Center console lighting

[Titanium Tony]

I finally got around to doing something about the lack of lighting in the center console today. It wasn't that hard of an install overall just two hours. Most difficult part was fishing the wiring through to the cup holder area. Ended up tapping into the interior lighting circuit underneath the shift handle PRNDS panel.

Sorry for the crappy night shots:
avail at Pepboys


Will eventually do something similar to the glove box.

[Sponsor]

[SaToX]

Good ideal Tony, I have also wondered if someone could purchase some of the ambient lighting pieces and tie them into the system but in those locations aswell

[dpotter5]

Did you do any kind of switch on this? I wonder how hard it would be to use a off(on) pushbutton switch for this. So when you open the lid to the console it comes on and when you close it, its off.

[Titanium Tony]

No, didn't feel the need for a switch as LED's have a very low amp draw and also didn't want to add to the complexity of what I'm using it for.

[dpotter5]

Well the idea for using that pushbutton switch would be to attach it to an always on circuit and then every time you open it the light comes on, whether the car is on or not. I get in my console pretty often without the car on, but I wouldn't want the LEDs to be constant on when the car isn't running, even with the low power consumption.

[Titanium Tony]

Originally Posted by dpotter5

Well the idea for using that pushbutton switch would be to attach it to an always on circuit and then every time you open it the light comes on, whether the car is on or not. I get in my console pretty often without the car on, but I wouldn't want the LEDs to be constant on when the car isn't running, even with the low power consumption.

Like I stated earlier, it's a simple light. This car has multiple LED's illuminated once the car IS running. It's on the same circuit as the shift indicator LED so light is only on when they're on which is usually running.

[e30og]

does this kind of lighting at all dim the other lights on the same circuit you tapped into? if not, does it in theory?

[dpotter5]

Originally Posted by e30og

does this kind of lighting at all dim the other lights on the same circuit you tapped into? if not, does it in theory?

With LEDs I can't imagine that it would dim anything. In Theory, it would be taking some power away from other things on the circuit, but with the super low power consumption of LEDs you would never notice it.

[mrpeaches]

LEDs do not dim with available power. They are only on or off. There are ways of dimming LEDs, but they all involve some type of circuit that is performing a PWM function (essentially turning the power on and off at a high enough duty cycle so as to appear to the eye as always on).

It would probably be possible to install two sides of a contact switch on the console and the base so that the lights turned on only when you opened the console, but that'd probably be a fair amount of work for not a ton of benefit.

[AtlantaDan]

Originally Posted by mrpeaches

LEDs do not dim with available power. They are only on or off. There are ways of dimming LEDs, but they all involve some type of circuit that is performing a PWM function (essentially turning the power on and off at a high enough duty cycle so as to appear to the eye as always on).

Wrong. You can dim an LED with a dimmer.
http://www.mikesflightdeck.com/led_d...d_dimming.html