New Interior Lights

Pstallo · 10-22-2015, 04:17 PM

This pic is taken in the pitch dark in my garage with no flash. I replaced my interior light bulbs and the engine bay lamp with some LEDs I found on Ebay. For $4, they really improved the lighting. Anyway, for those interested, I recommend them.

If I could figure out how to install a LED underneath the dash on the driver's side, it would be like a modern, lit interior! (I'll take any suggestions on how to wire that into the door switch)

4 x White 42mm 5050 8SMD Festoon 1 7" Dome Map Interior LED Light Bulb 211 2 578 | eBay

universeman · universeman's Garage

Easy to wire in LEDs under the dash. Locate brown wire from door switch in driver kick plate (pull back carpet). T-tap into it and connect to LED ground. Then pick a wire under your dash, almost any one will do, tap into it and connect to LED positive lead. Mount LED fixture. Done!

Pstallo · 10-22-2015, 05:20 PM

Sounds like a plan. I guess it wouldn't be too hard to extend it to an LED mounted in the passenger's footwell, too. What wire do most connect to the + lead? Does it sincerely not matter?

Jack Stands · Jack Stands's Garage

I also replaced my interior light with a festoon LED bulb, and it is much brighter. However, I noticed that the bulb does get hot if left on for a while, so some caution is warranted if the light is illuminated for a long time.

tirwin · tirwin's Garage

Great idea!

Last year when I remodeled our kitchen I used these LED strips I got from Home Depot. The strips are flexible -- you just cut them to the length necessary -- and they have a peel off backing. I wonder if a similar idea could be adapted for use to stick under the dash to provide some light in the floor area?

And these lights are 12v. Most LEDs are driven by DC so I assume the transformer used for home applications also includes a rectifier so it should be a direct wire in the car.

Another good idea would be to get some extra light in the trunk.

tirwin · tirwin's Garage

Here are some pics of the LED strips I'm talking about.

Pstallo · 11-04-2015, 05:25 AM

I received some LED strips in the mail just the other day. I plan on tapping them into the brown wire from the door switch so that they would light up when the doors open. The wire is small and I haven't found a very easy way to get to it yet, but I will post back if I get it to work.

Pstallo · 11-04-2015, 07:55 AM

Okay, I've soldered a wire into the door switch wire. It would have been easy except that the wire pulled loose from the door switch and had to be rethreaded through the door :/

Anyway, so my LEDs have a red and black wire. I'm assuming the black should be attached to the brown wire, but where should I attach the red wire? There's a ton of wires up under the dash there, but I don't know which would be best. The easiest to get to is an 18 gauge or so yellow wire under the driver dash air vent that has a snap connector attaching it to another yellow wire.

tirwin · tirwin's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pstallo

Okay, I've soldered a wire into the door switch wire. It would have been easy except that the wire pulled loose from the door switch and had to be rethreaded through the door :/

Anyway, so my LEDs have a red and black wire. I'm assuming the black should be attached to the brown wire, but where should I attach the red wire? There's a ton of wires up under the dash there, but I don't know which would be best. The easiest to get to is an 18 gauge or so yellow wire under the driver dash air vent that has a snap connector attaching it to another yellow wire.

I don't recall the interior light circuit diagram off hand. The switch just grounds the interior light circuit, right? Switch pushed in -- no ground, no light. Let go of switch -- grounded, lights turn on.

There was a thread a while back that argued as to whether power went through the door switch or not and now I can't remember which way it really is off hand. Should be easy to test with a voltmeter.

If you're looking for a constant power circuit I think the radio normally has a constant power circuit that comes from the ignition switch. I think it's yellow in my car but I'm not 100% sure. Great opportunity to put a fuse on the dash light wire if you don't have one already because the dash light circuit is normally unfused. Do a search a search and it should show up. I think it's a 2A fuse in an in-line mini fuse holder.

universeman · universeman's Garage

Door switch completes the ground when a door is open.

I tapped power into a wire (white I think) going under the instrument cluster, along the dash. Just used my MM to find a hot one that was not hot when the key was off. Black goes to 12v, red goes to ground on my LEDs, YMMV - just test and swap wires if they don't work, nothing will blow up.

I put one under each footwell, huge improvement. I didn't use the strips, just a little 4-bulb LED with housing that I found on eBay, on each side.

My next lighting project is to put some red LEDs down there for when the headlights are on....looks really cool at night and isn't distracting. I have the red LEDs but just haven't gotten them wired in yet. Going to use one of the gauges (maybe clock) for power.

Pstallo · 11-04-2015, 02:35 PM

Okay, I installed the LED strips under the dash for the footwells and they really make a difference. I stuck a little compressor in the passenger footwell so that something would be there to see.

It turns out that the yellow plug connector wire under the driver side vent was the power to the headlight switch, so I did go ahead and connect to continuous power from the radio. While I was under there, I did take your advice and install an inline fuse.

I also found a lot of crimp/barrel connectors on the power supply (like 5 of them in a row), so I cut all that out, installed extension wire, and soldered the connections.

It turned out to be one of those jobs where you feel good about fixing some janky stuff while you're there.

tirwin · tirwin's Garage

Nice! Good job!

Can you post a picture of where you installed the light strips?

Pstallo · 11-04-2015, 04:06 PM

Sure, I'll get a pic tomorrow when there's more light. On the driver's side, I stretched one along the big metal plate above the driver's knee's. On the passenger side, I just stuck it along the bottom of the glove box.

tirwin · tirwin's Garage

Thanks. I have one of the Moch-1 under dash covers so I'll have to figure out something similar.

By the way, your interior looks very similar to mine.

Pstallo · 11-04-2015, 04:24 PM

What kind of material is the under dash cover? Is it carpet, cloth, plastic?

tirwin · tirwin's Garage

It's plastic with magnetic connectors. I think it gives a nice finished look.

Here is the link to the website with more information but I bought mine through Pelican. They have a few different choices. I cut holes for tweeters in mine.

http://www.moch-1.com/UNDERDASH.htm

Pstallo · 11-04-2015, 05:29 PM

That's a smart idea. I have to cram as much of the wiring I can above the cruise control module so it's not as visible. I think you could still use the lights. or, if you didn't see room for a strip, just get a square block of lights instead.

RSBob · RSBob's Garage

One of these days I will wire a single LED directly above the ignition switch which is nearly impossible to see in the dark even with both interior lights on. Does anyone have a suggestion on which one to buy?

universeman · universeman's Garage

Rick what about replacing the power mirror rocker switch with a lighted one (LED)? That idea just came to me, no idea if it's feasible but would be really cool. That switch is in just the right place...

tirwin · tirwin's Garage

That's a good idea too. Have you tried doing the LED upgrade for the lighted keyfob? It's a good bit brighter than that puny incandescent bulb.