Door Handle LEDs DIY/HOW-TO
02-17-2010, 11:17 AM
#1
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Door Handle LEDs DIY/HOW-TO
Ok, so I decided to put in some exterior door handle LEDs yesterday (blue, to match the rest of my interior LEDs).
-Now, about the procedure. The only way to get the door handle LEDs to light up when you push 'unlock' on your keyfob is to wire them to the dome light inside the car. You have to wire both positive AND negative LED leads to the dome light wires, because it is ground controlled (the positive always has power, even when the car is off, but the ground controls when the LEDs are on) In this write-up, I will explain the easiest way to wire everything up. It requires no drilling... just a couple quick splice connecters, some soldering skills, and a hot glue gun. You also have to know how to take the door panels off (search for that, it's really quite simple).
-Here is a video of my LEDs in action (sorry for the quality, but you get the idea):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPUlgy96BiA
So, here we go...
First, remove the A-pillars by pulling from the top (there are a few snaps, and the pillars will come out easily) This is where the dome light wires run.
As you can see, I spliced into the dome light wires here. The red wire with the stripe (i think the stripe is grey... anyway, it's the only red wire with a stripe) is the positive wire. The plain red wire is the dome light ground. I spliced a wire into each. (the wires I spliced in were each about 8 inches long) It's a small space under the pillar, so I didn't want to use a ton of wire taps... so what I did was use my soldering gun to melt the insulation off the 8 in. wires that I spliced in in as many places as I needed to power all 4 door handle LEDs. (I just soldered those wires in where I stripped the 8 inch wires)
To get power to the passenger side of the car, I simply ran a wire (spliced into the 8 inch wires) under the front edge of the headliner to the passenger side A-pillar. NOTE: Be sure to solder in a resistor for each of the LEDs somewhere in each of the positive wires INSIDE THE CAR (much easier than trying to do it right by each LED, cuz there isn't much space in each door handle)
Now, to get power to each of the back doors, just run wires (spliced into the 8 inch wire for the driver's side, and spliced into the wire you already ran across for the passenger side) under the weather stripping that is helping hold the headliner in.
Now, you'll need to run a wire down each of the B-Pillars. To get these off, simply pop off the seatbelt cap piece (exposing a 14mm bolt holding the seatbelt on) Remove the bolt to get the seatbelt out of the way. Now you'll be able to remove the pillar. Pull from the top (same as with the A-pillars) first, and you should be able to get them off pretty easily.
-Now, about the procedure. The only way to get the door handle LEDs to light up when you push 'unlock' on your keyfob is to wire them to the dome light inside the car. You have to wire both positive AND negative LED leads to the dome light wires, because it is ground controlled (the positive always has power, even when the car is off, but the ground controls when the LEDs are on) In this write-up, I will explain the easiest way to wire everything up. It requires no drilling... just a couple quick splice connecters, some soldering skills, and a hot glue gun. You also have to know how to take the door panels off (search for that, it's really quite simple).
-Here is a video of my LEDs in action (sorry for the quality, but you get the idea):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPUlgy96BiA
So, here we go...
First, remove the A-pillars by pulling from the top (there are a few snaps, and the pillars will come out easily) This is where the dome light wires run.
As you can see, I spliced into the dome light wires here. The red wire with the stripe (i think the stripe is grey... anyway, it's the only red wire with a stripe) is the positive wire. The plain red wire is the dome light ground. I spliced a wire into each. (the wires I spliced in were each about 8 inches long) It's a small space under the pillar, so I didn't want to use a ton of wire taps... so what I did was use my soldering gun to melt the insulation off the 8 in. wires that I spliced in in as many places as I needed to power all 4 door handle LEDs. (I just soldered those wires in where I stripped the 8 inch wires)
To get power to the passenger side of the car, I simply ran a wire (spliced into the 8 inch wires) under the front edge of the headliner to the passenger side A-pillar. NOTE: Be sure to solder in a resistor for each of the LEDs somewhere in each of the positive wires INSIDE THE CAR (much easier than trying to do it right by each LED, cuz there isn't much space in each door handle)
Now, to get power to each of the back doors, just run wires (spliced into the 8 inch wire for the driver's side, and spliced into the wire you already ran across for the passenger side) under the weather stripping that is helping hold the headliner in.
Now, you'll need to run a wire down each of the B-Pillars. To get these off, simply pop off the seatbelt cap piece (exposing a 14mm bolt holding the seatbelt on) Remove the bolt to get the seatbelt out of the way. Now you'll be able to remove the pillar. Pull from the top (same as with the A-pillars) first, and you should be able to get them off pretty easily.
Last edited by jowo9; 02-17-2010 at 11:35 AM.
02-17-2010, 11:35 AM
#2
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The bottom portion of the B-pillar (the one that goes down to the floor) doesn't need to come all the way off, but you'll need to pull it out far enough to be able to run the wires under the weather stripping as shown
Now run each of the wires under all of the weather stripping you see, and then under the door panels that you've already popped off. Make a small hole in the vapor barrier (you may have to temporarily pull the corner of this off to thread the wire to the door handle) and run the wire through. Then run it through a hole in the metal to the BACKMOST of the 2 holes under the door handle. (you'll have to hold the handle up to get the wire through)
Make sure that the wire runs in to the underside of the door handle through the hole already present in the BACK SIDE of the handle (you can see it when the handle is pulled out) Once the wire is through, solder on an LED, and put electrical tape on any exposed wire/metal where you soldered. Then, as shown, use a hot glue gun to glue LED (and wire) in place.
-As you can see, I didn't run the wires through the channel that all the other door wires run through, because I knew that would be a huge hassle. I can deal with the wires where they are... they're quite inconspicuous and it saved me a lot of time and effort. I'll probably color them black with a sharpie. If you have any questions, please post them on the thread so that everyone can benefit from the answers. Thanks!!
Video of Door Handle LEDs in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPUlgy96BiA
Links to my other LED mods:
http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...-led-mods.html
http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...-109-leds.html
Last edited by jowo9; 02-17-2010 at 11:37 AM.
02-17-2010, 11:53 AM
#3
Nice write up. I'm not too big on the wires being exposed, but I wasn't aware that the dome light wires run up the driver's side A-pillar. I will be doing this mod soon. Post up some more night pics when you can.
02-17-2010, 12:18 PM
#5
nice write up! its better than mine lol u can also splice into the ignition switch light as well. i used the same method of no drilling the handles, for the back door wires i just ran mine inside the existing rubber sleeve where the rest of the wires are fed. i used the same exact wire. i mounted my leds the same way but the bulbs are butt against the sides of the handles. im going to be doing more on mine soon.
02-17-2010, 12:33 PM
#7
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Yeah, having the wires show isn't a big deal to me. IMO it beats the hassle of trying to run them through the channels. I tried it on the driver's side, and it was waaaay to difficult and not worth the time. Again, my opinion only... 
And yeah, I'll post some nighttime pics as soon as i can get them.
And yeah, I'll post some nighttime pics as soon as i can get them.
02-17-2010, 05:56 PM
#8
a few things:
A) speaker wire...um....
B) i've said it time and time again. there is a place behind the door hinge that will get you into the cabin from the door. very hidden.
C) instead of having wires ran all over your car, tap the SECU. I made a pinout diagram of it for my TDM folding mirrors.
good luck to anyone who attempts this in the future, these tips will make for a lot cleaner installation.
A) speaker wire...um....
B) i've said it time and time again. there is a place behind the door hinge that will get you into the cabin from the door. very hidden.
C) instead of having wires ran all over your car, tap the SECU. I made a pinout diagram of it for my TDM folding mirrors.
good luck to anyone who attempts this in the future, these tips will make for a lot cleaner installation.
02-17-2010, 07:41 PM
#10
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a few things:
A) speaker wire...um....
B) i've said it time and time again. there is a place behind the door hinge that will get you into the cabin from the door. very hidden.
C) instead of having wires ran all over your car, tap the SECU. I made a pinout diagram of it for my TDM folding mirrors.
good luck to anyone who attempts this in the future, these tips will make for a lot cleaner installation.
A) speaker wire...um....
B) i've said it time and time again. there is a place behind the door hinge that will get you into the cabin from the door. very hidden.
C) instead of having wires ran all over your car, tap the SECU. I made a pinout diagram of it for my TDM folding mirrors.
good luck to anyone who attempts this in the future, these tips will make for a lot cleaner installation.
B) Ok, but this was 10 times easier.
C) Either way, I don't see a huge difference. Running the wires took me all of 10 minutes. I simply tapped into the dome light wires in the A-pillar.
-The only thing that would have made this installation cleaner would be to conceal the wires. I explained why I didn't do this, and anyone who wants to can go ahead. Next time try the giving your suggestions and personal methods without sarcastic comments about the type of wire I used (which incidentally doesn't make the slightest difference).
Last edited by jowo9; 02-17-2010 at 07:47 PM.
02-17-2010, 11:48 PM
#14
Looks good. The only thing that would concern me about running over the door like that versus through the wire channel, though, is the opening and closing of the door may potentially break a wire, or pull something loose if a wire gets stretched. Especially if your buddies are like mine and are notorious door slammers.
Just my gut feeling, though. FWIW, I ran my speaker wires through the channels on another one of my cars. Took about 10 minutes extra.
Just my gut feeling, though. FWIW, I ran my speaker wires through the channels on another one of my cars. Took about 10 minutes extra.
02-18-2010, 02:22 PM
#15
im running the same gauge speaker wire as well i had 75ft of it laying around and i used pre wired leds from ebay. in all honesty ur running 2 little low powered lites theres no point in spending a redic amount of money on something so simple and small, speaker wire should be perfectly fine ive used it numerious times with 12v lites for neon, leds and have never had problems.
02-18-2010, 03:44 PM
#16
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im running the same gauge speaker wire as well i had 75ft of it laying around and i used pre wired leds from ebay. in all honesty ur running 2 little low powered lites theres no point in spending a redic amount of money on something so simple and small, speaker wire should be perfectly fine ive used it numerious times with 12v lites for neon, leds and have never had problems.
And nice job on the LEDs. Looks like I have a new project when it gets warmer outside.
02-18-2010, 03:49 PM
#17
02-18-2010, 07:47 PM
#19
02-18-2010, 07:48 PM
#20
02-22-2010, 06:49 AM
#22
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Starkville, MS
Posts: 125
just installed some white leds in my max this past weekend. im pretty excited about the end result with this mod. thanks for the write up. check out mine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppX0i5LIzjQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppX0i5LIzjQ
02-22-2010, 02:46 PM
#24
a few things:
A) speaker wire...um....
B) i've said it time and time again. there is a place behind the door hinge that will get you into the cabin from the door. very hidden.
C) instead of having wires ran all over your car, tap the SECU. I made a pinout diagram of it for my TDM folding mirrors.
good luck to anyone who attempts this in the future, these tips will make for a lot cleaner installation.
A) speaker wire...um....
B) i've said it time and time again. there is a place behind the door hinge that will get you into the cabin from the door. very hidden.
C) instead of having wires ran all over your car, tap the SECU. I made a pinout diagram of it for my TDM folding mirrors.
good luck to anyone who attempts this in the future, these tips will make for a lot cleaner installation.
02-22-2010, 06:37 PM
#25
Look up led / folding mirrors. Vastmax made a great pinout diagram off the secu that worked without any trouble. Just a little patience is needed lying on your back to see the wires but his diagram is clearly layed out for ANYONE to understand. Good luck.
02-23-2010, 05:39 AM
#26
so i pulled the fuse out to start on this today and i cut the 2 wires for the dome in the A-pillar and now when i reconnect them i get the dome lite on constantly. wtf? would cause this? i changed out the fuse (which wasnt blown) and it doesnt change a thing
02-23-2010, 11:49 AM
#28
anybody know anything on this???
02-23-2010, 01:16 PM
#29
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Location: Starkville, MS
Posts: 125
when you connected the wires back are you sure they are not reversed. the dome light come on with a ground switch. i think if you have those wire crossed then i think you would get this type of result. the red/green wire is positive and the solid red wire is negative. gl with the light.
02-25-2010, 04:32 AM
#30
when you connected the wires back are you sure they are not reversed. the dome light come on with a ground switch. i think if you have those wire crossed then i think you would get this type of result. the red/green wire is positive and the solid red wire is negative. gl with the light.
02-26-2010, 01:44 PM
#31
here's the thread:
http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...n-looking.html
and the pinout:
also, instead of cutting wires...you should use taps, these are my favorites:
http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...n-looking.html
and the pinout:
also, instead of cutting wires...you should use taps, these are my favorites:
02-26-2010, 02:03 PM
#32
03-01-2010, 12:42 PM
#34
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Location: London, ON, Canada
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