Sliding-Door Step Light Connection [Merge]

[Rookie]

My sliding door step light is not wired up :-(.
Any thoughts where I can best take an appropriate feed from that is switched by the sliding door?

To be a little clearer - I believe that I need to pick up the permeant 12v - red/black ?? and the Convenience Module Ground - brown/black??

Any thoughts on where to best pick this up, would be appreciated.

 

[Absolut5]

Red/black and brown/red in the passenger B pillar

 

[Rookie]

Thanx. I will have a little investigate.

 

[Colinlp]

I've just bought a sliding door threshold step from Banwy, it came with an LED and a bit of wire. I assume the supply will come from the courtesy lights in the roof but they have 3 wires on them and the LED for the step has 2. Am I correct in assuming they the supply for the LED comes from there and if so which wires do I tap in to to get the feed?

Many thanks

 

[Colinlp]

Never mind, worked it out

 

[T6 Dave]

@Colinlp , so what was the answer mate?

 

[Colinlp]

One wire is a live, one wire is a switched neutral and the other is an un-switched neutral. What was throwing me was the light goes off after a few seconds not straight away which was why I was totally confused as to what was what

 

[T6 Dave]

@Colinlp , aha, thanks for throwing some light on that one (pun intended)..

 

[xpfloyd]

So what neutral did you use for the side step light? I'm about to do the same thing

 

[Colinlp]

I used the switched neutral, that is the brown wire with a stripe on it, there is another brown wire which is the un-switched. The red striped wire is the live. I have bought a small rocker switch to override this light as we often sleep with the sliding door open when the awning is attached to the van (or at least we do with our bay) otherwise the light will be on permanently unless there is some sort of maximum time the lights stay on for; I haven't had the van long and the lights have been stripped out for the most so I'm in the dark on that one so to speak!!

 

[xpfloyd]

Thanks for the wiring info, very helpful. As far as I know the interior lights time out after a while so with the door left open the lights will go out. I don't know what the duration is off hand though

 

[Colinlp]

Brilliant, thanks for that, I think I will hang fire on that switch until I know for sure then, the less connections the better for me

 

[xpfloyd]

I'll be working on the van today so will time the time out for you

 

[travelvolts]

It varies according to what has been happening with doors opening and closing and ignition on and off. Initially it will be about 10 minutes but if a door is opened and closed it will be less. Switching the ignition on will start the cycle from the beginning.

 

[Colinlp]

10 minutes seems acceptable, I'll leave a loop of the feed wire behind the little panel in case we decide to fit the switch and live with it for a few weeks to see what we think but that sounds fair enough to live with

 

[Andrew Wilkinson]

Hi,
I've just bought a new step for the sliding door, a higher one to take into account the raised new ply floor level.
The step has a light built in to it. I'd like the light to come on when the door opens and I remember someone saying that the pressure switch live feed is in the B pilar.
Anyone by chance have a photo of what I'm looking for or know from their extensive knowledge what colour the cable is?

 

[Ads_Essex]

I’m not sure what van you have, but assuming its a panel van, underneath the passenger seat are a load of connectors, and you can take a feed from there:

On a Kombi there’s a plug at the bottom of the passengers b pillar where the step light is connected. On a panel van I think you’d need to go back to the plugs under the left hand side of the dash. When you have a feed, take it to the base of the passenger seat and through the grommet in the floor

you could take a feed from your roof lighting (either from where it runs from the front of the van to the back, crossing above the B-pillar, to feed your middle and rearmost ceiling lights):

Yes mate. Pick up the red/black wire +12v and the brown/red -12v from the light in the cab roof..

from the cab ceiling light (by running a cable up to it):

Pick up your connections from the main bulb

View attachment 36727

or from the connector block behind the glovebox:

You have a couple choices, you can run the cables up one of the pillars to the roof space and connect into the wiring for the roof light or you can run the cables forwards to the dash and join them behind the glovebox as the interior lighting circuit passes through there
Whichever way you go you are tapping into the red/black positive wire and the brown/red negative wire

View attachment 37101

View attachment 37100

Regarding the plugs under the seat, I’m not sure what colour it’ll be, but am sure @rod_vw knows.

(Click on the up arrows on each message to see it in full).

 

[Andrew Wilkinson]

Thanks guys, as helpful as ever.
The van was a straightforward panel van but I assumed that, as the load bay lights came on when you opened the slide door that there must have been a switch with the necessary feed.
I'll go and have an explore and see which is the best option.

 

[Ads_Essex]

In your position, I’d tap in to the roof lights, just as they pass over the slider, and run a cable down to your step.

I’ve done it differently myself as I’ve bought a full footwell lighting kit from the forum shop - both front footwells, front steps, side step and rear footwells / seat backs - and Pauly made a loom up to suit.

 

[Andrew Wilkinson]

Thanks, I've sorted it. I took the switched live from above the slider as suggested. It works fine. Ads_Essex, your's sounds way more sophisticated.