Map lights on with doors??????????

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01burban

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I have a 2001 suburban and converted to all leds on the inside and, would like my map lights up front to come on when I open the doors and still have the function to turn on separately.. I have seen some tahoes in person that have this option can anyone help????
 

Rivieraracing

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No problem man!! Just need to take out the second row light to get to the wiring and locate the wire that gets 12v's whenever the interior lights get triggered on with the doors opening. If that light comes on with the doors, then that's the light you will borrow power from for this mod!

Then run a wire from that second row light up to the front light that you want triggered on, then hook up the front light like I did in the second pic in post #10. Gonna use 2 diodes total, one for each from map light, silver band on diode towards the light you are hooking up, otherwise it won't work!

The wire i added to the front map lights is the yellow one in the pic, I also added a quick disconnect to it so that when I drop the light to work on it or take it out, I can completely unhook the power and remove the whole thing from the truck without having to undo all the work I did! I used some quick taps to attach the diodes to the wires, just basically crimped the diode lead with the wire in the quick tap, worked pretty easy!! If you take a good look at my second pic and build it pretty much like that, you will be fine!!

Once you get all that done, then you just need to tap the new wire into the correct wire in the second row light. Just use a quick tap to tap that new wire into the wire in the second row light that comes on with the doors opening and you are set!! Your map lights will come on with the doors and you will still be able to turn the map light on and off manually as well!!

Let me know if you have any other questions!!
 

01TX_Tahoe

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just did mine and it was a little different. the dome light in the second row was throwing a neg trigger when open and a pos when closed. i had to rewire my map light switch to a neg for it to work but i love it now. especially with the leds...
 

MrFleming007

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Nice idea. I have a question though. Are the interior lights triggered by the door handle? I forget my rig was locked the other night and yanked on the door handle- all the interior lights turned on! Just seems to me that it would make easy night time window shopping for a thief if this is how they are supposed to work...

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Rivieraracing

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Nice idea. I have a question though. Are the interior lights triggered by the door handle? I forget my rig was locked the other night and yanked on the door handle- all the interior lights turned on! Just seems to me that it would make easy night time window shopping for a thief if this is how they are supposed to work...

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No, they aren't triggered by the door handle itself, but I'd bet that when you close your door, it is barely shutting off the lights!! Try sitting in the truck with the door closed, and then try just pushing on the door (not the handle to open the door) and see if the lights come on! I'm not exactly sure but I think the sensor is integrated into the actual locking mechanism on the door internally! But yes, that wouldn't be good if they open whenever you use the door handle, I'd be getting that fixed or at least doing the dome over ride button on the headlight switch, that should keep the lights from coming on with the handle until you get it fixed!
 

MrFleming007

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No, they aren't triggered by the door handle itself, but I'd bet that when you close your door, it is barely shutting off the lights!! Try sitting in the truck with the door closed, and then try just pushing on the door (not the handle to open the door) and see if the lights come on! I'm not exactly sure but I think the sensor is integrated into the actual locking mechanism on the door internally! But yes, that wouldn't be good if they open whenever you use the door handle, I'd be getting that fixed or at least doing the dome over ride button on the headlight switch, that should keep the lights from coming on with the handle until you get it fixed!

Nope, nothing happens when I put my weight into the door. The lights do come on if I pull the interior handle up when the door is locked. Tested the rest of the doors as well, same results. Pull exterior handle when locked, lights come on. Even the barn door... Hmmm... Oh well, it sleeps inside at night.
 

Rivieraracing

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Nope, nothing happens when I put my weight into the door. The lights do come on if I pull the interior handle up when the door is locked. Tested the rest of the doors as well, same results. Pull exterior handle when locked, lights come on. Even the barn door... Hmmm... Oh well, it sleeps inside at night.

Even with the dome over ride button pushed?
 
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