Illuminated Door Sills

[SteveP]

I love illuminated door sills and I had to add them to my 2017 FFE. Here is a step-by-step process if you'd like to add them yourself. I usually get the OEM illuminated door sills from Ford but they are on back order and I got sick of waiting over a month for them so I got a set from eBay. These are cool as they put on a little light show - moving back and forth. They turned out good.

Here's a shot of the completed job:

 

[SteveP]

I went with the white LEDs but they can also be purchased with red or blue LEDS.

The first job was where to get the power - I wanted the power that turned on the overhead lights and then turned off by itself. After searching my wiring diagram book and inside the car, I found the best place to get this power was from the overhead console. But those are notorious for being hard to get into with causing some damage.

The 2017 FFE makes this a little easier, I found. The panel behind the sunglasses area opens separately and you can gain access to lots of power there - including the power that I wanted.

To open this panel, open the sunglasses door. You'll fund two areas where you can get a small screwdriver into. You push toward the rear of the car on a tab and pull the panel down. One on the left and one on the right. After releasing these tabs, the rest of the panel will pull out:





Work gently - you will feel the tab and it's give. You should not need much force but it may take a few tries to find the right spot. Be patient.

 

[SteveP]

Here's a close up of one of the tabs that you have to release:



And here is the panel out - it still has the microphone and its cable holding it up. No need to mess with that - just let the panel hang.



This shot shows the entire panel and you can see what holds it up:

 

[SteveP]

Next, on the driver's side you'll see a connector between the console and the roof. It's gray. Pull out the connector and move it to where you can access the wires. Here it is out:



Now you only need to tie into one wire for the power to the illuminated door sills. You can also get ground here but there are easier ground points right near where you will mount the door sills:



I've got some test wires in the connector in the above photo - you won't need those.

You're going to tap into the violet-gray wire in position #4. If you want it, the ground is the black -white wire in position #6:

 

[SteveP]

I ran wires from the overhead console to each door between the roof and inside headliner. Fish a wire under the curtain airbag from the door - you'll see the best spot by looking for the lower area in the roof liner. The fishing wire will be tight at first and then slide easily to the over to the console area.



Here's the fishing wire coming out of the overhead console:



Pull off part of the rubber molding around the door front and just put the wire into the cavity. That's pretty easy.

You'll need to pull up the middle plastic piece on the floor by the door. I pulled off another piece but you don't need to do that. You'll find three grounding bolts by the door just under the carpet. I used the one closest to the door on each side for grounds. Here's some shots:

 

[SteveP]

I hooked up power and ran the wires over the sill lip after putting some tape down to protect the wire from the metal:



Here's the ground completed:



Do the same thing for both sides.

 

[SteveP]

The passenger side all completed - the protecting plastic removed from the door sill as well:



I solder all wire connections and use shrink wrap if I can - electrical tape as last resort.

 

[SteveP]

Both sides all done and the connections at the overhead console completed and panel put back into place. Don't forget to reconnect the connector after tapping the violet-gray wire.

Here it is - both sides look the same. I like it!

 

[SteveP]

Here's the three colors that are available. You can find a YouTube of these in action - the light moves back and forth. My first time with this product so we'll see how they last.

 

[Pearl]

What a great write-up ! Thanks SteveP

 

[SteveP]

Thanks!

 

[EVA]

Great write up. Thank you so much.

Kind of glad you did this now and not six months ago. When we bought the most recent FFE, I looked long and hard at the illuminated door sills. There was one that said Electric. I couldn't find anybody that did the work, so it was a bit of an unknown trying to find the right wires. And then my wife said she didn't want a light show when she opened the door. Kind of killed the idea. Instead, I ended up buying stainless steel Electric sills. Not quite what you got SteveP - but still sweet.

 

[SteveP]

Great write up. Thank you so much.

Kind of glad you did this now and not six months ago. When we bought the most recent FFE, I looked long and hard at the illuminated door sills. There was one that said Electric. I couldn't find anybody that did the work, so it was a bit of an unknown trying to find the right wires. And then my wife said she didn't want a light show when she opened the door. Kind of killed the idea. Instead, I ended up buying stainless steel Electric sills. Not quite what you got SteveP - but still sweet.

I ordered the illuminated "Electric" sills from Ford and they seem to be permanently "out-of-stock". So that's why I gave up on them and tried these instead. I think that sills look good, illuminate or not! The "Electric" emblem is very nice -

 

[FiSh]

Great post, thanks!
Do you think it's possible to get power for dash cam from the same spot under the overhead console?

 

[SteveP]

Great post, thanks!
Do you think it's possible to get power for dash cam from the same spot under the overhead console?

Yes - there is power there that feeds the map lights.

 

[FiSh]

Great post, thanks!
Do you think it's possible to get power for dash cam from the same spot under the overhead console?

Yes - there is power there that feeds the map lights.

Is it the same wire that you tap into? Wouldn't it shut off automatically like the door sills? Or I need a different wire from there? Do you know which one?
And another question, how do you tap into a wire?
Thanks

 

[triangles]

Great post, thanks!
Do you think it's possible to get power for dash cam from the same spot under the overhead console?

FiSh The 12V power that feeds interior LED "mood lighting" (accessible from overhead console) also feeds the dome lights. It's been a while since I looked at the wiring diagram so I don't remember which wire exactly but if you unplug the wires going to the mood lighting control one of them is a 12V supply. You can find it fairly easily by probing the wires with a meter as only one wire will have voltage. It is the same 12V circuit that feeds the 12V cigarette plugs or for that matter most everything 12v in the car. Mine shuts off about 13 minutes after I leave the car. Some have mentioned that this circuit stays on up to 30 minutes but mine has never varied from 13 minutes. This circuit becomes active and the 13 min timer restarts when you do anything to "wake up" the car, open door, use key fob, remote start, go times. I wired the 5V power supply for my dash cam to this wire and used a screw for the overhead console as a ground. So now I have a little extra video before I start the car and after I walk away from it. The only minor annoyance is that it overwrites oldest video files sooner than I would like as it keeps recording after I turn the car off or whenever I do something to "wake up" the car like opening a door to grab something I forgot to take in. With a 32GB card I usually have 2-3 days before a video file gets overwritten so not too big of a deal.

 

[FiSh]

Great post, thanks!
Do you think it's possible to get power for dash cam from the same spot under the overhead console?

FiSh The 12V power that feeds interior LED "mood lighting" (accessible from overhead console) also feeds the dome lights. It's been a while since I looked at the wiring diagram so I don't remember which wire exactly but if you unplug the wires going to the mood lighting control one of them is a 12V supply. You can find it fairly easily by probing the wires with a meter as only one wire will have voltage. It is the same 12V circuit that feeds the 12V cigarette plugs or for that matter most everything 12v in the car. Mine shuts off about 13 minutes after I leave the car. Some have mentioned that this circuit stays on up to 30 minutes but mine has never varied from 13 minutes. This circuit becomes active and the 13 min timer restarts when you do anything to "wake up" the car, open door, use key fob, remote start, go times. I wired the 5V power supply for my dash cam to this wire and used a screw for the overhead console as a ground. So now I have a little extra video before I start the car and after I walk away from it. The only minor annoyance is that it overwrites oldest video files sooner than I would like as it keeps recording after I turn the car off or whenever I do something to "wake up" the car like opening a door to grab something I forgot to take in. With a 32GB card I usually have 2-3 days before a video file gets overwritten so not too big of a deal.

Thanks, probed wire and N1 from StevenP diagram is the 12V that does not shut off when you close the door (like N4 that he used to wire door sills)
N2 and N3 are also powered with 3.6V and 4.5V and I think N2 shuts off right after you close the door.
I could not find any screws there for the ground. Can you hint where to look at?
Is there a way to tap into a wire without splicing it? Can I tap into a connector directly somehow?

 

[triangles]

So as not to threadjack I started a new thread here about dash cam wiring.