Puddle Lights

02/01/2022

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	Puddle Lights

This simple mod gives you the benefit of puddle or sidewalk lights when you open the doors. They throw a pool of light down onto the ground allowing you to see what your about to step into thus, giving you the decision if or not to proceed!

You see this system fitted to quite a number of production cars, particularly higher end models.

I have used 4 ultra bright white 5mm LEDs mounted along the bottom of the door card. These are mounted in 5mm LED clips and have flatted down tops as per instructions HERE.

To begin you need to remove both door cards, once they are off you need to remove the plastic door pocket from the bottom half of the card. This is held on from behind with a number of screws, simply remove these to take off the door pocket.


	Once the pocket is off you can start drilling! We are using LEDs in clips so, for a 5mm LED in a clip you will need a 7mm hole.


	If you click the picture above you will see marked where to drill the holes to make the LEDs completely undetectable inside the door pocket. You can see inside the door pocket are 2 chambers, if you drill where these are very carefully so as not to penetrate into the pocket the LEDs will fit in here. Mind the staples!

Instead of putting the LEDs in the clips after they are fitted we are going to fit them in the clip first and then push them through the holes. This is because space is limited inside the chambers.

You will need to trim the little lip off the bottom of the LED with a pair of snips or file, it does not need to be perfect! You can then place this into the clip and push the assembly into the holes bending the legs slightly. Trimming the carpet helps too.

The clips should hold the LED firmly in place and fit completely flush with the trim making them invisible when you look at the door.

Once fitted you can wire the LEDs. They are all wired in parallel with their own resistors as per diagram below. I used thin speaker type wire to do mine as this is easier to deal with when hiding the wire.

We need to connect into the red door marker light so, make sure the connection tail of the wire is at that end with, if possible some sort of connector so you can disconnect it easily from the car when removing the door card in future.

Its a bit fiddly soldering inside the chambers but with a little care its easy enough.

You can gently push the connections back inside the chambers when your done and tack it back with a dab of hot melt glue. They can’t short out on anything metal as the pocket is plastic and the card - card!

When routing the wires tape them down as shown HERE so they don’t appear inside the door pocket at all. Rout them around any screw holes too!

Drilling a hole in the strengthening tabs of the pocket below the red marker light, will allow you to run the wire through it after the LED on that side and act as a strain relief.

Don’t forget, if you can add a plug to the tail of the wire so you can unplug it from the car.

Before you put the door back together test the LEDs and check all works well. When assembling the door pocket back together make sure the wires are hidden properly and away from screws, bring the connection tail out through the marker light hole.




	Now we need to connect them up to the car electric’s. They need to come on when the door is opened so, we will run them off the red marker light supply. we don’t need to worry about loading as these only take a few milliamps of power. I would recommend you remove the DOME fuse from the engine fuse box before soldering into the marker wires, this will prevent you shorting anything out and popping the fuse! Your radio memory may go when you remove this fuse as, its here they draw their memory supply from. You need the RED and RED/WHITE wires going to the red marker light. You will probably need to strip back a bit of plastic shroud to get to them properly. Simply splice your puddle lights into these wires as follows: RED = + volts. Red/White = - volts (Gnd) Tape up the joints plug in your puddle light loom and pop the door card back on. Now is also a good time to put the DOME fuse back in its hole and bask in the glory of your new puddle, sidewalk, step lights (or whatever ya wanna call them!)


	This mod could be fitted to almost any car if the trim allows. Most cars don’t have a door marker light so a cable run would be needed to connect into the interior lighting circuit. If your car does have markers then get going!


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	If you found this guide helpful or have a comment, please sign my Guest Book or use the Message Board.