Interior LED lighting (How-To on page 3)
love the look of that
Thread Starter
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STILL SLOW
Monte Of The Month -- May 2010
Monte Of The Month -- May 2010
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 7,082
From: Nubraska
RE: Interior touch up
Your going to need superglue, and some speaker wire, your going to need the type that has 2 wires in it connected. And remember with superglue its permanent kind of, so make sure you get it right on the first try.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_546SGSW...ow&tp=1057
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_546LEDR...ow&tp=1057
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_546LST1...ow&tp=1057
1.Ok, so after you get those, your going to need a power source. This is the only tricky part, oh and make sure all the switches and lights work, i had to send back the other 6 inch lights from in back and the switch. Well for the power your going to need to run the red (positive wire) to the fuse box, and the black wire, to a ground somewhere, i had a wire out in the open for some reason so i used that.
Ok now your going to get a bit more rubber off the red wire to run it to the fuse box. I ran it to the drivers side fuse box, pulled out the #10 Cig/ ltr fue, go into the little hole right next to where the tongs go in, on the bottom side. If you have an amp this is probably where another wire is, but it will be on the other side so dont worry about it.
2. Finding a ground - hardest part almost. Your going to either need to find some metal around, you could probably loosen one of the bolts in the fuse box but its hard. My rear cig lighter was already torn up from my first try lol so i just ran the wire to that. Just, might even be able to find a place in the fuse box to stick it in.
3. Ok so i put the switch box right above the center console, connected to the dash face. Now your going to have to make sure all your wire is long enought to get there, but first get in the lights. I started with the 12 inchers first, but i think it would be better to use the singles first. Ok now in the drivers side fuse box theres a screw, then another in the footwell area, and then one in the glove box area, on the left side. Remove them and pull the dash a few inches out. Watch out for the hazard button because it likes to fall out then you have to superglue it back in, which is no fun task. Also make sure your steering wheel is down a good amount so it doesnt get stuck. So on the farthest driver side vent since your panels are pretty much all hanging off, run the LED into there, but in the actual vent part and go pretty far back, like behind the divider where it goes vent duct to face plate so the light can spread nicely. Glue that baby in, holdo onto it for about 20 seconds and boom your done with that, now run the wire down from where it divides and just kind of hang it in the fuse box.
4. Center LEDs. These 2 are right above the radio and a bit harder, your going to want to connect these 2 together before you put them in, and make sure the positives and negatives match before you do this, also to leave about a half inch of bare wire showing so you can connect it to the main wire going to the swithc panel later. Now when you put these lights in do the same thing as the last one. and make sure the wires stick out to about where the glove box is, remember, the key is to have hidden wires. Now while holding the wires out push the dash back on and put the screws in, your donw with that now.
5. The farthest passenger side LED. This is a challenge, because not only do you have to run a wire way over there, but your scared of deploying an airbag haha. THis is why i didnt do it, i have a visible cord but i just stuck the light in the defrost vent, it just kind of hangs in there. But if your persistent like that and want to put it in the vent, your going to want to unhook the battery, and putt the face panel off, which is pretty hard to do, i dont know but i put on alot of prssure and nothing so i left it, but there may be another bolt somewhere.
6. Wire all of those positives and negatives together and run a wire to them from the box, and hide the wires, which isnt hard with all the panel gaps in the car, a screw driver can come in hand here to wedge them.
Weeee all done, the ones for under by the feet, just stick them up, and you might need super glue for them. Run them to the box and vuala, epicly done. If this is confusing just ask lol. Im going outside to get pics now.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_546SGSW...ow&tp=1057
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_546LEDR...ow&tp=1057
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_546LST1...ow&tp=1057
1.Ok, so after you get those, your going to need a power source. This is the only tricky part, oh and make sure all the switches and lights work, i had to send back the other 6 inch lights from in back and the switch. Well for the power your going to need to run the red (positive wire) to the fuse box, and the black wire, to a ground somewhere, i had a wire out in the open for some reason so i used that.
Ok now your going to get a bit more rubber off the red wire to run it to the fuse box. I ran it to the drivers side fuse box, pulled out the #10 Cig/ ltr fue, go into the little hole right next to where the tongs go in, on the bottom side. If you have an amp this is probably where another wire is, but it will be on the other side so dont worry about it.
2. Finding a ground - hardest part almost. Your going to either need to find some metal around, you could probably loosen one of the bolts in the fuse box but its hard. My rear cig lighter was already torn up from my first try lol so i just ran the wire to that. Just, might even be able to find a place in the fuse box to stick it in.
3. Ok so i put the switch box right above the center console, connected to the dash face. Now your going to have to make sure all your wire is long enought to get there, but first get in the lights. I started with the 12 inchers first, but i think it would be better to use the singles first. Ok now in the drivers side fuse box theres a screw, then another in the footwell area, and then one in the glove box area, on the left side. Remove them and pull the dash a few inches out. Watch out for the hazard button because it likes to fall out then you have to superglue it back in, which is no fun task. Also make sure your steering wheel is down a good amount so it doesnt get stuck. So on the farthest driver side vent since your panels are pretty much all hanging off, run the LED into there, but in the actual vent part and go pretty far back, like behind the divider where it goes vent duct to face plate so the light can spread nicely. Glue that baby in, holdo onto it for about 20 seconds and boom your done with that, now run the wire down from where it divides and just kind of hang it in the fuse box.
4. Center LEDs. These 2 are right above the radio and a bit harder, your going to want to connect these 2 together before you put them in, and make sure the positives and negatives match before you do this, also to leave about a half inch of bare wire showing so you can connect it to the main wire going to the swithc panel later. Now when you put these lights in do the same thing as the last one. and make sure the wires stick out to about where the glove box is, remember, the key is to have hidden wires. Now while holding the wires out push the dash back on and put the screws in, your donw with that now.
5. The farthest passenger side LED. This is a challenge, because not only do you have to run a wire way over there, but your scared of deploying an airbag haha. THis is why i didnt do it, i have a visible cord but i just stuck the light in the defrost vent, it just kind of hangs in there. But if your persistent like that and want to put it in the vent, your going to want to unhook the battery, and putt the face panel off, which is pretty hard to do, i dont know but i put on alot of prssure and nothing so i left it, but there may be another bolt somewhere.
6. Wire all of those positives and negatives together and run a wire to them from the box, and hide the wires, which isnt hard with all the panel gaps in the car, a screw driver can come in hand here to wedge them.
Weeee all done, the ones for under by the feet, just stick them up, and you might need super glue for them. Run them to the box and vuala, epicly done. If this is confusing just ask lol. Im going outside to get pics now.
Monte Of The Month -- August 2014
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 25,145
From: Southeast PA
RE: Interior touch up
sounds like a really simple to follow write-up, once there are pictures should be very very easy!
thank you so much, hopefully i'll get around to this soon
thank you so much, hopefully i'll get around to this soon
Thread Starter
|
STILL SLOW
Monte Of The Month -- May 2010
Monte Of The Month -- May 2010
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 7,082
From: Nubraska
RE: Interior touch up
Ok heres the pictures (pretty much all of those wires you see are from my xm radio, ill fix that here soon lol. And all of my excess wire sits nicely behind the switch box.
Diagram of how the lights are all put together, the blob areas are the places where youll have to add light wires and make them into one.
Step #1, the white wire is the one going into the fuse.
Step 3, you can see the 2 part wire going up into the foam crack.
And if you want a write up on how to put the 6 inch strips above the back window i can do that later. (looks cool if you have people sitting in back, like girls.... lol. [sm=smiley36.gif]
Diagram of how the lights are all put together, the blob areas are the places where youll have to add light wires and make them into one.
Step #1, the white wire is the one going into the fuse.
Step 3, you can see the 2 part wire going up into the foam crack.
And if you want a write up on how to put the 6 inch strips above the back window i can do that later. (looks cool if you have people sitting in back, like girls.... lol. [sm=smiley36.gif]
Thread Starter
|
STILL SLOW
Monte Of The Month -- May 2010
Monte Of The Month -- May 2010
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 7,082
From: Nubraska
RE: Interior touch up
Except that doesnt matter because your completely bipassing the fuse for power, unless of course you want to run a wire through the firewall directly to the battery.
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 33
From: Wisconsin
Great write up!
I did almost the exact same thing to my Monte last winter (minus the vent lights, I'm thinking of copying that idea and doing that pretty soon, it looks awesome!). The only difference is I drilled a small hole in the dash and installed a toggle switch & cover in the main positive wire so I could turn them on and off as I please.
I did almost the exact same thing to my Monte last winter (minus the vent lights, I'm thinking of copying that idea and doing that pretty soon, it looks awesome!). The only difference is I drilled a small hole in the dash and installed a toggle switch & cover in the main positive wire so I could turn them on and off as I please.
