interior light question

[cobra11182]

anyone have any ideas on how I could run a small light in the interior of my car? I just wanta small light that will light up when the instrument panel does. I was wondering what kind of light, or harness I cold use. Thanks

 

[HISSIN50]

anyone have any ideas on how I could run a small light in the interior of my car? I just wanta small light that will light up when the instrument panel does. I was wondering what kind of light, or harness I cold use. Thanks

its easy. you have several options. depends upon how much juice you are gonna pull with your light (no application given, so...??). the best way to do it is to tap into the ISO fuse (either 13 or18, cant remember). its a 3 amper.whatever is hooked to that fuse will dim with the dimmer, like the instrument lighting.

so if you have a small draw light (like a led or small bulb for a gauge), just tap it into the dead side of the ISO fuse (when the fuse is pulled, one side is dead, one is not. use the dead side so you have fuse protection).

you can use a DMM to check for voltage draw on the light being installed(one reason i like using led lighting, as many draw under 20 mA).

you dont want to overload the iso circuit. if it is something larger in draw, you will want to set up a relay, using a wire tapped from the iso fuse as a trigger for the relay. since this will likely only be on with the car on, the extra 150 mA draw of the relay is no biggie at all. and you could run whatever you want with a relay.

i always like to stick an inline fuse on whatever i install. so say you tap off the iso fuse (3amp, IIRC). id stick a 1 amp fuse on whatever i install (given that a 1 amp fuse is appropriate), so that theoretically, the 1 amp fuse will blow before the stock iso fuse does. thus, preserving the stock lighting in the event that the wiring you do has shorted out, etc. just good practice, IMO.

good luck.

 

[hllon4whls]

its easy. you have several options. depends upon how much juice you are gonna pull with your light (no application given, so...??). the best way to do it is to tap into the ISO fuse (either 13 or18, cant remember). its a 3 amper.whatever is hooked to that fuse will dim with the dimmer, like the instrument lighting.

so if you have a small draw light (like a led or small bulb for a gauge), just tap it into the dead side of the ISO fuse (when the fuse is pulled, one side is dead, one is not. use the dead side so you have fuse protection).

you can use a DMM to check for voltage draw on the light being installed(one reason i like using led lighting, as many draw under 20 mA).

you dont want to overload the iso circuit. if it is something larger in draw, you will want to set up a relay, using a wire tapped from the iso fuse as a trigger for the relay. since this will likely only be on with the car on, the extra 150 mA draw of the relay is no biggie at all. and you could run whatever you want with a relay.

i always like to stick an inline fuse on whatever i install. so say you tap off the iso fuse (3amp, IIRC). id stick a 1 amp fuse on whatever i install (given that a 1 amp fuse is appropriate), so that theoretically, the 1 amp fuse will blow before the stock iso fuse does. thus, preserving the stock lighting in the event that the wiring you do has shorted out, etc. just good practice, IMO.

good luck.

If he hooks a relay up to the iso fuse and that is controlled by the dimmer, he will get erratic results as he uses the dimmer. The relay may not engage unless the dimmer is fully bright and may actually cause it to chatter.

 

[HISSIN50]

Hllon, thanks so much. i had a total brain fart there. i meant to say if it is something large, tap off of the parking light wire (brown in kick panel, IIRC), and run a relay, using that brown wire as a trigger, if necessary. i was thinking that, but typed wrong stuff (reading it now, i did the "DOH" smack into my forehead). you are dead on. a relay off the ISO is a horrible idea (i can think of how it could be done, but there would be some other electronics and soldering to be done. it would be rube goldberg-ish). certainly not worth it.
thanks again for catching my goof. now we just need the poster to tell us what he is doing.

 

[hllon4whls]

Hllon, thanks so much. i had a total brain fart there. i meant to say if it is something large, tap off of the parking light wire (brown in kick panel, IIRC), and run a relay, using that brown wire as a trigger, if necessary. i was thinking that, but typed wrong stuff (reading it now, i did the "DOH" smack into my forehead). you are dead on. a relay off the ISO is a horrible idea (i can think of how it could be done, but there would be some other electronics and soldering to be done. it would be rube goldberg-ish). certainly not worth it.
thanks again for catching my goof. now we just need the poster to tell us what he is doing.

No sweat, All I really know is 2 things.

Electonics need FM and smoke to work.
1 If you ever let the smoke out of an electronic circuit, it no longer works.
2 FM = Freaking Magic. Like when an IC without a ground works fine except for every 3rd clock cycle.

Yah, some more info would be good. Cobra1182 help us to help you. What kinda light do you want, a disco ball?