DIY - Led light fixture
 

Okay, here is the story:

I have an xB. I want more light in the front, specifically, above the radio area and in front of the driver and passenger.

I bought 70 extremely crazy bright LEDs from ebay for like $26 - they came with 70 transistors.

I bought the LED holders from oznium.com. I originally just wanted to put holes into the headliner but got scared off cuz my poor box looks so good how it is...

solution: to put the leds into a light "fixture" and then double-stick tape or super duper velcro it to the ceiling.

I had the LEDs but I didn't have a housing to put them in... rummaging through my old computer stuff, i found a wireless reciever that was used in the past for a wireless keyboard - which i threw away a while back... I dont know why the hell i kept it but im so glad i did.

I opened the 3 screws that held the reciever closed and discarded of the guts.. after taking some measurements, i cut holes in "symmetrical" places on the reciever.

This is what it looks like so far

http://home.nyc.rr.com/singhconsulting/misc/led1.jpg
http://home.nyc.rr.com/singhconsulting/misc/led2.jpg
http://home.nyc.rr.com/singhconsulting/misc/led3.jpg

As you can see in the pics, it isn't the prettiest thing in the world but it's definite not bad. i have most of the leds pointing straight, except the ones on the side. these will light up the passenger and driver side areas while the other leds concentrate on what's directly below them.

Right now i just taped a few leds into the case just to see how the lightening would look and boy am i pleased :love:

i will open this thing up, epoxy some "led holders" into the holes, and put the leds in so it looks nice.

I am going to tap the wires that run to the dome light and feed it through a small hole i am going to make in the head liner - right in front of the rearview mirror mount. that way, no one can see any cables....

all in all, this should be a really slick setup... it's not the prettiest, but it's the brightest and best solution that i wanted to spend my money on ;]
- sh00k

your brackets are wrong in the [img] part. you have it as [img[

looking good so far! awaiting for final install pics! :)

good lord... working with LEDs is such a f'in pain.... i should have bought one of those 4 led camping lights that someone else on this board bought... i am having trouble getting all the leds (with transistors) into the small fixture i made above... in the above pic, it was easy beacuse i had 2 wires for each led sticking out of the unit... but trying to have only a + and a - coming out of the fixture is such pain... connecting the leds is tough.... =/
- sh00k

Did you ever try wiring the LED's in a series or a paralel circuit? It may help reduce the amount of wires you have and make the wiring simpler. :wink:

I tried doing this - when using a single transistor, the LEDs are really dull in brightness... I have read online that you do not need a transistor but I am worried about sending 12v directly to the lights w/o one....

I am thinking of wiring together like 10 leds, taping them all together, then just mounting it (via velcro or something) to the back of the rear-view mirror... that way i'll get the lighting i want and not have to fuss with working with all those wires in a tiny fixture... lol

Yes, I work the half-assed way. not full-assed. ;]
- sh00k