Door handle lights

[Welly]

Oh I forgot about that - the courtesy lights come on as soon as you pull the key so yes it makes more sense, just a nice little touch I suppose.

[FarmerPug]

One side completed.

The "dim" led is getting its power from the electric window switches, i found out that the electric window switches always light up when the car is on regardless of the state of the lights, so i just found the two thickest wires at each switch supplying power and ground and wired to them, that means the "dim" led comes on at the same time the electric windows are active, so it will stay on for that period of time after the key has been removed.

The "bright" leds are getting their power from the rube goldberg LDR setup i have, but they basically come on at the same time as the central overhead light comes on.

Here are some pictures, the project is complete on one side:



The wiring:




The inside handles have the LEDs pressed into the holes that have been drilled for them, no bezels used, they are pushed through until they sit flush and stuck into place with a bit of JB weld:

Here is the door handle in "mood lighting mode" i.e. the dim LED:

another shot of the same thing:

And with it in door open/key removed from ignition mode:

[lozz]

Looks good mate,

[Welly]

Very good and a nice little update, I particularly like the exterior lights in the photo.

[dirtydirtydiesel]

Loving the outside one F.P & the ones one the inside, dim ones are a very nice touch. A little job for when the weather pic's up methinks

[FarmerPug]

I finished the last door today, then i had to go back to the drivers door and rear passenger door because i forgot to reattach the bar that locks and unlocks the doors.

It was a bit time consuming to do, but it does look quite nice. The only issue i have is the dim lights were not dim enough and were a bit distracting, one way to solve this would be to wire in more resistors, but i put a bit of masking tape over the leds, it dims them down to a point where the handles have a bit of light in them but they are not distracting.
The back dim lights also turn off when the back windows are turned off at the drivers switch.

[FarmerPug]

A bit of an update, the dim lights were very distracting at night because they were too bright i ended up stuffing rags into the handles for a while, now i solved the problem with brown packaging tape, layered 4 times and then stuck over the LED, it gives a nice colour and dims the handles down to a point where they can be seen but are not distracting:

[Welly]

What about a blob of silicone? or silicone a tiny piece of coloured plastic (sweetie wrapper type) over the LED.

[gumtree] LED PUDEL LITES AND DOOR HANDEL LITES WHEN CRUZIN, JUS NED FINISH COS 2 BRITE BUT SHUNT COST MUCH JUS NOT HAD TEH TIME [/gumtree}

[FarmerPug]

What about a blob of silicone? or silicone a tiny piece of coloured plastic (sweetie wrapper type) over the LED.

[gumtree] LED PUDEL LITES AND DOOR HANDEL LITES WHEN CRUZIN, JUS NED FINISH COS 2 BRITE BUT SHUNT COST MUCH JUS NOT HAD TEH TIME [/gumtree}

Im sure it would work, but the brown tape does the job, and I like the colour of the light now,
the sweetie wrapper idea would be a good technique for those who don't like the orange lights in the electric window switches, radio etc, just get a box of quality street and choose whatever colour you want.

SLIHTE FIRE FROM DASHBEURD CUS AF BAD WIRERING, SHUD BE KWICK TO FIX RITE

[steve_earwig]

Hey Frank, I've got another idea for you. The yoyo has a green ring around the ignition barrel that lights up when you've just unlocked it and goes out when you stuff the key in.

It is, of course, entirely pointless as sitting in the driver's seat you can't actually see it behind the steering wheel boss. It might make more sense on a right-hooker as you'll see it when the door's open.

[FarmerPug]

I seen one of them the other night in my uncles previa and hilux, and i can remember my dads old toyota avensis and datsun primera had these. They are quite nice at night time and on right-hookers they are fairly noticeable.
It wouldn't be too hard to wire in, although you might need to make a bezel that fits round the key barrel of a 406, or alternatively use some EL wire:

[FarmerPug]

Something a bit different, LED strips used inside in a desk:



The LED strips have RGB solder mounted diodes, they have a driver which is controlled by an infared remote allowing the lights to change colour and do a number of different tricks, although crucially it lets them be set to the just right setting for reading comfortably.







Here is the link:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350896181478? ... 1497.l2649
The LEDs come in a 5m strip and you can cut it to length in increments of 3 LEDs, i reconnected the cut up strips using some wire which i think is for model trains.

[steve_earwig]

Oh my god, you've turned your desk into a Wurlitzer

Can I use it on a cat?

[FarmerPug]

Here is some of the effects it seems to be capable of:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF1b9ba13yk

[trufflehunt]

Oh my god, you've turned your desk into a Wurlitzer

What instantly came to my mind was the frontage of those art deco Odeon cinemas.