This is my first time writing up a DIY so, if im missing something or not explaining clearly, please let me know.
I don't have a whole lot of pictures for this, as I did not thought about writing up a DIY at the time. Sorry for the lack of pics.
*It is recommended that you read through this DIY before purchasing any parts and tools.
**Time consumption: really depends on your ability and knowledge with wires and electricity. It took me 3 days, around 2 hours each plus running around for materials, to figure it out and make adjustments accordingly, but with this guide it should take you around 2 hours for the complete job.
***This setup only works if ignition is on. To make it operate with dome light and doors you will need to wire them to dome light, and some other stuff. that i am still educating myself on
im going to split it into a few sections (so that you can find what you need without reading stuff you dont need):
A. Background
B. Tools you need
C. Procedure
D. Credits
E. Photos
A. Background
Well, i've always wanted to have floor lights in my car, but i was not 100% sure about how to do it and if i am capable of doing it even with the light strips and tools at hand.
i finally decided to do the floor light after the week-long trip to San Francisco at the end of 2012/ beginning of 2013. My friends and i rented a ford escape and it has lighting package (floor lights, cup holder lights, center console lights etc) and i loved it.
So i started researching once i got back, started a thread to discuss possible plans and getting myself educated (thread located here: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/103-3rd-4th-generation-1992-1996-1997-2001/439889-floor-lights-gen-4-a.html) and messed up a few times. but hey, it's DIY, learn from your mistakes, right?
2. Tools you need
-LED Strips
I ordered mine through V-leds.com. i got 4 strips of 6inch 6K white. however, these come with pin heads that will require some modification before you can use them. i forgot how much i spent on them
![Image]()
you dont need to get them from v-leds.com. any strip that fit your budget and need will do.
-wires
i used Cerrowire 65 ft. 20/2 Bell Wire from homedepot. i heard that speaker wires work as well, but i don't know. this costed me around 8 bucks
(no pic for this, just go to homedepot.com and look for it)
-E-tape
-wire-stripper
-Flashlight (to see better, this is optional)
-impact wrench
-on/off switch (part number: PT297-89013-sw) costed me about 13 bucks
-inline fuse holder and fuse (i used 7.5 amp)
-9V battery (does not need to be new)
-Screw driver
C. Procedure
1. disconnect the car battery. This is extremely important and i learned the lesson the hard way.
2. run the bell wire from your kick panel fuse box, under front seat, around center console (from rear seats), then under front passenger seat, then finally under the glove box. for future reference in this DIY, i will call it "main wire"
*Suggestion: run more than you need. you can always adjust the length and you will need to cut them to connect to your LEDs anyways. (no pic for this)
3. now the hard part. If you have the v-leds.com strips, cut off the pin head and strip the wires so that you have loose ends, then use a 9V battery to find out the positive and negative wires. cut a short segment of bell wire, about 4 inches long, and wire them to your positive and negative of your LED wires. Use the e-tape to secure the connection. Test with the battery to make sure connection is secured. Repeat for all LED strips.
*if you got bad eye sight or big hand, you will spend quite a lot of time on this.
4. Now, connect them to the main wire. Positive to positive, negative to negative. To do so, you will need to cut the main wire at the location where you want to install your LEDs to create an intersection for the current. For instance, for positive wire: one from the main wire, one from your led strip, and one to carry on the current onto the next LED.
Twist the 3 wires together and secure the connection with e-tape. Do this for all positives and negatives (positive to positive, negative to negative)
*For the front passenger side, you don't need to cut any wire as there is no place to lead the current to, so just connect the end of the main wire to your led strip to create a loop.
*power source (+)-> first LED(+)-> second LED(+)->third LED (+)-> fourth LED (+) and (-)->third LED (-)-> second LED (-) ->first LED (-) -> ground (-)
**At this point, you should be adjusting the length of the main wire.
5. This step will guide you to install an on/off switch and fuse. if you dont want to use the switch, skip this step.
There should be a black rectangular plastic peace right next to the dash dimmer. Push it out from inside the kick panel.
Then, hook up the positive wire from your main wire on to the switch. it doesn't really matter which pin you hook it up to.
To hook up the inline fuse holder, you need 2 segments of wire. Strip them a bit deep, and twist them to both sides of the fuse holder, and then hook up one of them to the switch.
A diagram would look like: wire(+)->fuse holder(+)->wire (+)->on/off switch (+)->main wire (+)
After you are done, push the switch back to the empty slot that you just created from removing the rectangular plastic piece
6. Tap it into the gauge fuse slot. Search the internet for how to do this.
if you have on/off switch, the diagram looks like this:
gauge fuse slot (+)->wire(+)->fuse holder(+)->wire (+)->on/off switch (+)->main wire (+)
if no on/off switch, then:
gauge fuse slot (+)->main wire (+)
gauge fuse is only live when ignition is on. i haven't found any fuse that is hot in the kick panel box that is live all the time. (if i do i will switch it, i got the on/off switch anyways)
7. ground the main wire.
to do this, you will need to find any naked bolts connected to the frame. I used the screw that secures front seat rail on to the floor. You will need an impact wrench to loosen the screw, put the ground around the screw, then tighten it.
8. connect your car battery, test it out, stick the strips on desired location, and you are done!
*If somehow it doesn't work, check for loose connection on "intersection" wires (places that connect the main wires and LED). always check from the driver floor, as this set up is a serial circuit.
D. Credits
Special thanks to TN members for the supporting, answering my questions, and planning this mod.
E. Photos
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
(i redid the wire on front passenger side, there's no wire visible now as they are all under the floor mat)
![Image]()
I don't have a whole lot of pictures for this, as I did not thought about writing up a DIY at the time. Sorry for the lack of pics.
*It is recommended that you read through this DIY before purchasing any parts and tools.
**Time consumption: really depends on your ability and knowledge with wires and electricity. It took me 3 days, around 2 hours each plus running around for materials, to figure it out and make adjustments accordingly, but with this guide it should take you around 2 hours for the complete job.
***This setup only works if ignition is on. To make it operate with dome light and doors you will need to wire them to dome light, and some other stuff. that i am still educating myself on
im going to split it into a few sections (so that you can find what you need without reading stuff you dont need):
A. Background
B. Tools you need
C. Procedure
D. Credits
E. Photos
A. Background
Well, i've always wanted to have floor lights in my car, but i was not 100% sure about how to do it and if i am capable of doing it even with the light strips and tools at hand.
i finally decided to do the floor light after the week-long trip to San Francisco at the end of 2012/ beginning of 2013. My friends and i rented a ford escape and it has lighting package (floor lights, cup holder lights, center console lights etc) and i loved it.
So i started researching once i got back, started a thread to discuss possible plans and getting myself educated (thread located here: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/103-3rd-4th-generation-1992-1996-1997-2001/439889-floor-lights-gen-4-a.html) and messed up a few times. but hey, it's DIY, learn from your mistakes, right?
2. Tools you need
-LED Strips
I ordered mine through V-leds.com. i got 4 strips of 6inch 6K white. however, these come with pin heads that will require some modification before you can use them. i forgot how much i spent on them
you dont need to get them from v-leds.com. any strip that fit your budget and need will do.
-wires
i used Cerrowire 65 ft. 20/2 Bell Wire from homedepot. i heard that speaker wires work as well, but i don't know. this costed me around 8 bucks
(no pic for this, just go to homedepot.com and look for it)
-E-tape
-wire-stripper
-Flashlight (to see better, this is optional)
-impact wrench
-on/off switch (part number: PT297-89013-sw) costed me about 13 bucks
-inline fuse holder and fuse (i used 7.5 amp)
-9V battery (does not need to be new)
-Screw driver
C. Procedure
1. disconnect the car battery. This is extremely important and i learned the lesson the hard way.
2. run the bell wire from your kick panel fuse box, under front seat, around center console (from rear seats), then under front passenger seat, then finally under the glove box. for future reference in this DIY, i will call it "main wire"
*Suggestion: run more than you need. you can always adjust the length and you will need to cut them to connect to your LEDs anyways. (no pic for this)
3. now the hard part. If you have the v-leds.com strips, cut off the pin head and strip the wires so that you have loose ends, then use a 9V battery to find out the positive and negative wires. cut a short segment of bell wire, about 4 inches long, and wire them to your positive and negative of your LED wires. Use the e-tape to secure the connection. Test with the battery to make sure connection is secured. Repeat for all LED strips.
*if you got bad eye sight or big hand, you will spend quite a lot of time on this.
4. Now, connect them to the main wire. Positive to positive, negative to negative. To do so, you will need to cut the main wire at the location where you want to install your LEDs to create an intersection for the current. For instance, for positive wire: one from the main wire, one from your led strip, and one to carry on the current onto the next LED.
Twist the 3 wires together and secure the connection with e-tape. Do this for all positives and negatives (positive to positive, negative to negative)
*For the front passenger side, you don't need to cut any wire as there is no place to lead the current to, so just connect the end of the main wire to your led strip to create a loop.
*power source (+)-> first LED(+)-> second LED(+)->third LED (+)-> fourth LED (+) and (-)->third LED (-)-> second LED (-) ->first LED (-) -> ground (-)
**At this point, you should be adjusting the length of the main wire.
5. This step will guide you to install an on/off switch and fuse. if you dont want to use the switch, skip this step.
There should be a black rectangular plastic peace right next to the dash dimmer. Push it out from inside the kick panel.
Then, hook up the positive wire from your main wire on to the switch. it doesn't really matter which pin you hook it up to.
To hook up the inline fuse holder, you need 2 segments of wire. Strip them a bit deep, and twist them to both sides of the fuse holder, and then hook up one of them to the switch.
A diagram would look like: wire(+)->fuse holder(+)->wire (+)->on/off switch (+)->main wire (+)
After you are done, push the switch back to the empty slot that you just created from removing the rectangular plastic piece
6. Tap it into the gauge fuse slot. Search the internet for how to do this.
if you have on/off switch, the diagram looks like this:
gauge fuse slot (+)->wire(+)->fuse holder(+)->wire (+)->on/off switch (+)->main wire (+)
if no on/off switch, then:
gauge fuse slot (+)->main wire (+)
gauge fuse is only live when ignition is on. i haven't found any fuse that is hot in the kick panel box that is live all the time. (if i do i will switch it, i got the on/off switch anyways)
7. ground the main wire.
to do this, you will need to find any naked bolts connected to the frame. I used the screw that secures front seat rail on to the floor. You will need an impact wrench to loosen the screw, put the ground around the screw, then tighten it.
8. connect your car battery, test it out, stick the strips on desired location, and you are done!
*If somehow it doesn't work, check for loose connection on "intersection" wires (places that connect the main wires and LED). always check from the driver floor, as this set up is a serial circuit.
D. Credits
Special thanks to TN members for the supporting, answering my questions, and planning this mod.
E. Photos
(i redid the wire on front passenger side, there's no wire visible now as they are all under the floor mat)
)
