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H3 Roof Lights Wiring

zenoreilly

Member
Messages
10
Location
Illinois
Is there supposed to be a vestigial connector in the roof (i.e. you get to it by pulling the headliner) for the OEM overhead lights? I'd expect to see that if it was a dealer-installed option but if they left Louisiana that way probably not. I put in some aftermarket cab lights and if I don't need to run wire all the way down to the headlight switch it would save me some disassembly time. Couldn't find anything obviously corresponding to such a thing behind the headliner and I don't want that thing down any longer than necessary.
 

Acer4LO

Well-Known Member
Messages
800
Location
Illinois
Unfortunately, there is no quick and easy plug and play harness near the headliner for installation of the OEM Roof Marker Lights.

In the official instructions, how they have you do it is you have a positive and negative wire down the windshield, under the plastic A-pillar. From there, the black ground wire goes into the engine bay into the main interior wiring harness behind the battery, where there are six blunt cut wires all bundled together sticking out from that large wiring harness that are in various different colors, such as orange, green, brown, black. They have you connect black ground wire from the roof marker lights and connect it to the blunt cut wire, but personally, I find it easier just to add a wire terminal loop and connect it to a dedicated battery ground that is found very close to there on the driver side inner fender mount.

Now, for the positive wire, this wire keeps going and plugs in under the fuse box. Now when GM originally made the Fuse box for the H3, they made a hidden place to plug in a 8 pin GM Specific connector to under the fuse box for the GM Genuine Accessories which included the OEM Roof Marker Lights, OEM Offroad Roof Lights, and the OEM Grille Lights. This came on every single H3 because no H3 from the factory had any of the roof lights or grille lights installed. These were all dealership installed options. Because there were 3 different accessories that were able to plug into the same connector, GM had different pins that these wires would occupy in the 8 plug harness. In the case of the OEM Roof Marker lights, the connector that plugs into the Fuse box is just a single red wire. The reason why you want to plug into the fuse box with this connector is that it supplies the running lights signal so the OEM Marker lights will work normally just like the side markers, corner lights, and rear tail light running lights. If you don't already have the full harness that the roof marker lights originally came with it can be tricky to find that 8 pin plug these days. It goes under the part number P2094. I believe it has been discontinued, but I think there are a few other superseded part numbers that possibly have that plug. Typically when I need one I got to a Junkyard with an H3 can take the hvac resistor wiring harness plug or power seats plug because it is the exact same 8 pin plug. But anyway once you plug that connector to the fuse box you are good to go. You do need to take out the fusebox to actually be able to plug it in. To do that you have to remove the air inlet hose that goes to the battery, remove the fusebox cover, disconnect the connections to the fusebox, and then slide it out by releasing the tabs and pulling up on it.

Honestly, it sounds more complicated than it actually is. If you are serious about doing this, I have a lot of pictures and stuff I can send you on it. You can reach me better at on Facebook which is Acer Miller and My Instagram is @Acer4LO
 

zenoreilly

Member
Messages
10
Location
Illinois
Not sure if that is more complicated compared to my original suspicion that involves piggybacking off the headlight switch itself, which I was hesitant to do because the BCM already acts cranky when resistance on a circuit goes out of spec. I already have a grommeted hole through the firewall for the wire to my oil-pressure gauge and ham radios so that would be trivial, or at least less time-consuming (and yes, I'm well-acquainted with that particular grounding location :rolleyes:). I've already had the fuse box out and I think I remember that 8-pin you're referring to (I figured it was for diagnostics but I had bigger fish to fry at the time). In any event, having the cab lights work in unison with the corner/running lights is exactly what I was going for. These are not the OEM lights for the H3; I got the single-center/2 side lights similar to that found on Silverados/Sierras. Turned out exactly how I imagined it would, too.

Was watching your YT vids for guidance before putting my halo lights in, so "thank you" twice! The cab lights are the last phase of that project (replacing all external with LED). Adapters for the 4 inch "frog" lights are expected to arrive tomorrow so I can finally get those bolted back up. Next is LEDs for the interior. Hoping to be done with all of it by Labor Day and I'll put up pics then.
 

Acer4LO

Well-Known Member
Messages
800
Location
Illinois

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rascole

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,818
Location
Bellflower, CA
Adding the factory/dealership lights to the roof and grill are easier than it looks. A little time and patience is all you need.
 

zebra

Well-Known Member
Messages
199
Location
cold & windy
i'd reckon the advantage to the 8pin plug is that the BCM already accounts for that signal & wouldn't think nothing of it.

...but then again, that's also the purpose of the blunt-cut wires in that general vicinity. i added OEM grille lights / wiring, and the GM instructions simply had me tie the relay to one of those blunt power leads.
 
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