome lost a solder joint; another guy here reports bad

experience with them though.