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Use Boilmaker's as a reference for parts if you must, he made a great DIY. I'm only putting mine here because of some confusion I notice among the other DIY he made. Not knocking anyone, just trying to better help 7thgen.

OK...here's a few things. Don't know if any of this was said yet but...the output is 12V. I know because I used a special 12V bulb, no resistors. TO reset the ECU disconnect the battery ground for at least 30 seconds. This is when you do the connecting, only when the battery is disconeccted. I found a spot that worked really well for the light, as when I close the lid below the radio, the light is hidden, therefore I don't always have to see it. I wanted a bright light so I can still see it during the day. The reason (I feel) for the light, is more of a diagnostic purpose. I plan on adding the Jet ECU upgrade soon, this will show me if they modified the VTEC engagement points. ALSO, staying out of VTEC will improve your fuel economy, because only one intake valve is open per cylinder (versus 2). If I avoid VTEC as much as possible, my fuel economy goes way up, thus saving me money. Two tanks of gas has proven my theory. Hope this all helps. BTW...here's some pics I took to help you guys out. (I took them while I was installing everything)...

 
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First you need this...

 
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After finding out if you have vtec or not, look on the engine lol, disconnect the ground of the battery. This will cut all power from the car.

 
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Go to the glove box, pop out these two plastic tabs that hold the glove box up...

 
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Behind the fallen glovebox you will find your ECU.

 
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Tap into this wire... MIDDLE WHITE HARNESS< GREEN WITH YELLOW STRIPE

 
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Here's the ground location, placed above your cupholders, behind the DC plug.

 
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Here's the tapped ECU wire BTW.

 
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I made a custom enclosure for the light and my switches. Box can be found at radio shack for less than 10 bucks, i cut this piece with a Dremel.

 
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I pulled out my center console to drill a small hole at the bottom of the lower pocket below the radio. This hole is to run the wire leads into the custom enclosure.

 
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Here's the finished product. IF you have any questions, post here please do not PM as I would like to keep my quota low. I will be checking this topic peroidically. Good luck guys!

 
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DUDE! That would be a killer place to hide nitrous switches.

Oh Yea......Good DIY!

 
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thanks man! never thought of the nitrous switches though lol. Anyway, switch on the left is my sub, the right one for my radar detector (currently hardwired to back of power outlet).

 
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Nope. That's how the HX works.

EX VTEC always runs 16 Valves. The intake has 2 cam profiles. The VTEC profile lets in more air, thus more gas must go with it. Staying out of VTEC does indeed save gas, but not because of one valve instead of 2. I take it you plan on never getting on a highway? Once you hit highway speeds... VTEC is on for good.
Your light bulb is gonna burn out way before my LED.
I just don't get what exactly you did that was so different that it needed its own DIY... it looks like you just followed mine. Everything is exactly the same.

 
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Cool. Good job. Now if only I had VTEC...

 
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I agree with boiler, what you should have named it is "custom enclosure for VTEC light" you did the exact same thing without telling how to set up switches or cunnect wires, I don't know why the hell you would disconnect the battery and overall it was a good closure idea and that is it.
BTW, it looks really nice also

 
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I stated at the top of my post, this was only to help with some confusion on the DIY. Such as where that ground was...another was just a clearer picture of the ECU because some were doing the wrong wire. Only tried to help out others who were confused, I still give you the entire credit for the DIY. Just trying to save people time.

 
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Stay out of VTEC if you want better gas mileage???

According to some people here, their VTEC lights come on between 2500 and 3000 rpms. How the heck can you stay out of VTEC when it comes on so low? And I'm also wondering how MadWheel was able to prove his gas mileage point without going over 2500 RPMs (for most of the time at least) for 2 tanks of gas.

VTEC or no VTEC, if you stay under 3000 RPMs all the time, you're going to be saving a ton of gas, so I don't think this proves very much.


And while we are on the topic, why DOES our VTEC engage so early? Is it because it's only SOHC?

 
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the VTEC only engages that low really when you apply more preassure than needed to accelerate, mine doesn't turn on a lot of the time and I have been getting really nice gas milage.

 
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out of curiosity, does anyone have the harness diagram for those harnesses?

 
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Oh, ok.

But again, if you're constantly super soft on the pedal, you're still gonna save a lot of gas... VTEC or no VTEC. I mean, that's just common sense isn't it?

So when does VTECt engage if you're really soft on the pedal and slowly increase your RPM's ?

 
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true i guess. it's more of a dummy light telling me im gassing it more, usually makes me back of more at night. But no I definately did not stay below3k the entire time through 2 tanks of gas. I just target lower rpms when i'm cruising around. In conclusion I'm not an idiot or anything. Just trying to help you guys and throw a reason as to why this install is actually somewhat helpful. More DIYs the better, helps me better understand my car. Good luck with future ideas anyway

 
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I just tried the DIY today, and It didn't work, I double checked that I have the right wire (The Green one with the Yellow stripe), I made sure the splice was making a contact. I even solderd all the connections to make sure that they were in contact. Instead of a resister, I used a potentiometer.

Now, here's the weird thing, I hooked up the ground to the place behind the cigarette lighter, and it didn't work. Now if I take the ground and touch it to the center of the cig lighter, the light will come on and stay on all the time. Anyone have any idea what could be causeing this, or AIM me at Renamazazo with any suggestions.

-Mark

 
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Have you tried running the system without the variable resistor? Like try using a fixed resistor or no resistor if you have a 12v bulb. Everything else sounds right, the ground that I pictured works very well, I've gounded multiple components to it without having any voltage problems. Good luck man

 
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The center wire in the cigarrete lighter is a +12V

When you're VTEC isn't on, the 12V VTEC line essentially acts as a ground, and thus, you've basically reversed it..

You should have no problem screwing your ground wire onto that screw in the metal bracket..

 
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I already said I tried that and the VTEC light doesn't work.

I have the Green Wire with the yellow stripe tapped
That wire goes to the long end of the LED
The short end of the LED goes to the Potentiometer
The other end of the potentiometer goes to the ground behind the cig lighter...

no matter what I do the light doesn't come on, I tried revving in neutral, driving around (got up to 80, still no light)
anyway, I'll mess around with it tomorrow and see if I can get it working

-Mark

 
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I did it and it is friggin awsome man this is a great DIY

 
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what gauge is the vtec wire from the ecu? 18?

 
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i cant see the pictures awww.................

 
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Just to clarify something. The VTEC won't engage at highway speeds unless you're doing 70+mph. Going 65mph on a flat road will keep the VTEC off and still save fuel. I'm gonna try setting the engagement point higher in the rpms to see if mileage improves.