Ford Ranger Forum - Forums for Ford Ranger enthusiasts!

Go Back   Ford Ranger Forum - Forums for Ford Ranger enthusiasts! > > >
Forgot Password? Join Us!

Welcome to Ford Ranger Forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread

  #121  
Old 06-05-2015, 06:29 AM
stephen stephen is offline
Ford Ranger Driver
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 3,273
Default Re: How to: Under Door Light

I have he led's for this. I just need to get around to it. Someday.
__________________
2008 Sport Black 3.0 V6 2WD.
Build Thread

Reply With Quote
  #122  
Old 06-05-2015, 06:30 AM
noflers noflers is offline
Ford Motor Co
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 171
Default Re: How to: Under Door Light

It took me twenty minutes to do one door, it's not hard. I'm just worried about that light coming on randomly. Does it pull enough power to kill my battery overnight?
__________________
1999 Ranger, Automatic
Reply With Quote
  #123  
Old 06-05-2015, 10:48 AM
reconjb reconjb is offline
Found a Diesel
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 10,692
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by noflers View Post
It took me twenty minutes to do one door, it's not hard. I'm just worried about that light coming on randomly. Does it pull enough power to kill my battery overnight?
Nope probably wouldn't even kill it over a week
__________________
Truck: 2000 Ford Ranger XLT 4.0 4x4 ext cab
My Build Thread
Mod Ideas
Don't Forget to:
Create a Signature
Show your system

Mods: Brush guard|Front Hitch|Expo Roof Rack|Train Horn|Door/Dash/step/Hood Leds|2" lift|Rear Tow Points|On-Board Air System| 22" & 40" LED bar|and More!
Reply With Quote
  #124  
Old 06-05-2015, 04:35 PM
Jp7 Jp7 is offline
DISABLE ADBLOCK: LOLZ
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,471
Default Re: How to: Under Door Light

Quote:
Originally Posted by noflers View Post
So I'm thinking maybe that missing step is important now... I went out to my truck late last night and the door light was on. I opened and closed the door and it turned back off. I then sprayed down the door latch just in case that's what caused it, but when I woke up this morning and went out to it the light was on again. Nothing else comes on except the under door light.
On my 2004 the battery saver relay would kick in at 30 minutes.

On my 2006 now, I never measured- but I think it's less (5 minutes?)

I've never timed it like I did on the 2004.

----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by reconjb View Post
Nope probably wouldn't even kill it over a week
It depends on the state of your battery & the draw from your circuit
__________________
Looking for a professional retrofitter to add HIDs or LEDs to your Ranger? PM me if your looking to have work done, and have cash to spend.

Quote:
Originally Posted by FireRanger View Post
I'm dying to see this at night. Someone go tell the sun to give up already.
Quote:
Originally Posted by beef08 View Post
Your the man, you bring our dreams to a reality within the lighting spectrum
Quote:
Originally Posted by BCobe View Post
Jp7 you always do AMAZING work! Hats off to you sir
Quote:
Originally Posted by FireRanger View Post
People so often confuse "hating" with "knowing better".
Reply With Quote
  #125  
Old 06-07-2015, 08:44 AM
noflers noflers is offline
Ford Motor Co
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 171
Default Re: How to: Under Door Light

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jp7 View Post
On my 2004 the battery saver relay would kick in at 30 minutes.

On my 2006 now, I never measured- but I think it's less (5 minutes?)

I've never timed it like I did on the 2004.

----------



It depends on the state of your battery & the draw from your circuit
Well I'm still confused, the missing step is to add a BSR although the trucks already have them?

----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jp7 View Post
You need to add a power diode to the wire feeding the door switch PRIOR to the ground that you have the LEDs on.

This way when the BCM battery saver relay kicks in and the voltage drops the LEDs to not feed back into the BCM.

If you don't do this you are constantly backfeeding your BCM current. The LEDs come on dim because when the BCM goes into power saver mode the voltage drops to about 3 volts (or 5 I can't remember) Your LEDs constantly have about 12 or 13 volts on the hot side and the difference is approximately 9-10 Volts (which is less than the 12 they are designed to run on)

That's why they come on dim.

The kicker is since you are feeding power back into the BCM you can actually damage it - especially if you have a high-current draw LED setup with a low internal resistance when the semiconductors are conducting.

The best way to do this is use the switched ground to feed the base leg of a transistor, which you can use a very high resistance on the base leg (1000 ohms or so) This is not really necessary in these trucks because it is an "open door, closed circuit" setup

"open door closed circuit" is an ancient way of doing it. Modern cars have ground when the doors are closed, and lose ground when the door is opened. So on most modern cars you absolutely need to use the transistor.

Tapping into the dome light is just a dumb way to do this as well. Both sides would come on when the doors are open (even know you wouldn't have a backfeed problem)

Moral of the story here is if you don't understand the electrical system - don't modify it. I'm an electrical engineer with 16 years of experience and I still struggle reverse engineering OEM electrical systems.

http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/...or/tran_4.html (for those who want to learn more)
So long story short, add a (high resistance) transistor to the ground wire between the led and the door switch wire?
__________________
1999 Ranger, Automatic
Reply With Quote
  #126  
Old 06-07-2015, 09:42 AM
Jp7 Jp7 is offline
DISABLE ADBLOCK: LOLZ
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,471
Default Re: How to: Under Door Light

No, and No.

By telling you about the transistor I am only explaining the way the OEM would do wire it from the factory. Because of the anchient electrical strategy of the truck a transistor is not needed.

Use my diagram below and it will be safe. The blue and black represent the 2 wires going to the latch. I forget the real colors. I think one door is red and the other was yellow on my 2006. Black represents the constant ground. The blue one represents the one that is switched closed when the door is opened. The red represents the wire you are feeding to your LED strip that consistently has 12V+ (from wherever you chose)

__________________
Looking for a professional retrofitter to add HIDs or LEDs to your Ranger? PM me if your looking to have work done, and have cash to spend.

Quote:
Originally Posted by FireRanger View Post
I'm dying to see this at night. Someone go tell the sun to give up already.
Quote:
Originally Posted by beef08 View Post
Your the man, you bring our dreams to a reality within the lighting spectrum
Quote:
Originally Posted by BCobe View Post
Jp7 you always do AMAZING work! Hats off to you sir
Quote:
Originally Posted by FireRanger View Post
People so often confuse "hating" with "knowing better".

Last edited by Jp7; 06-07-2015 at 09:46 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #127  
Old 06-07-2015, 09:50 AM
noflers noflers is offline
Ford Motor Co
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 171
Default Re: How to: Under Door Light

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jp7 View Post
No, and No.

By telling you about the transistor I am only explaining the way the OEM would do wire it from the factory. Because of the anchient electrical strategy of the truck a transistor is not needed.

Use my diagram below and it will be safe. The blue and black represent the 2 wires going to the latch. I forget the real colors. I think one door is red and the other was yellow on my 2006. Black represents the constant ground. The blue one represents the one that is switched closed when the door is opened. The red represents the wire you are feeding to your LED strip that consistently has 12V+ (from wherever you chose)

Okay, how many amps for the diode is suitable?
__________________
1999 Ranger, Automatic
Reply With Quote
  #128  
Old 06-07-2015, 10:25 AM
Jp7 Jp7 is offline
DISABLE ADBLOCK: LOLZ
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,471
Default Re: How to: Under Door Light

Quote:
Originally Posted by noflers View Post
Okay, how many amps for the diode is suitable?
1amp is fine. Overkill in fact. You will need to buy 2 (one for each door - assuming you arent adding them to the suicide doors on a 4-door)
__________________
Looking for a professional retrofitter to add HIDs or LEDs to your Ranger? PM me if your looking to have work done, and have cash to spend.

Quote:
Originally Posted by FireRanger View Post
I'm dying to see this at night. Someone go tell the sun to give up already.
Quote:
Originally Posted by beef08 View Post
Your the man, you bring our dreams to a reality within the lighting spectrum
Quote:
Originally Posted by BCobe View Post
Jp7 you always do AMAZING work! Hats off to you sir
Quote:
Originally Posted by FireRanger View Post
People so often confuse "hating" with "knowing better".
Reply With Quote
  #129  
Old 06-18-2015, 07:51 AM
noflers noflers is offline
Ford Motor Co
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 171
Default Re: How to: Under Door Light

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jp7 View Post
1amp is fine. Overkill in fact. You will need to buy 2 (one for each door - assuming you arent adding them to the suicide doors on a 4-door)
Got this done and the lights don't turn on when the dots are shut. Super simple, thanks.
__________________
1999 Ranger, Automatic
Reply With Quote
  #130  
Old 06-20-2015, 03:58 PM
Jp7 Jp7 is offline
DISABLE ADBLOCK: LOLZ
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,471
Default Re: How to: Under Door Light

Quote:
Originally Posted by noflers View Post
Got this done and the lights don't turn on when the dots are shut. Super simple, thanks.
The important thing is that you clearly understand why the fix works, and why you had the problem.

It's nice to help you fix it.
__________________
Looking for a professional retrofitter to add HIDs or LEDs to your Ranger? PM me if your looking to have work done, and have cash to spend.

Quote:
Originally Posted by FireRanger View Post
I'm dying to see this at night. Someone go tell the sun to give up already.
Quote:
Originally Posted by beef08 View Post
Your the man, you bring our dreams to a reality within the lighting spectrum
Quote:
Originally Posted by BCobe View Post
Jp7 you always do AMAZING work! Hats off to you sir
Quote:
Originally Posted by FireRanger View Post
People so often confuse "hating" with "knowing better".
Reply With Quote
  #131  
Old 02-17-2016, 01:31 AM
NewShockerGuy NewShockerGuy is offline
2001 XLT
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 1,218
Default Re: How to: Under Door Light

Not sure how I missed this over the years but it seems great! Once it warms up I am going to be doing this no problem! I have so many LED strip lights that this will be nice to finally use some of the extras up.

So that I am clear the 1amp diode can go on the LED strip negative wire that is connected to the BCM wire. I wouldn't have to cut the door switch BCM wire, then splice in the diode then attach the negative side of the led strip?

From the diagram above it makes sense but I just wanted to be clear.

-Nigel
__________________
_____

2001 Ranger XLT 2.3L Auto: Bunch of misc mods.
Little lift: 4" Spindle Lift w/ 2" shackles and 2" oem blocks.OEM Ranger Sport Wheels: Tires=245x75x16

~NSG~

Last edited by NewShockerGuy; 02-17-2016 at 01:40 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #132  
Old 02-17-2016, 02:20 AM
Jp7 Jp7 is offline
DISABLE ADBLOCK: LOLZ
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,471
Default Re: How to: Under Door Light

Quote:
Originally Posted by NewShockerGuy View Post
Not sure how I missed this over the years but it seems great! Once it warms up I am going to be doing this no problem! I have so many LED strip lights that this will be nice to finally use some of the extras up.

So that I am clear the 1amp diode can go on the LED strip negative wire that is connected to the BCM wire. I wouldn't have to cut the door switch BCM wire, then splice in the diode then attach the negative side of the led strip?

From the diagram above it makes sense but I just wanted to be clear.

-Nigel
You need to place the diode on the switched ground wire that the bcm is fed ground from the latch. Easy to figure out which one is switched, just function the latch and test for a good ground with your meter. You want the current flow from the bcm to the ground. (so polarity is key here)

There is a resistor upstream in the circuit (inside of the bcm) so if you get this wrong you will not fry something, but you truck will never realize the doors are shut.
__________________
Looking for a professional retrofitter to add HIDs or LEDs to your Ranger? PM me if your looking to have work done, and have cash to spend.

Quote:
Originally Posted by FireRanger View Post
I'm dying to see this at night. Someone go tell the sun to give up already.
Quote:
Originally Posted by beef08 View Post
Your the man, you bring our dreams to a reality within the lighting spectrum
Quote:
Originally Posted by BCobe View Post
Jp7 you always do AMAZING work! Hats off to you sir
Quote:
Originally Posted by FireRanger View Post
People so often confuse "hating" with "knowing better".
Reply With Quote
  #133  
Old 04-16-2017, 08:58 AM
brodozer951 brodozer951 is offline
Learning to use the forums
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 1
Default Re: How to: Under Door Light

So apologies for resurrection of an old thread. But jp7 is talkin about resistors now. Can I just put one on the led strip wire? Or only after my tap on the bcm side?
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Door Ajar Light pmac Interior Tech 15 02-25-2016 09:03 AM
Door Chime / Dome Light / Door Ajar Problem RangerTruck Electrical Tech 26 08-11-2012 08:10 AM
Door Ajar Light smurphy Interior Tech 7 02-14-2012 03:26 PM
door ajar light problem coop10 Electrical Tech 5 03-03-2010 12:15 PM
Door open - No interior light ? 02Edge Electrical Tech 1 11-18-2009 08:46 AM