My simple little appearance modification

[RocketFast321]

Sorry for the dark pics. Looks like a normal mirror?

[Sc0oB]

uhhh what am i looking at here?

[RocketFast321]

Wrong because now i have lights :D I ran the power wire to the glove compartment light. So if i leave it on by mistake it will go off after 10min

[tenspeed]

Hey William, is there some reason you didn't run the power to the dome light that's 18"s away?

[RocketFast321]

how you do that? lol It only took like 5min for me to run that.

[jds_truck]

i see the light !!!

[mthegodfather]

And you said let there be light. And it was good.

[GrandAm95]

(scratching head) did i miss something

[Xidion]

cool?

[RocketFast321]

Well i like it since my car did not come with a mirror with lights. The mirror came from the Eretta (http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=33852)

[tenspeed]

I used phone wire, fished it from the dome light and attached the pigtail to it. The splices are in the headliner. My mirror lights come on with the switch for reading or with the dome light.

[RocketFast321]

phone wire? and i thought i was crazy for useing cat 5 networking cable

[tenspeed]

It's about a 20 gauge, it'll handle a couple of amps. Slipped right around the cubby in the overhead.

[gbe357]

ooo! i get it...thats a map light built into your mirror? took me a min..i'm slightly retarded from turning 21 last week still...

[ragepsych0]

lol, i still dont get it.

[tenspeed]

Originally posted by ragepsych0
lol, i still dont get it.

The basic SE only comes with a dome light. No lights in the footwells, no map lights, lucky to have a glove box light that comes on after awhile.

We deficient SE owners have to resort to getting illuminating mirrors from other vehicles. Wiring can be a problem due to the headliner blocking avenues to power sources. William chose to go to the glove box so his lights come on when he hits the switch. I went to the dome light so mine come on when I open the door or hit the switch.

I also lack the keyless entry, monsoon sound system, remote start, power windows but I did get a nifty covered drinking cup with a cigarette on the lid.

[RocketFast321]

Thank-you tenspeed. my car come with a no trills mirror like he said. When i saw it in the Eretta setting in the back window i had to have it.

[Brownie]

ok i wanted to do this also........so i went to a junkyard and found one off like a 94 grand prix im gonna get some new bulbs tomorrow cuz ther burnt but im not really sure if they switches or lights are even working....how do i test this plus im not really sure how to wire it to the glove box or even worse the dome light.....i cant imagine fishing any sort of wires from the domelight to the front of the headliner where the mirror is? please advise on both approaches

[Dave C]

Originally posted by tenspeed
The basic SE only comes with a dome light. No lights in the footwells, no map lights, lucky to have a glove box light that comes on after awhile.

We deficient SE owners have to resort to getting illuminating mirrors from other vehicles. Wiring can be a problem due to the headliner blocking avenues to power sources. William chose to go to the glove box so his lights come on when he hits the switch. I went to the dome light so mine come on when I open the door or hit the switch.

I also lack the keyless entry, monsoon sound system, remote start, power windows but I did get a nifty covered drinking cup with a cigarette on the lid.


lol
How'd you wire the lights into the dome light? I lack floor lights on my GT (GM bastards going cheap for 2003+'s), and would like to have some that go on with the interior lights.
Thanks

[voyager]

eretta power!!! hahaha..

if you remove the headliner, the wires to the dome light should be right in front of you.. or, in my eretta they run up the drivers side A-pillar; maybe same in GA?

nice mod. you should snag the overhead console too!

[RocketFast321]

Originally posted by Brownie
ok i wanted to do this also........so i went to a junkyard and found one off like a 94 grand prix im gonna get some new bulbs tomorrow cuz ther burnt but im not really sure if they switches or lights are even working....how do i test this plus im not really sure how to wire it to the glove box or even worse the dome light.....i cant imagine fishing any sort of wires from the domelight to the front of the headliner where the mirror is? please advise on both approaches

Does it have three wires? The one i got did. The wires are ground, switch and constant. I use a old power supply from a computer to find out which one was which. I probley got the ground and switch mixed up but it does not matter because the light will run either way. I use thin wire (cat5 cable) and just ran it across the the head liner. I wrap the wire with small strips of duct tape every 5 inches across the head liner so the wire stay up there. I don't care a little wire is showing. It runs thru the fuse box connected to the positive wire in the glove box and grounded to a bolt in the passenger side fuse box.

[tenspeed]

The operation is a little weird but the wiring is like William said. You have a constant 12VDC on the unswitched side of the bulb holder. The other side is a ground when the switch is on, this gives you the map light feature.

When the switch is off, the power coming in is 12VDC when the light is off. When you open the door, the voltage drops to about three volts and the light comes on because there is a voltage differencial across the lamp. When you shut the door, the voltage slowly rises to 12 VDC, this gives you the theater lighting where they dim slowly.

When you get a mirror, get the wire and plug too.

[Brownie]

is the black the ground and which one is the switch and power...how do i discover this....also u can hide ur wires running down the little space between the windshield and the piller there should be space there to run it right to the dash

[RocketFast321]

I guessing orange is Constant and white is switch. Also that is the same mirror i got. The driver side lens is bigger then the pass. side. Just today I found two blue bulbs in my room. I put one in the pass. side of the mirror so i could have a little light when i drive. And i put the other one in the gear shifter. A little tacky but i'm very slowly changing all of them to blue.

[Cobra^R]

Dont the grand ams like cut power to the car after sitting for so many minutes?
Ive left my lights on overnight plenty of times and they always shut off like 15 minutes later by themselves.
Even happens when working on the car, i gotta turn the key or hit the brake to get the power back up.

Or is it just a GT thing?

[RocketFast321]

All gm cars do it i think it started in 96. The power is cut to the interior lights after 20min

[voyager]

my 95 has the auto-dim too.

yes, orange is constant & white is switched.

[Dave C]

ok, thread back from the dead...


background: I'm trying to hook some lights up to turn on with the interior lamps. I would like to find where the domelight/rearview mirror lights are wired into under the dash. more specifically, I'd like to know where the relay is that controls the auto-dimming and interior light power when the doors open.

it would also be helpful to know where the floor lights (for those of you who have them) are wired to (should be the same relay as above?). if I could find this, I'd like to run the power from where they are supposed to be.

for reference here's what I've found so far on my car's wiring:

I went digging last night and found out that all the power wires (in my car at least) from the rearview mirror lights, domelight, and sunroof all run down the rear left C-pillar. this includes the three wires that they have all been talking about, and some more:
-white, orange, and black for the dome light
-black with a white stripe, black, and black for the mirror lights
-larger black and brown for the sunroof

there is a plug near the base of the C-Pillar/top of the seat where they are all exposed, rather than wrapped up. (of course you have to take off the C-Pillar panel to see them)

after that, I followed them along the floor panels that run along the door (they join up with a bunch of other wires). this group of wires splits, some go under the drivers seat while some go up to the driver's side fuse box. some wires also come in through the grommet from the front door and meet up with this bunch of wires near the fuse box.

I guess I could run power from the plug near the C-Pillar, but would much prefer to find the origin of these wires.

help anyone? and thanks tenspeed on the tip about what the white and orange wires are for...

[RickHigginsHtbr]

dave, i say just tap it into those three, get it all wired up and shoot some pics :) Then, dig around later and find it :)