Tapping Dome Lights for LED Footwell, HELP!!!

[ToraFaze]

Hello everyone,

I am completely confused and frustrated with my issue and I'm dying for some help.

First here's a little background.
I recently installed the OPT7 Aura Smart-Color LED Strip Interior Lighting Kit in my 2008 Altima Coupe. The LED kit also has a "door assist feature" aux wire that can be used to tap into a sensor so that the LEDs light up white when the doors open and return to its original state when the doors close. After a lot of research, I figured out how to tap into the dome light and activate my LEDs when the doors open. Many people say it's an easy mod and they all seemed pretty successful with it.

Here's what I did:

1. Connected the OPT7 LED Kit control box to a constant power fuse. LEDs work perfectly and footwell is beautiful. Next is the door assist feature.

2. Opened up A-Pillar on driver's side and located dome light wires.

The white/red wire is the positive lead and the white wire with two silver bars is the negative lead. (Just an example picture. I didn't actually cut out that section)


3. Spliced two new wires to the dome light wires using those blue splice lock connectors and ran the two new wires under the dash near the fuse box for easy access. Then I spliced the two new wires (I'll refer to them as the dome light wires as well) with the OPT7 door assist aux wires.

4. Moment of truth. I spliced the dome light wires to the OPT7 door assist aux wires and tested the doors. The LEDs lit up white as they were supposed to when the doors opened and returned to the original state when doors closed. Everything was working as expected.

5. Next, I started to install a SPDT relay to control the power source of the OPT7 LED Kit control box. The reason being is if my OPT7 LED Kit control box is always hooked up to a constant power fuse, it's going to draw from the battery whether the car is on or off, but at the same time it always needs to be on for the door assist feature to work. So, the purpose of the SPDT relay is give the OPT7 LED kit control box power from the constant power fuse when it receives a signal from the dome lights (opened doors). Otherwise, the OPT7 LED kit control box only receives power from the ignition fuse (doors closed). That way, if the car is off the LEDs are only powered when the doors are opened. This solves the power source issue for the LEDs and the door assist feature.

If this helps, this is how I hooked up the relay.
Terminal 85: Ground
Terminal 86: Dome Light +
Terminal 30 (COM): OPT& Aura LED Control Box +
Terminal 87 (NO): Constant Power Fuse
Terminal 87a (NC): Ignition Fuse


Now, this is where things go south. After I install the relay, the moment I connect the dome light wire (+) to the SPDT relay terminal 86 (the trigger terminal), the relay is instantly switched on and the LEDs turn white. I'm immediately confused because both my doors are closed and the dome lights weren't triggered. I tested it for quite awhile to no avail. The dome lights were triggering my relay despite them being off and doors closed. After 2 afternoons of testing and frustration, I gave up and decided to just use the door assist feature without the relay (as I originally did at the beginning).

I removed the SPDT relay and just spliced the door assist aux wires directly as it had worked before. The moment the wires met, the LEDs turned white and I got the same problem as I did with the relay: the dome lights were triggering my door assist feature as soon as the wires met (doors closed and dome lights not triggered). I tested it again for some time but also no luck. At this point, I'm just depressed after spending two days trying to get this door assist feature to work. I just don't understand why the door assist feature worked in the very beginning (only worked once) and now it doesn't.

For the most part, I know I connected everything correctly. However, it seems like the dome light wires have a current going through them even know they aren't triggered? Just a guess.

Anyone have any ideas, suggestions, or experience with this? Any help is appreciated!

TDLR:
Dome lights trigger my footwell LEDs even though dome lights are off and doors are closed.

[2010RS]

Do you have LEDs in the dome light itself? Some (most) types of LEDs will actually draw current when off, and if you look at them in total darkness they will actually be slightly lit. Something to ponder. The dome light has a mechanical switch, so this may not be the case, but I have observed this with my map lights. If your switch is set to DOOR, then it could be doing that.

[ToraFaze]

Ah yes I do have LEDs in my dome light. I ran into that problem with the LEDs drawing some current when I originally installed them. I ended up buying those CANbus error free versions of the LEDs because they have pre-installed resistors to prevent from drawing current. After that, the LEDs are completely off when the dome light is off. I would assume this wouldn't be causing my problem but nonetheless I'll reinstall my stock bulbs and see if anything changes. Thank you for bringing that up, it never crossed my mind! In the meantime, would you have any other idea why the dome lights would still have current running through them?

[Recon13x]

I am very late on this but since you have not mentioned if your problem is solved, did you consider connecting the auxiliary wire to the door courtesy light?
There is a rubber button on the side of the door that, when let go of by the door opening, will turn on the courtesy light at the bottom of the door.
Maybe hooking up to that would be better?

[Recon13x]

Also take this with a grain of salt but I'm pretty sure the dome lights are always getting power and it's the switch that gets the power on, off, or with door only for the dome light. So I'm thinking the place you are connecting in is always hot, a multimeter would help figuring it out. Why it worked though a few times I don't know.
I would try my above idea.
Very interesting use of the relay in reverse btw I like it.

[ToraFaze]

@Recon13x

Thank you for your advice. I forgot about this post but I did end up solving it. Turns out my car (or similar models) switches from the negative side from the dome wires. I simply turned my relay into an inverter which solved the main problem.

[Recon13x]

Sounds great I figured you got it since u had not posted for so long, but its always good for someone else in the future to see the solution!

[jbastiani]

heres how I installed my floor lights: I purchased 2 packs of white led strips from walmart, each had 2 strips inside. To wire them, I pulled out the left side dome bulb, put the connecting wires into the bulb socket and re-inserted the bulb. So the wires are held in place with the bulb when you put the bulb in. This way whenever the (left) domelight comes on the floor lights come on. After I then wired this connection to a switch . I have an on-off-on switch. I connected the wires from the domelight to one side of the switch and a power source from the fuse box to the other side of the switch. So in one position the domelight powers the floor lights, middle position is off, other on position turns on the floor lights manually. Just be carefull that these will be on when the car is off. Theres probably another fusebox connection I could have used that only powers when the car is on but thats fine.This way you can drive , if you want, with the floor lights on but not the dome, or you can have the floor lights on with the domelight by a flick of the switch. Then I connected to this same wires, leds in the center consoles under the radio and under the arm rest box, next is to put leds in the glove box to see better inside. So if I want to see in the armrext console I turn the switch to the fusebox connection. I replaced all the interior and door and trunk and license plate bulbs with leds. Its so much brighter. They do glow at night when off so I put a small 1k resistor across the connections at each led and it doesnt glow. I also put leds behind the front nissan emblam......routed out the letters, put window tint behind, filled in the front letters with clear epoxy glue, layed down a layer of melted hot glue on the inside on top of the tint to diffuse the leds, then put leds, then a layer of thick double sided tape to remount it and make it waterproof. I wired these to the left side parking light. I'll post pictures soon

[jbastiani]