The glove box of the 500 is a dark hole, unfortunately. So I decided to let there be light.
Since I´m lazy, this is a very simple quick and dirty solution but works fine.

Cheapo (10 pieces for a fiver) Chinese wardrobe / cupboard lights that are made to be mounted on the hinge and are powered by a small 12V battery (A23).


Mounted with one of the screws that hold the bracket for the glove box lock


And this is what it looks like in operation:


The idea was born from the cupboard lights I fitted to the clothes compartments of my campervan. There, the lights are wired to the car´s 12V supply. In the 500, I will give it a try and see how long the battery lasts. As long as there is no need (and warranty is still on), I won´t take things apart just to get hold of a 12V wire. When the opportunity arises, I will connect to the car´s supply, of course...

Neat idea; now if only I had a glove box...

My new Abarth has a glovebox definitely gonna do this. Can you link to the thing you bought?

Did we ever establish whether the glove box can be retro-fitted to older 500's? I never use the open shelf for anything because it looks so untidy.

Just use a led strip/panel and hook it to the side lights, you can use the feed at the power socket, has both switched power(main feed on with engine) or side light feed (On only with lights)

Piccolo Nero e Bella said:

Did we ever establish whether the glove box can be retro-fitted to older 500's? I never use the open shelf for anything because it looks so untidy.

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I had intended to try but haven’t had a facelift to break yet. I will try at some point.

Here's a link. If it stops working at some point, some of the keywords in the link will help find similar ones.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universa...-Wardrobe-System-Modern-Home-S-5/333551302427

Two mods are needed/recommended
-hinge screw with a lower head and no washer, since the original one gets in the way of the battery
-I replaced the front pins that hold the body to the base with screws because I did not trust them to hold tight enough in a bumpy car (vs the specified use in a stationary cupboard). One screw is more than enough, I guess, two is for symmetry
Wiring to the car is easy enough as John202020 described earlier if the panels are off anyway for some reason. I recommend the power on with ignition, since the glove box is dark enough in daylight already.

Just a word of caution: simple 12v LED lights without series resistors (which this one probably is) often get killed by the higher operating voltage (14.4) in cars. My strip light in the boot already shows some defects.

Thanks. I’ve ordered a couple and will give it a go. I would quite like to hard wire one in at some point so I’ll be on the look out for something suitable.

Gina500 said:

Just a word of caution: simple 12v LED lights without series resistors (which this one probably is) often get killed by the higher operating voltage (14.4) in cars. My strip light in the boot already shows some defects.

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Your strip light must have series resistors built in because no ordinary LED can survive even 6V directly applied. Generally the forward voltage varies from about 1.8V for your basic red LED up to around 3.6V for a white or blue, and they operate at around 20-30mA each. On such strip lights they tend to be wired in groups - perhaps three each with a single series resistor to match.

To get maximum brightness some manufacturers probably run the LED's at close to their limits at the nominal 12V leaving little reserve if the voltage spikes higher.

The panels I use can go up to about 15v and have resistors built in, surface mount as in the pics

You can always wire normal diodes in series, 1N 4001 or similar, they cost pennies and each of them reduces the voltage by .7 volts. I tested the lights and they are bright enough above 10 volts, so it does not hurt to give them a bit of protection.

Where I hardwired the lights, I used plastic tubes (<10mm) with metal points (nail head) on the ends, so the top part remains removeable.
Of course you can also solder them directly to the wires and there is room enough in the body for the diodes.

Your strip light must have series resistors built in because no ordinary LED can survive even 6V directly applied. Generally the forward voltage varies from about 1.8V for your basic red LED up to around 3.6V for a white or blue, and they operate at around 20-30mA each. On such strip lights they tend to be wired in groups - perhaps three each with a single series resistor to match.

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For white ones, it is usually 3 or 4 LEDs in series. In this case, obviously 3. I could not see a series resistor, but it might be on the hidden side of the PCB.

My boot light has 3 LEDS with series resistors per 5cm strip, it still has a few defects. And that is although it is off most of the time and on only when the car is stationary and ignition off! I will swap that out at some point and put some diodes in with the replacement.

It is not always the higher voltage that creates problems, but spikes that occur when something switches off. Esp. reverse voltage spikes that are generated by relays or motors can kill LEDs. Unlike normal diodes, they are sensitive to that kind of overload.