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Puddle and footwell lamps installed

LML: 
13K views 34 replies 18 participants last post by  chriskosovich 
#1 · (Edited)
$60K and no footwell lights. You gotta love GM.

This is an install post as a follow-up to an old thread with lots of props to heymccall and diesail for their help...

Old thread here: http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=468467

The subject vehicle is the one in my sig - a 2013 GMC Sierra Denali LML.

I got the LED's from http://www.oznium.com/, using the square modules for the footwells and strips for under the running boards. Total cost shipped was $93.71.



Those four squares came as one piece - I cut them apart prior to the picture. I originally intended on using two per side in the front wells, but they were bright enough to get away with one.



The strip lights can be cut every 3 LED's and both sides can be used. I needed to trim two of them to fit where I wanted them under the rear doors, so I ended up using the leftover pieces as rear footwell lights.

The first thing I did was figure out where I was gonna tap into the dome light circuit. Here's the junction block under the driver side dash:



On the right side, second one from the top is connector X-9. See the two grey wires in the #8 position? You want to tap one of them, doesn't matter which.



Note to heymccall - I know you directed me to X-12/5, and I confirmed that with the electrical diagram. For whatever reason, I did not get voltage at that terminal (or X-12/6) with the dome light on. X-9/8 did exactly what I needed.



I grabbed a ground here (X-12/8, fat black wire)



I tested the LED strip with the tapped domelight circuit to see if it dimmed along with the incandescent lamps. It did.



Time to run wire and mount lights. There's a nice big hole in the floor with a nice big grommet in it, just ahead of the driver seat. This is for the shifter cable.



A little WD-40 and the wire pushed right through with the help of a big flat blade screwdriver.

I used 22 guage twisted pair in a teflon sheath - basically plenum rated data cable - running it under the carpet to the door sill, then into the kick panel and up under the dash.

Now that the wiring was under the truck, I split it and ran up the driver side fender well, along the firewall, and down the passenger fender well to get to the other side. I didn't want risk going across the bottom of the truck with all that hot crap under there.

I added a second run from the junction box and under the carpeting to get under the seats to the front seatbacks. By carefully prying at the trim on the seatbacks I was able to tuck the wiring away completely.

Here's a 6-LED segment mounted with 3M tape to the front seatback. Yes, it's wired:



Here's the same segment as seen from the rear floormat:



This is the other side:



Here's the passenger side footwell light mounted to the bottom of the glovebox:



And here's the driver side:



The whole process took me the better part of 6 hours. I soldered and heat shrinked every connection with the exception of the two taps into the harness. It looks and works great, and they're BRIGHT!

Believe it or not I couldn't get a decent picture of the strip lights under the running boards with my crappy Droid X camera. Please watch the video instead:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9RdwFMlQDs



:cool:
 
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#2 ·
Very nice install, looks great! I really like how you added in outdoor lighting across the whole cab as well vs. the typical under mirror puddle lights.
I have been thinking about doing this add on myself. You have inspired me to get going.
 
#7 ·
Good eye. The strips are warm white. I used them under the boards and ended up using the cut pieces in the rear footwell, so you are correct - different color and output between front and rear footwells. I originally intended to use the squares in the rear, but I had trouble finding a viable mounting surface. I didn't plan it thiis way, but when I saw how nicely the strips fit on the seatback I knew I had to do it. In hindsight I think I might have ordered the strips in cool white just so everything matched.

Would you be wiling to post a picture or two of how you attached the LED's under the cab. I am curious if the 3M tape will hold up to the elements, unless you mounted those differently.
I'll post a pic if you like, but there's nothing to see. The strip lights come with a couple of cheap plastic clips that looked like they wouldn't make it out of my driveway. I used waterproof, "permanent" 3M tape on everything. I prepped the board and seatback surfaces with Windex followed by some Wil-Bond, a liquid deglossing agent that has never failed me. Pressed the lights on and that was that.
 
#4 ·
Sweet...Now you need to add one under each corner of the rear bumper, and, under the bed rails ;)
 
#5 · (Edited)
I like that. I'm in the process of upgrading my '06 to trim level equal to my '11 'Burb LTZ, interior trim, in dash radio/nav/dvd , etc. Gonna have to do this when I take the seats out for new covers.

In fact, my Burb is gonna get the running board lights as well.
 
#6 ·
I was thinking about this a little and I thought of something. Because you tapped into your dome light circuit, when ever you turn on the dome lights using the dash dimmer roller you will turn on the outside lighting as well. I do this more often then clicking the laps on individually, I just flick the dimmer thing all the way up and it turns on all the interior lighting. Now if you do that while driving you will be rolling down the road with your white LED under glow.:p:

Would you be wiling to post a picture or two of how you attached the LED's under the cab. I am curious if the 3M tape will hold up to the elements, unless you mounted those differently.
 
#8 ·
I was thinking about this a little and I thought of something. Because you tapped into your dome light circuit, when ever you turn on the dome lights using the dash dimmer roller you will turn on the outside lighting as well. I do this more often then clicking the laps on individually, I just flick the dimmer thing all the way up and it turns on all the interior lighting. Now if you do that while driving you will be rolling down the road with your white LED under glow.:p:

Would you be wiling to post a picture or two of how you attached the LED's under the cab. I am curious if the 3M tape will hold up to the elements, unless you mounted those differently.
The dome override button gets lost in the sea of black dash, so, on my trucks, I always just reach up and activate a map light.
 
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#14 ·
I thought you might say that ;)

Honestly, I was so focused on doing a sterile installation I never noticed the color difference until you mentioned it. Once I saw it and realized how garish it looked I had to change it.

I'm now VERY happy with the results. Between this and the tailgate assist you'd think GM would pop for a lousy hundred bucks over a $60K vehicle. :mad:
 
#17 ·
Just a follow-up after a year...

I noticed one of the lightbars flickering slightly a couple of weeks ago and made a mental note to check the wiring below, however it's been either snowing, raining, or brutally cold here since, and I don't have access to an indoor shop.

When I got home last night it was only 30* and dry, so I decided to take a quick look. Sure enough, one of my soldered/shrinkwrapped connections had somehow become pulled back and was compromised by salt water. Then, while working on it, I realized that 3 of the 4 of the under-the-running board light bars had LED segments out. I removed one of them for a closer look and in doing so broke the wire out of the soldered end, rendering it unusable. :mad:

I tied up the wiring and took a look at the Oznium website. After confirming that the lightbars are advertised as waterproof, I called and asked what could be going on. After a short conversation describing the problem, and with little or no questions asked, I had three new lightbars on the way, no charge. :D

Props and shout out to Oznium.com for standing behind their products and providing excellent customer service. :thumb:
 
#19 ·
They are great. I had a bar under my truck fail as well. They replaced it no questions asked. I was very happy. The only problem is getting my motivation up to replace the broken bar.
 
#21 ·
Has anyone else done this?
All of my bars have slowly died. I had them on the truck for 1 year now, and about 50% of the LEDs no longer work on the exterior bars. I am going to call Oznium and see what they can do.

Either way I think my time of exterior puddle lights is coming to an end. I am going to remove them. They looked awesome when they were first installed, but unless I can find a better alternative I am done.
 
#23 ·
It was a brutal winter here and I just got around to replacing the dead bar last week. I also replaced one on the other side that was about 50% dead like yours. Oddly, the two uncut bars are still 100% I'm wondering if cutting the bar (as indicated in the directions) has anything to do with them dying. This time around I coated the cut end with some silicone sealant. Time will tell.

I think if they go bad again I might try a different product or something - the factory puddle lights under my 2011 Outback seem fine.

Kinda sucks that the Oznium bars seem to be fragile, but at least they did the right thing and replaced them.
 
#22 ·
That looks good. I dont have LED lights, & I just have footwell lights on the driver & pass side. Putting some footwell lights in the rear would be nice.
 
#25 ·
RockHead I am from Syracuse NY and have a question on these puddle lights and foot ewell lights, do the activate with your remote key unlock device? So when you unlock your truck from a distance you can view the parking surface when walking up to get into truck? I know my father inlaws subaru has puddle lights and they activate with his remote key fob, was wondering if this install was the same? Thanks
 
#26 ·
In short, yes.

The lights are installed on the dome light circuit, so they come on any time the dome light is on. Since I have the dome lights set to come on with the remote unlock function, the puddles light up as well. I was pleased to see the LED's do the "theatre" dimming effect as the dome light. If you watch the videos in the thread you'll see me demonstrating the operation with the factory remote.
 
#27 ·
Been meaning to do this. Finally got around to doing it. I used the LED marine rope lights off ebay. Not sure how long they are gonna hold up but I have several feet left so I have replacements and I really like the way they look. thanks for the write up.
Duramax LED puddle and footwell lights. - YouTube
 
#28 ·
Is everyone running all these lights straight off the dome light circuit? I was thinking of using the dome light (gray wire) as a trigger to activate a separate relay for all the lights. I might be over thinking this though :idea:
 
#34 ·
I'd second the subaru lights. 4 years and no issues. Lighting may not be quite as even but I don't think you'll touch them again for a long time.
 
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