Cab Ambient "mood Lighting" Under-dash - How I Done It -

[roadtripper]

I was thinking more along trying a couple of these

Red 3mm Prewired Diffused LED 20cm Cable 12V

Red 3mm LED featuring a colour diffused lens, prewired with a resistor and 20cm of cable. The LED features a low power consumption and is suitable for a wide range of 12V indication and illumination applications. Colour diffused lens Input voltage: 9-12V Forward current: 25mA 20cm cable Long...

www.switchelectronics.co.uk

The prewired means they are quite physically long but they are quick and simple to experiment with

Probably what I'd try is some high density 120 per m LED strip - the 12v stuff you can cut every 3 LED as that's a 12v segment of 3 chips 1 resistor - that should be around 3 cm with wires.

The downside is you probably have to buy a metre of it and I have to warn you soldering to the tape is a pig. The best advise is to not try and use all the tape, sacrifice the next segment by cutting just beyond the pads rather than across the middle to give a big as pad as possible. Use quality solder and an additional no clean liquid flux and tin the wires well beforehand. A bit of heatshrink to finish off and secure the wires, or maybe hot glue in place. You can get clamp on connectors, but if you are trying to tuck into a small light you don't have the space.

12V/5M Ultra Bright 600 LED Light Strip Sticky Tape SMD 2835 120LED/m 8mm *FAST* | eBay

Smartlight™ 5M/600 LED LED Strip Lights (SMD 2835) - INDOOR & WATERPROOF. The LED's can be wired directly in to any 12v source or be connected to an AC adaptor using a DC Converter Cable. The DC Converter is included but the AC Adaptor is not.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[RobFlynn]

I looked at that strip stuff but am I not a bit goosed if 3 LEDs is too bright?"

 

[roadtripper]

You can always drop the current with a series resistor.

You're not going to get something off the shelf doing this, you're likely to need to experiment with a few options to find what works.

But as I say I'd start with a small pre wired 12v LED and see if that's enough.

My suspicion is that a single prewired will be about right for light level, but might not produce the pool of light you want, hence suggesting the other option.

 

[Dougw]

I read through this thread and a couple of others over the weekend, ordered a set of the Travelin Lite footwell LEDs on Tues, they arrived yesterday and I fitted them today. I opted to connect them to the ambient circuit by hooking into the back of the dimmer switch and I’m very pleased with the result. They look great and the dimmer switch controls them nicely. £30 well spent. Very simple installation.

The one issue I had was that the Posi taps that are provided are a bit too large for the blue/grey ambient wire (but fit the brown well). First go the tap just pushed the wire to one side rather than piercing it. I solved this by wrapping a little tape around the wire before inserting into the tap. This made the wire sit more centrally and held it more firmly in the tap and it worked first attempt after doing this.

Hi just read your thread, I have just fitted the same footwell lights, the only problem I have is that until i lock the van the footwell lights will stay on. Sometimes when I'm at work I don't need to lock the van but worried I might end up with a flat battery.
Do yours do the same thing?
Cheers

 

[Big.mac]

Hi just read your thread, I have just fitted the same footwell lights, the only problem I have is that until i lock the van the footwell lights will stay on. Sometimes when I'm at work I don't need to lock the van but worried I might end up with a flat battery.
Do yours do the same thing?
Cheers

Mine don’t do that. They’re on when the lights are on, off when the lights are off. Simple as that

 

[Dougw]

OK
I'll take another look
Cheers