Hardwired Puddle Lights

[mrad31]

Although I completed this project over a year ago I figured I would share some photos and some details of the project. One thing to know about me is that I like lighting and tinkering with it. Three things I found lacking on the Telluride is the lack of rear fog, footwell and of course the topic of discussion puddle lights!

So initially, I made all the plans up fully intending on installing them in the side mirrors. On the day of installation I noticed the mirrors are kind of tapered (where the light would shine outward more than I'd like) and even worse they lacked the clearance inside to permit the LED bolts I had on hand without serious modifications. Compromising, I went for the front door panels.



The door panels are very easy to remove, the hardest part is dealing with disconnecting and reconnecting the door handle actuators. Proceeding, I removed the door panels, drilled some holes on the bottom with a step bit and well wired them up. I know, I know to what? Well I wanted them to function just as the door pocket lamps (those little LEDs in the front two door handles). That is, be apart of the approach lighting. These activate when you shut off the vehicle and if selected in the menu, on approach of the key fob. (Yes would have been cooler in the mirrors, but whatever still have them nonetheless).

So the signals sourced were in the 6 position connector (part of the main door harness) near the door handle. For MY20 these were pins 5 (Brown/Orange) and 6 (Black) for the Pocket Lamp signal and a Ground respectively. Of course, wire color and location can change especially across trims and now model years, so I would encourage you to take a look for yourself on Kia's tech info site if you're interested into digging into stuff like this. It's not free, but a small price to pay for specific planning on projects like this.

Anyway, here is the result. Still functioning great and suite their purpose. There are battery options available too, but I prefer hardwired.

 

[2020Telly]

Looks great! Can you post the link to the led lights please? They look like a standard kind I’ve seen. Also “Kia's tech info site” where? I must have missed a discussion somewhere.

 

[mrad31]

@2020Telly yes of course.

LED bolts were purchased on Amazon, really any 12V module will suffice so it's up to you if you want to go a different route: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ADHUXGU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Kia Global Information System (KGIS) is it's official name. Basically you create an account, provide your VIN and you have access to info on your specific model year Kia vehicle. Its better than say one of those service manuals found online because it is always up-to-date and essentially what the service technichians see, maybe a lighter form of it, but valuable information nonetheless. https://kiatechinfo.snapon.com/

 

[2020Telly]

Kia Global Information System (KGIS) is it's official name. Basically you create an account, provide your VIN and you have access to info on your specific model year Kia vehicle. Its better than say one of those service manuals found online because it is always up-to-date and essentially what the service technichians see, maybe a lighter form of it, but valuable information nonetheless. https://kiatechinfo.snapon.com/

$1,500 annual subscription!

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[mrad31]

$1,500 annual subscription!

Right. Should be a 3 day access version for like $20? I just planned two afternoons and took a bunch of screen captures and created short PDFs of the things I wanted for different projects. For example, for the puddle lights I just went in an captured all of the door harness locations and pinouts to reference later.

 

[Bohen]

Did you run an in-line fuse ?
Is there any way to access a power wire that we can connect to our lights so that when when I unlock the vehicle the vehicle the puddle light will engage I would like to mount them underneath the body so that they turn on and you see the ground not just when you open the door?

 

[mrad31]

@Bohen for this project I chose not to add a fuse. Only because the circuit path chosen has a common ground and the LED bolt selected has such low wattage the original circuit can support it no problem.

That being said if you would want to add something like an LED strip or even a series of light pods… on the exterior to boot, you will want to add a fuse to protect the other circuits. And maybe even a dedicated or stronger power supply. The only thing that comes to mind would be the heavier gauge wires used to supply the door lock actuators. You could add a separate fused circuit branching off of that and use the pocket lamp just as an input when to drive the other lights.

I know some have added those running boards with light strips, I wonder what they used for the power there?

 

[dhyams]

@mrad31 thanks so much for the guide on this...I'm playing around with the idea of taking one of the battery powered ones ( Amazon.com). and mounting it inside the door.

I'd use your same connector to pull power from, and use resistors to voltage divide the circuit down if necessary (I assume voltage is 12V, but would need to be 4.5V, I think, to bypass the battery compartment in the wireless projector thing).

Do you think there would be enough room inside the door for the wireless projectors linked above? It looks like there is a fair amount of room, but wanted to get your opinion before I go ripping into the door

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[dhyams]

A quick update on this; the "projectors" came in, so I disassembled one to see if a direct wire to car power is possible. It looks to be, so I pulled out the LED from the projector, put it on a breadboard, and figured out the right resistor to use to make it usable with a 12.6V power source. Will write more about the details later, but the next step is to pull the door panel and see if I can find the right wire to tap.

I was a little surprised that the LED's pull .25 amps each, but after some research found out they they are high power LED's that are rated at 1W (I believe, there's no part number, but they are pulling .25 amps through 4.5 volts, which is a little over 1 Watt).