Installing LED strips

[pbassist12]

So i wanna add some led strips for the inside of my car. I was planning on using one of the blank button slots by the awc. Could i use the red and black wires from the awc as my power source? Would this be bad? I was thinking of using the source from the cig lighter but it seems like it would be a lot of work. Anyone got any suggestions?

[total0wnage]

when i had these in my old car what i did was, i wired a switch to where the leather seat heating controls are in the MR and tapped off the cigarette lighter at the bottom center console, from there i ran wires left and run under the driver and passenger seats to shine back to rear seats and then ran up through the center console to front foot area so all 4 areas were lit and switch was easily accessible.

[pbassist12]

well i wanna wire the led from the cigarette lighter and have the button by the AWC, Im just not sure how to get to the cigarette ligther cause theres so much to take apart

[Jackal]

finished mine last weekend will post pics later this weekend just haven't decided where to put the switch.

[RalliArtist]

buy a piggy back fuse (or add-a-fuse) and stick in the heated seat fuse location so you don't have to splice any wires. It is the only 30A fuse under the dash which is more than enough power for led's. It's a 12V source not an ignition source so you'll have to add a switch so you can turn them off when the car is off. Thats what i did and i put a switch in the square plastic near the e-brake handle.

[pbassist12]

buy a piggy back fuse (or add-a-fuse) and stick in the heated seat fuse location so you don't have to splice any wires. It is the only 30A fuse under the dash which is more than enough power for led's. It's a 12V source not an ignition source so you'll have to add a switch so you can turn them off when the car is off. Thats what i did and i put a switch in the square plastic near the e-brake handle.


Pictures? Im a visual person so once i see it i can mostly likely do it lol

[RalliArtist]

Pictures? Im a visual person so once i see it i can mostly likely do it lol

I'll get some pics tomorrow when it's light out.

EDIT: got some pics:

This is what an add-a-fuse look like. You can get it at any auto parts store. The pic shows a mini type fuse, but you'll need the standard size.

http://store.42draftdesigns.com/assets/images/electrical/add-a-circuit.jpg

You would take out the original fuse and stick it where the 20A fuse is (in the pic) and put another fuse (at least 15A for the leds) in the upper spot. You can run a wire from the lead of the fuse to the switch. The switch i used had 3 leads on it: ground, 12V and accessory. You would connect a wire from the fuse to the 12V lead on the switch, the led power wires to the accessory lead, and ground the last lead to the body.

I put my switch here: I wanted to put it next to the ASC switch, but you'll need a very small switch to fit in there and have to route out the guts from behind the switch because it's not hollow behind it. Where i put the switch, that plastic just pops out with a small screwdriver and can easily use a unibit to make the hole.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h199/gba2001/Ralliart/100_0843.jpg

I had to pull out the drivers seat to run the wires into the console.

You can see where i put the fuse here (this is looking through the little panel under the ASC switch):

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h199/gba2001/Ralliart/100_0847.jpg

I used surface mount leds from oznium.com (http://www.oznium.com/prewired-surface-mount-led) and used 2 led's per side which is more than enough light. I mounted 1 on the inner and outer plastic trim pieces of the footwells.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h199/gba2001/Ralliart/100_0845.jpg

[RalliArtist]

What i did for the rear was cut a small hole in the carpet for the light to shine through.

Flash on:

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h199/gba2001/Ralliart/100_0848.jpg

Flash off:

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h199/gba2001/Ralliart/100_0850.jpg

It's a pretty simple install. It's just a matter of running the wires and finding a good spot to mount the lights. It took me a few hours because i had to extend all of the wires from the led's. I wanted to do it right so i soldered all the extensions and used shrink tubing on all the joints for a professional look. There's a good chance no one will ever see the wires but if someone does have to work in those area, they'll see it and not think, "who the hell wired this thing?". Plus i like the add-a-fuse because there's no wire testing or splicing, just plug n play.

Hope this helped

[pbassist12]

Im tempted to just splice the wires cause its easy but idk lol

[hotkupa]

How do I install them so they light up together with all the interior/dashboard lights. I guess I would have to splice into a wire? What would i connect the negative wire to?

thanks

[RalliArtist]

How do I install them so they light up together with all the interior/dashboard lights. I guess I would have to splice into a wire? What would i connect the negative wire to?

thanks

You could do it the way i explained, but you would have to find the fuse or wire that powers the instrument panel and tap into that fuse. For the black (negative) wire coming off the led strips, you can crimp an eyelet to the end and ground it to the body.

[BravoZero]

Interesting... I might do this.