BLK GXP - I wish you were here in Milwaukee, WI. You would have yourself a paying customer. Love what you did with the LED lights. Like I said, its just what I have been looking for. If I attempted something like this, I would have wipers that came on with lights, mess it up for sure, and would probably find out what its like to be Tazered too - I will have to check locally to see if there is anyone who does interior electrical mods.
It's actually a somewhat simple hook-up. The hard part is finding the factory wires to connect to. I'm an electrician, by trade, so wiring doesn't bother me. I only work on my car's electrical accessories as a hobby though. I used to put some rather extensive aftermarket audio systems in my cars and compete at shows.
Now the cars are getting more complex themselves, so I try to avoid splicing into the harnesses too much. The gremlins are hard enough to keep away as it is.
The wire that turns on the map lights is a negative switch, meaning it goes to ground to turn on the lights. I believe it is the gray wire in the mirror harness. this wire would connect to the black wire on the LED strip. The red wire on the LED strip needs to be connected to a source that has +12v on it all the time. I plugged into one of the blank spots in the fuse panel in the passenger foot well with an inline fuse.
There is a chance that the lights will not go off when they should, because of how the BCM controls the lights. If so, a relay might be needed to isolate the lights from the BCM. Connecting to a stock mirror should be as simple as this. My installation is compounded by the auto dimming mirror, so I needed the relay.
A decent stereo shop should be able to do this rather easily, but I have no idea what they'd charge.
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Mysterious, Lightside, GXP, My Mod Page
Sorry to bother you so much on this one. Some more questions after looking in my car... Where did you access the mirror wiring harness? Is it by the fuse block or do I have to take off the pillar trim and splice in somewhere close to the mirror itself?
I have the standard GXP mirror with ONSTAR. Will I need a relay to make this work and how is that done?
Did you or can you take pictures of where you spliced this in and what the connections look like? That would be a big help...
Trying to find a place around here to do this in a decent area is like mission impossible. I am fairly certain a dealership would not do this... right?
I replaced my mirror a while back with an auto dimming mirror, so my install would be a bit different. I tapped the gray wire up in the wind shield trim by the mirror. I needed a relay for the new mirror, so I ran the new lights off of it. I don't think a relay should be needed with the stock mirror, but I don't know, cause I have not tried it. I also have no experience with the on star mirror. If you wire it according to the above post, and the lights don't go off, A relay or resistor will probably be needed.
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Mysterious, Lightside, GXP, My Mod Page
Looks good. Did you do the switch lights in the dash too?
I'm assuming you mean the overhead lights. No, I put those on the door switch for the doors. I took the stock door switch lights out, cause they were boring.
I'm assuming you mean the overhead lights. No, I put those on the door switch for the doors. I took the stock door switch lights out, cause they were boring.
The gauges and floor lights are all on a switch!
No. I was actually asking about the lights that light up the stuff on the dash. I can see that you did the gauges, but how bout the HVAC controls and stuff?
No. I was actually asking about the lights that light up the stuff on the dash. I can see that you did the gauges, but how bout the HVAC controls and stuff?
No.....I didn't get to those yet. For one, I was running out of time for the day and secondly, I didn't have any more LEDs. I don't even know what type of bulbs they are, and after about an hour of digging around the net, I couldn't find anything either. So that's my project this weekend...to figure out what is lighting up the switches and the HVAC unit.
I put in foot well lighting last summer. When I added my WR, I put a switch in the compartment between the two seats to turn the WR on and off. Then, when I added the foot well lighting, I just ran the wires to that same switch so my foot wells, and WR come on/off at the same time when the switch is turned on/off.
- I will have to check locally to see if there is anyone who does interior electrical mods.
