@VelociRabbitt i am dying to do this project!!! So so cool. I’ve read your excellent write up many times. Thank you for helping all of us think through this and emulate your awesomeness. I did have a couple of dumb questions if you could help clarify:
For the dash light why did you place the transformer in the door? And not someplace near the fuse box area? It seemed to me like the red/black lines off the transformer that get spliced into the pigtail was very long and was well suited to run through the door wire Pass-Through. But you made it sound like you left the dash transformer inside the passenger door ... and I guess ran the connector side of the transformer through the Pass-Through to the fuse area. Any reason you went this direction vs having the transformer inside the car in fuse area?
For the doors I’m curious where exactly the light cable comes out of the door. Is it near the back of the door and then you run it up toward the front/steering wheel? Does it wrap around the back side of the door and simply disappear behind it? You have the light “connector” (which goes to the transformer) also hiding behind the door I assume? Gosh I’d love to see some photos of these transition points a bit closer.
Final question did you have excess cable on the doors? And if so where did you hide it? Shove it someplace? Or maybe all the excess is behind the door?
Thank you for sharing this awesome project!!!!
It's been my absolute pleasure to share something I love with you great folks!!
As for your questions, I will do my best to be as thorough as possible.
1: For the dash light, I put the transformer in the door for one main reason. There are no ambient light switches anywhere else in the car, so tapping into that line is only do-able through the door. (At least in my limited knowledge, I knew it was a sure thing, so I did that). The wiring used to connect the transformer to the lighting power was very short, so I didn't have a lot of flexibility in the placement. The way it's actually wired up, the transformer sits in the door, and the wires run around the passthrough and connect to the lights before going back in the other end. That bit that I posted is actually where the lights connect to the transformer wires. It's also nice if I ever need to replace the lights, I don't have to undo ALL the more difficult snaking of the wires.
2: So I tried a few things with the doors, and found the best looking (and easiest to do) is to connect everything behind the panel, and leave about a foot of lighting as slack (Just tuck it into the door panel, since they don't "Glow" too much they aren't an issue) and come out of the door panel at the seam in the trim. It doesn't look the best, and getting around the outside of the door panel can be a bit of a hassle, but it sits very nicely and gives you room to mess up. essentially go across the back trim and work your way up to the steering wheel end, and then cut the light at about a 45 degree angle so the light can be sort of tucked at the interior door handle.
My first attempt, I actually went through the handle plate where you pop off that panel and find the torx screws. This was MUCH cleaner looking, but there was a lot of uneven pressure on that plate when it was closed up, and bent those plastic brackets. It also made the plastic piece pop open if you slammed the door which was a no-go.
3: For the excess cables, the transformer wiring and connector wiring I taped around the door panel to allow some slack while also securing what was around. Do a loose measurement of how much of the light strip you need to get to the interior handle, and leave yourself about a foot of extra slack. You can leave the lighting in the panel, since it doesn't glow too much, you can't ever see it. It's just a little peace of mind.
The key thing here is ALL of the connections and wires are hidden. The only thing you ever see coming out of the doors, or across the dash is the actual light strip. All the cables can be hidden (The dash light connectors and excess is hidden behind the glove compartment) This is what gives it a "factory" look.
If anyone is in NY (Long Island) area, I'd be more than happy to meet up at a supercharger and explain/show how it's done!