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I recently purchased a 2004 civic sedan. I would like to wire the headlights to turn on when I unlock or open the doors. I'm thinking I should tap the dome light circuit as it turns on/off the same way I would want the headlights to function. I'm just not sure how to wire it to power on the headlights. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

 
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So, the only way I can think of is setting up a relay to activate with that circuit (door light circuit), switching on when the vehicle is unlocked and drawing power straight from the battery. You'd also have to wire it in parallel with the OEM headlight harness as to not impede headlight function. However, depending on where you tap, you may activate headlights whenever you open the door, or turn the map lights on instead of just when you unlock the vehicle. Might be a slightly complicated circuit for such a simple task.

That is, unless, you decide to tap into the remote lock circuit, have it set to a timer module, so remotely unlocking the vehicle activates the timer circuit, which closes the relay, and sends power from the battery straight to the headlight circuit for [x] amount of time, also wired in parallel with the factory headlight circuit. That way, you wouldn't have to worry about inadvertent activation of said setup. This is all theoretical, I should add. I'd need to find wiring diagrams to see if it'd actually be feasible.

edit: or a timed relay. Initial activation keeps the relay switch shut for x amount of time. Found some on grainger, but jesus, they're minimum $40 for the relay itself
this one at mcmaster carr, while being $57 + shipping, is rated at 8A @ 28VDC (across the contacts) with a timer for up to 60 seconds of activation. Tells me it's good for 224W. It'd be an expensive mod for what it is, IMO

 
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Thanks for the advice. I ended up wiring in a relay activated by the dome light circuit and wired from that to the headlights as you suggested. This method does also trigger the headlights when opening a door, but they are usually already on at that point anyways plus I don't mind them coming on when I open a door. Thanks again for the help

 
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Please give details on how you did this? I'd like to try this as it's been an idea for a while but had no info on how to thanks

 
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Do you know what a relay is?

 
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Yes I do, I'm basically asking where you'd get the connection from so it turns on with the roof light when u unlock the car

 
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The dome light signal wire

 
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Where would I find that wire ? Sorry for asking All these questions but while I do have basic understanding of the electronics I'm not fully aware of where all the wires would be

 
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Fuse 3 (7.5A) in the under-hood box. Or directly from the dome light.

 
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Thank you for the info bro

 
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Sorry for the delay responding. I couldn't remember exactly which wire I tapped to get power from the dome light. Just had a chance to look at what I did today.
I tapped into the green/red wire from this grey connector and used that to trigger a relay in the engine bay

 
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Thank you, imma get this started tomorrow.. respect!

 
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hi, I have am considering doing this on my 2001 honda civic es1 sedan. Do the headlights turn on when you turn the dome light on, or just when the dome light is set to door?
Thanks

 
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The dome light switch doesn’t affect the headlights. They’ll only activate when a door opens (or anything else that triggers the dome light on door), even if dome light switch is set to on or off