I noticed that many of the new cars have puddle lights in their side mirror, which shines on the ground to illuminuate access. I was thinking of adding an LED to the bottom of the mirror to do this (well, more for show than anything to me), but I have no idea where to get the power.

Ideally, it would be best to get power from the dome lights, since they light up whenever you turn off the car, and when you unlock the car. Does any one know if there's any portion of that wire that's close to the door? Or if there is any better power source already in the door?

 

Those aren't puddle lights. Puddle lights are the ones in the door, so that when you open it, it illuminates the area.

The lights you see on the side mirror that's shining down is actually to reflect off the metal, so that when a car is making a turn, other drivers viewing it from the side will know that it's trying to make a turn. It's basically the same concept as the TSX's side blinkers.

 

You can probably access the power down by the fuse panel. Just look at the chart to find which fuse is for the interior lights.

You'll also need to add a resistor inline with the LED because 12v will be too much for it.

 

You're talking about lights that shine downward like the one seen here, right?

http://www.dieselstation.com/wallpap...haeton-023.jpg

 

ahh, good point... forgot about the fuse box...

hmm... not sure if I should do this as I'm good at taking things apart, but not putting things back together esp since I'll need to drill holes underneath the mirror....

 

Can't see the link.... access forbidden... but I'm pretty sure those things are called puddle lights, they shine onto the floor to show what you're stepping on if you get out of the car (e.g. puddles), hence the name.

 

I didn't want to post the pic because it's so big, but hopefully it works this time:




Those are not puddle lamps.

These are puddle lamps: