illuminated interior door handles

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nicko500s
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Posts: 175
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:22 pm

illuminated interior door handles

Post by nicko500s »

another simple mod that i did.

halfords sell these for exterior handles but on my 45 i saw that you can fit them quite easily to the inside handle instead.
they are tiny leds on a soft touch resin self adhesive strip.
they come in red or blue, i chose red to match the dash lights.

remove the front door handles and door card, you will need to drill through the actual chrome handle but you cant see the hole once refitted, you have to do this as the led strip is longer than the handle so will have to pass through it.
positioning of the led strip is easy but you want to make sure you get it right 1st time as you cant get it off again, you want to position it towards the rear of the handle (towards the rear of the car) or it might show and be unsightly.
also in this position the leds cant be seen only the light they emit, which is what you want.
all this will become clear as you work.
the hole needs to be just big enough to pass the led strip through but not so big that it weakens the handle.
without removing the backing of the light pass it through the hole wires first and choose the position, it will be about 1/4 inch back from the end of the handle so it cant be seen and so it feels right when you use it. then peel off the backing and stick into place.
to wire it up find a suitable earth such as a bolt on the door frame then find a place where you can get a connection that is only live when the ignition is on.
i do this by using a bulb with 10" of wire on, use your earth point you used for the negative of the led strip and put the other end on a live from somewhere on the door with the ignition on, this will test the earth connection you are using, and give you a possible connection for the positive, now turn the ignition off and see if the led strip goes off, it may not go off straight away depending on the live you have selected as part of the wireing in the door remains live till you open the door, this is the prefered live as when you turn the car off the door handle stays lit up till you open the door or after so many seconds, this delay effect only works on the drivers door and depends on the live source you use.
it may sound complicated but it should make sence as you work through it.
be carefull where you route the wires to avoid pinching and shorting and make sure all connections are secure with no bare wire.
Kieranm105
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Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2012 9:58 am

Re: illuminated interior door handles

Post by Kieranm105 »

Have you got any photos of this?
I was thinking about some somewhere under the doors on my freelander so they come on when you open the door and they light up the floor outside to show up any puddles etc.
Kieran
nicko500s
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Posts: 175
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:22 pm

Re: illuminated interior door handles

Post by nicko500s »

i dont know how you put photos up on here?

i put alot of mood lighting in my rover 45 i used halfords led DRLs under the rear seats and in the front under the dash foot well area, wired to the interior light and by chance they dim as they go out.

then i used halfords red cold cathode lights in the front foot wells that come on with the side lights and a spare door handle red led strip in the coin bit under the ash tray & a led in the coin tray.

the trick to doing it so it looks good is that you cant see the lights themselfs, they look tastfull people think the car came like that.

halfords do a selection of led puddle lights, which is what you are looking to do, you could try maplins or ebay as well.
i thought about doing this myself, i would recomend a slim flexable led self adhesive type strip as you have to be careful with clearence and that they dont rub on the rubber door seals or sills, you are right that under the door is the best place as the puddle lights that fit on the underside of the door mirror have a large shadow from the door.
you just have to source a live from the interior light which may mean drilling the door, which i dont like to do as on the rover 45 much of it is double skin and you have to be careful how you route the wires but you can fit larger guage speaker wire while you are doing it, thats if you are into big speakers or thinking about it you could slide a thin wire between the door and the door card at the bottom of the door to save drilling the thing with that is that the wire can break with all the bending with use of the door but you can try to have the wire come out of the car higher up level with the bottom of the dash, the good thing is that you can pull off the door rubber and feed the wire under the rubber then push the rubber back on that way theres no drilling through the side of the car if you see what i mean? feeding it through just under the bottom of the dash and then through the door somewhere near the bottom means the wire kinks less and will last longer.

i have gone on a bit but might be of some use to people :)
MarySpuby
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Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2024 10:21 pm

Love this stuff!

Post by MarySpuby »

I uncover something new here every day!
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