Auto Motive wiring!

Cptn Pants

Hey guys, So the other night my girlfriend parked her car and got out and put her foot in a rather nasty pot hole and twisted her ankle pretty bad. Anyway i asked her how she didn't see it and it turns out her car dosn't have those automotive courtesy lights that are under the doors and it was dark out. So I figured I would wire some up for her since i'm pretty handy when it comes to this kind of stuff.

So anyway, it's a 07 Cobalt and basically I want to splice into the map light system so when they are automatically turned on when you open the doors the under the door lights will turn on too. Does anyone know for sure if that is controlled at the fuse box or if there is some kind of dimmer switch. I was just gonna put in a fuse tap in and run the lights off of that but then i thought maybe they wont turn off and would kill her battery. Anyone every try to do this or is it my wild dream/bordom project.

Lord Yod

Are you absolutely positive that it doesn't have these? That's pretty surprising for a 2007 model. I know that most new Chevys have a lot of automatic options controlled through the in-dash computer, and I would definitely check the owner's manual first.

As for what to wire it up to, you'll probably want it to be on the same circuit as the dome light.

Cptn Pants

Its a coupe with a sunroof so she dosnt have a dome lights just map lights. I couldn't belive it myself, but i went under her door looking for them and there is nothing there. I looked online and the cobalts just dont have them... it's crazy she has automatic headlights and the sterio adjusts for abiant sound but no lights on the doors.

So i was gonna just splice into the wires going up to the map lights, you know the ones on the review mirror, since they turn off and on with the doors. I was hoping i could just tap into the fuse but I'm not so sure if that'll work, hence this thread.

fuelish

Without looking at a wiring diagram, I would say the easiest thing to do would be to find the "door open" switch, which will be somewhere in the door frame. Pull the switch, and find the wire that remains hot when it thinks the door is open. It might be ground rather than hot, but there will be a wire that is closed when the door is open and open when the door is closed. Now run to the auto/truck shop and pick up an exterior dome light(Make sure it is meant to be in the weather. I would mount it under the rocker panel rather than in the door just because it would look cleaner(You might even be able to get a neon tube in "white" That would look good and be easy to conceal. You want one like the "Fast and the Furious" only white)
You should be able to chase the wire to a spot easier to access once you figure out the color. Then just route to your light. remember the chassis is ground so if you have a hot "on" wire you only need to run one wire the fixture will proabaly have ground in its mounting. If you have ground "on" then you have to run two wires, the second being to a constant hot.
I hope that makes sense. I will try to clarify, just let me know.

Cptn Pants

So even if the door open switch is ground I can just steal power from where ever i can and once the switch killed the ground the lights will turn off... that's ingenious. Thanks very much fuelish!! You just made this task like 900% easier!!