[sudeepg]

S-CROSS DIY - Foot Well Lights

The top end alpha version of S-Cross is mostly feature loaded, but yet there are a few simple nicecities that are easily doable. The interior cabin light is poor and an upgrade to LEDs is recommended since they are a straight fit. This can improve the overall lighting inside the car. One of the areas that is not well lit is the back side foot wells. The ones in the front use a single LED and not powerful enough, especially if you have a poor eyesight.

I had got LED scuff plates as part of accessories from Nexa at the time of delivery of my S-Cross, but as many know, they are purely cosmetic.

My son does drop things occasionally during trips and it is sometimes tricky to find something in the rear floor area at nights. Given that there was a power source close by, I decided to complete a DIY to install LED foot well lamps at the rear. There are many other threads on how to install LED foot well lights. Well known are Gannu_1 and a4anurag's threads. This is well, yet another foot well lighting thread but what is different in this case is the approach I used to tap power from the scuff plate lights.

The scuff plates connections use simple molex connectors and therefore the easiest way to tap power was, to create a power splitter by using equivalent molex connectors. Further, they also follow the theatre dimming effect when turning off or on as followed by the scuff plate lights. The line is also secured with a 3 Amp fuse and therefore there is no need for an additional fuse as long as you are not overloading the line by adding too many LEDs

Ingredients

• Male/Female molex connectors and terminals (Source S. P. Road, Bangalore. Cost INR 10 per piece)
• Wires 24-26 AWG will do. (Source S. P. Road, Bangalore. Cost INR 6 per meter)
• LED lights - (Source eBay. Cost 200 per lot of 10)
• Zip Ties (Source S. P. Road, Bangalore. Cost INR 30 per packet)
• Insulation Tapes (Source S. P. Road, Bangalore. Cost INR 10 per roll)
• Crimping Tool (Source S. P. Road, Bangalore. Cost INR 800 per piece)

Procedure

• Create two splitter connections using molex connectors and terminals.
• Connect the LED's to the male connectors.
• Remove the Scuff plates
• Plug and Test
• Replace the Scuff plates and attach LED lights into the foot well using double sided tapes or Zip ties.

Time Required to Complete this install: 1 hour or less with all equipments ready to go.

Crimping

It's extremely easy to use crimping tools to crimp terminals to the wires over soldering. The connections are flexible and they are pretty robust. Investing in a crimping tool is highly recommended. The brands available in India are alright but not great in quality. There are very cheap and better options available from AliExpress though, some even come with detachable dies so that it becomes multi purpose.

Let the pictures do the talking now.

Required Materials


Terminals. These will lock themselves into place once you insert them into the molex connector


Terminals - Crimped (The insulation crimping was not good enough due to quality of the crimping tool). Also, post crimping, the terminals could bend a bit due to the stress applied, in which case you will have to straighten out the terminal to ensure a smooth connection. Ensure you hold the center part of the terminal when straightening it out since they are not very strong


Splitter Created using terminals and molex connectors. The top two host the male connectors and the bottom hosts the female connector that plugs into the male connector for the scuff plates power source.


Using the crimping tool. It has a holder so that you can hold the terminal,push in the wire and then push crimp in one shot


See the small level near the handle? That is used to release the hold lock


Two - One for each side
NOTE: LEDs are polarity sensitive and therefore when inserting the terminal into connectors, ensure the polarity will be correct when connected.


Splitter connected to the front side scuff plate connectors


Testing


LED foot lights attached using double sided tape under front seats. You can attach it anywhere you like


Wire exiting from the scuff plates connection, hardly noticeable


Wire routing - Ensure sufficient flexibility so that when seats are moved all the way front or back, the wires don't strain


Installed and in action

[Aditya]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the DIY section. Thanks for sharing!

[Dr.Naren]

Thanks for the detailed thread buddy. You are the DIY guru for S-Cross now . Much appreciated and very helpful to fellow owners. I am very bad with DIY stuff, will take your help if I need

[thatfastdude19]

Very nicely done sudeepg. I also recently installed lighting in the front footwells of my Indica. Absolutely chuffed by the result and the best part about DIY jobs like these is the satisfaction you get after seeing the result . Here is a pic of my one.

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

...will take your help if I need

Thank you. Glad to help sir! I look forward to doing more on my S-Cross and post it on Team-BHP

Originally Posted by thatfastdude19

... the best part about DIY jobs like these is the satisfaction you get after seeing the result . Here is a pic of my one.

Thank you sir. Those lights are really bright and look cool! What you said about DIYs is absolutely true. The best part of DIYs is that care has been taken to do the best possible job. The learnings are just immense and absolutely love it.

[Nitish.arnold]

Originally Posted by thatfastdude19

Very nicely done sudeepg. I also recently installed lighting in the front footwells of my Indica. Absolutely chuffed by the result and the best part about DIY jobs like these is the satisfaction you get after seeing the result . Here is a pic of my one.

Wow, I liked how bright these are. Can you please share where you got them?

[thatfastdude19]

Originally Posted by Nitish.arnold

Wow, I liked how bright these are. Can you please share where you got them?

These were simple 24 SMD Led (I think that's what they are called) from a local accesories store for ₹60 per piece. These were made for the cabin roof light but I "hacked" into their wiring and used them for the following purpose.

Here are a few suggestions.

[sushil_n79]

Hi
Thanks for sharing the same. This is a brilliantly executed work and the steps speaks volumes about the amount of time and effort which has been invested in the same. Just wanted to reconfirm if a similar setup can be done for a maruti alto lxi 2012 version?
Regards
Sushil Narayanan

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by sushil_n79

Hi
Thanks for sharing the same. This is a brilliantly executed work and the steps speaks volumes about the amount of time and effort which has been invested in the same. Just wanted to reconfirm if a similar setup can be done for a maruti alto lxi 2012 version?
Regards
Sushil Narayanan

Hello Sushil,

This is an easy DIY (in my case it was even more easier due to the door scuff plates wiring), but I am pretty sure that LED foot well lamps can be installed in your Alto. All you need to do is either tap the power from the front dome lights or via an independent connection using a tap from the fuse box. We have a few interesting threads on this already on T-BHP.

Take a look at the below posts
Installing FootWell lights in Polo by Gannu_1

From Anurag
FootWell lights installation in Swift

From Mr. Boss
Footwell lights in Nissan Sunny

Anytime you have questions, feel free to ask the community and we will be glad to help

[car-dent]

Hello, Can u please tell how do the Nexa people connect the Scuff Plates? is there an existing spare connector that they use or do they splice the wires for the connections?