[TEXASGIANT]

Hi gang;
This is my first post here. I am sure that someone here has been down this road, I hope.
Put some after mkt running boards on my plain jane (no power nuthin, 2wd, 6sp, steel wheels, really fast) 06. These boards came with a basic light kit and "universal" brackets the entire project has required considerable inspration and divine intervention but now I have hit a road block. The wire kit just has 2 wires a blk=ground and a red=hot, the instructions just say 'attach to desired hot'. But the Mrs. would like for them to come on with any door (kind of makes sense). I poked around for 4 hours with a meter, took the inside fuse box out of the dash and removed the dome lights and pulled down half of the headliner, pulled all of the switches out of the jambs. I can't find the ONE place where I can tie the running board lights that is common to all of the doors and will only apply power when the doors are open. These are not running lights and would melt their housings in short order. so I'll tell you like I told my first date, "where does this thing go?" :banghead:

I have wired some $20.00 lights in the holes up front and found a purple wire in the fuse box under the hood that only gets hot with the key so I dont have to worry about an inside switch that I have to remember to turn off, works out very well

I am sure I can find that happy place but then I would have to put the truck back together. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Paul.

 

[Glucola]

Welcome to the club. :wave: Interesting mod that you did there.

 

[PaulXyZ]

Put the ceiling back together and step away from the truck!

I did a mod for my 350Z where opening a door causes a set of cold cathode lights to illuminate the foot wells. The issue with just using a wire - which you seem to have stumbled upon - is that there is a circuit to detect when you open the driver's door with the key's in the slot. That circuit fires off that darn warning beeper. So if you gang all the door pin switches together you're going to get the beep every time any one opens any door.

So I used a set of two diodes - available from Radio Shack - to form a logic steering circuit. Diodes let electrical power flow in one direction and one direction only. I connected a diode to each pin switch in the door jab. These guys are easy to get to in the Z, I assume just as easy in the Xterra. Each diode has a wire tied to a common point which then connects to the ground wire of your light. The positive wire is connected to the battery circuits though a fuse.

When the diodes are put in the circuit in the right direction they prevent the ground from the passenger's door from being "felt" by the factory key-in-the-slot warning system and you don't get that beep.

What you could do is wire up the port and starboard lights up to the respective door pin switch so that when you open the driver's side that light comes on and when you open the passenger's side that light comes on.

 

[pavementSucks]

i have no idea how to answer this question but damn that is one sweet car ^^^^^^

 

[xterrock]

my suggestion...
run the neg/ground wire from the dome light down to connect
to the running board lights. I think the positive is always on and it's
the ground that switches on/off with the door for the domes.
so instead of the typical positive wire being switched on/off. for the
running lights, constant positive connected with the ground switching
on/off.

i'm sure you can find that same wire lower down if you have a service
manual.