Led And Cathode Lighting

cherrington17 · 12-28-2004, 04:15 PM

i'm definetely adding to my lighting...

i'm thinking of adding a few LED's into the vents, give them a nice glow...
and either cathodes, accent tubes or led's in the back seat arm rest area (2003 coupe, not a 4 door)

i'm just thinking of ideas for how i can fix the cathodes down to the arm rest area, mount them in the arm rest, or cover them with a clear plastic but looks good shield to prevent breakage.

anyone have ideas or horror stories about any of this, as to how it can easily be done, or should i take pics and post a step by step?

ptrudel · 12-28-2004, 04:26 PM

i'm wonderin about the backseat too....i know for sure that my 6" neon tubes are goin in the cupholder hole in the back..cuz someone broke the holder...but as for the armrests, i'm not sure either :unsure:

Pimpalero03 · 12-28-2004, 05:09 PM

i had two cold cathodes tubes in the back. one under the edge of each side of seat. u couldnt see em and when sitting back there they couldnt get damaged.

johny_boy32 · 12-28-2004, 05:49 PM

I have 3 inch neons in each of my vents and they look bad ass. easiest mod i've ever done

cherrington17 · 12-28-2004, 05:56 PM

i also left one thing out. i'm also looking to add some light to the map cubbies on each door. would cathodes be too bright, and would LED's be to point specific? (too much light in one small area)

Youngblood77 · 12-28-2004, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by johny_boy32@Dec 28 2004, 05:49 PM
I have 3 inch neons in each of my vents and they look bad ass. easiest mod i've ever done

Sounds sweet johnny boy.....do you have any pics? How was it hiding the wires? PITA or no?

johny_boy32 · 12-29-2004, 09:25 AM

the wiring was the easiest part...you just run the wires behind all the paneling and poop, i have switch down on the drivers side of the center console so i just ran the wires from the neons to the switch behind all the panles. My only complaint is that you have to mount the neon tubes where you can see the actual tube because if you put the neon down in the vent it doesnt light up very well. i will try to get pics asap

Youngblood77 · 12-29-2004, 09:58 AM

sounds cool. Did you get the 3"ers @ Oznium?

johny_boy32 · 12-29-2004, 10:02 AM

I got them at best buy if my memory serves me right

cherrington17 · 12-29-2004, 10:38 AM

for the vents, i'm thinking maybe i'll just take some led's and mount them on a small piece of plexi. see how it looks. if its really bad, i'll get neons. if good, i'll post a step by step. :thumbsup:

Youngblood77 · 12-29-2004, 10:49 AM

Awesome idea Cherrington. :thumbsup: It'll come in handy for led noobs like myself. where'ya getting the led's from? A local place, or online? If it's local, gimme a heads-up where man, I have no idea where to buy leds around here....

cherrington17 · 12-29-2004, 01:49 PM

personally (from working at radioshack) led's aren't cheap. i've ordered all mine from oznium. phil is great for those. cathodes as well. when i get the extra cash i'll be getting some underbodies from him to. he's got my business.

i've also seen some ebay auctions for leds. like $40 for 100 led's. but i'm still leary of ebay... just seems too easy to get scamed.

12-30-2004, 04:02 AM

I have like 78 LED's that I want to put in my interior and stuff, but I suck at wiring, let me know how the vent project works out!

johny_boy32 · 12-30-2004, 09:15 AM

if you have any ?'s, pm me, i will try to explain the best i can

turtles_ride · 12-30-2004, 10:38 AM

i bought 50 blue LEDS with the resistors from glowbot for a great price. I'll be putting them in various locations come spring. The blues light up nice, but just don't seem too bright, so thats why i've decided to add more. I have a 2 door as well and was thinking of adding about 6 on each side of the roofliner in the back seat and attaching them to the door lights so they give more light in the back when passangers are trying to get in. The vents are a cool idea, i wanna see pics of someones before i do mine tho. i was thinking of using them outside my car as well, they're small enough so i was thinking of putting them by my rotors somewhere so the blue light shines on them and thru my 5 stars at night. I don't imagine they'll be that hard to hook up. So far tho i've only changed stock interior lights to the drop in tucan LEDs of the same size, pretty easy. Oh wait, i also rewired my cluster and needles with 5 blue LEDS, it lights up pretty sweet.

cherrington17 · 12-30-2004, 04:36 PM

i'm thinking a thin strip of plexi wrapped in a circle in the vent, with some sanded down led's mounted on it might work good for the vents. wiring and mounting won't be too hard. i'm guessing the vents just pull straight out...?

johny_boy32 · 12-30-2004, 04:41 PM

Go Here;
http://invision.aleromod.com/index.php?showtopic=21

12-31-2004, 09:20 PM

Hey i had neon accents all in my car and i had 2 thin neons on my back seat arm rests. I only had them break once cause i accidently tossed my snowboard bag on one of them. Its an easy install i just ran wires up the side modling then connected in the trunk behind my sub box(where i mounted the transistors). Check out my cardomain page (pg2), i just used double sided tape to hold em down, they never budged. I posted page 2 for smlzalero she wanted to do what i did so i posted the pics, hope it helps

my cardomain

cherrington17 · 01-01-2005, 09:56 AM

thats not a bad idea but its exactly what i'm trying to avoid. i'm usually throwing my backpack or text books back there, and i'm afraid of breaking them alot.

i'm thinking maybe putting a small cut in the vinyl on the inside of the arm rest(where the outside of your arm would be) and making a small plexi box with either a cathode or a bunch of led's in it... i'll mastermind something together as i work on my vents and map cubbies on the doors. and no worries, i'll keep updated with pics in here for yall.

i just ordered my lights and stuff like 2 days ago from oznium. so i'll be get'n em in about a week. then the fun begins!

cherrington17 · 01-07-2005, 11:05 AM

ok, well, i just openned the driver's side vent and decided that it i probably won't be putting led's in them. not very much room to play with... plus its below freezing and its hard working on this stuff when you can't feel your fingers...lol

and due to the cold, plastic clips break REALLY easy. i'm currently waiting for the epoxy to dry on one of them. so yeah, that'll have to be a spring project if i decide to do it.

i'm still trying to think of a good way to illuminate the map cubbies on the doors, if anyone has a good idea... (oznium cathodes are about 2" too long for those)