Little late to the party here, but just got a '03 V8 Limited a few weeks ago and I hate how Toyota missed the boat in lighting the front portion of the vehicle at night when you open the doors. I mean, really? At my age, that whole front area of the vehicle at night is like a black hole - I have to pull over just to find something rather than risk having a wreck due to no ambient lighting at all in the driver's area. So glad I've been lurking this forum since I started researching for a vehicle to replace my old '77 Land Cruiser I sold back in November. That was my "work truck" and served it's purpose well since I work construction. Needed something with a really tough driveline, very high offroad capability and at least some comfort at my age and the number of injuries in the past during my career. The old Cruiser served me well and I wanted to restore it, but once that is done there is no point in taking it to work on a daily basis and tearing up such an expensive investment.
So, I did the main portion of the mod as I saw no real need for the addition of the switch for now. My '14 Dodge has a "moonlight" ambient light in the overhead console and I love that - same as folks here with other vehicles. In doing the main door switched mod for the map lights to function with the doors it created an issue when I tapped into the A-pillar wiring. When either map light is switched on at night when driving - it lights up the whole interior now. Not a surprise since grounding at those map lights will function the same as the switch in the main dome/cargo lamps.
So here's the question - if I get a pair of diodes in the 1N4004 type, will those wired into the ground path of the dome light mod prevent reverse flow of the switched ground from those map lights? I want the map lights to function independently with their own switches, but still work to light the interior when any door is opened as the mod is intended to function.
Part II -
For the ambient light mod like the Lexus and others - I found in a search and ordered some housings and 5mm led's in orange/amber color that is pre-wired with the correct resistor for 10-15v DC use here -
5mm 12v Pre-Wired LED Orange Amber Ultra Bright 15,000 mcd
They also carry these bezels -
5mm LED Bezel - Chrome
Not sure if I'll use the bezel on the ambient light mod, but may use some in other locations since I'm old and half blind. I cannot use any sort of blue light due to an eye condition, so I chose to mimic the original orange/amber color that Toyota used. I wasn't too keen on using resistors to get the voltage down correctly since it can create heat - using the pre-wired leds that are designed to work at the 10v-15v range just seemed to make more sense to me.
Anyhow - love the mods on this forum and for the most part I'm really loving this old, half abused T4R, I just wish the previous owner would have followed through on that stupid dash panel recall offer. That, and actually spend what little money it would have cost to have a few repairs done instead of ignoring them - such as a torn CV boot, and, not kidding - one tie rod end that was almost ready to fall apart.
Sarge
