Ok, I finally got around to finishing this up. I spent a ton of time this week trying to find a good spot to hardwire in, b/c I wanted the ambient light to turn on with the exterior lights... I didn't want to just have it powered on whenever the car was running.
I have to give credit to
thedaddyb on this forum. He has posted about hardwiring a light to his glovebox and tied into power feeding the stereo. Just what I needed! He found the line that tells the HU to dim, when the lights come on! Woot!
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Credit to... by
seajus s, on Flickr[/IMG]
Anyhow, I routed the ambient light harness towards the HU opening under the dash (I took out the trim and HU to do all of this, plenty of documentation on it elsewhere). It was super awkward laying on my back! D'oh!
The red power feed was plenty long to hit the wiring for the HU. The ground eyelet... not so much. But, I did find a ground spot under the dash, and attached there! So exciting!
Thanks to thedaddyb , I started to look for the magical line (yellow/green). And I found it. Boom!
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Illumination feed, '14 cx-5 by
seajus s, on Flickr[/IMG]
Then I tapped into it, and taped it up so hopefully I never have to look at it again!
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Illumination feed, '14 cx-5 by
seajus s, on Flickr[/IMG]
Headlghts off... no ambient
parking lights on... ambient
headlights on... ambient
Mission accomplished!
Hopes this helps if anyone wants to add this console to their CX-5.
I'm sure much more electrically inclined people may have better methods to do this, but it works like I want!
PS. Perform at your own risk (nana)