mlmcgahee wrote:Elton, any update on the install for this unit. I ordered one from the ebay guy and got it today. It looks complicated.....
Well... I'm afraid I had a couple personal issues come up that have taken precedence over the luxury of having time to install this lighting kit.
Actually its not that complicated... what makes it appear more complicated than it is are the "limited" instructions. FACT: If all aftermarket electronic devices came with such vague instructions I doubt there wouldn't be much of a market for such things. As indcated by the reply from crayb... if his alarm shop is willing to install it for only $100 bucks it can't be too complicated.
Here's the net:
Obviously the plastic connectors on the ends of the small wire harness, the photocell and the switch, all plug into the control module.
The wiring of the two large relays are the easiest to explain. Look at all the wires exiting the relay assembly. The plastic connector on the end of the smaller bundle of wires connects to the control module. This only leaves the four "Heavy" wires. These four wires are Heavy Gauge because they will carry the current of your lighting circuits. For this reason when attached these heavier wires to your vehicles wiring they must be secure! Soldering (if spliced into a circuit) would be ideal but good quality electrical splicing conectors will also work. NOTE: What you don't want to do is simply strip and twist any of these heavy gauge wires into an electrical circuit and just wrap with electrical tape.
o The Heavy Brown wire goes to Ground. I usually find a screw or bolt already in the vehicle that is screwed to the frame, firewall or some other good electrical ground.
o The Heavy Violet wire gets connected to constant 12V+ power source (not an ignition-on source)
o The Heavy Blue Wire taps into your Rogues parking light wire circuit.
o The Heavy Green Wire taps into your Rogues headlight wiring circuit.
These three diagrams address the wiring alternatives of the Heavy Brown and Green wire. Per the Rogues maintenance manual it appears ours uses 12V switched for parking and headlights so we'd use the top diagram. (someone please jump in an correct me if the Rogue is not 12V switched)
With the remaining bundle of smaller gauge wires Red, Orange, Black, Blue w White Stripe, Yellow, Green and Violet... o Red goes to a constant 12V power sourceo Black goes to ground.o Yellow goes to a +12V switched ignition inputo Violet +12V switched wiper circuit. (Voltage present when wipers are on) NOTE: If wipers on is a -12V circuit then you use the Green wire instead. (only one wire / Violet or green get connected to the wiper circuit, the other is not used.)The trickiest part to understand is if you elect to wire up the security system feature. (i.e., your vehicle can activate the lights when arming and disarming the security system.) NOTE: You don't have to wire in this feature or any other feature like the lights on with wipers if you don't want to)o Orange wire gets connected to a security "ground-when-armed" circuit.o The Blue with White Stripe wire is for connection to an auxiliary RF Channel output of the security system (I'm not sure the Rogue has one)
The only cautionary advice I can give:1) Unhook the vehicle battery before attempting to splice into any wiring (it would be a bummer to activate the airbags) 2) If when connecting the Heavy relay wires to the Rogue you find you have to extend them (add additional lengths of wire) make sure you use the same gauge wire (or heavier) You wouldn't want to use a smaller gauge wire since they carry the current of your headlight system.
As for taping into the vehicle wiring, (for the Heavy Gauge Relay Wires) you'll need to penetrate the firewall to access the headlight wiring system. I plan to accessing the engine compartment via these great directions provided by SquiggyFreud (thanks to philipa_240sx for pointing me in the direction of that thread
Per SquiggyFreud:The air box needs to come out.Pull the battery, remove the 4 screws on the battery plate this will give you some room to get the air box out.Loosen the hose clamp on the box, there are 2 more screws, up top on the right and one next to the battery plate. then you can jiggle the box out. The rubber grommet for the factory harness is now exposed (As seen in this photo)Poke a hole in the grommet and feed your wires through
I'm hoping I will be able to accomplish all the wiring of the control unit (smaller gauge wire bundle) from the control module inside the passenger compartment, via access to wires in the steering column leading off the wiper and headlight switches.
Sorry... thats all I have right now. Hopefully I'll be able to get to the installation sooner than later.