Author Topic: Interior Lighting (Read 6693 times)

Drinksy · « **on:** Jan 7, 2007, 08:12PM »

Hello people I was just looking for a bit of info on how to wire up some interior LED's and neons.
What I am thinking of doing to my TRX is to put 2 blue neon lights under the seats to light up the foot wells but so that they are only going to be on when the car has its doors open.
The other thing I want to do is to change the dash lights so that they are blue and make the gauges light up blue.
Any Suggestions and tip would be helpful thanks.

P-Unit · « **Reply #1 on:** Jan 7, 2007, 08:49PM »

In order to wire up the LEDs so that they work when the doors are open is get into the festoon lamp (the one in the ceiling which goes on when the doors open), then attach a cable to the positive and run it towards the back of the head unit.

Then split that 12V cable into the two neons positive cables (not necessarily the one without the stripe so check it) then earth the other cable coming from it.

I have done a similar thing but mine is from a separate 12V source and the switches are in the center console as seen here:

as for the dashlights on the guages, go grab some blue led lights and pop them in, Ive got mine done in red but haven't got a pic, but i can give you advice on how to get to them.

rathies · « **Reply #2 on:** Jan 7, 2007, 09:28PM »

Lighting mods, lucky I read this. I can make recommendations fo sure.

http://www.antrx.com/smf/index.php?topic=9759.0

also did the LED mod to my dash cluster

Here is the DIY for the dash lights mod:
http://www.antrx.com/smf/index.php?topic=12057

rathies · « **Reply #3 on:** Jan 7, 2007, 09:37PM »

and P-Unit, how did you get your underbodys ever so bright? as seen in your avatar.

P-Unit · « **Reply #4 on:** Jan 7, 2007, 09:49PM »

It's called getting a good quality kit, they're LEDs, heaps brighter than standard neons and they shine in a direction, not just a glow. Back on topic, here's a low quality pic of my dash (U13) and off a camera phone...

rathies · « **Reply #5 on:** Jan 7, 2007, 09:56PM »

from that pic it looks like your dash has dark bits in the numbers too. I thought about sanding the blue paint off the face today to see what it looked like just clear. Might be another thing to add to the list.

P-Unit · « **Reply #6 on:** Jan 7, 2007, 09:58PM »

Its blotchy because it was dusty on the plastic when that pic was taken, and those aren't the wide angle LEDs, just standard ones i had in the house for a trial, i have wide angle LEDs now and they aren't blotchy at all. + low quality pic.

rathies · « **Reply #7 on:** Jan 7, 2007, 10:06PM »

so the whole back light is led's? mine is just the crappy krypton bulbs, tell me more about these 'wide angle led's' ?? like where to get them from, I can't say i've heard of them before.

P-Unit · « **Reply #8 on:** Jan 7, 2007, 10:17PM »

Autobarn, what it is, is that it's a T10 bulb, but instead on an incandescent bulb like a stock one, its 4 little LEDs all aimed outwards so you get a wider angle covered by the LED and it's a hell of a lot brighter.

rathies · « **Reply #9 on:** Jan 7, 2007, 10:42PM »

Interesting, thanks for that. I just discovered they're rampant on ebay

rathies · « **Reply #10 on:** Jan 9, 2007, 05:13PM »

Well I tracked down those LED globes, thanks again for that P-Unit. The beam of light was very narrow so I sanded them flat and faced the LED's outwards. The pictures make it look worse than it is in real life, but its a hell of a lot brighter, I just need a way to make the light more consistent now.

also just a little comparison to show that sanding the led's makes a difference, the dash clock has a little t5 globe in it, I found this in LED too.

Before sanding:

After sanding:

IMO the sanding does fuck all for light dissipation but it certainly stops it from being concentrated into one dot.

JelloBello · « **Reply #11 on:** Jan 9, 2007, 05:22PM »

wow Luke.... that's ALOT better then it was before, although as you said your still getting stupid inconsistencies.

rathies · « **Reply #12 on:** Jan 9, 2007, 05:36PM »

I'm seriously considering a couple of small ccfl tubes, then I might get the same problem in opposite

I also pissed off that bezel that I painted white, Theres no reflections onto the black one now.

Drinksy · « **Reply #13 on:** Jan 9, 2007, 06:52PM »

Hey guys thanks for your help much appreciated.
When i get some spare time i might try installing it all.
Also got a question when you are talking about sanding what do you mean?
Do you mean sanding the back of the gauges?

rathies · « **Reply #14 on:** Jan 9, 2007, 07:53PM »

if you look at the link for my thread you will see that the black face of the gauge can be lifted off, the back of that needs to be sanded.

Quote from: rathies on Jan 7, 2007, 09:28PM

Here is the DIY for the dash lights mod:
http://www.antrx.com/smf/index.php?topic=12057

unless you were talking about sanding the LED's?? They have a lense on them which directs the light in a straight beam which is no good for this application, to make them disperse the light evenly the lense needs to be sanded flat.

minimikee · « **Reply #15 on:** Jan 9, 2007, 08:16PM »

i did the same dash mod a while back ... i couldn'd get the LED's right so i gave up on it and ended up using some halogen dash bulbs from narva, they worked pretty well and so much brighter than standard

Drinksy · « **Reply #16 on:** Jan 10, 2007, 11:15AM »

Yeah i was talking bout the LED's coz i knew that they direct light in one direction and thanks for the link to your DIY.
But in the pics it didn't look very bright in some spots =( but when you installed those lights P-Unit suggested it came up alot better. =)
Hey minimikee what do the halogen dash bulbs from narva do?
Do they give off a blue light or something?

rathies · « **Reply #17 on:** Jan 10, 2007, 09:15PM »

they're the same as standard globes but in narva arctic blue, not LEDs but krypton. similiar to the narva arctic blue headlight globes.
They're brighter with a tinge of blue from memory. I had a mate use them in conjunction with blue globe condoms and it looks alright.

Dano Da Bomb · « **Reply #18 on:** Jan 10, 2007, 09:55PM »

I'm not a big fan of neons but congrats guys they look great.

P-Unit · « **Reply #19 on:** Jan 10, 2007, 11:10PM »

Even if you go for a standard light bulb or even the stock one you are running now, you can purchase a set of sillicon sleeves from autobarn for them, i have a pack of T5s in red so when i open my ashtray the light there is red and other lights with a T5 bulb are now red because of the sleeve.

JelloBello · « **Reply #20 on:** Jan 11, 2007, 02:47PM »

I've found that the "silicon sleeves" or globe condoms are useless, you'ld be much better off with LED replacement bulbs. But that's just my experience.

P-Unit · « **Reply #21 on:** Jan 11, 2007, 03:05PM »

I agree that the LEDs are much better than the globe condoms, hence why i got them for my dash, but for anything T5, it really doesn't matter what you do.

Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing · « **Reply #22 on:** Jan 11, 2007, 03:24PM »

Hey guys I'm thinking of replacing my lights behind my climate controll module with leds, I actually replaced them a few months ago with some new globes but there a bit dimm and id prefer if they were red so I think ill have a crack at doing it with some leds now. Wiring them up isnt any problem I have done some research and I now know the equations to work out what resistors to use. The only thing im unsure is the MCD rating to get. I dont want them being too in your face nor do I want them to be too dimm so anyone got any reccomendations?

Rathies do you know what MCD the leds are that you are using?

JelloBello · « **Reply #23 on:** Jan 11, 2007, 04:13PM »

from memory the ones for the needles are 5000mcd jaycar led's... not sure about his new back light ones tho.

rathies · « **Reply #24 on:** Jan 11, 2007, 05:27PM »

go 5000, if thats no good put 2 resistors on the line. I doubt it'll be bright enough to be irritating.