Wiring LEDs to the running board wires.

[4RunnerIdiot]

Somehow, I have managed to screw this up. I thought it would be about as simple as possible. The running board lights turned on when the vehicle was unlocked, and I assumed that wiring 12v LEDs to the existing wires after removing the running boards would give me lights that turned on when I unlocked it, and turn off when I turn it on.

Two wires underneath, red and white with a red stripe. From what I can tell, white with red stripe is negative, red is positive. Wired up some cheap 12v LEDs to the correct wires, hit unlock and... nothing. There are so few factors here that I honestly don't even know what to troubleshoot. But I guess I just want to check, that is the right way to wire them? + to red, - to white/red? And they should turn on when the unlock button is hit?

 

[RobD]

I would put a meter on to confirm the polarity for sure. From what it looks like in the wiring diagram, it seems that white with red stripe is positive from the body ECU, assuming that they have labelled the running board lights as "foot light".

 

[S4TA]

Somehow, I have managed to screw this up. I thought it would be about as simple as possible. The running board lights turned on when the vehicle was unlocked, and I assumed that wiring 12v LEDs to the existing wires after removing the running boards would give me lights that turned on when I unlocked it, and turn off when I turn it on.

Two wires underneath, red and white with a red stripe. From what I can tell, white with red stripe is negative, red is positive. Wired up some cheap 12v LEDs to the correct wires, hit unlock and... nothing. There are so few factors here that I honestly don't even know what to troubleshoot. But I guess I just want to check, that is the right way to wire them? + to red, - to white/red? And they should turn on when the unlock button is hit?

Would it hurt to flip the wiring on the LED since it matters on LED bulbs?

I did mine and it worked fine.

 

[blackoutt]

Yeah flip the wires. I've wired up LED's to my running board lights no issues either. Also confirm there's 12V there to begin with, if you blew a fuse monkeying with the wires of course they won't work.

 

[RobD]

Yeah flip the wires. I've wired up LED's to my running board lights no issues either. Also confirm there's 12V there to begin with, if you blew a fuse monkeying with the wires of course they won't work.

And you'll know you've blown a fuse if the interior light, keyless entry, and clock don't work.

 

[4RunnerIdiot]

And you'll know you've blown a fuse if the interior light, keyless entry, and clock don't work.

Yeah, I figured since nothing else was malfunctioning, I didn't blow a fuse, but I wasn't quite sure what would be not working. I'm going to mess with it more tonight, but the running board lights were working fine and they've only been off for about a week or so so I'd be very surprised if the wires weren't getting power.

 

[4RunnerIdiot]

Well, I went with the "walk away and come back later" method and it worked.

I checked for 12v and confirmed it worked, wired it up how I had it, and... it worked.

Then I wired up the other side the same way, hit unlock, and no light. Checked the first side, it was on, lock and unlock again... and both sides work. Seem to consistently work now so who knows.