How to: Ambient Lighting for cheap

[mikemk4gti]

I saw a thread where someone had retrofitted an ambient light unit from Audi into his front light, and thought I'd do it the cheap way!
I've done it before on mk4 golfs (link to my how to guide)
It was actually alot easier on the A3 as the power is already there.
Heres the LED's I bought, £1.99 for 5 off ebay seller Phenoptix. (excellent service and good quality)

So, After removing the interior light I drilled the holes where the marks are.
Then I had to find a piece of plastic to hold the bulbs, then cut to shape and drill the 2 5mm holes

Test fitted to make sure they line up

Then glued into the holder

I tested them by powering them up to make sure the light shines through the holes ok before I glued it into the lamp
then wired it up

Refitted to the car and tested, not a great pic but they work really well

Took about half an hour to do, and actually cost 80p as I only used 2 LED's.
Thinking about doing the rear now too

 

[mikemk4gti]

On to the Rear!
Just as simple as the front tbh.
removed the rear light

Took the switches out for access to drill the holes, marked them then checked that there was enough clearance at the back before I went ahead
Drilled

I made spacers up for each led to hold it back inside the lamp, These consisted of a piece of lego I found lying around the house!

The spacers were glued in, the LED's were a tight fit so I didnt bother glueing them.

Reassembled the lamp, then checked which feed I was going to link on to, Pin 5 was the switched power from the headlight switch and i earthed it from the aerial base.

All done, I'll be Out in my car checking them when it gets dark

 

[rhubarb4]

Nice one I may try this it looks really oem good work.

Chris

 

[Lavis89]

looks really simple, i may have to think about doing this myself after i sort out my air vent boost gauge (which i brought 6 months ago, and is still in a box right beside me, where it has been since the day it turned up...)

EDIT: and thanks for the photos, always makes more sense with photos

 

[mikemk4gti]

Yeah, really is simple and v cheap mod too.
I tried them last night and the fronts are great, I need to adjust the angle on the rears so they point slightly more forward though. Might not be a problem if you've got black leather but on the silver/ivory it stands out a fair bit!

 

[Lacee]

It looks really original! No idea what was the reason why you made it but it looks good!

 

[g60jet]

for the front you could of just purchased 8E0919063A and drilled two holes!