Td5 D2 electrics - Foot-well lights.

Always liked the idea of fitting some courtesy lights into the front footwells. Yet at the same time thinking what's the point? Aren't they all just a bit Blingy? There is just something warm and welcoming about them on dark winter nights. Open the door and its saying "Come on, get in, let's go!"

So I began to think about how to go about fitting them into the D2. They were never offered as a factory option. The concept seemed easy enough, decide what light fittings to use, where best to fit them and then wire them into the existing courtesy light circuit.

A few years ago I was fixing the common problem of a leaky sunroof and whilst the headlining was removed, the opportunity to study and connect into the courtesy light wiring was taken and although I wasn't fitting the foot-well lights at that time, I had the foresight to run a supply cable from the front courtesy lamp down the A-pillar and into the RH foot-well.

I felt at the time that this was the only way to ensure the BCU would command their function just the same as it does with the fitted interior lamps. An alternative supply source could be the under dash fuse box, but whether that could supply the BCU control signal was questionable plus I was reluctant to dig-in there.

Rheostat Dashboard Dimmer.

Whilst looking through the 'Interior Illumination' electrical circuit diagrams in Rave I discovered that some non-Uk models (typically NAS V8's) were fitted with a dash-board light dimmer control mounted onto the instrument binnacle. I had always wondered what that blanked-off plate on the binnacle was for, even the D1's I owned had the same space blanked over.

Photo from the web showing the fitted Rheostat thumb-wheel control.

I decided to source the 'Rheostat' control and use it to control the footwell lighting. The Rheostat later ended up controlling the brightness of the footwell, door puddle and marker lamps. Fitting the Rheostat was just an extra 'add-on' and the circuit will work well without it. In the few years it has been set-up I cannot recall once needing to adjust it after its initial set-up.

The Rheostat body is screw mounted to the inside of the Binnacle.

Having sourced the Rheostat online from the Americas, I set about planning how to wire it up and incorporate it into the circuit. Rave helped a lot, but once again, you just can't beat a hand drawn schematic!

Initial wiring diagram for the three footwell lights and the Rheostat control.

Basically, the Rheostat receives the 12v supply line voltage from the fitted Courtesy light and can vary it before passing it onto the LEDs. Initially, this schematic just had the supply lines from the Rheostat going direct to the foot-well LEDs as is shown above. Later on I added the 'puddle' and 'marker ' LEDs and had to re-draw the schematic.

Mounting the Rheostat.

The instrument binnacle on every D2 (D1?) has the mounting for the Rheostat moulded into its lower left-hand panel. 95% of them will be blanked over as the Rheostat was only fitted in certain world markets. It is a simple task to modify it by cutting out the blanked rectangular hole. The mounting lugs for the two screws are moulded to the inside surface of the binnacle.

Foot-Well lights.

Made the decision to go with some small compact LED strips that could be surface mounted out of sight under the dashboard.

As well as fitting one into each front foot-well, the decision was made to mount one into the rear foot-well. In the end a single LED strip was mounted on the downward facing panel of the rear console and its supply wire routed along the centre console into the front footwell area.

Initially this rear strip was just fixed in place with some good old gaffer tape, but after a year or so I got around to permanently attaching it to the inside of the rear console....... with more gaffer tape! (See: Hx52 - rear console )

I choose to fit 'red' LED strips, but they are available in a wide range of colours and even with variable colour outputs. 


Fitting the Front Footwell LEDs

Both of the front footwells have blanking plates fitted under the dashboard fascia that offer plenty of space to mount the lights onto.

The passenger side has a handy rectangular cut-out hole that seems to suggest some sort of light fitting was once fitted there. Maybe this panel pattern is a relic from the D1? The pre-cut hole looks like a light fitting of the type used in the glove box would fit?

This panel is just foam-backed thick cardboard and has a degree of flexibility to it. I elected not to surface mount the LED strip and simply attached it with two wire loops pushed through the surface..

The Driver's side panel is smaller and made from a thin plastic. It also houses the socket for the diagnostic reader and it is attached to the dash/fascia inner frame. There is a moulded ridge on it that offers a perfect front facing surface to mount the LED strip onto. 

Throughout the install I was determined to fit them in positions where the light source could not be seen from the normal seated position. Glad to say I achieved this and they have worked flawlessly for over two years now.

( photo of the lights working)