Adding interior lighting

[JTL]

Has anyone done or thought about adding some interior lights to a very dark mid-80's Carrera? I'm having a hard time seeing anything at nite when getting in the car. I have a targa so it only has the one overhead crappy little light in the middle of the inside targa bar cover.

Thanks, jt
-84 targa

[Talewinds]

Black interior?
My interior absolutely swallows light. Even in the daytime it's like a black hole.

Ok, this may be too "rice" but, I had some old red neon wands laying around from a project I never got around to. I wired them up and fastened them deep under the dash so that they cannot be seen at all. At night they cast a nice broad even red glow all around the footwells and lower sections of the interior. Completely fixes visibility problems.
And, da honeyz go crazy fo it when I roll up outside da club.

Seriously though, they sell them in white light also, it casts such a nice even, broad path of light I would definitely consider this option over LEDs or (God forbid) more incandescent lighting which will just not do the job and look appropriate at the same time.

[longhornchris04]

Does anybody know how bright the electro-luminescent tape/wire is, and how much light they throw? There was a thread a while back where somebody used it for gauge lighting and it looked very cool.

I was thinking about this because I have the same problem in my targa and the nice thing about the EL tape/wire is its almost invisible when off and easy to hide along a seam that would still throw light when on.

It might be a bit too "rice" but I can see having the underside of the dash (where the maplight is) wired so that the maplight lights up the whole under-dash area. Additionally having that overhead targa bar light light up a strip of lighting along the length of the bar.

Now that I'm thinking about it, is there any way to run electrical to either side of the targa bar and install lights above the seatbelt mounts. This would triple your lighting.

[nineball]

i have found that the el wire is anything but useful for viewing purposes. it looks nice but it barely gives off any light. i have a history with auto a/v and have done numerous installs ranging from super budget to $10k+ and used every type of in-car lighting there is. the neon rods (or tubes) give off the best overall light imho. as stated the led bars usually just produce a line of bright spots and really don't "glow" to fill up areas.

[stlrj]

I solved that problem by adding some 12V foot well lights that I snipped off an old Buick at the wrecker.

[JTL]

Yeah , black interior, of course. I actually just picked up a pair of 944 inside lights. They are 3 position, off-on-on/w door open, with a switch; ~$5/each for our host. I was gonna mount those in the back seat side panels but there isn't much depth/clearance within those panels. And maybe a pair of those lights in the front footwell area too.
You are right about those led strips being kinda ricey Oh well...

Just added a Donnelly autodim mirror with some maplights in another vehicle. That would also be a nice addition to a street 911?! Go figure, I just broke my inside mirror! Can't really complain, it's been there since -84; I went to flip in down to the 'dim' position and now it just flops around - grrr.

jt

[Canada Kev]

Originally Posted by Talewinds

And, da honeyz go crazy fo it when I roll up outside da club.

Playa? Playa, iz dat you?

[gr jetson]

Here are some interior lights that can be added.

http://www.painlessperformance.com/webcatalog/largeview.php?SearchField=30710&SearchAll=Classic%20Cars

I have bought them but have not yet installed them. They look like they should do the job.

Cordially, Greg

[JTL]

This is the part# of the light I was talking about: 823-947-105B-M44.

jt

[304065]

[Talewinds]

Perfect.

[willtel]

I've been shopping for some underhood and interior lighting for another project and I think I may get something from these guys.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/mini_tubes.htm

[longhornchris04]

Thanks nineball (and all the others). I kinda figured they wouldn't be any good... hence asking the question. I guess aside from backlighting the gauges I won't use EL for anything else.

For the time being, my solution is to keep a small LED flashlight in the drivers side pocket. Cheap (actually free, don't remember from what), works great, and I can use it outside the car if I need to.

[nineball]

if you want light but are trying to avoid the 'ricer' tag you can always get some white neon tubes. i would guess a pair of 10" tubes, one per footwell, would be all you would need and super easy to wire up.

[longhornchris04]

If I wanted a ricer, I wouldn't have bought German Thanks for the tip, I may look into those.

[stlrj]

Originally Posted by longhornchris04

If I wanted a ricer, I wouldn't have bought German Thanks for the tip, I may look into those.

Hard as it is to admit, it seems that "rice" has already infected our German core:

What's the typical "rice"thing on a 911?

[moneymanager]

Anybody used 12v LED rope light? Judging from the comments above, I'm guessing LED based solutions are too dim for an in-car application.

[nineball]

i wouldn't say that led lighting is too dim just that it is too concentrated. you don't get the same nice glow from led lighting as you do from neon. a rope light would give you a line of spots most likely.

[moneymanager]

Thanks nineball. So you just run 12 volts to these things and wire them in somewhere? No other hardware needed?

[DRACO A5OG]

Take care, I tried to replace my Fresh Air Control Panel Lights #74's with LEDs and it popped and burned out.

I did replace the Dome & Glove Box Lights with SuperBrightLEDs.com Fenston LEDs, boy they are super bright, no adaptive issue, nice clean cool white light.