2000 f150 domelight without door trigger

I'd like the alarm's domelight supervision output to drive the domelight circuit without using the traditional method of driving a door trigger wire. Just because I'd like the domelights on without the door-ajar light on - no better reason.

Is there a wire in interior dimmer switch I can drive? Others have mentioned an ORANGE / lt-green wire but I can't drive that because it is +12 when the domelight is off and floating when the domelight is on.

Any other ideas?

Grab the wire in the pillar running up to the dome light, should take care of it for you.

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Installer, IT support, and FFL. I need less hobbies.

All I have for superduty is BLACK/ light blue on the passenger kick panel.  Its a positive trigger so if your domelight ouput is negative then you must use a relay

Yep, i always use the BLACK/ blue....sometimes it can be found on the drivers side, but it's a pain and hard to explain where it is. Get it at the pass. kick panel in the harness running in the door sill. There are 2 BLACK/ blues, so be sure to test for the right wire.

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It's not a superduty, just a regular old F150.

Ok, I'll look for a BLACK/ blue in the kick panel(s) and see if I can find one that goes +12 when the domelight is on.

The alarm's supervision is negative, but I already have a relay in place to drive positive.

I've used the ORANGE / green domelight turnon wire at the dimmer switch in various Fords.

One of those was a '97 Expedition, I remember for sure. That should be the same as your truck.

Test again. I'm sure the wire's going to be a ground when the dimmer switch is moved all the way up.

Chris Luongo wrote:

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I've used the ORANGE / green domelight turnon wire at the dimmer switch in various Fords.

One of those was a '97 Expedition, I remember for sure. That should be the same as your truck.

Test again. I'm sure the wire's going to be a ground when the dimmer switch is moved all the way up.

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The ORANGE / green wire does show continuity to ground when the dimmer is all the way up and/or a door is open. However, it also shows +12V when neither of those conditions are true. If I just ground that wire when I want the domelight on, I'll be shorting +12V to ground when neither of those conditions are true won't I? Do I need to diode-isolate to prevent such a thing?

How did you connect to it?

I just hooked it up straight and it worked.

Almost everything in the car rests at opposite polarity; that is normal.

For example, when the parking lights are off, the parking light wire will test as a ground.

The only electrical load on that ORANGE / green wire is the coil of the factory relay, somewhere in the truck............it won't burn out the output from the alarm.

If you want to verify this, configure your multimeter for current draw.

Put one leg of the meter to the ORANGE / green at the dimmer switch. Put the other leg of the meter to chassis ground. (domelight should turn on.)

Read the amp reading on your meter, and if it is equal/lower than the output rating from the alarm, you're all set.

Depending in what alarm you're installing, the domelight output is probably rated for 200-300 mA (.2-.3 amps).

The ORANGE / green at the dimmer is the correct wire for dome supervision, not door trigger. Hit it with a ground and be done with it. The BLACK/ blue is tricky and can be a pain to find on the drivers side. Look on the door panel if there is a light, the BLACK/ blue will be in the drivers door jamb boot.

Mike

I connected the alarm domelight supervision directly to the ORANGE / lt-green on the dimmer switch and the door trigger input to the BLACK/ blue in the passenger kick panel. Everything works.

Thanks to all who contributed to the thread!