Author Topic: lighting mods in my car. (Read 12099 times)

rathies · « **on:** Feb 5, 2006, 11:20PM »

I've got some coolish interior lighting mods I thought I'd share with you guys. all the photos are taken with a phone camera but you can still make out what things are quite well.

On the exterior i've got windscreen washer led's that flash with the car alarm. tells ppl to stay the fuck away from my psycho alarm. I wonder if they'll get stolen.

Green neons in my boot (full of all my work tools and shit). cut the wires from the original light and spliced a couple of 8" tubes in.

Green floor neons, the neons are actually under the seats, they are reflecting off the two amps under the front seats and creating the glare in the camera.

Dash lights as they are at the moment. there are 2 gauges mounted on the pillar (vacuum and volt). The blue thing on the right is the keypad for my bluetooth carkit. The blue thing above the steering wheel is a screen that reads out the air intake temp. the stock cluster illumination hasn't been modified because its green already. the porch lights in the middle of my windscreen are the neighbours house accross the road, that was probably the coolest mod they've done to thier house.

save the coolest for last, my disco flashing glove box. 2 led's that flash 7 colours at random intervals. looks insane but i can only show you one pic.

I wish I had some underbodys to show off. I found a place that sells the kit for $199. that'll be my next visual mod.

cruizer · « **Reply #1 on:** Feb 5, 2006, 11:28PM »

I was planning to do the interior neons but limited cash has made me decide to save for bigger mods to get it away from granny spec

It will get done eventually. Good job mate. Looks like a pretty good job, would'nt mind seeing it in person but I'm sure you don't live in SA. In your opinion...what colour neons is best for a black car - green, red or blue?

rathies · « **Reply #2 on:** Feb 5, 2006, 11:31PM »

depends if you're talking inside or outside? just don't get blue. be really different and get red I say. then again green would be pretty nice too. Everyone has blue thats why I say don't get it.

I live in WA. come for a quick long drive and i'll show ya.

cruizer · « **Reply #3 on:** Feb 5, 2006, 11:33PM »

I guess inside but maybe eventually outside, not sure and it'll happen along time away

Nice job though. How did ya wire it all up?

STU84W · « **Reply #4 on:** Feb 6, 2006, 05:59AM »

far out, thats some intense lighting... looks great tho, especially the boot and dash shot

rathies · « **Reply #5 on:** Feb 6, 2006, 10:15AM »

Quote from: cruizer on Feb 5, 2006, 11:33PM

I guess inside but maybe eventually outside, not sure and it'll happen along time away

Nice job though. How did ya wire it all up?

wiring? look at a bowl of spaghetti then look under my dash, they both look the same, only one is edible. Yer i'm also an apprentice electrician/security tech so i know how this shit works.

Carbon-goodness · « **Reply #6 on:** Feb 6, 2006, 01:18PM »

good on ya man! looks schmiko! i'm all for neons if u want em! (and becos i'm asian, i'm allowed to!

)

hehe, i've got blue LED washers too. the only reason i got em was i becos was in two minds about it.... then one dya just said, "ah fcuk it! it'll put me mind to rest" and got em done. tho one day after washin me car the left hand washer doesn't turn on now. but i don't use em at all, so meh.... i'll let it sit....

Quote from: rathies on Feb 5, 2006, 11:31PM

I live in WA. come for a quick long drive and i'll show ya.

hehe, hey cruiser, if i get REALLY bored one week that i don't hav to work, i'll come pick u up in the way to WA and we'll go check it out!

oh yeah, colour wise with neons.... i'm all for blue! but then again its me favourite colour and i'm slowly makin a silver/blue theme with me car. i rekon green neons with ablack car would look good.... depends what ur into i guess

Budgie · « **Reply #7 on:** Feb 6, 2006, 01:36PM »

To be honest, I don't mind neons in the foot-wells or under the seats. Giving off a nice low glow. It looks good!

Its only exterior ones that piss me off

rathies · « **Reply #8 on:** Feb 6, 2006, 02:48PM »

exterior neons piss me off when..
- you see some shit house vn commodore with one 8" tubes under each side of the car and nothing else, and you can see them almost scraping on the road.
- i saw a pintara with 2 red tubes up the side once, it wasn't a very well looked after car. he turned off into a state housing area and turned his lights off as he drove in.
- people don't realise that if it isn't lit up properly it looks shit house so don't even turn it on.

i still wish i had green underbodys. if they don't look good i'll be buying more and putting them all over the place until it does. gotta make sure the front grille glows all pretty too.

bigpud2012 · « **Reply #9 on:** Feb 6, 2006, 03:14PM »

for us who understand electronics could you just give us a quick debrief of how / where u wired this setup

rathies · « **Reply #10 on:** Feb 6, 2006, 03:25PM »

ook... boot lights are connected to the same 2 wires that come from the stock light. which is already connected to a swtich so they go on and off when you open and close boot.

as for the interior neons. the wires from each neon (1 pair of wires per neon) meet up behind the head unit. they are then all spliced together and connected to power stolen from the back of the cigarette lighter socket. there is also another wire from there connected to a switch on my dash. your switch should always interrupt the positive wire because your electrical system is negative ground. the lights turn on and off with the ignition. or if you prefer you could tap into constant power so that you don't need the key to light them up.

as for the glovebox. I had to get a pinswitch simliar to what is used for the bonnet in car alarms and make it fit in place where the stock button is. I then connected the positive to the switch then from the switch to the led's. while the negative went straight to the led's.
both neons and led's will only light up when the polarity is correct (negative and positive match up).

the flashing washer led's are connected straight to my alarm box behind the glove box. i had to run a wire to the engine bay and connect those two led's plus the one that was already on the steering column in the car. so thats 3 led's that flash with the alarm.

bigpud2012 · « **Reply #11 on:** Feb 6, 2006, 03:33PM »

THANKS MATE your a champ

Jono · « **Reply #12 on:** Feb 6, 2006, 09:55PM »

Good job mate, I like the washer nozzle/alarm idea and also the multicolour LEDs in the glove box

Quote from: rathies on Feb 6, 2006, 10:15AM

wiring? look at a bowl of spaghetti then look under my dash, they both look the same, only one is edible. Yer i'm also an apprentice electrician/security tech so i know how this shit works.

Now I don't mean to offend you, and I don't mean anything against you but some of the messiest and/or dysfunctional wiring in cars is done by apprentice electricians and auto elecs...

Nice sub box btw, I see you have a JunkButLoud sub

brentmcd12 · « **Reply #13 on:** Feb 7, 2006, 11:01PM »

Jono · « **Reply #14 on:** Feb 8, 2006, 12:12AM »

Hint: Hide your neon tubes, it looks a lot less tacky.

Carbon-goodness · « **Reply #15 on:** Feb 8, 2006, 04:18PM »

hey brentmcd12: (don't wanna b mean....but) man, that is probably the most tacky use of neons i've seen for a while. first off - and i agree with Jono - it'd might be an idea to hide the neons so that all u see is the glow - which i'm also applyin to the green neon above ur sub. second, i can understand the want for havin neons in the footwells (i'm thinin of hookin up sum meself $:-\$ ), but the centre console?!?!

anywho.... its ur car.... perhaps it looks better at night in person

rathies · « **Reply #16 on:** Feb 9, 2006, 12:16AM »

nice use of photoshop at least

Quote from: Jono on Feb 6, 2006, 09:55PM

some of the messiest and/or dysfunctional wiring in cars is done by apprentice electricians and auto elecs...

i've seen much worse mate, at least mine doesn't hang down. i don't want a defect. i got my jbl sub for free, swapped it with a mate for my shitty cheap kicker. cos the jbl wouldn't fit in his 'rolla. i built the box purposely to fit the u12 and give me the max boot space. just gotta cover it with carpet one of these days.

brentmcd12 · « **Reply #17 on:** Feb 9, 2006, 04:00PM »

hehe the middle center console ones flash with the music....

and the green one in my boot u cant see only if ur layin on the ground lookup up at it....

and the footwells thers no other place to bolt them on so meh u get used 2 seeing the tubes... its brighter that way

SoniCat · « **Reply #18 on:** Apr 4, 2006, 11:29AM »

Hi, I thought I'd bump this old post along a bit with a question about interior festoon led lights.
I bought a ford corsair a little while ago and it's been missing its interior light bulb. I found a white 36mm, 12v led festoon at dick smiths recently except that it only gave off a very very dim, greenish glow. The car manual recomends using a 10w bulb and I have no idea if this 12v led is right or not. I emailed someone online selling led festoon bulbs who said they giv off about 0.5W. Have any of you guys used these types of bulbs in ur cars and could offer your opinion? Thanx.

Jono · « **Reply #19 on:** Apr 4, 2006, 10:17PM »

Wattage readings are to do with how much power the bulb consumes, not how much it puts out. LEDs are alot more efficient at turning electricity into light so you get alot more light per watt.

rathies · « **Reply #20 on:** Apr 4, 2006, 10:45PM »

Led's aren't rated in watts if you are measuring light levels. they are rated in MCD, which i'm not sure exactly how the system works. as mentioned by jono wattages reflect consumption not brightness.
i.e. using house lighting as an example: a 36w (or maybe it was 15w, but it was really low) fluorescent tube provides the same amount of light as a standard 100w filament light bulb.
Light levels are mesured in degrees of Kelvin. sort've like degrees celsius.

Jono · « **Reply #21 on:** Apr 4, 2006, 10:57PM »

Quote from: rathies on Apr 4, 2006, 10:45PM

Light levels are mesured in degrees of Kelvin. sort've like degress celsius.

That would be the colour of the light, not the amount of light.

chr1S · « **Reply #22 on:** Apr 4, 2006, 11:01PM »

Intensity is amount/brightness of light

Kelvin like Jono said is the colour or Temperature really which gives it it's colour...

SoniCat · « **Reply #23 on:** Apr 5, 2006, 11:19AM »

Very interesting points guys and don't wanna seem ungrateful... but does anyone know why it won't work in my car??? Don't you guys use led bulbs in your pintaras/corsairs?

chr1S · « **Reply #24 on:** Apr 5, 2006, 11:28AM »

Try getting hold of a Luxeon 5W LED Globe.. It needs a heatink but you can use the roof as one, which means your whole car is going to dissipate the heat.. It should be ok.. And they put out a crapload of light.

SoniCat · « **Reply #25 on:** Apr 5, 2006, 02:00PM »

How do I use the roof as a heatsink? Do I make a connection from the bulb endcaps thru to the roof using a conducting wire or something? Is there an easier way or a simpler led bulb that can work in this kind of car? I don't need the best out there, I just want light in my car. For some reason my 12v dickies led worked real well in my bf's 2000 lancer which recomends using an 8W globe, yet barely lit up in my corsair which recomends using a 10W. Should 2W make so much difference?

chr1S · « **Reply #26 on:** Apr 5, 2006, 04:28PM »

It doesn't give off that much light.. It's just a rating for how much power it uses.

Just try what i said with a diffuser (it has one already, the cap for it.), It won't be on long enough to start burning something...

If this is too much trouble, just get a globe....

SoniCat · « **Reply #27 on:** Apr 5, 2006, 05:54PM »

I don't know why, but I have a feeling your making the purchasing and fitting of an led festoon bulb sound alot more complicated than it really is.
Incase u havent noticed Im a GIRL I don't know what a headsink or a diffuser even is. Do u know how frustrating it is to ask the same question 3 times and never get a simple straight answer? I'm sure alot of people go out to Jaycar or supercheap or JB Hi-Fi and they buy an led bulb that pops into their light fitting and works just fine and not havta worry about it burning the car down.

I would have just loved for one of you to tell me something like "Hey, just make sure you buy something 2W and up, u can usually pick them up at this place for about $6." or "I used this bulb in my corsair/pintara and it worked fine, I bought it here" It'd especially would have been cool if someone told me why my dickies led might not have worked in one car but worked in another. For all I know I had it the wrong way around, but no one thought of that did they. You start offering me tedious and probly expensive solutions like "Try getting hold of a Luxeon 5W LED Globe" instead of looking at why the one I just bought didnt work & what specifications might I need when I buy the next one, rather than only one specific brand that I could look all over brisbane for. Most you guys would own a similar car, you must know what to look for.

Anyway, I'm sure when I go to Jaycar in the morning, they'll explain why the dickies one didnt work, they'll give me a simple led or even just a globe that'll work fine in my car and I'll leave the dickies one in the bf's car.

I was just kinda hoping you guys could offer me some advice on why my dickies one didn't work and what I could try to get it working since I'd made the effort to go out and get it, but I guess that was too much to ask...

chr1S · « **Reply #28 on:** Apr 5, 2006, 09:26PM »

Ok, I'm sorry your a girl..

Girls arn't smart, they can't be !!

What the hell is a dickies ??

I said, if it's too much trouble just get the standard globe.

rathies · « **Reply #29 on:** Apr 5, 2006, 09:52PM »

I don't think many people on here have tried changing thier roof light. jaycar sell a kit that allows you to make a LED roof light using the end caps off your existing globe. if worse comes to worse you could always get a couple of small jaycar ccfl tubes, only problem is they're $20 each.