lights in gloveboxes?

[wibble_puppy]

does anyone out there have lights in their gloveboxes? maybe ones which turn on automatically when the glovebox lid is opened?

i'm looking for ideas...




wibble

[Welung666]

Easy enough Juliet, a small lamp holder fitted to the top or side of your glovebox liner and a small ground switch adjusted so it works with your glovebox lid! I'll have a look see what I can come up with

[wibble_puppy]

Lee, truly you are The Man

That's what I had in mind - interested to see what other people might have

[Welung666]

Something like this would be perfect as it's already set up and just needs power!

[wibble_puppy]

hurrah! I am "watching it in My eBay"

[Welung666]

what a team eh

[jonathon]

Try, LED lights, we are fitting several sets to a modified traveller giving discrete lighting when either the doors are opened or the interior light switched on. Easy enough to set up a switching system for the gloveboxes plus the led, can have various shrouds which mean minimum intrusion into the actual box area.

[wibble_puppy]

Heya jonathon

can have various shrouds which mean minimum intrusion into the actual box area

yes, v important.

Try, LED lights

is there a type of LED lamp which can give a nice warm glow rather than a funky boy-racer aceeeed kind of vibe?

[Rob_Jennings]

I've replaced the interior light for a white LED festoon bulb that gives a white/slightly blue light otherwise if you wanted a soft light you might consider high bright orange or yellow (either will feel more like a filament bulb)?

[wibble_puppy]

hmmm, yeah, i can see there is definitely room for the LED "flavour" in some cars - but i just feel it's not really for me. is there any significant advantage to using LEDs over normal bulbs? in such a rarely-used area as the glovebox?

wibble

[JimK]

For the glovebox I'd say the advantage would be size. I had some LEDS for mounting on a circuit board that were 1mm x 1.5mm.

They are also a lot more efficient thatn filament bulbs. That means for a given brightness they consume a lot less current and give off almost no heat.

Rob, where did you get your LED lights? I mean both internal and external.

[Rob_Jennings]

Well advantages of LEDs include

- no heat so no danger to the card in there
- minimal current draw so can use quite thin wires
- very small, could even get away with small hole in the liner and poke them through with a touch of glue on the back to hold them in place.
- 10,000's hours life so never need to worry about replacing them, but do make sure series resistor is correct or they will burn out.
- can be lot brighter than a filament in same place especially somewhere like a glove box where you are limited to about 5 watt bulb.


Jim

The LED lights I have so far are .... internal Festoon bulb, 2 side light bulbs and 2 numberplate bulbs (yet to fit, but have bigger problems now! poor gearbox). they are all direct plug in replacements (negative earth car required) a lot brighter then the original in fact.

I bought them all through EBAY, I can give you the seller details, both were reliable although based in Hong Kong and took about a week to post (faster than some UK stuff I have bought in fact). Cost was not too bad, considering I should never have to replace them again.

Also waiting on some stop/tail bulbs but I will not replace indicators as that means faffing around with parallel resistors or the flasher relay.

[jonathon]

Rob have you gone for standard LED stop tail Led's as we have just tried these and they were not as bright as the standard bulb, we have now gone for the 360 degree Led which gives a much brighter light. One of our customers fitted Led indicator lights on his traveller 3 years ago as direct replacements and they are still going strong.

[Rob_Jennings]

I'm looking at a 33 LED bulb that has a 360 degree pattern. Have yet to receive them so can't say how good they will be, but hope that going for the large cluster will pay off.

Did your customer add the parallel resistors for the indicators or replace the flash unit for an LED rated one? I figure that its rather pointless to add resistors since it will draw the same current and mess up the wiring behind. I may yet consider replacing the indicators and flasher if the rest works out fine. But for now i have gearbox woes that need to be sorted first!

[Packedup]

Because LEDs run so much cooler, you can add a "gel" to the lens on the interior light to soften the colour. I say "gel", because rather than comparitively pricey proper lighting gels, a Quality Street wrapper would probably do the job!

As for LED external lights, are any aftermarket ones actually road legal yet? I seem to recall discussions about them and the need for any road bulb to be E marked - And no LEDs were at the time. I'd really like to go LED for sides, brakes and indicators because of longer life and lower power useage, but my terrible luck means I want to be on the legal side if/ when next stopped by the law (usually for driving my own car legally, I'm such a villain).

[Rob_Jennings]

I did think about that, but it is rather silly.

LED bulbs are brighter more resistant to temperature, dirt, vibration, etc and how do the modern cars get away with it then, some new models are completely LED based on the rear

I can see the need for marks to confirm its light output and pattern, but otherwise I'm sure the police have better thing to do, they never seem to stop cars because of missing tail/head lights so I don't think its much of a risk, especially if I'm taking care that the replacements are as good if not better.

[Packedup]

I did think about that, but it is rather silly.

LED bulbs are brighter more resistant to temperature, dirt, vibration, etc and how do the modern cars get away with it then, some new models are completely LED based on the rear

You'll see they have lenses designed for LEDs, and knowing how modern cars are built I wouldn't be surprised to find that the suitable LEDs themselves are dealer only jobs...

[jonathon]

Yersss, the ones we have are 'not for road use' however they are much better/safer than standard units so will be fitted on safety grounds if ever stopped by the law, I'll argue the point.
Rob , nothing was done to the wiring or other related components just replaced the original unit with them. Not saying this is correct but certainly has not been an issue.

[wibble_puppy]

Cheers guys, Rob your list was an excellent and very persuasive one!!

Because LEDs run so much cooler, you can add a "gel" to the lens on the interior light to soften the colour. I say "gel", because rather than comparitively pricey proper lighting gels, a Quality Street wrapper would probably do the job!

Now that's a really good example of why you are such a dude, Packedup

do make sure series resistor is correct or they will burn out

So if i was persuaded to try Packedup's patented Quality Street approach to making the tone of the light suitable, Rob, how should I wire 'em in? (very, very, very basic instructions needed.... it's a long long time since I fiddled with electrickery )

[Peetee]

I have LED's in the gloveboxes and above the parcel shelf of Joe mog. They fit tightly in the cardboard of the gloveboxes through a slightly undersized hole. There is plenty of light from them but they are too directional and can be a bit distracting at times. Perhaps a bit of pva would diffuse them a bit.