DIY: Auto/On/Off Interior Lighting

[elementofhoops]

First, Bought this kit off ebay for 65.10 (including shipping).

Then bought a 3 way switch and some 18 AWG wire from autozone I used dark blue for the positive and black for the negative.
Start to imagine where you want your lights, I chose to have all six of the pods up front and only use the strips for the back seats. Then I cut wire (positive and negative) to add on to the already provided wire. Then, I soldered all of the positives and negatives together. (You should also add one extra positive and negative to get the power and the ground.)
After all of the wires were together I started arranging the lights in the places where I wanted them. Instead of taking apart the dash to run the wires from the drivers side to the passengers side i used a little hole down by the gas pedal. You can see it here.

Next is for the power. I used the dome light power. It is a constant power so you will be able to turn on the lights even when the car is off. I used this diagram. Bue wire is positive and pink is ground)

You do not need to do anything for the ground yet. Take the wire that you left exposed for the positives and splice it to the positive dome wire.

Now for the ground. I used a 3 way switch for my Auto/on/off capability, and at first I thought that i would need to use 2 seperate power sources. Then, after doing some thinking, I realized that the ground is controlled for the dome and thats what gives you the "fade out". So two GROUNDS are needed. This is what I did. I ordered a couple of these for my car.

I took a drill and some "drill sander" thing and made it look like this.

The bigger hole is for the switch, the smaller ones are for some LED singles that I had. (I eventually used one of the PODS in their place and took them out.) The switch had a screw on thing that held it in place but I used some hot glue to make sure it didn't move at all.
The ground that you left exposed that comes from all of the LEDs goes to the center pin on the switch. Then I ran another ground wire from the left pin to the aforementioned ground for the dorm lights. On the right pin I ran another wire to a constant ground (any metal screw attached to chasis).

This is the fina product for the switch.


The lights should be done. If you have the switch in the center, they will be off. If you have the switch to the left they sould be ALWAYS on. If you have the switch to the right they should turn on when you open the doors, and fade out when you turn the car on. I don't have any pictures of the light yet but I will post some later.

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Just got some pix. These are in my garage with the garage door open in the day time, so there is a lot of sunlight getting in, it is not with flash. You can tell that they are bright.






This is the constant ground I used, Its underneath the steering wheel like right where I mounted the LEDs. You can see the electrical tape. It is a hole just like the one to the right of it and i just exposed about an inch of the wire and wrapped it around that hole and twisted it around itself. Then I added the electrical tape just in case, and you dont want other stuff touching an exposed wire.


This picture is of the switch and the two pods that I used there. The pods come in 3 bundles of 2 and you cant get them apart. I put the one pod in where the switch is and then used a metal rod ( like a radio antenna) to go under my steering wheel and behid my dash to exit where the switch was. Then i taped the other pod to the rod and pulled it through. It got stuck because the pod is so big compared to what I had to squeeze it through, but with some wiggling i got it to come through. Then I mounted that one right below the lever you use to change the adjustments on the steering wheel. Looks really sweet. This one is with the flash on.

[Nomar06]

nice, any pics pf the led's in the middle?

[elementofhoops]

As I said, I have not gotten pictures with the lights on, I will get these pics when I can.

[Nomar06]

My bed, didnt read that part. Rep for you !

[neb1723]

if u could post a pic of ur constant ground/ screw that you used when you get a chance that would be great. thanks in advance

[elementofhoops]

ill get the ground easy, but my camera isnt picking up the blue light well, im trying to get another digi cam ( a better one) so i can get some better pics out.

[GameTraveler]

Would these work like what you got?

[elementofhoops]

yeah those will work, but dont get those exact ones from that site...there are smaller ones on that site that have 6 leds on each and they are just little round ovals, dont get those because they have the metal sticking out the sides to mount them. They will be harder to mound in places without a lot of room.

EDIT: I think the ones that i am talking about are on that page

[ShaneWdrd]

Here is a sight I found good and cheap 5 led peds four each for $30 free shipping. http://www.plasmaled.com/ledpods.htm

[elementofhoops]

those look good, wish i would have seen those before i bought mine, I still might buy them. My back ones are more teal than the other ones and its been bothering me...everyone else doesnt even see the difference until i point it out.

[k2006si]

hey thanx for the diy but i seem to have a problem i'm pretty new to the whole mod thing and was wondering what i'm doing wrong...i have an si and i did everything the diy said but for sum reason i keep popping the fuse...is there sumthing wrong with power of the lights or sumthing??? btw i have these... http://www.plasmaled.com/ledpods.htm the ones on the bottom with the 5 leds

[spoofy]

just to clarify.. are these the only supplies needed?

1. Electropod Kit
2. 3 Way Switch
3. Wire

[AbstraKt]

I have an 07 EX sdn and the connector under the fuse box is not working for my dome light lead... any suggestions??

[feli8187]

Dude im try this out i'll hit u up when i set it up!

[Si Speed 317]

Nice BUMP!

[raybyduhbay]

So you dont actually tap the fuse box? just everything on the blue harness?

[CorntoeGoblin]

What I'm wondering is that is there a way (maybe using a relay) to when the ignition is off run the lights through the dome power so that they fade in and out and then when the ignition turns on switch to a constant power and still have a switch somewhere along the line so that u could turn them off if u needed to I'm pretty sure its possible I'm just not too familiar with the way relays work

[icen]

You can think about this circuit in 2 parts.
1. The original part (shown by elementofhoops)
2. The second part, just connect your ignition switch signal to the LED through a diode in series.
( DON'T FORGET THE DIODE BECAUSE IT SEPARATES CIRCUIT 1 FROM THE IGNITION. YOU MIGHT SCREW UP YOUR IGNITION CIRCUIT OR HE DOME LIGHT CIRCUIT WITHOUT IT)

So, 2 will connect to the LED directly, bypassing 1.

so when your ignition is off, circuit 1 will power the LED.
when your ignition is ON, the signal from ignition will keep your LED on through circuit 2. That's how it works.


Disclaimer: This is what I came up with on top of my head (I'm in Elec Engineering). So try at your own risk. Make sure you are clear about which wire is which. Check with voltage meter first.

[icen]

Hey elementofhoops, does your LED flicker and it's trying to "fade in" and "fade out" ?
I did something similar (just hacking from the dome light tho) in a Honda Accord. The LED flickered since the "fade in/out" effect is done with pulse width modulation.

Just wondering if civic uses the same scheme for fading.

[CorntoeGoblin]

well icen i was thinking of something like that but i feel a relay would be a little better since i read a little about them since i had some free time im not really sure how diodes work but we'll see.


as you can see from this pic i got from the12volt.com i would connect the positive cable to the led lights to the common terminal (30) and have the fading power input from the domes connected to terminal 87a (which is active when 85 isn't energized) and then have the switched power connected to terminal 87 (which is on when they are energized). 85 would be connected to the ignition switch or accessory and 86 being the ground connection

the only problem might be that in all the diagrams i've seen i only see 30 as being the only power supply supplying power to 87 and 87a i haven't seen and diagrams using them as the power supplies and 30 being where the energy is going.

icen if you could detail how diodes work and maybe even a little diagram of how to connect it would be great. i understand how to connect it in series but i just need a little clarifcation