Foot Well Mood Lighting

[wbradley]

Originally Posted by Trashed675

For those of you looking for a "dimmer" light output, wire one of THESE in line to the LED strip. Its basically a dimmer that cuts power totally when turned all the way off so it doesn't drain your battery.

AFAIK dimmers dont work with regular LEDs. When you lower the power, you will get flickering then transitioning to off.

[wbradley]

Im going to wire in red 12V strip LEDs. The biggest challenge will be how many LEDs will be needed for the desired softness for the light.

[koteman]

Yeah tgat dimmer wont work you need a pwm dimmer. Just get a dimmer for desired brightness or wire in a resistir if its to bright

Sent from my Galaxy S3

[tbwoodlee]

I just wanted to post and say thanks for all the people sharing their knowledge. For those hesitant about this mod it is very easy.

I ran mine from the footwells to the center console and spliced them into the 12v accessory wires. I even installed a toggle switch so they can be turned off. If anyone is interested I can take off my console and snap a few pictures of how it is done.

[wbradley]

Originally Posted by BigJyoungblood

So i did the lights today, too dark to do a diy but it was easy. I pulled the plug out of the back of the cig lghter in the glove box and used 2 wire taps, white is positive black is negative, then rand a connecting wire behind the stereo deck to hide it and to power both sides, taped it up and voila!

How did you get the wire through the dash behind the stereo? It is tight as hell there and I am now at the point where Im considering running the wiring all the way AROUND the console (thats right to the back seat and back) so please help!

BTW you can avoid splicing anything if you have an old lighter power plug you can sacrifice and splice.

[koteman]

If you pull the dash apart there's plenty of room. I fit all this back there

Sent from my Galaxy S3

[Derik210]

Here are mine. I got mine at autozone and just wired it to the stereo

[Blake]

I like the lights in the footwells and in the door cup holder as well!! Very cool. When I get mine installed I"m going to ask for them to do that. I guess I will need to buy more lights for that?

[zex]

can someone please post the pictures of the actual wiring process..
Thats where I am most confused and no one seems to have posted those steps via picture

Thanks

[koteman]

Positive tap in fuse panel

Sent from my Galaxy S3

[tbwoodlee]

@koteman
Did you splice your cup holder lights into the available wires in the door, or run new wires for them?

[koteman]

I ran a new pos, and neg to the door so they r attached to the switch. I along with the speaker grill and door handle lights

Sent from my Galaxy S3

[wbradley]

Just did the install over the weekend for my FR-S and also for my xB.

Red light is a good choice as it will have little effect on night vision and it is generally a less intense light. Used flexible LED light strips approx 12" long.

Just watched a documentary about night shift workers and how an opthamologist had lights installed to expose the workers to blue light at night while working to control their circadian rhythm and specifically how/when their brains produce melatonin. Based on this I dont want to mess with my brain/hormones so the red seemed the right choice.

Anyway I also tapped power from the jack behind the glove box except I used an old lighter plug to "plug in" this apparatus so no wires were spliced or cut. Also, I avoided opening the entire dash and just routed the wires under/around the centre console to the driver side wheel well. It looks excellent, isnt too bright and I can cut the light strips shorter if I decide there are too many LEDs per side.

On the passenger side I simply stuck the strip under the lower edge of the glovebox door. It works fine when the glovebox is opened as well. On the driver side there was nowhere to stick it so I zip tied it to some under dash parts.

The xB doesnt have a hidden power jack so I spliced in BEHIND the jack below the shifter for a nice invisible job.

[VROOOM]

@wbradley... Could you describe a bit more about using a "old lighter plug" instead of splicing? And, did you remove your glove compartment to get access to the "power jack"? Did you use the same 12V power source as KENTONIC? When you routed the wires to the driver-side... is the wire hidden behind the center console... the wire isn't visible is it? Any additional information would be great!!!

I want to install the same Red LED in my FRS. Where did you purchase your material (e.g. Red LEDs ... etc)?

THANKS!!!!