Interior Lighting Mods

Im sure im gonna sound like a noob asking this but frankly it isnt my car to mess around with its performance. My father bought an 05 L300 round thanksgiving and im finding the performance and sound system fine for what I need it. But Id like to make it look a little more stylish with lighting systems for the interior. I was hoping that you guys might have suggestions about what to do and what color would look best with my black onyx L300.

You could take all of the interior light bulbs and try to see if you could get them in different colours... or you could get some neon lights, or LED's and put those up in your car. I like blue the best.

yeh i was thinking of getting some LEDs and putting them in the AC vents and probably under the dashboard on driver side and passenger also. any clues as to how I might go about doing that?

Sure, you mean under the dashboard as in with the LED's pointing down, to light up the driver and passenger floor? I have a 12" neon above the passengers floor in my truck and it looks awesome. I haven't really seen a LED on at night, but from what I hear neons give a flow of light, where LED's give a more direct light. Neon tubes could get kicked and break... but I still might try to mount one above the driver's feet in my truck.

yeh thats what i mean to light up the floor under the dashboard on both sides. I have a friend that has the vents lit up its pretty cool but im not sure how to go about doing that.

IMO get two 12 inch NEON tubes and mount them above the passenger and driver floors. Then get el wire, and custom trim around door panels and the console. Now about the lights in the A/C. If you get a directed wide-band laser pinpointer in blue, i believe you will see a VERY LIGHT blue gas coming from the vents when you turn on your ac. Might be distracting, dont know yet if itll work though. GOOD LUCK!

If it's in the AC vents as in behind the vents, then I guess you'd have to pop out the plastic vents and then fasten a neon in there. It would have to be a very small one like a 4" neon or LED.

Powerefx, do you think that neons would do a better job at lighting up the passenger and driver floors... giving more of a flow of light?

these are the LEDs im probably gonna put in they are nice and small. http://www.varad.com/products/products-index.html
but seem to give off a pretty good deal of light.

I think neons give am more flow of lights, as in they cover more area with light. LEDs as you noe are tiny lights. These lights directly point in the position the led is. IT as a VERY SHARP light and wont cover alot of area like the neons will. Neons have gas flowing in them which put through more light. IMO, id take neons over LEDS any day, i love the lighiting effects of neons. Personally i think that leds are annoying.

well for AC vents i cant put a neon tube in it. It would be too big and block the air from coming through dont you think so. yeh neons are good for under the dash and stuff but not for such a small area

ya neon is big no no in the ac since it has a gas. I dont noe if the leds will work well but theyre worth a try.

I don't know how easy putting LEDs in the AC will be... but you definitely should try either LED's or neons under the dash. I would recommend neons but it's really up to you.

Also, since it's a new car, it probably has a bunch of lights, like glove box light, interior light, lights down by the door that go on when you open the door... you could try getting replacement bulbs in blue, or whatever colour you like. I saw a car once that had blue bulbs when you opened the door and it looked great at night.

interesting idea johannes ill keep that in mind maybe ill do something like that also

anything blue with black looks cool so try blue neon

I agree, blue is awesome.

this has little to do with the interior, but i think this would be a unique lighting mod
LED door handle lighting:

http://i2.ebayimg.com/01/i/03/83/96/3f_1_b.JPG

when i get the time, i was thinking about doing this mod to my pathfinder. i was going to wire white LEDs to my matching white interior dome lights.
you see, when i unlock my car the interior dome lights automatically turn on and they stay on untill i insert the key into the ignition.
this way when i hit the unlock button on my key fob, the dome lights and the door handles will light up, and then when i actually start the car, it will turn off.
its a nice touch, not too flashy.

That doorlight mod looks good, who sells it? Is it just a standard neon tube?

you can get under the dash and cut small holes in the A/C tubes near the vents and fasten the LEDs in the holes. Face the LED towards the back of the tube so that you and the passenger arent getting the light shined directly in your eyes. It will light up the A/C vents without being harsh.

You can also hardwire these LED's to any other light in the car. You can wire them with your dome light, headlights, any light really. If you want them to come on when you turn on your headlights, then turn the parking lamps on, and find a light in the interior that comes on, which you can reach the wires to. Just hook up the positive and negatives, solder the connection, wrap it with heat shrink, and bada bing - bada boom, you have glowing AC Vents at night.

Doing your door handles like that would look awesome.

yeah those door handles would be sweet. I don't think there would be a good way to do that yourself though. Unless you pulled off the handle, and cut out a hole for an LED or two, but the wires would be annoying. I can't think of any good way to do that, other than buying a pre made kit for it.

is there actually a kit for it, or did somebody just photoshop that with the idea of doing it? More info on that, please. Its pretty damn cool.

yeah those door handles would be sweet. I don't think there would be a good way to do that yourself though. Unless you pulled off the handle, and cut out a hole for an LED or two, but the wires would be annoying. I can't think of any good way to do that, other than buying a pre made kit for it.

Well, looking at it, it looks almost like a mini-neon just stuck right in there...

Pop off the inside panel, drill a small hole there, piggyback along the electric door wires to get into the mainbody of the car, wire her up from there.

Or battery powered that you could stick in the door, maybe add another button underneath the locks that you could use to activate it...*thinkin* :P

i couldn't find any details about it, but there is a kit with micro LEDs.
according to froogle, http://store.newlevelmotorsports.com/leddohakit.html has the best price. also, they seem to be the only place that sells color changing door handle kits.

just goto some search engine and type in "LED door handle kit"

www.plasmaglow.com sells them and it is just a little mini led bulb. and yes you would need to cut a hole through the door to do this. I am going to do this over the summer and I am also wiring it to the dome light it looks cool as hell I've seen it on a couple cars. Oh yea btw neons to flow ALOT more than LEDs. Take a look at this
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/243714neon.jpg

See the blue neon? It shines really nice but to the right do you see the faint blue? There is a LED there and it is 10 inchs long it doesn't hardly glow compared to neon. And yes that is my car.

Cant forget aqua, red, green and blacklights. And you can also use lisence plate rings around visor mirrors. Neons behind speaker grills. you can also use some of the small neons to light your gagues if you're brave enough to take your gague clusters apart and exsperiment. I do custom upholstry and I have used the street glow hot wires as piping to outline the seats and trunk kits I have built. I just use the clear vinyl we make convertable top windows out of and sew it right in. Looks tight as hell on black velvet or vinyl.

Exactly how do speaker grille neons work... where do they mount?

It kinda depends on how much room you have between the grill and your speaker.If theres not very much space you may have to find a way to use the glow wires but If there is about 3/4 to in inch you can use a small 4 inch neon somewhere either above or below the grill itself(usualy abovelooks best). You wouldnd want to put it right infront of your speaker because it could damage the speaker and it wouldnt look too good anyway. You would only want to see the glow coming through the grill. If there is a dust cover covering the grill you may have to remove it to get the right effect. If the grill is covered with material on the outside it may still look pretty cool though. It just depends. And it usualy only looks good if you have good speakers to light up. If you can get ahold of some good speakers with aluminum cones it looks realy cool. But it would look kinda funny to light up ugly stock speakers.

I once saw a mitsu 3000 gt that had some seriously wicked neons literaly glowing right out of the sides of the body. He did a tribul cut out right through the body of the car and put in red acrylic or plexi glass and mounted red neons behind it. It was probably the most extreme use of neons I have ever seen. But it was frickin cool!!! I have been surching for it online but I cant find it anywhere. It has to be somewhere though. Shit like that gets recognized ya know?

That's pretty extreme... sure beats a glowing license plate frame.

Yea it gave me some ideas. I have a dodge daytona just screaming to get chopped up and customized. Just for practice ya know. Slap the body on a jeep frame put a big ass lift kit on it and throw some micky thompson bogger 33"s under it. Couple 15's in the hatch. Some well placed KC lights on a brush gaurd. Euro style paint job. Roll cage. Then take it out and go mud boggin fresh out of the paint booth. HA,HA,HA!!! Bet my friends would want to drive it.

i just thought of this, its kinda goofy but i was thinking about cutting out a small skull and cross-bones in my warning light cluster, and then light it up with a blinking red LED. it should freak out some passengers.

you dont have to cut it out. Just take the plastic insert out and sand off the old letters and use some masking tape and black spraypaint to make your own. Just use the lights that are there. like the check ingine light or your blinkers. make it say something totaly rude so that when you sell your car it offends somebody. Like f@#$ off!!!

right now im trying to put LED's in the vents. i didnt know that it wont look as cool as neon's, but im gonna finish the install anyways. its a lot of work. i have a 94 sentra, and getting the vents out is a real pain. once theyre out, you have to drill a hole in them to pass in the LED, and pass wires from the LED all the way over to the center console(thats if you want to hook them up to a switch). you can then just either connect them to something like a cigarette lighter, but i have my neons hooked up to my cigarette lighter, so im going to have to drill a hole in the firewall and hook them up directly to the battery. i know there are other options, but im going to install strobe lights in my headlights, and those will need to pass through the firewall from the battery, so i figure i might as well do it now. the picture on the back of the LED's looked nice. i know LED's dont give off the same glow as neons, but i figure that in the vents, where its a narrow tunnel, if you set it deep enough the light will bounce around enough to make it look like the whoel vent is glowing.

can someone post pics of this type of lighting setup.

lights in the vents sound nice.
also, can't you just spray paint the inside of the vents with some silver metallic color to help reflect the light abit more. it would also look nice during the daytime, when the neons/leds would be off; black vent covers with a dull silver in the backround.

you can then just either connect them to something like a cigarette lighter, but i have my neons hooked up to my cigarette lighter, so im going to have to drill a hole in the firewall and hook them up directly to the battery. i know there are other options, but im going to install strobe lights in my headlights, and those will need to pass through the firewall from the battery, so i figure i might as well do it now.

You can find where your wiring harness passes through your firewall right now, under your steering wheel. Cut a hole in the gromet and feed through a pencil or coathanger (so you dont lose your hole) and slide your wire through there instead. There should be enough room in the gromet for several small wires like you're talking about or in my case 8 or 4 gauge wire for systems...

Drilling through your firewall is not as easy as it sounds, although I have done it on one car it is a pain and you will need a second small gromet to keep your wires from being cut on the exposed metal,

with the rest of the cars I've run stereo systems to, I prefered the method I mentioned above.

i havnt even thought about how i would drill through the fire wall since im not there yet, but now that i think of it it does seem difficult and its better to pass the wires through the hole in the fire wall. now, as for protecting the wires, these will be small wires, do do you think i shoudl run them through some type of conduit to the battery for extra protection? plus itd also look pretty cool to see some of those 1 inch conduits running along side the engine bay to the battery.

I would just use some wire loom, it is a plastic slip on cover to go over the wire and dissipate heat, you can pick some up at walmart in the auto section (a few colors), or radio shack near the wire spools (I only found black), or about anywhere else that sells wire or auto supplies, just slide it around your wires and wire/zip tie the loom to your wire harness and around to your battery, or if easier, to your underhood fuse boxes +(which comes directly from the battery) avoiding moving parts... you shouldn't need 1 inch, unless you wanted it to be very noticeable,

This may be what you meant by conduits, but I haven't heard that term before.

these are the LEDs im probably gonna put in they are nice and small. http://www.varad.com/products/products-index.html
but seem to give off a pretty good deal of light.

I have the blue Varad leds in my speaker grills and one in my center cupholder in a 96 Saturn SW2. I have the Sony Xplod speaker grill screwed over the stock speaker grills. It looks great!
I would recommend hooking them up to your cigarette lighter wiring but put them on a switch under the dash, that way, they come on when you switch on the lights but can be turned off if needed. I turned them off when I got pulled over and probably saved myself from a ticket!

iv got a white mazda 323 hatch with blue neon underneath the body, above feet on front driver and passenger sides, and tubes in the boot to light up my subs,amp,and capacitor...blue and white or black go together really well...im looking into some blue replacement bulbs for dash and cigarette lighter, as i am in the middle of painting the trim around the dash

iv got a white mazda 323 hatch with blue neon underneath the body, above feet on front driver and passenger sides, and tubes in the boot to light up my subs,amp,and capacitor...blue and white or black go together really well...im looking into some blue replacement bulbs for dash and cigarette lighter, as i am in the middle of painting the trim around the dash
I wanna see your car

iv got a white mazda 323 hatch with blue neon underneath the body, above feet on front driver and passenger sides, and tubes in the boot to light up my subs,amp,and capacitor...blue and white or black go together really well...im looking into some blue replacement bulbs for dash and cigarette lighter, as i am in the middle of painting the trim around the dash


What do you mean by tubes in the boot to light up your subs amp and capacitor? Sounds like a good idea.

i had 2 12" tubes going along thetop of the back seat, 2 12" towards the rear of the boot pointing towards my 2 12" subs facing outwards...both amp and capacitor are mounded below where the tubes were on the back of the back seats....pulled them out to re-wire but havn't gotter round to it... chek out my ride http://www.cardomain.com/ride/1464769
there arent any pics of the boot/trunk neon

In mine ive got 2 12" tubes in the footwells, 1 for the driver and 1 for the passenger.

2 along the centre console and 1 on the rear dashboard which i have redone with a blue checkerplate cover. Theres also a neon in my front grill and i got my underglows coming over from ebay atm.

I got 4 little duckbill switches inside my console, up is on, down is off, makes it easy to turn off the spaceship when the flashing lights start.

I'd go cold cathode instead of neon... the light is still intensely bright (I think it's brighter than neon for the same size bar, personally) but the lamps draw FAR less power than neon, plus they're more durable and break-resistant. Places like Oznium.com carry 2-light 12" kits for only like $7 apeice. They also have 4" kits for tight spaces. Since the cathodes draw so little power ( .7 amps per transformer), many people wire in 4 or even 6 sticks of cathode lighting, using their existing interior lighting wiring (replacing dim, existing filiment bulbs) without having to do anything special with fuses.

Just putting in a pair of 2-bulb, 12" cathodes, with one pair installed up under the dash and a second under the front seats will basically fill your car with light from the floor up, using less power than the existing white lights probably do. Pair this with LED replacement bulbs in your door sill lamps and your dome light (see sites like Autolumination.com for specs and prices) and you have a complete lighting conversion for about $70-$100. if you want to go nuts after that and start filling the AC vents wioth LEDs and such, you can, but that's icing at that point...

I have to admit neons are cool, I have been getting them from mobile-emotions for (http://www.mobile-emotions.com)a long time. I have also discovered some cool leds. Be careful there are alot of different kinds out there., make sure you get wide angled leds. Carxtc (http://www.carxtc.com/servlet/the-Auto-Lighting/Categories) has a great array of Leds too... ( they are easy to install, but keep in mind using a cig. adaptor is a fire hazzard.) Always a 2 wire install, with a toggle switch or Remote, directly connect to the battery is the safest way to go. For multiple connections, I would recommend a grounding block.

I have to admit neons are cool, I have been getting them from mobile-emotions for (http://www.mobile-emotions.com)a long time. I have also discovered some cool leds. Be careful there are alot of different kinds out there., make sure you get wide angled leds. Carxtc (http://www.carxtc.com/servlet/the-Auto-Lighting/Categories) has a great array of Leds too... ( they are easy to install, but keep in mind using a cig. adaptor is a fire hazzard.) Always a 2 wire install, with a toggle switch or Remote, directly connect to the battery is the safest way to go. For multiple connections, I would recommend a grounding block.
Not sure why you say that splicing into the cig lighter is a fire hazard... The circuit is fused with quite a large fuse, so yeah you COULD end up melting slender wiring in the event of a surge before the fuse can pop - is that what you mean?

The best solution is to use something called an Add-A-Circuit (costs about $8 at a cart parts shop) - it adds a second circuit off an existing fuse in the fuse box. Just use a 3A or other small fuse (whatever you need to power your LEDs/cathodes - remember to leave an additional 50% capacity for overhead) as the tap source. That or, like I said, tap into the OEM lighting if you want to replace the white lights - LEDs especially use far less current than incandescents, and can run on that circuit's existing fusing just fine.

Cig plugs are not the problem in the car, the problem is the cheap end on the neons that go into the cig plug adaptor. Plus it is a road hazzard.

Some do come with fuses,. problem is that people who are installing these via cig. plug are not usually experienced installers and do not properally connect the wires with shrink tubing - if at best they use electrical tape - ( I have seen it all) 18ga wire with elecrical tape is not an easy task to do btw.
The cool thing is that when the fuse pops inside because of crossed wires., - either the fuse pops inside the cig plug (if it isfused) - I get a repair- The other situation is ending up with a different kind of problem. - fire. or electrical damage., ( as you stated the car has a big enough AMP FUSE., thats not the problem., the problem is on the otherside of the fuse.. where the neons that are only rated at 3A are... They will eventually give if improper or crossed wiring then will cook the transformer.. that is incased in plastic., which is flammable... and can cause damage.. I have seen this happen. -
The other situation with cig plug adaptors for neon/led installs into your cig plug is ( where are the wires going?) - Answer In your lap, under your legs, wrapped up and tangled under your dash, console and seat? - That does not make a safe driving condition. Its bad enough people are driving around blabbing on their cell phones.
Best way is to hook up directly to car battery. or into aux fuse panel.. ( i still think using the Remote Control is the coolest..) (http://mobile-emotions.stores.yahoo.net/recoforneunk.html) - forget about running loads of wires everywhere., simple two wire install thats basically invisible....(and properly fused)

http://www.autolumination.com for LEDs and
http://www.oznium.com for cold cathodes!

I've got a black interior in my car. I bought a pair of 9" blue neon tubes. I am really satisfied with them though. 9" are easily bright enough. I will put up pics in a couple days. I have only installed one under the driver side dash, and one above the driver just at the edge of the visor. I will post pics to show.
Another thing you should try is putting new speaker grills on the front door speakers or on the rear deck, I have sound activated 6" neons right behind the grills on my 6x9" speakers. Its amazing seeing them pulse to the music. I've also got the blue series underglow kit from streetglow.
I have just ordered another pair to match on the other side and I will be soon putting LED's in the vents..... the one thing that I'm concerned with is the light in the vents. will it be too hot for neons? will leds not disperse the light well enough ( I want light out the whole vent). I'm also going to be putting small 4 inch neons behind the door handle. Everyone is worried about neons/led being in the way when they are behind the handle, or having wires in the way. What I was planning on doing is putting a small 1" x 4" cutout behind the handle in the door panel. Than mount a small piece of glass, plexiglass (anything clear really). And putting the neon behind it. No interfering objects.... no showing wires.
ARE YOU ACTUALLY UNABLE TO PUT NEONS IN THE VENTS?

that was going to be my first option but people here say they will not work?