LED Rear Under Seat Lighting (PICs)

This is part 2 to the Under Dash lighting mod I did several months ago. It took some thinking but I figured out how to do and LED setup under the rear seats and still have the seats fold up and down.

What you will need:
1/16 3/4x48 piece of aluminum angle ( Home Depot )
6 5mm Blue 13000mcd LEDs (grind the tips flat)
6 Resistors 470 ohm (the actual resistance was 463ohm)
Double sided tape
light gauge wire

The Stock

First cut a piece for the single seat to 12" and a piece for the double seat to 25.5"

For the single seat I drilled 2 5mm holes about .5" from each side of seat supports. And put an LED in each hole.

For the double seat I also drilled 2 holes roughly .5" from each support, then found center, and then found half of each side from center and drilled the holes ( if that gibberish doesn't make sense drill a hole roughly every 6")

Unbolt the seat supports and poke a hole thought the carpet and fish the wire to the plastic door trim under the carpet.

Wire them to a switch, I used the same switch as the under dash lighting.
and turn them on

Will get some pictures tonight of them on

Good Luck!

 

[BogFather]

Ok so the tape is to attach the angle to the underside of the seat frame.... . As for the angle 3/4 x 3/4 is all i could find so that'll have to do. Getting this started over this week

 

[BogFather]

Also any particular reason you got the angle and not just flat??

 

[MustangP51]

Also any particular reason you got the angle and not just flat??

angle is always stronger then flat stock especially with aluminum.

 

[r3bl]

i did the same thing but i don't use my computer a game tournaments any more so i took my neon lights out of that and put them under the dash for the driver and passenger seat. it was very simple since i already have a extra fuse block inside my console. i think i might try out the LEDs under the seats since it is something different.

 

[BogFather]

Hey Ryan, Just wondering i know you used clear nail polish on the tips of the LEDs. Did you do anything to get the tips back polished or did the nail polish just bring back the clearness???

 

[MustangP51]

I just wiped the tips off with windex and a paper towel to clean off and dust before I used the clear nail polish.

 

[BogFather]

Well made up my 2 light bars today while sittin round the house. Should have them installed this week, With Pics

 

[desitdt]

i just did this under the dash, under rear seats, in the center console, and in the cupholders. i used 8 blue and 8 white under each dash and a total of 24 of each color under the rear seats. All uses a center off 2 way switch stealthly mounted in the overhead console in the garage door opener compartment. i will get pics tomarrow.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

great!

 

[muzzymaniac]

Don't buy from radio shack. Get them on eBay, much much cheaper for better LEDs. I buy all my LEDs through BestHongKong (eBay Seller) he gives you free resistors with your LEDs for 12v systems.

Bummer he's not running auctions anymore.

 

[PedroDaGr8]

BestHongKong, honestly was known for having low to medium quality LEDs at best. Especially as time went on, quality went down hill. If you are looking for genuine high quality LEDs, look for Lumiled Superflux (the real deal not the fake imitators), SnapLEDs, Cree's etc. I know for example Cree makes a white superflux, reliability wise it beats the living HELL out of the BHKs and the other 5-Chip whites.

Also, is anyone doing voltage or current regulation for their LEDs or just simple resistor regulation?

Just as a note, resistor regulation should only be used for single LEDs inwhich all are run in parallel. This means, every row in parallel consists of the source power, the resistor, the LED and the ground. If you have 2 or more LEDs in the row, resistors are not suitable for votlage containment. The reason being, as LEDs fail they actually LOSE resistance. This can result in a situation where as one LED fails, it starts to DRAW more and more current, through the previous LED causing the other to fail as well.

This one of the reasons why so many cheap LED tail lights start flickering. The other being they use underspeced LEDs.

In these cases, you need a voltage or current regulated setup using a 12V regulator. Not difficult to make and will make it so your LEDs NEVER fail.

Also, about the above companies they sell their LEDs binned. THis means they have a specific light output, wavelength output and forward voltage. SO that if you make an array with them, they ALL appear the same color, the same brightness, draw the same current etc.

Lastly, let me say this is in NO WAY a diss on the OPs thread. He did a great job at making the light nice and diffuse (not an easy thing to do with LEDs). Just adding this information for people making arrays for their overhead lights, tail lights, etc.

 

[dannyces]

ok so im alittle confused
i wanna set up some leds under the seats and maybe center consule but i wanna have them come on when i hit the lock/unlock button on the key fob (maybe have some kinda timer) and also have a switch so i can turn them on/off whenever i want. is this possible?? any help would be great a diagram of some kind would be awesome
Thanks
Danny

 

[greyphox]

ok so im alittle confused
i wanna set up some leds under the seats and maybe center consule but i wanna have them come on when i hit the lock/unlock button on the key fob (maybe have some kinda timer) and also have a switch so i can turn them on/off whenever i want. is this possible?? any help would be great a diagram of some kind would be awesome
Thanks
Danny

Check out a thread I started last summer when I was doing some wiring work on lights.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217008

If I'm not mistaken, you can use the black/blue wire to do this, but the lights would come on for more than just hitting the fob. They would come on when doors open or when the dimmer is set to ON. You would need to do some digging to determine if you can get a signal from the computer or fob receiver that causes the voltage to go high on the lighting circuits and illuminate the vehicle when lock/unlock is pressed. If indeed you can somehow get that signal, you could then make a simple controller circuit to power those LEDs to only come on then.
If you can't find a way to do that, then you could just have them come on whenever the interior lights come on by just tapping into that black/blue lighting wire.

 

[MustangP51]

BestHongKong, honestly was known for having low to medium quality LEDs at best. Especially as time went on, quality went down hill. If you are looking for genuine high quality LEDs, look for Lumiled Superflux (the real deal not the fake imitators), SnapLEDs, Cree's etc. I know for example Cree makes a white superflux, reliability wise it beats the living HELL out of the BHKs and the other 5-Chip whites.

Also, is anyone doing voltage or current regulation for their LEDs or just simple resistor regulation?

Just as a note, resistor regulation should only be used for single LEDs inwhich all are run in parallel. This means, every row in parallel consists of the source power, the resistor, the LED and the ground. If you have 2 or more LEDs in the row, resistors are not suitable for votlage containment. The reason being, as LEDs fail they actually LOSE resistance. This can result in a situation where as one LED fails, it starts to DRAW more and more current, through the previous LED causing the other to fail as well.

This one of the reasons why so many cheap LED tail lights start flickering. The other being they use underspeced LEDs.

In these cases, you need a voltage or current regulated setup using a 12V regulator. Not difficult to make and will make it so your LEDs NEVER fail.

Also, about the above companies they sell their LEDs binned. THis means they have a specific light output, wavelength output and forward voltage. SO that if you make an array with them, they ALL appear the same color, the same brightness, draw the same current etc.

Lastly, let me say this is in NO WAY a diss on the OPs thread. He did a great job at making the light nice and diffuse (not an easy thing to do with LEDs). Just adding this information for people making arrays for their overhead lights, tail lights, etc.

I agree, if you plan on running LEDs at their maximum output you should have a voltage regulator, however if you initially drive your LEDs 6-10% less then its maximum rated voltage then you will never have and LED blow from being over driven.

Never ever had a single LED blow that I purchased from BestHongKong, cant say the same from any other supplier.

ok so im alittle confused
i wanna set up some leds under the seats and maybe center consule but i wanna have them come on when i hit the lock/unlock button on the key fob (maybe have some kinda timer) and also have a switch so i can turn them on/off whenever i want. is this possible?? any help would be great a diagram of some kind would be awesome
Thanks
Danny

The dome lights come on when you unlock the doors, tie into that circuit.

 

[Jayness@psn]

The question is about how you wired it, did you wire them in series (as in one right after another) or in parallel (so if one goes out the rest will work)

The LED's in the first computer ever made still works.

 

[dannyces]

i wish i could just tie into the dome light but i have a bad door ajar sensor somewhere and the light would stay on all the time lol
does the dome light come on when the key fob is pressed? and does it slowly dim to off?
thanks

 

[MustangP51]

i wish i could just tie into the dome light but i have a bad door ajar sensor somewhere and the light would stay on all the time lol
does the dome light come on when the key fob is pressed? and does it slowly dim to off?
thanks

Yes the dome lights come on whenever the doors are unlocked, this includes when unlocked with the key fob. No they don't slowly dim to off.

Fixing the door sensor would save you a lot of headaches. lol

 

[dannyces]

Yes the dome lights come on whenever the doors are unlocked, this includes when unlocked with the key fob. No they don't slowly dim to off.

Fixing the door sensor would save you a lot of headaches. lol

you aint kidding but i have no idea which one it is and my rear pass door is stuck closed
is there a way to have the leds dim to off ? sorry for all the questions am bored at work right now and i wanna get started lol
Danny

 

[Przybysz]

About how long do lights take to get here from hong kong? I ordered some (from a different seller) and its been about 2 weeks and no word or message whatsoever.

 

[MustangP51]

About how long do lights take to get here from hong kong? I ordered some (from a different seller) and its been about 2 weeks and no word or message whatsoever.

Usually 2 to 3 weeks