Have the oem lighted door sills, were installed in 2006. Today both started to show some fading by a few letters and they only stay lit for a few seconds when you open the door. Any ideas or are they just burning out?

 

Pretty sure its the small control unit that is a step down for the voltage for the lights, that should be found under carpet behind seats if the lights there installed right.

 

I don't have them on my car, but I thought each side had their own inverter?

 

All my letters are consistently bright, but recently they also only stay lit for a few seconds when you open the door and I can't figure out why. I paid the dealership to install them but I've attached the installation instructions.

 

After looking over the instructions, it does appear one ballast/inverter controls both sides. I would start trouble shooting there, at the common location of both sides.


James

 

Yes, both go to that connector behind the seats. Unfortunately, if that connector is in the service manual, I can't identify it. It doesn't tie to the dome light (like I thought it would) because the dome light continues to stay lite when the sills turn off.

 

So your sill lights did work normal when new?


First you need to be sure you are getting the 12v to the inverter for the same period of time that the dome light is on. If so, unplug only one sill at a time and try again. You could have one light panel failing (pulling too much current) causing the inverter to time-out or overload. I am not familiar enough with this type of lighting to properly diagnose beyond that.


James

 

Yes. I never timed how long they stayed ON when new as they were always ON when the dome light was ON (thus the assumption they were interconnected). And, we never left the doors open (at night) much longer than it took to get in and out of the car (with exceptions to admire the sills, lol).



So, I'm suspecting that the connector must go to a ballast or something that is failing. My electrical knowledge is limited when it comes to things like this.


I should add that the xfire is a weekender driver at best. So the sills don't get a lot of wear and tear.

 

Mine always stayed lit the whole time the door was opened. Both would light even if only one door was opened. You could see the glow around the door frame on the closed door. So they are wired to go on together. Thanks for the diagram, when I get time I'll take apart the back panel and see what I can find.Hopefully the dealer will know and supply the part in question.

 

I appreciate your offer to do that! But I just don't see that the source of the problem would be at the harness connection...I could be wrong. I'd liked to know the source of power to the harness.