Fiesta MK6 Interior Light wiring question

[Skeletor]

Hello everyone,

I am currently reading up on an old guide 

 In which you can find a picture of the interior light of an Mk6.5.

I, however, own a MK6 and had to discover that they actually look different on the inside!
Attached is the one I have. Can anyone tell me which metal contacts are good to connect pos and neg wires to, if I want to wire up LEDs to be on when the interior-light goes on (e.g. when a door is detected open)?

That'd be really helpful of you guys. Otherwise, I am already set and can follow the guide very well. Since it was a question about the polarity (and contacts) of the actual interior light I thought it'd be okay to post here, instead of in the old guide-thread. If it's not alright, I apologize for the inconvience.

Also, is it normal that the wires are so short on the Mk6 version..?

[Luke4efc]

Time to crack the multimeter out and do some testing. The negative goes to any piece of metal, it all feeds back to the battery. It all depends what you want to tap off, turn the switch until one of the wire gets voltage. Splice into that wire and go from there. The lights will come on when you have the switch in that position.

Also for the love of god don't terminate your wires like he did, if that's even what you can call it. Wrapping the end of a wire around another does not make a good connection, and can leave exposed wires which can sort out and start a fire. It can lead to overheating and, in the worst case, burn your car down like a vauxhall zafira. Get a soldering iron out with some heat shrink and do it properly.

[Skeletor]

54 minutes ago, Luke4efc said:

Time to crack the multimeter out and do some testing

Hey, I actually didn't think of that. I do own a multimeter but never used it before.
So after fiddling around with it I did find the place I need to solder to.

54 minutes ago, Luke4efc said:

Get a soldering iron out with some heat shrink and do it properly.

Don't worry, the entire thing is too different to just wrap wires around bare metal anyway.

Problem is though: they're small areas I can't really put heatshrink tubing around.
The place I think I should solder to, due to it being a small area to begin with, are the actual wires before the lights.

 

So my plan would be to splice the wires before the connectors and solder new wires to them, adding heatshrink before doing so.
FYI for people who own an Mk6 themselves: It's the second (pos+) and third (neg-) wire from the left in the picture above.

/EDIT: Wouldn't it be even better if I just soldered RIGHT to the metalcontacts in the connector (shown on the photo)? That way, I wouldn't need to cut any existing wires, and the connection would be just as good. In theory.
 

[Luke4efc]

Those wires look like they are crimped connectors similar to one of these. It may just pull out (write down where they go first).

Failing that you can just strip back some of the insulation, wrap the wire around and solder it that way. I suppose electrical tape would be your best option, it's not really a place that's going to get disturbed much, and it's inside anyway. I guess I went on a bit of a rant before lol. First time I've seen that guide and my inner sparkie just exploded.

[Micro]

If it's low current, you can look into using the correctly sized scotchlocks. Using a soldering iron anywhere near those plastic connectors will probably fill the air with the fine smell of melting plastic.

Otherwise if you're looking to carry a larger current (probably not here, if you're looking to wire LED's), then stripping the insulation, and soldering your wires there to make a T, and appropriately connecting them may be another option, or making your own harness with the appropriate crimp connectors.

Make sure any new circuits you make use the same or larger diameter of wire, so that if there IS ever a fault with your additions, the fuse will blow before the wires melt.

[Skeletor]

On 7/24/2017 at 1:33 AM, Micro said:

then stripping the insulation, and soldering your wires there to make a T, and appropriately connecting them may be another option

I'll most likely do this to begin with. At least that was my plan. :)

I've ordered a 2mm-thick stereo-cable. That may even be a bit thicker than the original actually.
I'll strip back some of the insulation to expose a small part of the entire wire and will solder my own wire to this part to create the T you've mentioned.
Posting some photos once I get going in case someone tries to reproduce this on an Mk6, as well. :)
Thanks for the support so far! Now it's time to play the waiting game until DPD delivers my stuff.

[Micro]

17 hours ago, Skeletor said:

I'll most likely do this to begin with. At least that was my plan. :)

I've ordered a 2mm-thick stereo-cable. That may even be a bit thicker than the original actually.
I'll strip back some of the insulation to expose a small part of the entire wire and will solder my own wire to this part to create the T you've mentioned.
Posting some photos once I get going in case someone tries to reproduce this on an Mk6, as well. :)
Thanks for the support so far! Now it's time to play the waiting game until DPD delivers my stuff.

There are sellers on eBay selling 5m of twin-cored automotive thinwall cable at 5m for £3ish - that is definitely copper and not aluminium with copper plating. If you do use other cable just make sure that it does not get warm with use. Using under-rated cable or cable with unsuitable insulation may cost you more than this £3 or so ;-)

[Skeletor]

6 hours ago, Micro said:

Using under-rated cable or cable with unsuitable insulation may cost you more than this £3 or so ;-)

This is the part I ordered:

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B004SNHRLK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&language=en_GB

I suppose it will do its job well, considering it will be just as thick and sturdy as the original cable I will T-solder to. But what are you thoughts just on first glance?