Electrical Help!!

[William_89]

I never tried to access the SJB in my 2009 (now traded in and gone). But, I know it's behind the right kick panel. Unfortunately, the connector you need to access is one where the wires aren't easy to get to. The wire you are looking for is Violet, but I know from experience the colors tend to fade with age and it can sometimes be difficult to tell exactly which wire is which.

PS Looks like it's an 18-gauge wire so adding some LED strips to the circuit likely won't be an issue (especially if your replacement puddle lamps draw less current than the original lamps).

View attachment 25706 View attachment 25707

So can I just unplug that whole connector, tap into #12 and hook it back up? I think I found a suitable ground already right at the bottom of the dash, I was just touching the negative wires to it earlier and the lights would come on with power.

 

[star-art]

You should unplug the connector mainly to protect the SJB circuitry while you're working on it. Remember this is a solid-state device. You'll need to ID and tap the correct violet wire (that can be tricky because there's more than one, although the incorrect wires should have a colored stripe on them). I really hate wire taps (they can sometimes be unreliable), but many people find them convenient so they won't stop using them anytime soon. I prefer to cut and solder my splices, but getting enough access to the wire in question can sometimes make that extremely difficult. Be careful and good luck!

 

[William_89]

I’m gonna try and finish this after work today. Reckon I’ll need to take the cables off the battery or will I be fine since I’m unplugging that harness from the fuse panel?

 

[star-art]

No need to disconnect the battery for something like this. . .

 

[William_89]

Success!! That worked like a charm. Only option because of the cramped space was a wire tap. Seems to be working perfectly

 

[William_89]

Garage door closed with no lights on in here. Work good IMO.

 

[star-art]

That looks nice! Sure hope they are waterproof. I installed mine on the bottom of the door panels (again, not on an Expy but in a car). They worked great and were well protected from the elements. I hope to do the same thing for my truck eventually but I haven't checked yet to see if there's room for them under the door panels.

PS Current draw for each LED strip lamp was just 52mA.

 

[William_89]

Package says IP65 so we’ll see lol. They got pretty wet last night (driving home in heavy rain) and still work today.

 

[star-art]

I used water-resistant LED strip (encased in clear silicone). The weak point comes when you cut them to length and wire them up. You need to seal up those connections very well. I used clear silicone for that and then installed them inside extruded aluminum housings. I still regard these custom lamps as "water resistant" though and not "water proof."

PS To better help people using the search function, you might consider changing the title of this thread if you can. Maybe something like "Custom running board LED approach lights" or whatever.

 

[William_89]

I like the clear silicone idea. I’ll grab some tomorrow while I’m out and cover both ends with it. Thanks for the tip