Another LED mod w/DIY and pics
05-03-2003, 07:17 AM
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Another LED mod w/DIY and pics
I have been car pooling more latley at work and the one thing I notice about people riding in my car at night is they cannot find the friggin door handle to let themselves out. This mod does away with that, and looks somewhat cool to boot.
Things needed:
2nd gen Tiburon
red 18 gauge wire
balck 18 gauge wire
3.7 volt, 20ma, 5mm LEDs of your choice X 2
2.2kohm resistors X 2
black plastic LED holder for 5mm LEDs
1/4 inch drill bit
soldering iron & solder
black tape
wire crimpers with assorted ends
wire taps for 18 gauge wire
phillips screwdriver
OK, start by taking the trim piece off that goes around your inside door handle. Only one screw holds it in. You will also have to take your door panel off, now would be a good time.
Take your 1/4 inch drill bit and drill a hole in your trim piece, pop in your LED holder *note, the pic below shows the LED already installed*
Next, solder about an 18 inch wire lead to the positive lead of the LED, the longer wire on the LED is the positive lead.
Solder about an 8 inch lead to the negative lead of the LED.
Next, install the LED in to the hole you drilled, bend the LED wire leads over and tape them down with to the back of the trim piece with black tape. This will keep you from moving the rigid LED leads around and breaking them off....I learned the hard way and had to make another trip to Radio Shack to pick up more LEDs.
Now to wiring it in.
For power, I chose to use a wire from the wire harness that powers the window switch LEDs. In the pic below, it is the green wire being held out by my index finger.
I used one these wire taps below to tap the power lead in to the green wire
Once that wire is tapped go ahead and run your ground. I grounded mine to the bolt circled in red below.
And yes, for those of you observant enough to noice, that IS a penny holding my door speaker in. I didn't have washer and I didnt want to run to the store, so I drilled through a penny and used it as a washer!.
OK, back to the mod. Now you can re-install your door panel. You will need to feed the trim piece with LED through the back side of the door panel though, but that's very easy to do.
When done, it should look like this
Keep in mind this pic is taken at eye level with the handle. In a normal driving position you can't see the LED itself, only a nice blue accent light that lights up the cavity the door handle is in.
Now for some tips.....
be careful with the LEDs. Bend their leads as little as possible so you don't break them. Once you do get your wire leads soldered on, be sure to tape them down like I mentioned above. It immobilizes the fragile LED leads and keeps them from breaking.
You can put the resistor anywhere you want on the positive lead. I soldered mine on down near where I tapped in to the green wire. I soldered 4 inch leads on both sides of the resistor and then crimped some insulated quick disconnect connectors on so I can quickly detach the positive wire if needed. I also put black tape around the resistor so none of the metal leads were exposed.
As far as LED brightness, that will be up to you. I used a 2600 mcd LED. I have yet to drive it at night, but I don't think it will be ditracting. When I turned the lights off in my garage and sat in a driving position, it did not seem to distract me.
Let me know what you guys think.
[ May 03, 2003, 10:32 PM: Message edited by: AllBlackTibby ]
Things needed:
2nd gen Tiburon
red 18 gauge wire
balck 18 gauge wire
3.7 volt, 20ma, 5mm LEDs of your choice X 2
2.2kohm resistors X 2
black plastic LED holder for 5mm LEDs
1/4 inch drill bit
soldering iron & solder
black tape
wire crimpers with assorted ends
wire taps for 18 gauge wire
phillips screwdriver
OK, start by taking the trim piece off that goes around your inside door handle. Only one screw holds it in. You will also have to take your door panel off, now would be a good time.
Take your 1/4 inch drill bit and drill a hole in your trim piece, pop in your LED holder *note, the pic below shows the LED already installed*
Next, solder about an 18 inch wire lead to the positive lead of the LED, the longer wire on the LED is the positive lead.
Solder about an 8 inch lead to the negative lead of the LED.
Next, install the LED in to the hole you drilled, bend the LED wire leads over and tape them down with to the back of the trim piece with black tape. This will keep you from moving the rigid LED leads around and breaking them off....I learned the hard way and had to make another trip to Radio Shack to pick up more LEDs.
Now to wiring it in.
For power, I chose to use a wire from the wire harness that powers the window switch LEDs. In the pic below, it is the green wire being held out by my index finger.
I used one these wire taps below to tap the power lead in to the green wire
Once that wire is tapped go ahead and run your ground. I grounded mine to the bolt circled in red below.
And yes, for those of you observant enough to noice, that IS a penny holding my door speaker in. I didn't have washer and I didnt want to run to the store, so I drilled through a penny and used it as a washer!.
OK, back to the mod. Now you can re-install your door panel. You will need to feed the trim piece with LED through the back side of the door panel though, but that's very easy to do.
When done, it should look like this
Keep in mind this pic is taken at eye level with the handle. In a normal driving position you can't see the LED itself, only a nice blue accent light that lights up the cavity the door handle is in.
Now for some tips.....
be careful with the LEDs. Bend their leads as little as possible so you don't break them. Once you do get your wire leads soldered on, be sure to tape them down like I mentioned above. It immobilizes the fragile LED leads and keeps them from breaking.
You can put the resistor anywhere you want on the positive lead. I soldered mine on down near where I tapped in to the green wire. I soldered 4 inch leads on both sides of the resistor and then crimped some insulated quick disconnect connectors on so I can quickly detach the positive wire if needed. I also put black tape around the resistor so none of the metal leads were exposed.
As far as LED brightness, that will be up to you. I used a 2600 mcd LED. I have yet to drive it at night, but I don't think it will be ditracting. When I turned the lights off in my garage and sat in a driving position, it did not seem to distract me.
Let me know what you guys think.
[ May 03, 2003, 10:32 PM: Message edited by: AllBlackTibby ]
05-03-2003, 07:56 AM
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Vehicle: 2001 Hyundai Tiburon, 2004 Kia Sorento, 2010 Kia Soul
Very good idea mang. I think I'll do it also. On mine though, I'll prolly try to hide the LED itself behind the handle or something though.
Question: Is that thing gonna be on whenever you turn on your lights? I'm going to wire all of my interior lights to my racerboy shifter, to one of the buttons. Externals to another, Amp to another, NAWWWWWWWWZZZZ to another.
lol
Might wanna think about that.
Question: Is that thing gonna be on whenever you turn on your lights? I'm going to wire all of my interior lights to my racerboy shifter, to one of the buttons. Externals to another, Amp to another, NAWWWWWWWWZZZZ to another.
lol
Might wanna think about that.
05-03-2003, 08:30 AM
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I wired them in to the power wire that supplies power for the window switch LEDs......so they only come on while either my parking lights or headlights are on. The main reason I did it this way was to keep from having to run wires from the door to the main cabin.....that's more of a PITA than I cared for.
As you can probably guess, there are all kinds of option you can do here, like different mount locations, different angle LEDS, different size and brightness, etc.......
I am happy with it and I am positive is will serve the purpose I installed it for.
REDZ,
The LED is for the most part hidden. You can only see it if you are eye level with it. In normal driving positions you can't see it at all. The only reason I mounted it there was because it was the only place I could mount it without having it shine in my eye. There are other locations you could, but turn your head or lean down to do something and it's in your eye.
Do like I did, tape it inside in a few different spots before you drill the hole, this way you can see if it's going to cause a problem.
As for your RacerBoy....you'd prolly need to run wires through the door to the inside of the cabin. If I were you, I would do a relay setup, this way you can run mutliple things inside the door, i.e. angle vents, without having to run a bunch of wires through the door to the cabin. It's not the easiest thing to do.......not really that hard either....I just try to avoid doing it.
FYI, I haven't done it yet but I will share this with all of you anyway.......
I will be putting a switch on my center console door so when I open it up, another one or two LEDs come on inside there. These will probably be clear though for the sake of good illumination. If anyone does this before me, post pics and a DIY.
My plan so far was to tap in to the cigarette lighter and run wires back to it.
[ May 03, 2003, 04:11 PM: Message edited by: AllBlackTibby ]
As you can probably guess, there are all kinds of option you can do here, like different mount locations, different angle LEDS, different size and brightness, etc.......
I am happy with it and I am positive is will serve the purpose I installed it for.
REDZ,
The LED is for the most part hidden. You can only see it if you are eye level with it. In normal driving positions you can't see it at all. The only reason I mounted it there was because it was the only place I could mount it without having it shine in my eye. There are other locations you could, but turn your head or lean down to do something and it's in your eye.
Do like I did, tape it inside in a few different spots before you drill the hole, this way you can see if it's going to cause a problem.
As for your RacerBoy....you'd prolly need to run wires through the door to the inside of the cabin. If I were you, I would do a relay setup, this way you can run mutliple things inside the door, i.e. angle vents, without having to run a bunch of wires through the door to the cabin. It's not the easiest thing to do.......not really that hard either....I just try to avoid doing it.
FYI, I haven't done it yet but I will share this with all of you anyway.......
I will be putting a switch on my center console door so when I open it up, another one or two LEDs come on inside there. These will probably be clear though for the sake of good illumination. If anyone does this before me, post pics and a DIY.
My plan so far was to tap in to the cigarette lighter and run wires back to it.
[ May 03, 2003, 04:11 PM: Message edited by: AllBlackTibby ]
05-03-2003, 12:25 PM
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.4 volt, 20ma, 5mm LEDs of your choice X 2
2.2kohm resistors X 2
black plastic LED holder for 5mm LEDs
where did you get these?
where did you put the resistors?
do you really need the resistors?
Can you just wire up the LEDs to a power source?
email me
mailto:2001accent@djsirreal.com2001accent@djsirreal.com
2.2kohm resistors X 2
black plastic LED holder for 5mm LEDs
where did you get these?
where did you put the resistors?
do you really need the resistors?
Can you just wire up the LEDs to a power source?
email me
mailto:2001accent@djsirreal.com2001accent@djsirreal.com
05-03-2003, 12:58 PM
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I'll post here since this is good info.
2001 Accent, that is a 3.7 volt LED, not .4
EVERYTHING I got for this project I got at Radio Shack. You may need to know what you need before you go in because the guys at my local Radio Shack don't know squat.
Yes you have to have the resistors because straight 12 volts will make the LEDs explode.
The resistor is just wired in to the positive power wire. Nothing special about it. On my car, I put the resistor more towards where I tapped in to the wire, just because you can tape it and the wire for that matter to the back of the door panel. If you were to wire it in towards the LED, you would have problems getting the flexibility you need in the wire.
I'll post a diagram when I get back home. I'm going to the hospital to visit my newborn niece.
Parts can be found here:
LEDs
Resistors
LED Holder
Not the LED holder I used, but it's a cool option
Though you can get your LEDs from Radio Shack, I recommend you get them here. They are cheaper, and you get a price break when you buy in quantities. Trust me, buy more than you need to replace what you break, and to use in the future. I did the window switch mod here and have been hooked on LEDs since.
[ May 03, 2003, 10:33 PM: Message edited by: AllBlackTibby ]
2001 Accent, that is a 3.7 volt LED, not .4
EVERYTHING I got for this project I got at Radio Shack. You may need to know what you need before you go in because the guys at my local Radio Shack don't know squat.
Yes you have to have the resistors because straight 12 volts will make the LEDs explode.
The resistor is just wired in to the positive power wire. Nothing special about it. On my car, I put the resistor more towards where I tapped in to the wire, just because you can tape it and the wire for that matter to the back of the door panel. If you were to wire it in towards the LED, you would have problems getting the flexibility you need in the wire.
I'll post a diagram when I get back home. I'm going to the hospital to visit my newborn niece.
Parts can be found here:
LEDs
Resistors
LED Holder
Not the LED holder I used, but it's a cool option
Though you can get your LEDs from Radio Shack, I recommend you get them here. They are cheaper, and you get a price break when you buy in quantities. Trust me, buy more than you need to replace what you break, and to use in the future. I did the window switch mod here and have been hooked on LEDs since.
[ May 03, 2003, 10:33 PM: Message edited by: AllBlackTibby ]
05-04-2003, 01:52 AM
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OK 2001 Accent, here's that diagram.
Just be sure that after you solder the resistor in, you cover it with either heat shrink tubing or black tape. You don't want any of the bare metal or wire on the positive lead to come in contact with bare metal.
[ May 04, 2003, 08:54 AM: Message edited by: AllBlackTibby ]
Just be sure that after you solder the resistor in, you cover it with either heat shrink tubing or black tape. You don't want any of the bare metal or wire on the positive lead to come in contact with bare metal.
[ May 04, 2003, 08:54 AM: Message edited by: AllBlackTibby ]
05-04-2003, 10:09 AM
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Just since everyone always asks what resistors they need, etc etc, when there is a post about led's....Here are a few VERY HELPFUL link. They will calculate what you need. All you gotta do is put in the values.
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/LEDcalc.html
http://www.bit-tech.net/article/68/
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/LEDcalc.html
http://www.bit-tech.net/article/68/