Home > In Car Electronics > Wiring an LED strip in place of the courtesy light?? (PUMA) |
|
|
CY88 Member Since: 05 Jan 2016 Location: Offshore Posts: 255 |
Hi there!
Now that winter is approaching fast, I'm starting to miss the interior lights that I did away with when i converted my Puma to a soft top. It's a commercial spec, no central locking or alarm fitted. When doing the conversion I simply left the wiring that was up the A pillar behind the dash, and am left with this socket: Click image to enlarge previously this attached to a little piece of wiring fixed into the front of the hardtop which comprised the black, the violent/brown and the violet/white wires: Click image to enlarge These branched into two further sockets which then plugged into the courtesy light, which I understand was earthed into the body once screwed in place. Click image to enlarge I've been looking at these flexible strip lights: https://www.ledautolamps-uk.com/interior-l...uct_id=675 The interior light was working off the door switches prior to me removing the roof. I went to test the wiring today and connected a bulb in circuit to the violet/brown and black wires. I had assumed that the bulb would only illuminate once the door was opened, but in fact it stayed illuminated the whole time (with the ignition off) whether the door was open or not. I'm guessing that this may be something to do with the fact the original courtesy light was earthed? I wasn't expecting the LED strip light to be earthed? Has anyone tried similar, and can you offer advice on the best way to wire up the strip light so that it turns on using the door switches? Many thanks! [/img] FFRR Supercharged - Series One - Defender 90 V8 |
||
12th Oct 2020 2:16pm |
|
Martin Site Admin Member Since: 02 Apr 2007 Location: Hook Norton Posts: 6605 |
The purple/brown is a permanent 12V supply, used when the original lamp switch is in the "ON" position. Connect to positive of your strip.
The purple/white is the door switched ground, so this is the one you should be using as your ground The black is ground for the manual "ON" position as you've found - the courtesy lamps aren't grounded through the fixings. 1988 90 Td5 NAS soft top 2015 D90 XS SW Last edited by Martin on 29th Oct 2020 10:38am. Edited 1 time in total |
||
12th Oct 2020 3:03pm |
|
CY88 Member Since: 05 Jan 2016 Location: Offshore Posts: 255 |
Excellent! Thanks Martin. I'll give this a try 👍🏼
FFRR Supercharged - Series One - Defender 90 V8 |
||
12th Oct 2020 3:37pm |
|
macfrank Member Since: 05 Nov 2015 Location: somewhere in the north Posts: 1076 |
Yes, indeed While earth and ground have the same historical background (sticking a metal bar in the mud and using it as return channel for telegraph signals), in electrical/electronics engineering we usually use earth only when talking about AC. ground is used with DC to refer to the common point all voltages in a circuit are measured against - it's considered zero. But isn't there a difference between using "earthed" and "grounded" in British and American English? The German term for ground is "Masse" (mass), by the way. It's easier to mentally connect this term to the metal "mass" of a chassis, for example. Also its symbol is a thick horizontal bar, while earth has three thin bars (thinking of soft soil). Why don't we say "negative"? Maybe because in electronics the zero-Volt reference doesn't need to be at the negative pole of a voltage source. By definition it can be anywhere in a circuit, resulting in negative voltages relative to that zero (still with me? ) |
||
12th Oct 2020 6:05pm |
|
Balvaig Member Since: 19 Feb 2016 Location: Fife Posts: 730 |
Perhaps badly put by me but I was sympathising.
CY88 in the original post said “ I wasn’t expecting the led strip light to be earthed” There have been several electrical posts where a similar misunderstanding has occurred. Martin had solved the wiring problem in his post. If an led light is used it also needs to be remembered that it is polarity sensitive. |
||
12th Oct 2020 8:22pm |
|
CY88 Member Since: 05 Jan 2016 Location: Offshore Posts: 255 |
Just a quick update: Managed to get these working at last. There's no manual switch so they only come on with the door switches.
The Positive wire on the light (red) needs to be connected to purple brown, while the negative / earth wire (black) need to be connected to purple / white. Thanks for the help. FFRR Supercharged - Series One - Defender 90 V8 |
||
26th Oct 2020 3:41pm |
|
Martin Site Admin Member Since: 02 Apr 2007 Location: Hook Norton Posts: 6605 |
I've corrected my post above as I had it backwards with regards to how the lamp operates. Brain fade, apologies. 1988 90 Td5 NAS soft top
2015 D90 XS SW |
||
29th Oct 2020 10:38am |
|
|
All times are GMT |
< Previous Topic | Next Topic > |
Posting Rules
|
Site Copyright © 2006-2024 Futuranet Ltd & Martin Lewis