Rock light/puddle light wire tapped into footwell light.

[Chasse18]

I’ve done a bit of digging and have found some threads talking about wiring/tapping into the footwell light to power rock/puddle lights. I just wanted some more clarification for this install.

So, I have some rock lights I’m wanting to wire underneath the truck on each side (driver/passenger). I plan on combing the 2 led lights together to create just 1 pos(+) end and 1 neg(-) end. I then am going to run these through the fire wall and “T-Tap” them into the interior footwell light, that way the LEDs will turn on/off with doors opening and unlocking. This interior footwell light consists of a black wire and a yellow/purple tracer wire. From what I’ve read I need to tap into the yellow/purple tracer wire and the install is done. Can anyone confirm that this accurate and if I’m missing a step?

Additionally, should I ground the neg(-) wire from LEDs to a grounded bolt in the engine bay or should I tap it into the black wire thats in the footwell light next to the other wire I’d tap into?
2022 Ram 1500 Lonestar, thanks!

 

[boogielander]

i highly recommend NOT to tap into your OE wiring for power because if something goes wrong, you're gonna be shopping for new modules.
i am fixing a Jeep JT because the customer did exactly that plus an AMP research power steps and now the computer is fried.

i mean... even as an offroad/ overlanding rig builder I don't do that to my own truck, and refuse to do that for customers.

 

[Chasse18]

i highly recommend NOT to tap into your OE wiring for power because if something goes wrong, you're gonna be shopping for new modules.
i am fixing a Jeep JT because the customer did exactly that plus an AMP research power steps and now the computer is fried.

i mean... even as an offroad/ overlanding rig builder I don't do that to my own truck, and refuse to do that for customers.

I can understand the risk, I also am under the impression installing a diode or a relay would mitigate the risk of frying any module/computer.

However, if I want a light source to be able to mimic other lights that are wired into the “courtesy/dome light wiring” to be able to turn on and off with unlocking and opening the doors, this is the only way… unless you have some suggestions?

 

[boogielander]

I can understand the risk, I also am under the impression installing a diode or a relay would mitigate the risk of frying any module/computer.

However, if I want a light source to be able to mimic other lights that are wired into the “courtesy/dome light wiring” to be able to turn on and off with unlocking and opening the doors, this is the only way… unless you have some suggestions?

yes you can run a relay and use battery as power and ground, and tap into the dome light harness for trigger since I do not think tapping into the fuse slot will work (assuming the dome/ interior lights are not controlled by ground, which some vehicles are). but same thing, if something goes, especially on a new truck, good luck explaining that to the dealer how it happened. for reals, electricals are already not 100% failproof on FCA products... there's absolutely no need to introduce points of failure by messing with the OE wiring just to look "cool" or "different" while serving no functional purpose.

my professional suggestion is "don't do it" hence why I always reject jobs like that, but if you insist and i hold no responsibility for your actions, you CAN use a relay and tap dome harness as trigger and IF something does go, remember to remove t-tap before trying to get warranty.