The ambient lighting is definitely a plus....pretty sweet mod man, at first I was skeptical, but the functions gained are solid. Can't wait to see if you are able to integrate the BT mic.

Nice install...I thought you had a tan colour console, is it just the picture that makes it look grey or did you get another one? Also does the broadway mirror block your compass?

TRD, it is Taupe. I live in Seattle, everything is grey this time of year! (actually it was wash out from the camera flash)

Hey Kev. I'm glad my info & pics turned out to be so handy. I do like that you got a different connector & pins to mate with the Lexus overhead unit. As you know, I went the cheaper route and simply reused my original 4runner overhead's connector. I did this in part so that if I ever wanted to reinstall another 4runner O/H, I could without much fuss.

This next pic I believe I sent to you, Kevin, when you bought the overhead, but thought it might help clarify here as well. It shows the wire colors on both mating ends of the connectors.


As you see in the first pic I also used a D-sub connector for the additional wires (blue, door; yellow & black, ambient LEDs; and the mic wiring). I later changed the D-sub out for a mini-Molex connector. And yes, I was able to get the mic to work. I still use it with my Kenwood. The other connector that I soldered the original 5 wires to, I ended up simply wrapping with electrical tape to eliminate exposed contacts.

Wow, I can't believe there's so much negativity here about this mod! I'm certainly happy with my mod, and would definitely do it again in a heartbeat. Personally, I always thought the Lexus version was, well, more "refined". One of the main reasons I did the mod though was to get the lights on with door open, and I love my ambient lighting!

Kevin, I don't think you will have the results you are wanting by grounding the LED black wire to the green wire. It's true that the green wire is the ground for the map lights, however, the ground is supplied through the body ECU, and therefore may not be constant. Well, most likely ISN'T constant. The body ECU is what controls the lamp fade (power for the lamps goes through it as well, but that is only for the ECU to remove power to shut them off after they've been left on after so many minutes).
I would run three regular unshielded wires, and one shielded twisted pair for the mic if you are going to use it. It's pretty simple to run wires up the A pillar - just be sure to run them (and secure them) behind the side curtain airbags. Ground the black wire to a chassis ground. I ran the yellow wire to the lighting wire of one of the dash panel switches (I did this when I relocated my DAC switch, which I was coincidentally doing at the same time). The brightness on my LEDs varies with the dash light switch this way. Pretty nice to be able to adjust them.
The ground with door open (blue wire) I wired to the body ECU, middle plug - pin 6. This allows the lamps to fade out just as the other dome lamps do, and is a common ground output for all of the doors (if you notice, each door has a separate ground to the ECU so it "knows" which one is open). If you were to connect to one of these outputs, the map lights would only come on when that one door was opened.


And if you truly wanted to, you could actually take the sunglass holder off the 4runner one, and swap it with the Lexus one so it doesn't stick down. But it hasn't bothered me in the several years since I installed mine.


And yes, that is grey! LOL

Just thinking about the sunglasses holder forms second. Does Toyota have any vhicles with a "conversation" mirror we could swap in place of the factory one?

I really like this mod for the BT and ambient light...but my Sports Edition doesn't have a sunroof.

Brad that makes sense. Some additional questions. On the dac switch, are you wiring the led positive side to the dac parking light positive side? Isn't the dimming circuit controlled negatively?

Also, didn't you need a mic acc input? Doesn't that require a turn on lead?

Finally how did you terminate the twisted pair to a 3.5mm jack for your Kenwood?

Thanks!!

Are either of your ambient lighting functions working? If so could you post a night pic of how much illumination is coming from the overhead console?

Thanks

I'll post more on my progress as I get to it Seatown. Maybe Brad has a few pics?

Very cool mod, I have been interested in some time with adding a unit that has the homelink, but I really like the door switch option and the ambient LED's. Definitely need to start searching around for this, great write up!

Found one!! Should be here next week!

Honda_Nos/AV1: This looks to be a very cool mod for those of us love "the details". Thanks for sharing your findings.

Our BMW we traded in had the ambient LEDs, I really liked that. Any of you guys have a night shot of this mod? Would be awesome to have dome lights activated by the door and ambient lighting.

I'll see if I can get you guys a night shot. I did this mod about 4 yrs ago and I live the ambient lighting. Just like my wife's TL

Wouldn't it be a lot easier to just run a wire over to these lights from the other ceiling light to turn them on when it comes on?

I'm sure you could, but then, "where's the love?" hahahha

I'm getting it for function. It comes with a microphone (bluetooth) integrated, LED ambiente lights, which are cool and the lights turning on when the door is opened is icing on the cake for me.

Mine came in today, can't wait to install it