Got your attention now?

Yep. Puddle lights on a 2009, activated with factory fob. And for 50 bucks (or less).

Having wanted to put in puddles on my '09 DD, it was suggested I simply tie into the dome light feed. Well, yeah, that's fine. Until.... I want to turn on the dome light while I'm driving down the highway so I can read a map. That would turn the puddles on and confuse others on the road. So I dug into the wiring diagram and came up with a solution. An isolation relay of some sort that functioned off both the dome light and door lock circuits. I wondered if there was some sort of off-the-shelf control that could be powered by the dome light, and use the trigger of the door lock solenoids to power up the puddle lights.

And to my surprise..... there is! Just google "YYC-2S module". And the great thing is.... they're not all that expensive. Less than the cost of lunch at the Golden Arches. So I proceeded to order one, and while waiting, I dug into the factory wiring. My first task was to find both the wire that feeds the dome light, as well as the wire that is +12v to the driver's door lock solenoid.






Once I found those in the harness at the fuse block on the passenger kick panel, I tapped into them and capped them off for the time being. Once the module arrived, I did a bench test with my variable power supply to verify it would work as I desired.

The purpose of the control module is to prevent the puddles from coming on with the dome light. As is, the dome light will come on either when the dimmer switch of the dash is turned all the way up, a door is opened or the doors are unlocked with the fob. I utilized the dome light power to supply power to both the module and the puddle lights. The module can then be programmed for 32 different configurations. I chose to program it so if a trigger voltage is sent twice, it will activate the SPDT relay to NO, which will then send power to the puddles. Here's my crude wiring diagram. The blue wires are factory wires as indicated above.



Using the dome light circuit to power the module means the module is only on when the dome light is on. This way, the module does not draw any additional power when the truck is just sitting (like it is right now out in my driveway). Only when the dome light is turned on for some reason will it turn on.

Once the module was tested for suitability, I took it out to the truck to verify it will work there as well. I temped everything up and....




... it worked flawlessly!

 

Now to get down to the task of making it all happen.

One thing I had not considered until this point is the module has no protection. Either physical or electrical. I couldn't just stuff is somewhere as it might have open points that could short to ground. I solved that problem with a $3 plastic utility case from The Container Store.




I notched one edge for the wiring, and used a ranger band to hold it closed. I used a 4-pin trailer connector as a disconnect for the whole system.


I also made a printout of the color codes in case I ever have to troubleshoot it in the future. I taped that inside the case facing out.




Four small bolts and nuts secure it inside the container.

Now for the fun part... taking the mirrors off and installing the puddle lights themselves. I ordered four black 'bolt LEDs' from SuperBrightLEDs

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...ght/1494/3431/

in black, to match the mirror housings. I wanted them to be as discrete as possible.





Won't go into much detail about taking the mirror off, there's other threads and YT videos about that. But once I had the mirror removed, I started to make some holes. I just eyeballed the hole, approximating the location in the mirror where I could see I had the internal clearance to mount the light.




With high hopes and a lot of prayer, I started drilling. Once the hole was cleaned up, I pushed in the light.




Now for the most frustrating part of the project... getting the locknut on it!

Unless there's a way to disassemble the mirror (I couldn't figure out how, and the innernets didn't help me), I resorted to using a very long surgical clamp to hold the nut while I spun the light enough to engage the threads. Once that was done, I used a long thin screwdriver to spin the nut down the threads, then used the clamp to hold the nut while I used a small pair of pliers on the light itself to cinch it tight. This is the best image I could get looking into the mirror housing.




The nut is right next to the curve in the red wire. Whew! That took a lot of cuss words to get done. Now on to putting my truck back together!

I routed the wire right next to the factory disconnect on the mount,




..and reinstalled the mirror. I then threaded the wires down to the hole in the door where I had removed the speaker, and threaded it through that flexible connection between the door and jamb. That almost took as many cuss words as threading on that nut!




Once my mirror and doors were all put back together, I did a function test of the door locks, mirror adjustment and power windows. I had no issues here, so it's time to wrap it up and make it all look pretty.

With everything connected together, I took the time to tidy up the wiring under the dash. I pushed the control module up behind the glove box and tucked in between it and the frame.





Discrete, out of the way, yet quickly accessible should I need to disconnect or troubleshoot it.

 

So... how does it work?

If I use the factory fob to unlock the door, the truck wiring will turn on the module. But the module is programmed to wait to do anything until it receives two +12V triggers. So unlocking either just the drivers door or pressing the fob twice to unlock the passenger door does nothing. The first 12v pulse unlocking the drivers door isn't counted by the module as it is still 'booting up'. But pressing the unlock button on the fob a third time sends another +12v signal to the drivers'-side solenoid, and the module counts that as the second trigger. This........ turns the puddle lights on!

So I maintain the factory function of one or two fob-button presses to unlock the truck. And I gain the ability to use a third press to activate the puddle lights. This is only one of two ways to make that happen. The other is to turn on the dome light with the dash dimmer switch, then unlock the doors twice with the switches in either door. While it's possible, it's exceedingly unlikely that will every occur in real life. And since it takes three unlocks with the fob to turn them on, I don't have to do that in the daytime if I don't need the puddle lights.

FYI, if anyone is interested, it's program P47 for the function of the module.

I didn't keep track of every penny I spent on this project, but between the module, the lights, the case, the 4-pin connector, some wire and heat-shrink tubing, I doubt I spent more then fifty clams.

 

And now the results you've all been waiting for (top half of images are just the dome light alone, bottom half is with the puddles on):

 

Great write up.

One question, why didn’t you put the lights in the mirror housing instead of the door mount ?

 

I'd never get the wire through the knuckle between the two. At least I couldn't. There might be a way to disassemble the mirror housing to make it work, but I didn't know how to do it, I couldn't see how to, and there's nothing on the internet I could find. So it went in the door mount.

 

The wires go through the rotation point of the mirror, when the glass is out it is easier to get it through but the wiring I did, directional and heat, slipped in.

Just interested, thanks.

Good work, the timer circuit is interesting and I will follow it up, but not right now too many other mods first.

Later

p.s. The Mirrors Glass pops off... may break too, apply a low heat to the mirror glass, grabbing both sides of the mirror glass pull the glass outward evenly. Mine popped off without a problem. After that there was easy access to the whole interior. I will need to remove the new glass when I decide on The Puddle Light Mod !


Added: I am not sure who to talk to but you need to ahve this turned into a "How-To", There are three parts that need to be combined into one How-To !
I reread the whole thing, good job. ltr

 

I knew there was a path... there has to be with power mirrors. But I couldn't get anything snaked through and I didn't know how to disassemble the mirrors. So they got installed where they did as opposed to buying new mirrors after I broke them trying to take them apart.

 

That's too bad, I found the wires slipped in without a problem... BUT mine were off the truck and no mirror glass in place.
I replaced my Mirror Glass with Directional Glass which came with heaters, something I don't need in SoCal. Although tin the desert the temps this time of year are getting in the low 40s at night.

Funny how after moving here eight years ago from the Boston area, I have become a California Person, when it hits 50 i'm getting cold. LoL !

Great job on the write up, it needs to become a How-To for future reference.

Take Care, Later

 

@Ranger 480, How did you program the unit? This is a great DIY by the way. Thanks

 

Post 3.

 

DUH..... Thanks.