bradgibbs
New member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2013
- Messages
- 188
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- 44
A few asked for this so here's a quick step by step on how I fitted my LEDs!
Note: The photos don't do it justice, they either make them look too bright and ridiculous or they dont look bright enough. You'll notice I mention in here I used a resistor, because straight off 12V for my liking was too red, as inside my car looked like a submarine at night, so I used it just to dim them to a nice level.
1) Get yourself 2x30cm LED strips. Red, blue, green, pink, whatever suits. For me it was red as I have a red/black interior. I'm also impatient so let maplin rip me off, but you can find a LOT cheaper on amazon.
2) Stick said strips to bottom of footwell, you can see by my dodgy photography here what i was sort of trying to do... oh and a premature photo they wont be on at this point.
3) After you've done that, I used some CAT 5 cable stripped it down and used it however any cable will do (eg speaker cable), wire one to each cable of the strip repeat for the passenger side. Make sure you make a note of live and neutral. You can then run the cables under the plastic edge of the center console and up where the gear stick is (remove the gearstick cover!)
4) Strip down the dash, as in take off the gear stick cover
4a) remove the plastic trim under the radio (pull it)
4b) take of the carbon trim
4c) unscrew the cigarette/tray thingy and take it out (leave the cigarette plug plugged in)
5) now, I twisted my cables together from both footwells so that the lights run in parallel. So twist both lives together and both neutrals so you end up with 2 points (You can wire these how you want, when I say twist I actually used these cable grip things)
6) I then forced the cables into the back of the cigarette plug. There's 3 cables, yellow red and black. We want the red and black (or grey depending). Put your two cables in the back there's just enough room. If your lights down light up try putting them in the opposite way as LEDs are diodes!
7) Secure your cables in place. I used a zip tie and lots of electrical tape. As you can see my professional efforts below lol:
Fix your dash back together. Fire up the ignition and if you've done it correctly you'll get a lovely glow.
This guide may not make sense, I forgot to take pictures as I did it so I'm just using the ones I have when I changed my heater lights.
Voila, this photo doesn't do it justice
Any questions as I'm sure there will be, hit me
Note: The photos don't do it justice, they either make them look too bright and ridiculous or they dont look bright enough. You'll notice I mention in here I used a resistor, because straight off 12V for my liking was too red, as inside my car looked like a submarine at night, so I used it just to dim them to a nice level.
1) Get yourself 2x30cm LED strips. Red, blue, green, pink, whatever suits. For me it was red as I have a red/black interior. I'm also impatient so let maplin rip me off, but you can find a LOT cheaper on amazon.
2) Stick said strips to bottom of footwell, you can see by my dodgy photography here what i was sort of trying to do... oh and a premature photo they wont be on at this point.
3) After you've done that, I used some CAT 5 cable stripped it down and used it however any cable will do (eg speaker cable), wire one to each cable of the strip repeat for the passenger side. Make sure you make a note of live and neutral. You can then run the cables under the plastic edge of the center console and up where the gear stick is (remove the gearstick cover!)
4) Strip down the dash, as in take off the gear stick cover
4a) remove the plastic trim under the radio (pull it)
4b) take of the carbon trim
4c) unscrew the cigarette/tray thingy and take it out (leave the cigarette plug plugged in)
5) now, I twisted my cables together from both footwells so that the lights run in parallel. So twist both lives together and both neutrals so you end up with 2 points (You can wire these how you want, when I say twist I actually used these cable grip things)
6) I then forced the cables into the back of the cigarette plug. There's 3 cables, yellow red and black. We want the red and black (or grey depending). Put your two cables in the back there's just enough room. If your lights down light up try putting them in the opposite way as LEDs are diodes!
7) Secure your cables in place. I used a zip tie and lots of electrical tape. As you can see my professional efforts below lol:
Fix your dash back together. Fire up the ignition and if you've done it correctly you'll get a lovely glow.
This guide may not make sense, I forgot to take pictures as I did it so I'm just using the ones I have when I changed my heater lights.
Voila, this photo doesn't do it justice
Any questions as I'm sure there will be, hit me
![20140920_193807[2].jpg](https://cdn.fiatforum.com/data/attachments/150/150314-ac49754eea313681ca2bd7d010155fa4.jpg)
![20140920_193823[1].jpg](https://cdn.fiatforum.com/data/attachments/150/150346-d272483870861e6eca851a20eb1fca1d.jpg)
![20140920_193838[1].jpg](https://cdn.fiatforum.com/data/attachments/150/150388-eef6dfb80c898507685af623effd8e15.jpg)
