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#85728 Jan 18, 6:46pm
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Tried to install some leds for my AC console and splice them in with the cig lighter, but I guess I picked the wrong wire to ground to and now whenever my lights turn on, my radio backlight flicks on for a second then turns off right away so now my car is pretty dark at night.

First I grounded to the green wire, that didn't work. Then I tried the the red wire with a black stripe going down it, and now I have this problem. I even took the leds out and connected all the wires the way they used to be and the stereo backlight still fails to stay on for more than a half a second. I don't know what to do now. Any suggestions?


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why don't you just ground it directly to something metal on the car?


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check your fuses


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Originally Posted by element_celica
why don't you just ground it directly to something metal on the car?
I wanted to, but I didn't have any extra wire at the time. I bought some 16 gauge today because the 14 that I bought last night was a little too thick. What do you recommend that I ground it to? Perhaps some metal around the shifter under the boot?


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Originally Posted by carbon_blue_gt
check your fuses
Yeah, I was also going to do that tonight too. I'm thinking that a certain fuse that power the stereo isn't broken completely, but most likely isn't capable of carrying a current anymore.


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dikitzaps
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grounding point inside the celica thumbsup

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Originally Posted by spaztikid
grounding point inside the celica thumbsup

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What exactly is the IF grounding point and how would I get to it? Can I reach it with the console off or would I have to take out the stereo too? I've seen this diagram before but couldn't use it because it's kinda vague.

Last edited by slidr; Jan 18, 2004 7:16pm.

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i think you should be able to reach it with the fuse cover off...it looks to me like its right above where the fuses are so try to reach it by putting you hand up there.

OR

you can just run a wire to your neg battery terminal.

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Also, maybe I'll route it to the IE point because it looks like it's external, but I could be wrong.

Also, I bought a circuit tester to see if I can pin point which wires don't have power going through them. It requires that I ground a wire on the tester to acquire a reading, so do I have to clip it to one of these points, or can I just attatch it to something else.

I should have never messed with anything in the first place. spineyes cry


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Originally Posted by spaztikid
i think you should be able to reach it with the fuse cover off...it looks to me like its right above where the fuses are so try to reach it by putting you hand up there.

OR

you can just run a wire to your neg battery terminal.
Yeah, I already have one going there for my gauges so I might have to do that. It's a pain in the ass getting the wires through the firewall though, so I wanted to try and ground it inside the car.

Also, anyone which one of the wires connected to the cig lighter can be used as a ground? I know that ground wires are denoted with a black stripe going down them, but there like 3 different color wires with stripes. spineyes I know people have done it before but it wasn't to clear in the instructions.


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you can ground it to the cig lighter housing itself.
the metal housing that holds the cig. lighter has a small rivit on it and a wire connects to it.
you can use that as a ground point. If i were you, i'd solder it directly to the metal housing.


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Hey Slidr..where did you get your led's???? And yeah, anything metal will work for a ground. Id just splice into the wire going to your neg. terminal!!!!! As for the circuit tester, you can just clip it to anything metal. If you need some help, Ill be glad to hook up and help you with whatever I can..let me know where you got your led's fo sho though. thumbsup


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hope you didn't blow your board like i did... gonna cost me big frown


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Originally Posted by Maxx
hope you didn't blow your board like i did... gonna cost me big frown

$60, I did the same thing


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$60? hell, that's nothing... toyota had to replace my whole gauge cluster eek, gonna be like a grand after labor... they actually traced it back to bad alarm wiring from the previous owner, so it wasn't entirely my fault. i'm trying to track down the guy who does the "150" point inspection on my car to c if they'll pay for it.


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Originally Posted by DiabloGTS
Originally Posted by Maxx
hope you didn't blow your board like i did... gonna cost me big frown

$60, I did the same thing
Ha, no not yet at least. I did strip the screw hole that secures the AC and Rear Defrost buttons, and now both are hard to push and only the defrost works, so I guess I'll have to buy a new board, or find some kind of epoxy to fill the hole with so it can hold a screw. If anyone has any suggestion, let me know. I'll most likely just have to buy a new board. cry


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Originally Posted by saspence22
Hey Slidr..where did you get your led's???? And yeah, anything metal will work for a ground. Id just splice into the wire going to your neg. terminal!!!!! As for the circuit tester, you can just clip it to anything metal. If you need some help, Ill be glad to hook up and help you with whatever I can..let me know where you got your led's fo sho though. thumbsup
They are 5mm blue leds that come connected to wires, so they aren't surface mounts. I still can't find the kind we need for the radio/dash without paying an arm and a leg but I'll let you know if I find them. spineyes

Anyways, I bought ten of em from some guy on eBay and they are really bright, but they still don't illuminate the complete AC Console. Someone told me that the bulbs have to have some kind of covers on them to difuse the light correctly. If anyone knows anything about that, please let me know.



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Originally Posted by element_celica
you can ground it to the cig lighter housing itself.
the metal housing that holds the cig. lighter has a small rivit on it and a wire connects to it.
you can use that as a ground point. If i were you, i'd solder it directly to the metal housing.
I was looking at that last night and thought that it might be a ground. Anyways, the wire that is connected to the lighter housing is white with a black stripe, so I guess I could just splice into that and use that as a ground. Thanks.


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sounds good to me...


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I checked fuse #12 in the center block, which is designated to the radio, and it was not broken. Put it back in and it sparked and I accidentally dropped it down out of my reach. rolleyes
Lets say it wasn't working properly, wouldn't the radio not function at all then? If the fuse was not properly working, would just the backlights not work then?


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Ok, just went out and got a new fuse for my stereo and I still have the same problem of the backlight going off when the lights turn on. The backlight works when the headlights are off, but once they turn on, the whole radio goes dark...buttons, backlight, everything, but the radio still works. Seems like the same problem I had when I installed the leds and grounded them to the wrong wire. They would work when the lights were off, but once they turned on, they didn't work. I don't know why my radio would be doing this now because I didn't touch it or any wires that go to it (at least I don't think I did).

I reconnected the red wire that I cut in order to splice into the leds and I didn't have to cut any other wires to put the leds in because the wires I used for ground I only skinned a little area off and taped one of the led wires to that area. Maybe it has something to do with either the green wire or the red wire with a black stripe? All I did was skin a little of the covering off, I didn't sever them at all, and the cig lighter still works.

Oh and one more thing...The halo around the cig lighter doesn't light up anymore, so my whole center console is dark at night. I wonder if those lights run off a fuse that I can't locate, or if it has something to do with any of the wires I mentioned above. If anyone has any ideas or input, please let me know. Thanks. thumbsup


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Originally Posted by slidr
Ok, just went out and got a new fuse for my stereo and I still have the same problem of the backlight going off when the lights turn on. The backlight works when the headlights are off, but once they turn on, the whole radio goes dark...buttons, backlight, everything, but the radio still works. Seems like the same problem I had when I installed the leds and grounded them to the wrong wire. They would work when the lights were off, but once they turned on, they didn't work. I don't know why my radio would be doing this now because I didn't touch it or any wires that go to it (at least I don't think I did).

I reconnected the red wire that I cut in order to splice into the leds and I didn't have to cut any other wires to put the leds in because the wires I used for ground I only skinned a little area off and taped one of the led wires to that area. Maybe it has something to do with either the green wire or the red wire with a black stripe? All I did was skin a little of the covering off, I didn't sever them at all, and the cig lighter still works.

Oh and one more thing...The halo around the cig lighter doesn't light up anymore, so my whole center console is dark at night. I wonder if those lights run off a fuse that I can't locate, or if it has something to do with any of the wires I mentioned above. If anyone has any ideas or input, please let me know. Thanks. thumbsup

mine does the same thing, and the problem is that the traces on the circui board are broken. There are three traces VERY close together that are right on the spot that gets pressure applied to it. I cracked mine on accident, and it no longer lights up. The stereo lights/cig lighter also are dark. I happen to like it, because it's easy on the eyes at night. grin


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Originally Posted by DiabloGTS
Originally Posted by slidr
Ok, just went out and got a new fuse for my stereo and I still have the same problem of the backlight going off when the lights turn on. The backlight works when the headlights are off, but once they turn on, the whole radio goes dark...buttons, backlight, everything, but the radio still works. Seems like the same problem I had when I installed the leds and grounded them to the wrong wire. They would work when the lights were off, but once they turned on, they didn't work. I don't know why my radio would be doing this now because I didn't touch it or any wires that go to it (at least I don't think I did).

I reconnected the red wire that I cut in order to splice into the leds and I didn't have to cut any other wires to put the leds in because the wires I used for ground I only skinned a little area off and taped one of the led wires to that area. Maybe it has something to do with either the green wire or the red wire with a black stripe? All I did was skin a little of the covering off, I didn't sever them at all, and the cig lighter still works.

Oh and one more thing...The halo around the cig lighter doesn't light up anymore, so my whole center console is dark at night. I wonder if those lights run off a fuse that I can't locate, or if it has something to do with any of the wires I mentioned above. If anyone has any ideas or input, please let me know. Thanks. thumbsup

mine does the same thing, and the problem is that the traces on the circui board are broken. There are three traces VERY close together that are right on the spot that gets pressure applied to it. I cracked mine on accident, and it no longer lights up. The stereo lights/cig lighter also are dark. I happen to like it, because it's easy on the eyes at night. grin
Yeah, but it's almost impossible to use the radio and I have to fumble with the climate controls. Any idea if they can be fixed by soldering or any other type of repairs? Also, what do these traces look like?
Also, I was dicking around with some wires, connecting them to different wires and shit like that, and I got the cig lighter to illuminate again, but I forget what wire I touched. Would it be possible for me to just use wires to route the power since the traces are broken?

Last edited by slidr; Jan 19, 2004 6:32pm.

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Bump


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Originally Posted by spaztikid
you can just run a wire to your neg battery terminal.

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Originally Posted by slidr
Originally Posted by DiabloGTS
Originally Posted by slidr
Ok, just went out and got a new fuse for my stereo and I still have the same problem of the backlight going off when the lights turn on. The backlight works when the headlights are off, but once they turn on, the whole radio goes dark...buttons, backlight, everything, but the radio still works. Seems like the same problem I had when I installed the leds and grounded them to the wrong wire. They would work when the lights were off, but once they turned on, they didn't work. I don't know why my radio would be doing this now because I didn't touch it or any wires that go to it (at least I don't think I did).

I reconnected the red wire that I cut in order to splice into the leds and I didn't have to cut any other wires to put the leds in because the wires I used for ground I only skinned a little area off and taped one of the led wires to that area. Maybe it has something to do with either the green wire or the red wire with a black stripe? All I did was skin a little of the covering off, I didn't sever them at all, and the cig lighter still works.

Oh and one more thing...The halo around the cig lighter doesn't light up anymore, so my whole center console is dark at night. I wonder if those lights run off a fuse that I can't locate, or if it has something to do with any of the wires I mentioned above. If anyone has any ideas or input, please let me know. Thanks. thumbsup

mine does the same thing, and the problem is that the traces on the circui board are broken. There are three traces VERY close together that are right on the spot that gets pressure applied to it. I cracked mine on accident, and it no longer lights up. The stereo lights/cig lighter also are dark. I happen to like it, because it's easy on the eyes at night. grin
Yeah, but it's almost impossible to use the radio and I have to fumble with the climate controls. Any idea if they can be fixed by soldering or any other type of repairs? Also, what do these traces look like?
Also, I was dicking around with some wires, connecting them to different wires and shit like that, and I got the cig lighter to illuminate again, but I forget what wire I touched. Would it be possible for me to just use wires to route the power since the traces are broken?

I'll take a pic of my control board this weekend, I'm going to attempt to repair it at a friends house who has some skills working with printed circuit boards.

Another option is to "paint" the traces with electrically conductive paint, but that may not work.


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