Backlit Cruise Control Lever/Stalk

Hello everyone,

My first contribution in this forum, I looked to see if anyone had already made a thread about this and didn’t see any so I will do a small write about it.

This is to install a backlit cruise control lever on the 3rd Gen Prius. Few things to consider: just like the steering wheel controls this mod will not be dimmable, as I’m getting power from the same power source. The price of the stalk is quite pricey plus you will need to purchase the correct harness to connect the new lever to the clock spring assy, I could not find the right lever on eBay with the part numbers so you almost have to buy OEM or get one from Ali Express. All the OEM stalks that I have found are blue backlit (unless if you purchase one from Ali Express with the right color already). If you go with OEM parts and need to match the same color then a new LED with correct resistor needs to be soldered in place. The correct stalk for this mod will have a metal ring where one of the screws holds it in place to the steering wheel this metal plate/ring is used for the ground LED like shown below:


I went with OEM route and wanted the match the green. I went ahead and disassembled the stalk by removing the back plastic cover, removed the PCB that has the push button and LED. I de-soldered the blue LED and the resistor. Soldered the 2.2x1.4 670nm Green, the original LED has a 2k Ohm resistor so I had to put a 1K Ohm resistor (1206) to make up for the lower voltage being supplied to Steering wheel controls (I measured about 8VDC) here’s a pic with back cover removed exposing the PCB and another pic showing the finished board with new LED:


The picture above shows a 1.8K Ohm resistor that I had tried but was very dim. This was before finding out that only 8VDC are being supplied for the backlight on the steering wheel controls.

Next it was the harness, getting the right harness is tricky as the part numbers are hit and miss. But ultimately we need one that has a 4-pin connector like the one below, the picture is a comparison of original (3-pin) on top and new (4-pin) bottom connector, note that all harnesses have the same square 4-pin connector on the Clock spring end.


I had to remove the green wire from the square connector as this wire has to get spliced to one of the wires on the other clock spring connector and then I made a small incision on the protective tubing to route that wire over to the 10 pin connector, the picture below show the wire poking thru the small incision and already spliced in the wire which is the Top Left, brown with red stripe



I put shirk tubing to protect the exposed copper on the wires to prevent any unfortunate events down the road, you can sort of see it in picture below also showing the square connector already hooked up to the clock spring assy


Next it was time to squeeze in the new switch, I recommend wrapping the lever in a bag to prevent any scratches, as it is a tight fit and the stalk needs to be fed inside out. I tried feeding it from outside but it’s not possible to do. Here’s a pic with everything back before clipping the Air back in place:


Here’s the end result, picture make it appear greener than the steering controls but it’s identical but a bit brighter which I don’t mind. I’m liking it and will definitely help my gf find it faster in the dark as she’s used to her own car that already has back lit buttons for everything.


Let me know what y’all think

Cheers

 

My parents also drive my car at night every once in while and they have a tendency to forget where it is.

That’s why!

 

‍, sorry all blue modders