Hi the good lady wife just picked up her new motor(st line ) but it has no foot well lights fitted has anyone fitted any and is it a hard job.

Darren 

Hmm. My Ti mk3 had them already but it's a simple board with an LED on it that plugs into a 3 pin plug. Mine are fixed colour so only 2 pins. 3rd pin I imagine is for colour change ambients. I swapped my red ones for home made white ones with little difficulty.

Surely they have left that plug in the loom? If not then you just need a 12v source somewhere near the foot well that is live when you want it to be, puddle lights or interior dome light etc. It just depends on how homebrew you want to get 😊

Can't be done easily. Trust me I tried on my Mk3.5 Zetec S.

The connector is present, but the loom going up the a pillar is different. There is a module missing and the interior lights are wired in different.

Much easier and cheaper just to wire your own in from a 12v feed.

What, so the connector is there but not live?

Yeah, it's taped up with the rest of the loom.

It's cheaper for manufacturers to make one loom with all features/connectors.

Well that's what I thought but I'm surprised it's not live. 

Shame there's not just a missing fuse 😊

On most pre facelift Mk3 models, if you have the right loom, it can just be enabled in software as it's controlled by the BCM.

But the Mk3.5 uses a separate LED controller, which requires a different loom and module. It was done to simplify the wiring compared to the multi colour ambient lighting which uses a controller in both Mk3 and Mk3.5.

Not just a case of plug and play then? 

Nope, not a chance.

The option will be missing from your drivers display for a start.

Never mind I'll have a get her some of those trainers that have flashing soles 😂😂😂

It's still easy enough to tap into a 12v supply with your own lighting. Folk find self adhesive led lighting strip effective and inexpensive. There should still be the loom in the centre console for the illuminated gear knob. If you tap into the supply for that plug, not only will you have foot well lights that go on and off appropriately as the car is locked or unlocked but they should also dim with the dash dimming controls too 😊

On 9/12/2017 at 7:17 PM, Phil21185 said:

It's still easy enough to tap into a 12v supply with your own lighting. Folk find self adhesive led lighting strip effective and inexpensive. There should still be the loom in the centre console for the illuminated gear knob. If you tap into the supply for that plug, not only will you have foot well lights that go on and off appropriately as the car is locked or unlocked but they should also dim with the dash dimming controls too 😊

hopefully this post can stay active 🙈 how could you tap into the iluminated gear knob plug? any help would be greatly appreciated, just wonder how I'd connect LED strips into it?

Finding it is the hardest part. It's on the passenger side of the console - you have to take the panel off, then the plug itself is taped up to the loom, somewhere near the gearstick.

Get a multimeter and test which wires carry 12v (and which is pos and neg - important for LEDs!) Then scotchlock onto those wires for your feed to your footwell lights!

Would the plug be there on the powershift too?
When you say ‘panel’ do you mean all the trim so you can see around and under the gearstick or can you do it by removing the trim from around the gearstick and look down to find it?

Excuse the ‘photo of a photo’ lol


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sorry for the necro, not on here much atm.

hope you got sorted in the end.  If not, by 'panel' I meant the panel that runs on the passenger side of the console, from just in front of the passenger seat, into the passenger footwell.

 

good luck!

If you can tap into the courtesy light circuit, you can easily install an LED in the footwells. I did this and it transforms the car at night being able to see inside it!

On a Focus MK3/MK3.5 the courtesy lights are LINbus modules that are controlled by the BCM. They only have a permanent power supply and not a switched power supply. It will be very difficult to use these as a power source for the footwell lights.

The best way to install footwell lights to a lower spec Focus MK3.5 without installing all Original parts is by building an Arduino based CANbus module. This can be done for under €10,-. The hardest part is programming the module but because Arduino is opensource there are plenty instructions/examples available. With a CANbus module you can basically use every parameter you want to switch the footwell lights on/off. For example ignition status, light status, locking status, etc.

1 minute ago, JW1982 said:

On a Focus MK3/MK3.5 the courtesy lights are LINbus modules that are controlled by the BCM. They only have a permanent power supply and not a switched power supply. It will be very difficult to use these as a power source for the footwell lights.

The best way to install footwell lights to a lower spec Focus MK3.5 without installing all Original parts is by building an Arduino based CANbus module. This can be done for under €10,-. The hardest part is programming the module but because Arduino is opensource there are plenty instructions/examples available. With a CANbus module you can basically use every parameter you want to switch the footwell lights on/off. For example ignition status, light status, locking status, etc.

One of the few posters here where I actually learn stuff! Thank you...

On 5/5/2019 at 10:06 AM, JW1982 said:

On a Focus MK3/MK3.5 the courtesy lights are LINbus modules that are controlled by the BCM. They only have a permanent power supply and not a switched power supply. It will be very difficult to use these as a power source for the footwell lights.

The best way to install footwell lights to a lower spec Focus MK3.5 without installing all Original parts is by building an Arduino based CANbus module. This can be done for under €10,-. The hardest part is programming the module but because Arduino is opensource there are plenty instructions/examples available. With a CANbus module you can basically use every parameter you want to switch the footwell lights on/off. For example ignition status, light status, locking status, etc.

My car has a 3 pin connector on both sides in the footwells ('14 Focus Zetec MK3 prefacelift) but no power to them. This thread tells me that the factories just lazy so that's out of the equation to plug n play. My plan was to simply splice into the front roof light and run wires down the A pillar to where the 3 pin connectors are and then solder to my LED strips directly. 

Surely this should work fine as i'm simply adding a light in sequence with the roof light? Unaffected by the whole LINbus issue?

You'll be saving me a bunch of time testing this out if i'm wrong so please let me know what you think is the best approach 🙂

P.S Sorry for reviving such an old thread

On a Focus MK3 (prefacelift) the footwell lights van easily be activated by changing the Central Car Configuration (CCC) using a suitable diagnostic system.

On a Focus MK3 the footwell lights are controlled directly by the BCM and nog by a separate module like the MK3.5.

On 8/17/2021 at 6:12 AM, JW1982 said:

On a Focus MK3 (prefacelift) the footwell lights van easily be activated by changing the Central Car Configuration (CCC) using a suitable diagnostic system.

On a Focus MK3 the footwell lights are controlled directly by the BCM and nog by a separate module like the MK3.5.

Did this couple months ago. The toggle appears in the dash menu but no power to the loom, it isn't actually connected to anything. Not as simple as just reprogramming sadly. I think i'll go down the route of wiring to the roof light circuit and the functionality should hopefully be the same 🙂