When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hello, new to the forum. This is my first post so hopefully it's in the right sub forum.
I wanted to add LED courtesy lights in my Ranger and I couldn't find really anything on how to wire it so that they work when opening the door or switching on the dome light switch. So here you go.
These are the lights I bought. There are a ton of options but these had USB power rather than the cigarette lighter type. That's what you'll want.
To hard wire them you will want a usb adapter like this one to make it easy
Now you need to find the dome light power source.
You can't just tap into the dome light fuse because then the lights will always be on.
You need to find the dome light power after it leaves the battery saver relay. That way your custom lights will turn on when you open the door, as well as when you use the interior dome light switch next to the headlight switch.
I could find nothing online about where to find this wire other than to run something all the way back from the light and under the head liner. This is on a 2006 Ford Ranger so it may be easier with an older Ranger where there is a separate battery saver relay.
I finally found it right under the dash on the driver's side.
It is right here in the bundle of wires you see near the gas pedal going straight down under the carpet. You will find a blue and black wire. That is the Dome light power supply that you need to tap into.
On my 2006 Ranger this wire runs past the driver seat along the trans tunnel and then diagonally across to the B pillar on the driver side. It runs up the B pillar and then across the dome light.
You can remove your dome light just to confirm the color of the wire if you're not sure.
So I tapped into this wire and then tucked all the spare wires and controls under that little mini console in the front. One wire on the USB adapter gets tapped into this power. The other one just gets grounded to the nearest clean metal. I just used a self-tapping screw with the wire wrapped around it. So it is pretty seamless you can't see any wires. And my lights turn on and off with the dome light.
The lights are super bright and add a nice custom feel to the truck.
