eb50 Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 what are people using to hold the 25LED dome light square in place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcTec34 Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 a piece of foam behing it should be fine.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTWag Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 I fried my BIU too. Still lamenting my screw up because I know what I did wrong... If anyone has another idea for me to get the map lights to turn on when I open the door, let me know (tap into puddle lights?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canon20D Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 I thought of that too, but thats a long run, and i dont know if the puddle light circuit could take the extra voltage (since the one for the interior is so sensitive..) I did hear that some junkyard in CA is selling BIU for ~200$ which i might get, but ive had my lights off for so long now.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powersmp Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 I thought of that too, but thats a long run, and i dont know if the puddle light circuit could take the extra voltage (since the one for the interior is so sensitive..) I did hear that some junkyard in CA is selling BIU for ~200$ which i might get, but ive had my lights off for so long now.. use the puddle light in conjunction with a relay. then it wouldn't add any extra current. Would be a lot of wiring, but way less than 700 bucks (or 200 bucks). Of course, if you screwed up the walkthrough, then I'm not sure how apt you would be for setting it up with a relay (no offense). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canon20D Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Well I was trying to be safe, and not solder anything, and used 2 LEDs in the maplight area wired to the dome light.. Worked fine for about 5 minutes, until the switch cut through the plastic shielding, and shorted the damn thing! :doh!!!!!: So in my attempts to be more safe and not blow it out, i did anyway. Pisses me off to no end, but now ive gotten so used to it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powersmp Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Well I was trying to be safe, and not solder anything, and used 2 LEDs in the maplight area wired to the dome light.. Worked fine for about 5 minutes, until the switch cut through the plastic shielding, and shorted the damn thing! :doh!!!!!: So in my attempts to be more safe and not blow it out, i did anyway. Pisses me off to no end, but now ive gotten so used to it... I don't know why I've read from a bunch of people that they don't like soldering. Soldering always makes the best connections, ones that don't jiggle loose and screw things up. I would really recommend learning how and getting good at it... its a really good skill to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canon20D Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 A: I am good at soldering. I dont know why because I was avoiding it you assume I cant do it B: Because soldering is permanant. If I had some type of warrenty issue, I didnt want it to be voided because I soldered wires in, (because we all know even if We know it has nothing to do with it, stealerships are always looking for ways out) where as if it was just a wire wrapped around with tape, it would be easily reversable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted March 6, 2008 Author Share Posted March 6, 2008 I can de-solder My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikesz Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 I did this mod in my 06 legacy ltd. the only problem I had was soldering the diode to one side of the lights. the passenger light I was able to solder no problem the drivers side I could not get the solder to adhere no matter what I did. I used a cleaning paste, sandpaper, steel wool, utility knife to clean off whatever was there. I finally had to resort to drilling a small hole in the flat tin on the drivers side, wrap the diode wire around the screw then screw it into the hole I drilled. I am not a soldering expert but from what I learned from "Dad" there must have been some kind of film on the steel or maybe the compostion of the tin used for the switch? Has anyone experienced this? any soldering experts out there? I used a small soldering iron for electronics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted March 6, 2008 Author Share Posted March 6, 2008 It's a large thin piece of metal. Your soldering iron is probably too low of wattage and the metal sucked all the heat out of it. That's the hard part with this mod, if you hold the heat too long, it melts stuff. But if you don't get it hot enough, the solder won't stick. My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bllkbest Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 I ordered a set of puddle lights and a dome light from autoilumination. Can I just simply plug them in without soldering and diodes if I just want to replace the bulbs? or do I need diodes still as they are LED? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcTec34 Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 if you just ordered the bulbs, just plug 'em in. (if they dont work, turn them around). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bllkbest Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 ok, so I ordered 2 - 6 LED super high flux 31mm for the puddle lights and 1 - 12 LED two face 31mm for the dome light. The 6 LED are a little big for the puddle lights..the pins have to bend to accept them and wont stay in. Did you have trouble with yours or are these the wrong size? also, i tried to install the 12 led two face. it fits fine, but the light flickers on and off. is this defective? i can't believe I need help plugging in bulbs...lol thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRS Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 The bulbs are a little longer than the space between the two contact clips. Those clips have some flex in them so you can get your LED bulbs in there. I did it by inserting the pointed end into the contact on one end and then pushing the bulb in that direction to widen up the gap enough to get the tip on the other end into the other clip. It may take a bit of pressure but those clips seem to have a good amount of springiness and once each of the two pointed ends are in the little hole in the clip the bulb is held in securely. The flickering issue may just be a poor contact. Try repositioning the bulb or remove and replace and see if it'll stay on reliably. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcTec34 Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 yeah.. the 6 LED bulbs were a little bigger than the others.. had to bend the clips in the maplight to make it fit.. works wonderfully now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
05LeGacY_GT Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 this is a long shot but does anyone know where i could get the map light switch the little black box with the 2 metal post on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted May 2, 2008 Author Share Posted May 2, 2008 dealership or junkyard My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfalk Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 I removed the terminals from the map light connector, rather than cutting into the wires. If you do this and terminals contact each other, the fuse will blow (from experience:icon_tong ). It's the 20 amp fuse (fuse #8) by itself at the front of the underhood fuse box. You are a life saver! I checked every single fuse inside and didnt find it. I knew there was a fuse box under the hood but I never heard of the dome light fuse being under the hood. Anyways besides that, very simple mod, only took about 30 min, plus some extra time finding the fuse. Also if you plan on soildering, a 40watt iron is not hot enough at all. I ended up wedging the diode lead under that peice of metal then wraped it around the screw right next to it and tightened it down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimplyBao Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 2. Tap the middle wire in the loom. It's the brown and white one. I recomend using a multi-meter just to be sure though. Okay, so I'm assuming the Brown and white wire send a 12v signal to the the diodes that is being wired up correct? I'm just asking to make sure I'm looking for the right thing when I test it to make sure I'm going to do this soon but I'm not going to solder or cut any wiring.....that's going to be my attempt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwiener2 Posted July 6, 2008 Author Share Posted July 6, 2008 i don't remember if it's +12v or ground. Just make sure it's consistent with the way you wire everyting and the diodes are pointing the right way My Mods List (Updated 8/22/17) 2005 Outback FMT Running on Electrons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canon20D Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 thats what i said too - and the switch sheared off the plastic wire housing, and shorted out the BIU any damn way >:< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcTec34 Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 even with my performance mods, which are still kinda nice, im so glad i did this one.. its so useful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canon20D Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Im on the other end, I get NO light no one happens to have a BIU up for sale eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOMSWGN Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Need some help. I did this mod as described, tapped into the middle (brown) wire from the dome, soldered the connections, used diodes with the grey bands facing away from the map light switch, and switched the two wires going to the map lights in the connector ( blew the #8 fuse doing this). When I tested it, the dome lights come on when I open the door, but the map lights do not. The map lights still function independently. I went back with a multimeter and found that the brown wire in the dome was not hot, but the blue one was. The blue wire is also hot when the doors are closed. I tested the wire that I ran from the blue wire in the dome and it is hot at the soldering point on the map light switches. Any comments or suggestions would be helpful. Other than blowing the #8 fuse the lights function normally. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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