Hi all. I'm now the proud owner of a 10 plate Titanium 5 door that I picked up last week and I'm really enjoying the car.

On my previous car I had red led strips in the footwell which provided a nice ambient glow when the lights were on but, being red, were not distracting whilst driving. I have looked at a lot of previous posts on here about such topics but can't find any tips as to what wires to tap into. I don't want to use the led strip above the glove box as that would light them at the same time as the normal footwell lights (when the door opens), I just want them on with the lights.

Is there such a feed I can use in the cabin or do I have to tap into the sidelight feed at the headlamps and run the cable through the bulkhead?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have run mine from the interior light in the ceiling. Fairly simple to remove. You can either splice into that or I believe some even solder connections to it! Then run wires down across the top of your windscreen, down your pillars and into your footwells :) Probably a bit of searching on these forums will reveal guides that some have done!

Thanks for your reply but I think that would just light them up when the interior light came on. I'm really after them lighting up when the lights are turned on or even with the ignition

Ohh! You would then have to use something like the sidelights for a more straightforward circuit. You could also look into piggybacking off the ignition circuit, come to think of it, in the glovebox... That circuit would only ever be live while you have your key turned, so that might be worth looking into.

Yes I did think about the glovebox as the red led strip is already there. Unfortunately that also cones on when I open the doors so I would end up briefly with the white footwell lights and the red on at the same time. I'm really trying to avoid that and just have them on when I turn on the lights or with the ignition.

Yeah, you could use a piggyback connector to make a circuit from the ignition fuse (its location is just behind the glovebox) from which you can wire on lights. It would be controlled only by your key turning in the ignition and be independent of your existing LED strip lighting.

Thanks for that it sounds exactly what I'm after. I'm guessing I have to drop the glovebox to find it? I'll have a look online and see if I can find some helpful pics!

I piggybacked my strips to heated seat fuse, and installed strips to the seat frame, so i have both front and rear foot wells lid. I looked putting strips below the dash, but i didn't like the options of places to but those strips, too much going on down there for me. Gives kind of different lighting scene, when light is coming behind the legs.

Yeah, squeeze the empty glovebox and consult the picture on it / the manual to identify the fuse you need :) And don't forget a ground connection if you do decide to use a piggyback!

I would fit a fusetap off the fuse which feeds the sidelight circuit then the footwells would light when the headlight switch is at first notch.

Run the earth to any body mounted bolt/screw.

Thanks for all your help guys, I think I have more or less what I need to get them installed.

One last question (hopefully) when people mention earthing the wire on an exposed bolt etc, is that the same as tapping into a neutral cable or is that in addition to? I have seen wiring diagrams online test suggest you need both.

If you tap onto a body mounted bolt then no other earth wiring is required.