jimmbomb

I had 4 extra superflux blues leds laying around. When i was at Walmart looking in the trailer isle I saw this & had a relevation



So I bought it for $5.29 & decided to rip it apart & swap the ambers for blues & jam it up in my dome light..



After I swapped the bulbs & tested it, then went to work on the dome light





Sock bulb



Fashioned a 'dummy bulb" out of a plastic coat hanger & aluminum foil & soldered the leads to the foil!!!



Gently stuck it onto position & tested agian...



Buttoned it all up!



A few pics of the interior in the dark...





It's brighter than it looks, I couldnt figure out how
to leave the lens open for longer on my camera,

So tell me what you think?? Nice or NOT!! or 'no comment'

all comments are welcomed!.... thanks for lookin'.... jh

JasonReynoldsXXX

nice i have a blue light right now and it is pitch black at night this might brighten things up

Whispaz

very niiice. I have 1 LED bulb w/ 9 small LEDs but it doesnt light up as well as yours.

SquallLHeart

nice "revelation" i really like the "dummy bulb".. awesome creativity there

very, very niice

jimmbomb

Thanks for th kudos, gents!!.. I think i will add my 4 extra 'whites' s-fluxs to the board this weekend & make it a brighter lighter blue... thanks agian.. jh

uberspeed

I'm thinking of doing all white inside, blue in the footwells. Something tells me that if I do white up top the fuzz will hassle me. Good job though!

jimmbomb

how can the 'man' hassle you if the auto industry standard is WHITE?? All vehicles come with white dome lights.... I am going to add 2 whites to my board this weekend to brighten it up a bit... jh

uberspeed

Brain fart, I meant blue up top. My mistake.

jimmbomb

Added 2 S-Flux whites to the array... one on each side...
Now there is 1 white & 2 blues on EACH side of center.
For a total of 6...
It sure got brighter & a shade less blue....

TheMirthfulScion

That is awesome. Got me thinking about doing it

Big kudos!

eyeeatingfish

jimbomb
Where did you get the LEDs?
Cool design though! It would negate the glow paint i painted the dome light well with but the benefit of brighter and more efficient LEDs i think its a good tradeoff.
Also i would stay away from blue lights, in hawaii you cant have blue lights on cars, only police can do that. Dont want people pulling over for non police, im sure you can get the implications.

jimmbomb

got them here for 90 cents each...
http://www.lsdiodes.com/shop/index.p...=index&cPath=4
also remember this is a dome light.. INSIDE the car... Not outside... good luck.. jh

OmenLW

really cool man... i wonder if you could spread out the light with a thin sheet of defuser material

jimmbomb

The stock dome light diffuser does disperse the light real well.. Look at the night pictures.. You cannot tell the blue lights from the white after it leaves the array.. The entire inside lights up a really cool light blue...... the stock lens really blends the colors & spreads them all out evenly all over.. I am pleased with the way it turned out.. Dont let the pics of the actual light itself fool you.. You have to see the car lit up on the inside to appreciate the ambiance.. jh

DJ_FroZone

iTrader: (2)

hey jim how did u go about swithcing the leds and the dummy bulb? i have the same set i bought the exact same stuff but idk how to get thoes amber lights out...or how to make the dummy bulb. can u help?

jimmbomb

use some 'solder wick' to suck up the existing solder on the 4 legs of the amber led. Then heat up 2 legs on one side at the same time you pull up on the light.. Then the bulb will come free on one side.( 2 legs).. then do the same for the other side.. ( other 2 legs) & as you're pulling on it, the bulb will pop free of the board...
Then solder in your new blue one & test it out.. you should have 3 amber & one blue lit up!
When you're succesful with that one, then continue on & do the others one at a time & testing after each bulb swap....

Now for the dummy bulb.... I took a fat plastic clothes hanger & cut it to length.. then took aliminum foil & wrapped the ends only of the plastic peice.. then tested to fit in the dome light housing..
after making adjustments & making sure of a good fit in the bulb socket... then I stripped the wires back about an inch & a half.. & twisted each around each end of foil & twisted it up like a bread twistie!!!

see the 5th & 6th pictures...
then put drops of solder on the twisted wires to assure that they wont come apart...
then test fit your new board... make the wires short so they wont take up alot of room... then jam it up in there carefully & put the lense back on slowely as you poke your screwdriver in there to align & center the board as the cover goes on.. take your time & you'll be fine... good luck..
take pictures of your work & post them here.. We want to see it!!! jh

DJ_FroZone

iTrader: (2)

Thanks jim alot thats gonna be the hardest part i know!!. did u have to drill a hole to place the other 2 white leds u but in for a total of 6?

DJ_FroZone

iTrader: (2)

btw whats the easiest way to test?

jimmbomb

yes i drilled new holes for the extra bulbs & added a resistor for those... the easiest way to test is you can see in my pics... 2 bigg-assed aligator clips??? one black & one red?? see them, DJ??? Well.. the black one is only in half view... that is a battery charger.... ha ha hah 12 volt battery charger for testing.....
& always for leds.. dont worry if you test the wiring backwards... it wont hurt the leds .. they just wont work.... just reverse the wires + - , & they''ll pop on!

kontayjus

The lighting is cool but it kinda reminds me of a horror movie setting