wonder if you can do this on the OUTside door handle (like the BMWs)

 

Sorry John, i didn't mean to hijack your thread.

Humm.. sound like there is some interest in this. I can prob assemble a few of these and write up instructions.. I'll be a bit slow, so please bear with me. I do this on my spare time and i have other obligations.

Red's will be pretty fast since those are pre-soldered on the PCB boards and i have a few of the door handle ones left.. Blue and yellow i can get. The blue LED's, i can try get a pic of later. But again i picked red since it doesn't affect the cones in your eye's so your night vision isn't affected.

tukluc: I can use yellow LEDs so your Spa S doesn't look like Ronald McDonald ride. *note: I have no idea how yellow LEDs will look in the car, you'll prob be the first*

gabster: i can prob put LEDS in the outer door handles. I'd prob wire them to the dome lights circuit. So when you hit the unlock on the key fob they will light up. But i don't have any plans on doing this.. I'd prob have to take the outer door handle assembly out for this. Something i don't want to do after matting the doors

 

cool man....

Actually I like the idea of the reds on the floorboards and possibly doing the yellows in the door handles.

If you could provide some information as to where to get the materials, I am sure a few of us could do this on our own...just not sure where you get this stuff from.

Thanks

 

Sounds good Muggzy, please let us know the status, and cost i would be interested in the footwell, and inside door handle in blue, and outside door handle in white thanks alot

 

or a write up with diy instructions on what is needed, where to wire the leds and where to get all the supplies. i really like the set up. one of the best that i have seen so far. keep us all informed and updated.

 

yes that might even be better for me, it should be fun to do it our self just would like to know where you got the gooddies and what kind thanks alot

 

I wish the instrument panel of the digital was red instead of oj, good job about the leds, everytime I have a passenger they don't know how to open the door cuz they can't see it lol

 

I'll just put some info here on what i did for the DIY's.. Thats until i can get a coherent FAQ written up.

If your just getting a few LEDs Superbrightleds is a pretty good place.. They even have a handy LED Wizard to help you figure your circuit. They also give the specs of the LEDs.

For the footwell LEDs i wired it the dome lights.. So when you open the doors or hit unlock on the remote, the light turn on.. I believe this Link shows a pic of the wires i tapped into.. (look at step 5 ~ 6a) I'll take pictures of what i did later.

For the door handle lights i wired it up to the power tap under the driver side dash.. (thank xviper for the pic) I wired it to the 'lights' so when you turn on the parking/headlights the door handle lights turn on too.
You just need to run a wire through each door of the rubber accordion boots.. (i think is the hardest part) Just do a search on how people run speaker wire through that boot thingie..

The door handle LED's i made with a resistor. Then wired both sides in parallel to the "light" connector on power tap. Added the AMP connectors so I can unplug the wire from the LED module when i take the door panel off. Also if i wanted to change the LEDs colors, troubleshoot or fix the LED module, i can just replace that piece without cutting anything. (I'll try to get pics of this too)

For each foot well, i have 3 LEDs wired in series with resistor. Both sides are wired/ together in parallel to the dome lights. I did it this way if one sides goes out the other side will still work. Unless all power goes out..

The circuit boards, you can cut pre-perforated boards from Radio shack.. You can kinda see them on the door handle LEDs. (yellow board) I'll try take a pic of this.
Custom PCB boards can be made.. Depending on where you go, you'll need to order a minimum of two 12 x 12 boards.. (i forget the size) I think this cost like 80 ~ 100 bucks. For example if the PCB's you want are 1/2 x 1/2 in you prob get like you prob get around 484 pieces.. Minus about 1in space btwn all the boards.. you' have like about 11 x 11 sq/in of usable space.. so you get like 22 x 22, 0.5in squares. 484 x 2 = 968.. (hope my math and stuff are right) You'll prob get more if they are smaller. So unless your making a lot of things, it might be worth it..

If people are interested in the pre-wired kits and the LEDs mounted on the PCB's, PM me for now. Cost, i'm still not certain. I did it for a few local S2ki members. So the stuff i have pre-wired is just spares.. I'm thinking in the ball park of like 30 buck for the footwell LEDs and the 2 door handle LEDs. The PCBs with the pre-soldered red LED and diodes. . i'm think maybe 15 bucks? You could de-solder the red LEDs and put on any color 7.62mm LED you want.

I'll try to get a few more pics up later. Hope this help the DIY's and answers some questions that other have.

 

Sorry to the OP for hijacking the thread but thanks so much to muggzy for the writeup!

Look forward to some additional pics!

 

Radio Shack pre-perforated boards and a custom PCB with LED and diode


Door handle LED wire, once though the rubber door boot thingie i ran it up the side-mirror wire harness

Door handle LED connected


LED placement on the inner door panel. (this is one of the early versions, thus the tape vs the neat shrink wrap on the LED module) The double stick tape actually holds but i used the wire to as added insurance to keep the LED module from fall down. Especially on super hot days.. Had this on for about a year. no probs yet..




The door handle covers.. Since i did it to mine first, they look pretty hacked up. But once in, no one will see or know. It was hard to find a good place to drill for the light to shine through, thats why the is an oval instead of a round hole. I'll try to get a hold of a pic of someone else's i did.. Much cleaner cuz there is just one hole about the diameter of a pencil.

I even made a light diffuser but ended not using it. I just taped it off. The hole works the best. If your using other LED's like white it become too harsh and distracting. You can cut a piece of tint and cover the hole so it cuts the brightness down..


I still nd to take the pic of how i tapped in to the dome lights and the LED placement of the footwell LEDs