MrDicks95SE

iTrader: (23)

Ive got LED dome light, LED door lights and exterior puddle lights all hooked up but the power to the dome and puddle lights are very weak. the door lights are fine. ive tried changing the "Room L" fuse to a higher amp but no avail. All lights were working fine before but a couple weeks in, the dome light only has 2 leds on and the puddle lights are very weak. I spliced into the dome light to hook up the puddle lights. Anyone know the problem or can help?

ChrisMan287

iTrader: (34)

What do you mean by no avail? You should be able to put a higher amp in there to give it a little more juice.

IlyaK

iTrader: (47)

I have a similar issue.

I put in a dome light and map light that I got from another member. Basically, it's a little board within the stock housing that has like 12 LED's.

I wired it all up. Map light works fine. Door lights work fine. But the Dome light only turns on when I set it to the 'on' position. If I leave it in the middle, when I open the door, it does not turn on.

A friend told me it was my dome light switch, so I got another on ebay. Perhaps this is your issue as well. I will post again when I try the other one out.

I'm hoping I didn't short one of the two wires going to the dome light. If I did though, it wouldn't work period right? It works when I manually turn it on, but otherwise no it doesn't.

black_maxed95

iTrader: (41)

your fuse has nothing to do with how much power is supplied to the lights. its only a safety device.

have you used a multimeter to see if the power at the dome light is weaker than it should be?

mjmetcalf

I'm sorry but this isn't true. Putting in a bigger fuse doesn't give you more power. Let's say the lights draw 5 amps. No matter what size fuse you put in, the lights will only draw 5 amps. By putting in a bigger fuse, you are risking burning something out. Let's say you put in a bigger fuse and something gets shorted out. The normal fuse would have blown. The bigger fuse doesn't, allowing the extra current to flow through the wires. The wires aren't rated for that much current so they burn out, melting the insulation, smoking, and are now a possible fire hazard.

My initial guess would be that maybe your splice job wasn't very good and the connections loosened up. Double check that and if you have a voltmeter, verify you got 12 volts running everything.

The next guess would be that your puddle lights took a dump. Try disconnecting them from the dome to see if the dome light comes back to full power. If so, hook them back up one at a time until it dies out again. By the way, exactly what is a puddle light?

Just my guesses.

Thanks

MrDicks95SE

iTrader: (23)

ill check the splice job and voltage.

Puddle lights:

BLACKonBLACK98

iTrader: (42)

check the connection where you tapped the puddle lights. what did you use to make the connection (solder, tape, quick taps)?

MrDicks95SE

iTrader: (23)

solder and e-tape.

BLACKonBLACK98

iTrader: (42)

hmmm... that should be ok then... what about the puddle light ground?

MrDicks95SE

iTrader: (23)

grounded to the dome light ground.

BLACKonBLACK98

iTrader: (42)

try adding a ground directly to the chassis.

NousDefions

iTrader: (2)

Your problem is that you wired your dome light to the wrong ground within the housing.

There are two grounds; one switched, and one that makes a connection whenever the doors are open. If you confuse the two, or splice into the ground in a way that eliminates the "sensing" ground, it won't work.

IlyaK

iTrader: (47)

Oh I see. So just ground it to the bolt that screws into the roof? Would that be sufficient. If that is the case then great...I wasted money on another dome light from EBay lol.

I'll try it. Thanks.

OP, you should try the same.

NousDefions

iTrader: (2)

No, actually the opposite.

In the photo below, you'll notice where the ground was taken from... the original bulb's location. That way the switch is still in the circuit. You could solder direction onto that stock wire's location on the switch, as I did, but that's where you need to solder.

If you notice the lower ground on the picture, that's where the "sensing" ground is. If you have your wires soldered correctly right now, but that wire's washer isn't getting a proper contact with the mount in the roof, then your doors would fail to activate the light. That's probably what is going on.

IlyaK

iTrader: (47)

Oh my crap isn't soldered to the light at all.

Basically...I have the red and black wires spliced into the actual harness in the roof...then it goes into the light housing (small bulb) that is then inserted just like the regular bulb. Off of those wires is another splice that goes to the actual LED's. I can take a pic if that's confusing.

Do you have AIM? I don't want to keep hijacking this guys thread unless he is curious to the result of my situation.

MrDicks95SE

iTrader: (23)

lol i dont care. by all means. ive got my troubleshooting to do as well.