Gen 4 Dome Light Wiring

[SnakeyeS]

Does anyone know an easily accessable place where I can tap in to the +12V dome light wire? I am not looking for the door trigger wire but the dome's power supply. I am installing some courteousy lights

[SnakeyeS]

::

[Gary_602Z]

Fuse box!

Gary

[Super Kaioken]

if you want power, fuse box.........if you need the trigger to turn them on/off......the black button.

[SnakeyeS]

^^ yeah but do you mean using a fuse tap? The dome fuse is shared by many other devices, so my lights would always be on. Anyone know where the +12V dome goes after it "leaves" the dome light?

[Super Kaioken]

the remote wire that you tap to the button turns it on and off.......the fuse just supplies power.

[Camon19z]

wait are you guys talking about what i think u are? r u trying to get ur dome light to turn on when u unlock ur doors with the keyless entry or alarm? if thats what ur talking about someone with knowledge please respond it sounds likea fun and low cost project to keep us busy.

[Super Kaioken]

Originally Posted by Camon19z

wait are you guys talking about what i think u are? r u trying to get ur dome light to turn on when u unlock ur doors with the keyless entry or alarm? if thats what ur talking about someone with knowledge please respond it sounds likea fun and low cost project to keep us busy.

didn't your dome light come on when you use keyless entry unlock? all you gotta do is set it on "door" on your dome light for that to happen and i didn't even have to mod the car to do that. He is installing courtesy lights.....i installed door sills with a light in it.

[SnakeyeS]

kaioken, what black button are u referring to? R u talking about the dome light on/off switch? Basically, i want to tap into the dome light's +12V so my lights will come on when the door opens (if switch is set to door) or when i manually turn on the dome light (switch is set to on). I don't want to run a wire all the way up to the dome light to tap into it and am looking for a more accessible place where the +12v dome light wire comes into the dash.

[Super Kaioken]

on gen 5's if you look on the door, there is a black button that tells the dome light if the door is closed or not. which activates the dome light.

You can see it when you open the door.

[Camon19z]

oh sorrry to intrude on ur thread but the lights do not turn on when u unlock ur doors on a gen 4 if it is set to door u have to open the door for it to come on my question was how do u wire it so that when u hit the unlock button on ur keyless entry the dome loght come on. it doesnt come on when it is set to door until u open the door.

[SnakeyeS]

^^ that doesn't really help cause i don't have a gen 5. Anyone else know where the 12v dome light red wire comes into the cabin after "leaving" the dome light on a gen 4??

[JerryR]

Snakeye
the red wire on the dome light on most camrys that I'm familiar with, is 12v(solid), it may be routed via any kind of devices before it gets to the dome light, but essentially it is always a +12v that is there *all* the time, and *does not* change with the door open/close.
The switching is done on the ground return side of the dome light.
the other side of the dome light must provide a ground return for the lamp, this is done via the door switch.
I don't know how a 99 camry is wired, but I can tell you that in the 97 camry, the ground return wire(red/White) goes thru what toyota calls an "integration relay"(to provide the "fade" function), and than(Red/black) thru the driver side door switch to ground.(each door has it's own switch and wire color), I suspect that in the 99 XLE the ground return is even more sofisticated(in the 03 LE it goes thru the ECU).
I think that if you pull the door switch out (so it does not make contact with the frame) and measure the voltage on the wire/terminal you will find 12v.
this is the *only* 12v that get switched when the door opens or closes. (+12v-door closed, 0v- door open).
I must caution you, that some of the doors ground returns go thru diodes, and if you hook any thing at that point, you have to be careful not to ecxeed their current ratings.

HTH
JerryR

[SnakeyeS]

Thanks JerryR, you're the man. I will be using a relay so as to not pull much current from the dome light. Now, my question is, since there are 4 door triggers, where do i tap in order for my courtesy lights to illuminate when any of the 4 doors are opened??

[sn1cko]

SnakeyeS,

I'm unfamiliar with integrating relays in a setup in order to decrease current draw (or so I understand). Is this something I can just pick up at radio shack? And how do I put it in line?

I'm aiming on installing a pair of white cathode tubes to light up the area under the dash, and hopefully another pair to light up the foot area in the back as well. I was simply planning on connecting the positive wire of those cathode tubes to a constant 12V, and the negative wire to the same wire coming off of the negative side of the dome light. As mentioned earlier in this thread and from what I've been told, the negative side of the dome light (in the 'door' position) migh be 12V. When a door is open, the negative side of the dome light becomes ground, thereby completing the circuit and turning on the dome light. I just want to learn how to use these relays to avoid any potential problems.

Although I'm working with a 5th gen camry ('02 LE), the wiring may be analogous to that of previous years. I took a pic of the wiring diagram as pictured in a haynes manual (sorry, no scanner), hopefully you can verify if the circuits are the same, or how you go about tapping into the dome trigger.

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/8236/courtlights8qb.jpg