The installation of ambient LEDs into the front of the car is a common mod covered frequently on these pages Im sure, but I thought I would go for an installation in the rear courtesy lights too! So I bought two of these from the ever helpful Vagparts:
https://sslrelay.com/s74326199.oneandoneshop.co.uk/sess/utn;jsessionid=15486a93c9cff6f/shopdata/index.shopscript
I did the front at the same time and it literally takes 10 minutes as the LEDs just plug into the existing harness in the light housing, courtesy of the below guide expertly written by a chap off tyresmoke forum.:
http://www.harddrive.plus.com/A4Page.htm
Initially I thought I would have to run a power supply from the front lights as I only want the LEDs to be illuminated when the vehicle lights are on, but then I remembered that the courtesy light buttons are illuminated when the vehicle lights are on. The light consists of a housing with a circuit board that clips into it and connects to the loom plug in the roof:
I disconnected this circuit board and replugged it into the roof loom and used a circuit tester to find which parts of the board were live with the headlights on and noted these connectors. I then marked and drilled the two holes in light housing for the LEDs to shine through. I then just used a dab of superglue on them to hold it in place before the circuit board was reattached:
Due to the bulk of the LED holder it was necessary to trim about 3mm of plastic from the underneath of the loom plug sonnet, two minutes work with a Stanley knife. Once the circuit board was reattached I soldered the LED connections to the two live feeds I had earmarked earlier:
And reassembled:
The complete unit is then pushed back into the roof and when the lights are on a nice red ambient light fills the car front and rear
:
(Sadly like a d1ck the marks I used to centralise the holes before I drilled them was central to the hidden part of the light housing, but not the visible part - D'OH! - TBH whilst it is visible that the LED's aren't quite central it's very hard to spot when the lights are installed as you look at the throw of the light rather than the light itself. Neverthless I will be replace it in due course as it will bug me otherwise!) :Flush:
I tried to photograph this ambience, but in reality to a camera at least it just looks like darkness!!
https://sslrelay.com/s74326199.oneandoneshop.co.uk/sess/utn;jsessionid=15486a93c9cff6f/shopdata/index.shopscript
I did the front at the same time and it literally takes 10 minutes as the LEDs just plug into the existing harness in the light housing, courtesy of the below guide expertly written by a chap off tyresmoke forum.:
http://www.harddrive.plus.com/A4Page.htm
Initially I thought I would have to run a power supply from the front lights as I only want the LEDs to be illuminated when the vehicle lights are on, but then I remembered that the courtesy light buttons are illuminated when the vehicle lights are on. The light consists of a housing with a circuit board that clips into it and connects to the loom plug in the roof:
I disconnected this circuit board and replugged it into the roof loom and used a circuit tester to find which parts of the board were live with the headlights on and noted these connectors. I then marked and drilled the two holes in light housing for the LEDs to shine through. I then just used a dab of superglue on them to hold it in place before the circuit board was reattached:
Due to the bulk of the LED holder it was necessary to trim about 3mm of plastic from the underneath of the loom plug sonnet, two minutes work with a Stanley knife. Once the circuit board was reattached I soldered the LED connections to the two live feeds I had earmarked earlier:
And reassembled:
The complete unit is then pushed back into the roof and when the lights are on a nice red ambient light fills the car front and rear
:(Sadly like a d1ck the marks I used to centralise the holes before I drilled them was central to the hidden part of the light housing, but not the visible part - D'OH! - TBH whilst it is visible that the LED's aren't quite central it's very hard to spot when the lights are installed as you look at the throw of the light rather than the light itself. Neverthless I will be replace it in due course as it will bug me otherwise!) :Flush:
I tried to photograph this ambience, but in reality to a camera at least it just looks like darkness!!
