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I have to go back to my passenger door on Monday remove the wire that's connected to the pink and attach it to that white wire with a black stripe and then that will come on when the headlights come on. Shouldn't be a hard fix honestly since I already know which wires and what needs to be corrected.
Thats exactly what I would like to see, and as yous stated, many owners would probably prefer since these ambient lights are very dim to begin with.
Would be cool to see you go step by step on your modification Monday.
Thats exactly what I would like to see, and as yous stated, many owners would probably prefer since these ambient lights are very dim to begin with.
Would be cool to see you go step by step on your modification Monday.
USPS is having major delays. My package I was supposed to get on Friday and then Monday is still half way across the US and doesn't show it's moving at all... so frustrating. I'll start to take photos and then once I get the harness post up the remaining stuff. I also bought a different type of heat shrink so that way I can use this on the driver side and it might be easier for people to do rather than cutting wires in half. (You still have to solder but it's much easier to strip some insulation off and solder the wire through the other existing wire than cutting it...etc.
I'll see if I can find the wire that actually drops the voltage down to half and see if a picture can actual capture the difference between the two. I'm happy with the full brightness though. At first I thought it was going to be too bright but in all reality it not even close. I think because it's already diffused and shines up to a dark surface helps make it a soft color instead of something that is directly facing you like mercedes lighting.
No worries man, very much appreciating what you're doing here...
Its rare to see members take so much time to create such detailed follow ups of such technical modifications, no matter how minor they are, gotta respect the time and effort you want to spend in this, for those who are interested!
I'm sure, if this topic is given a sticky, many would consider doing this themselves, when they originally never considered doing this in the first place
And yeah, it would be very helpful if you show the entire cable and harness set up step by step from the start.
The heat shrink steps sound like a good idea for noobs like me that dont know a thing about electricity but are handy enough to follow
To be clear, this is the second time you ordered a full door panel with the full electronics already included in the panels (window controls - door opening mechanisme - and ambient light bar) for each side?
So, what has to be done to make it truly plug and play, is 'create' the female connection coming out of the wiring harness behind the door panel, so you can connect the male side of the ambient light bar? This is the only 'tricky' side of this whole modification?
Another last question, just to have an idea of the fundamentals, you know what the consequences are of the two options, because you know what each cable of the window switch connector you are tapping from, and I assume you know because you actually studied the electrical layout right?
In all of this its not clear where did you get this female connector? because if I followed your stories correctly, because of the discontinuation of the ambient light bar on the facelifts, there is simply no female connection for the ambient light when owners will remove and disconnect their panels?
So this crucial connection was bought separately?
No worries man, very much appreciating what you're doing here...
Its rare to see members take so much time to create such detailed follow ups of such technical modifications, no matter how minor they are, gotta respect the time and effort you want to spend in this, for those who are interested!
I'm sure, if this topic is given a sticky, many would consider doing this themselves, when they originally never considered doing this in the first place
And yeah, it would be very helpful if you show the entire cable and harness set up step by step from the start.
The heat shrink steps sound like a good idea for noobs like me that dont know a thing about electricity but are handy enough to follow
To be clear, this is the second time you ordered a full door panel with the full electronics already included in the panels (window controls - door opening mechanisme - and ambient light bar) for each side?
So, what has to be done to make it truly plug and play, is 'create' the female connection coming out of the wiring harness behind the door panel, so you can connect the male side of the ambient light bar? This is the only 'tricky' side of this whole modification?
Another last question, just to have an idea of the fundamentals, you know what the consequences are of the two options, because you know what each cable of the window switch connector you are tapping from, and I assume you know because you actually studied the electrical layout right?
In all of this its not clear where did you get this female connector? because if I followed your stories correctly, because of the discontinuation of the ambient light bar on the facelifts, there is simply no female connection for the ambient light when owners will remove and disconnect their panels?
So this crucial connection was bought separately?
Appreciate it. I can't tell you how many times I've been saved or been able to do something purely based on a how-to or from forums. On the Mercedes forum I was able to retro fit a power opening/closing trunk on our w211. Prior to that thread I hadn't even given a thought to it, but after seeing it done and sourcing the parts (which surprisingly wasn't expensive) I went with it and happy I did it!
But to answer your questions. I'll definitely point out which wires to tap. Ultimately it's one of those things where I would probably not advice "trying your soldering skills" on the car if you've never soldered before... Soldering is not hard, I think I've done it now since I into computer modding over 20 years ago. Tons of YouTube videos on how to properly solder and things like that so I'll leave that part to better videos or google.
So I ordered my first door panel which was pictured above. I believe it was the passengers panel first. At $100 I figured absolute worst case scenario, the ambient lighting module won't fit into my door panel and I'm out the hundred compared to spending close to $300 for JUST the oem light module. Door panels on eBay range from $100 all the way to 400ish if you get the RCF panel. I didn't care which model it came from, as long as they were not 2019 or newer. From everything I am looking at and the pictures posted in my one thread you just want to make sure it has the lighting module. The rest of the panel could be sold or pitched...etc. I've seen some panels that actually come with the CF window trim piece at a bargin price. Half tempted to buy the entire panel just for that since the window trim pieces are going for $2-300 easy... But I like my silver carbon fiber trim honestly. Goes nice with the white leather.
I'll take pictures of taking the door panel off but it's about a 2 minute thing. Panel pulls up and out and then you are left with removing about 30 screws from the panel in order to remove the door handle trim piece. There is zero need to separate the pieces of the trim or anything like that. Some pieces are plastic welded/riveted, and I was initially afraid this would have to be broken apart to change. Not the case at all. The LED module will 100% attach into the newer door panels since they are the same. The door panel has a blank insert that Lexus/Toyota added to not have a gap since the LED module wasn't present anymore.
The only thing that is needed is to tap off the wires from the window control harness. And in reality you only would really need to tape the 12v power. You could simply run a terminal plug and attach it to the inner door bolt for ground, making the install even less wiring. I want a 100% OEM look. So when the door panel is removed no one is going to question what is there. Ever take apart something and the previous owner did something janky or had cut a bunch of wires or used crimp connectors... it's immediate that something was "done". I want the opposite, where someone has to question "was anything done?". Because I wanted OEM look/feel..etc. I went on eBay again looking for RC door wiring harnesses. I found two for about $30. They can range from that price all the way up to a couple hundred. Again, I was looking for cheap, since I only wanted the ambient lighting connector (to make it plug and play). If I could source the connector alone I would have done that. But it's ok. You could use whatever connectors you wanted to connect the wiring harness to the ambient lighting harness. IE:: I could have easily cut the connector off and used my connectors on each end. Doesn't matter.. If one doesn't care for the OEM look, you could easily use common connectors found everywhere.
I probed all the wires so that's how I know which ones to tap. If you are good with a multimeter it's not hard to figure out which wires are power, ground, illumination....etc. All my tests using the dimming wire with LEDS other than the OEM led module work as it should. Dims the light, fades on/fades out..etc. But I believe it's how Lexus/Toyota soldered the resistors on the LED module board in such a way that it's tricking the system into thinking something is still "on", which it's not. I think they did what they did in order to have the ambient lighting last for a very long time. IE: It would not be cost effective if they had to do warranty work on replacing LED modules because they burned out due to lack or resistors or because they got too hot and burned out. I believe they padded it so that it's the typical Lexus reliability. I would ideally want them to dim/brighten with the rest of the interior lights but I believe I'm doing something that Lexus did not intend with their OEM lighting module. Because I found this out early on with the passenger side wiring, I simply will disconnect the wire that is attached to the dimming wire and attach it to the ground wire. Thus the lights will come on and go off with the headlights just like the interior lights do. With the exception that my ambient lights will stay at their nice full brightness compared to dimming down to 50% if you put it in drive.
I think I answered your last question but if it wasn't clear. You do not NEED the oem connector. It's nice to keep it looking factory. Again, there's no point in drawing more attention to something than what's needed. I went the OEM connector route for sheer plug and play/looks wise. If you can't source a harness you could simply snip the connector on and crimp/solder on a connector of your choice. Just make sure they both match. I've attached a picture below. These are probably the most common type of connectors that people use in the auto industry for radios...etc. I've used them and still do with certain things. I just wanted this to stick with OEM.
Some people wouldn't see value in spending $30 for a white OEM connector. I certainly would NOT see value in spending $145 for a door wiring harness only to cut the connector off and use it, in essence making that single connector cost me $145. I hope that makes sense. If I couldn't source the used harness for their connectors I would have cut the connector off and then used my own.
It's all in the cost benefit ratio.
*$100 for each door panels that included OEM led modules = $200.
*$60 for both door wiring harness to cut the connectors off and use them = $60.
Total cost for me $260 plus my time. If I sold the door panels back on eBay and even made half the money back for them at $160 total cost it's well worth it to me to have door ambient lighting.
Another option:
Take the door panels above at $100 each = $200
Wiring harness for $150 each = $300
Total $500...
I would NOT spend $300 just to get two plastic connectors to plug my ambient lighting into. If I needed the ENTIRE harness that's a different story, but in this case, everything but the connector is getting thrown out.
However, to the same point using OEM part.
Buying OEM led modules from Lexus at $280 each = $560 both
Wiring harness at $150 each on eBay = $300 for both
We are now at a total of $860! This would NOT be worth it to me.
Under $300 I think is OK, less is better!. Anything more and now I am loosing interest and it doesn't seem cost efficient to me.
If so, I assume the only connector needed to connect to the led light bar is situated somewhere in the top right hand side?
In order to start modifying as a noob, it has to be clear where to start and how to start.
Need to see wich part or connector (if you have an entire loom) is used as a donor and where on the existing parts on the car side you need cutting and modifying to make the led light bar fit.
At this point pictures are welcome and too much text is becoming overload for noobs like me
But in fact you are also saying, its perfectly possible to ignore all the above (getting a entire OEM harness for the sole purpose of acquiring that specific connector-solder that connector to the car side-plug and play), and just get a common type of connector like on your picture above: male and female on each side, but that would suggest you would need to cut of the connector on the newly required LED light bar right?
Can I suggest to limit your upcoming step by step picture tutorial to the cable and connector modifying parts only? the electrical stuff if you will
You were indeed very clear already about the door trim panels and youtube has alrady some clear videos of how to remove those, so thats not going to be the 'issue' here I think.
The electrical side will be the tricky part for us noobs to tackle.
If so, I assume the only connector needed to connect to the led light bar is situated somewhere in the top right hand side?
In order to start modifying as a noob, it has to be clear where to start and how to start.
Need to see wich part or connector (if you have an entire loom) is used as a donor and where on the existing parts on the car side you need cutting and modifying to make the led light bar fit.
At this point pictures are welcome and too much text is becoming overload for noobs like me
But in fact you are also saying, its perfectly possible to ignore all the above (getting a entire OEM harness for the sole purpose of acquiring that specific connector-solder that connector to the car side-plug and play), and just get a common type of connector like on your picture above: male and female on each side, but that would suggest you would need to cut of the connector on the newly required LED light bar right?
Can I suggest to limit your upcoming step by step picture tutorial to the cable and connector modifying parts only? the electrical stuff if you will
You were indeed very clear already about the door trim panels and youtube has alrady some clear videos of how to remove those, so thats not going to be the 'issue' here I think.
The electrical side will be the tricky part for us noobs to tackle.
Again, thx a million!
Yep that harness is exactly it. Please see the arrows. If you want the OEM plug and play connection of the OEM light bar into an OEM connector then you are looking at this simple two wire connector via the arrows.. Naturally you'd cut back the tape and then snip the wires closer to the bulk of the harness just so you have "extra" wire to play with. It's easier to have TOO much wire, and snip it shorter than to have to add wire and have a bunch of needless solder joints, if that makes sense.
But again, it's all in what the end goal is. If you can get the harnesses CHEAP, the connectors are what you want. However, if you can't get them cheap and are OK with pay hundreds of dollars for a harness to get the OEM connector then that's fine. If you can't source the harness then simple spade connectors that I linked up above will be more than sufficient to do the job and it will do the job perfectly fine, it just won't look OEM from the factory..(some people don't care, and if it works then who cares how it looks). Being I have a 2020, I don't want eyes looking at something and saying welp, warranty denied because you did this and that. If they look at the door panel/harness, it looks OEM, not a second glance would come of it. If using spade connectors, you are correct. You'd snip off the connector on the OEM led module and simply crimp on the new connectors. It literally would be a 2 minute job. It's not difficult in the least. Many youtube videos of how to crimp wires/spade connectors..
I can point to the wires in the how to and list what I'd recommend but honestly I probably won't go into too much detail on how to solder or connect the wires. There are just too many videos out there on YouTube that will show you how to do it. And I'd recommend soldering on other stuff before you start doing it on a car. It's one of those things that you don't want to mess up even though in my eye it would be difficult to do so.. but for someone that never soldered before it could very much be a problem and or can of worms. To me soldering wires into a harness is a difficulty of about a 1-1.5. If I have to solder SMD leds onto a board then it raises up more to a 4/5 because it's so much harder and smaller. But to the same point if someone never soldered before, my 1 - 1.5 could easily be a 8 to someone else...
My freaking harness still hasn't moved yet. This is so freaking frustrating. I get Covid and holiday season and everyone being swamped, but I kinda want to put the car together and be done with it..lol. There's no update either, just saying it's in transit and will be late. Gotta love it.
The white wire with black stripe is Ground. The thicker green wire on the side of the connector is 12v + when the headlights are turned on. I used the thicker ground wire futher down in the harness because I did NOT want to tap into the tiny ground wire. In this picture you can see my attached pink wire which is part of the ambient lighting connector. That black stuff on the wire is something new I tried via liquid electrical tape. I love it. Will be using this again in the future.
I used liquid electrical tape on the solder joint then after it dried I used normal electrical tape to wrap it. Just for safe measure. I then wrapped the rest of the wires back to OEM look, and finished it off with the fabric electrical tape so it has the OEM look and feel of the harness If you didn't know the car didn't have ambient lighting you'd never suspect anything out of place.
Pro tips after doing the passenger side and then the driver side. Passenger side I tapped off the wires on the window control switch harness. On the driver side I did the same thing but I tapped off where the harness comes off the MAIN branch of wires. It's much easier to work with it there than higher up on the window control harness. Took me all of 15 minutes to strip the insulation back, solder, then wrap. It took me longer to wrap the entire harness back to OEM look, to the point that you can't even tell anything was done.
Hope that helps people if they want to add it later on.
Hello - Sorry I am a bit lost still. I see that the end of the led bar has a female connector, if i cut this off there is two wires? red and black. Do I splice the red to the 12v green and the black to the ground?
Or am i missing something? Also do you recommend I purchase some 18 gauge wire so i can run it all the way to the harness?
Hello - Sorry I am a bit lost still. I see that the end of the led bar has a female connector, if i cut this off there is two wires? red and black. Do I splice the red to the 12v green and the black to the ground?
Or am i missing something? Also do you recommend I purchase some 18 gauge wire so i can run it all the way to the harness?
Thanks!
Yep the female connector is the oem connector that would plug into the stock wiring harness male plug. Since they did away with this in 2020+ you won't have a connector in your harness. I purchased doner harness for the sole purpose of clipping the wiring/connector so that I would not have to solder the wires directly into my harness. IE: If you clip the connector and solder your wires on the exsisting harness if the LED ever burns out you will have to clip the wires and solder new, OR if you ever want to remove your door panel if you hard wire it you won't be able to go too far with the door panel since it's attached to the door wiring harness.... I would recommend some type of quick connect for that reason alone.
But yep, just as the picture shows, the thicker green wire is 12v when headlights come on. When headlights are off, this wire doesn't get power. The white with black stripe wire is ground. You would just make sure that you are connecting your +/- wires of the ambient lighting to the correct wires in the harness bundle. I would assume Lexus uses the same color wires for the ambient lighting but who knows if later years or ealier years had different color wires depending on who was making the part. IE: My ambient lighting had a pink and light green wire. The pink wire was ground and the green wire was 12v.
If you want to extend the wires that's up to you. I clipped enough wire from my doner harness that I had at least 10" or so from the OEM connector to the ambient lighting connector. Then I just wrapped it all with felt tape to make it look OEM. This gives me the flexibilty to remove the door panel and not have to worry that I won't be able to get my hand in there to unclip it if the wires were too short. (gives you room to work. Look at the window switching wiring and that should give you an idea of how much extra wire you should have. About the same as that is all that's needed.
Thank you for your response. So I went ahead and purchased some RCF panels for both the driver and the passenger. I actually had the intention of changing the panels in the my car since I want to go with a blue look and it has the stitching and also the sweet suede. Your instructions were super clear. I did use t-taps since I am not the best at splicing and have used these in the past for the side sills. However, I used the connectors your recommend on the drivers side since I needed to add an extra 6 inches of cable. So I will be able to disconnect through there if I ever need to and the passenger side, I would simply disconnect the t-taps. However, considering the worst - I do not see my removing the panels anytime soon. Everything went great. It started raining after so I was not able to take pictures. Tomorrow, I will like to tape everything up so the wires are not out.
The car definitely looks sick with this addition. Do not know why Lexus did away with it.
Thank you for your response. So I went ahead and purchased some RCF panels for both the driver and the passenger. I actually had the intention of changing the panels in the my car since I want to go with a blue look and it has the stitching and also the sweet suede. Your instructions were super clear. I did use t-taps since I am not the best at splicing and have used these in the past for the side sills. However, I used the connectors your recommend on the drivers side since I needed to add an extra 6 inches of cable. So I will be able to disconnect through there if I ever need to and the passenger side, I would simply disconnect the t-taps. However, considering the worst - I do not see my removing the panels anytime soon. Everything went great. It started raining after so I was not able to take pictures. Tomorrow, I will like to tape everything up so the wires are not out.
The car definitely looks sick with this addition. Do not know why Lexus did away with it.
Will upload pictures tomorrow.
Awesome! Wonderful that this helped someone add ambient lighting! Can't wait to see pictures.
Careful with the T-taps. Over time with bumps and what not they can actually wear through and or get loose from movement. I tend to try and never use them. But if you've used them in the past with no issues you'll probably be fine. Yep if you can wrap the wires so that it looks OEM no one will be wiser to know what has happened...
Think we are the only two so far that have done this...lol
Those T-tap connectors can be problematic, and even the crimped connectors can get loose over time. Recently I have started using Wago connectors which are very tight and much more convenient that either of the above, as long as you have the room in the area where the wires go. I have been using them on everything from 120 volts down to 6 volts, and they are great. They are pricey, but if you don't need a lot of them, (and who does?) it is a great product. As always, you can find them in various configurations on Amazon. Here's a photo of one that will join 3 wires together.
Thanks for the feedback. I see that Amazon also sells replica connectors. So if anything ever fails in the future and I need to go back in - I’ll take that into consideration.
Here are some pics. Driver side. With new panels Passenger side. Passenger side, night time. Glimpse the Lexion 10 inch screen unit. And new Instrument cluster from F sport. Driver side after connecting wires. Night time -Driver Night Time Passenger Both
I wish Lexus would look at stuff like this and realize they messed up by removing it. Or more people complain..lol. I don't think they sell enough of the model honestly though for people to even notice. I know last year I was only one of the 293 RCF's sold in the USA. I'd have to get numbers for the rest of the RC line.
You can really see yours during the day time! What do you think at night? Too bright, just right..etc? I noticed that they don't seem bright to me at all and it isn't a strain of being blinded by them in the dark.
12-13-20, 10:57 AM
