Custom Map Light Mod

[— kung fu jesus —]

This little project took me about two hours, cost $17, and retains the stock rear view mirror (RVM). This is done on the early RVM, the one that is attached to the windshield header, not the windshield itself.

I used a 3/16" drill bit, drill, 2 6mm LED light bolts, an M6x1.0 tap, some stiff wire to fish leads, heat shrink wire shielding, a little solder, and some electrical tape.

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I used Oznium LED bolts ( http://www.oznium.com/led-bolt ). I erred on the side of caution and went with the small 6mm LEDs. It provides enough light for my purpose, but I can see where the larger 11mm units may work. You could also use the LED strips and glue them along the bottom of your mirror, so use your imagination and estimate what will work best for your application. My 2 LEDs cost $17 shipped.

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Begin by removing the RVM from your car. There are a couple ways to do it, I went with the gentle method. Some say you can grab this style and yank it towards yourself and it will release. It's a break-away design, but I chose to remove the cover on the base at the windshield header and unscrewed it.

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Here is the diameter of the LED threads in inches. They come with two knurled retaining nuts. I removed one of these to have somethig to grip while screwing them into the RVM housing. It *may be possible to not use them at all and have the LEDs flush to the housing. I accidentally ordered silver bolts, but intended to purchase black ones. I rushed a little buying these online. No big deal.

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I used a 3/16" drill and marked this spot about 2" from the side of the mirror. I drilled this hole on the bottom of the RVM shell.

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Repeat on the other side. Then use the M6x1.0 tap and tread the holes. Try to begin perpendicular to the surface so the LEDs set flush. The plastic is soft, so use care.

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Drill a 3/16" hole on the top. About a 1/2" from the ball socket the mirror pivots on. This is where the wires will come out. Drill a symmetrical hole on the other side of the ball joint. Use the stiff wire and feed it through the top hole to it's corresponding bottom hole. I used about an 8-10" piece of wire. This is the slowest part and may take a few tries. Be patient and do this in a brightly lit room so you can see the wire in the housing. This took me about 30 minutes to do both.

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When the wire is through, take a small piece of electrical tape to secure the LED wires to the fish wire coming out the bottom of the RVM housing. The smallest profile you can make, the better. Gently pull the fish wire through the hole out the top and pull the rest of the LED leads through. You can now simply screw the LED into your tapped hole, then repeat on the other side.


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[— kung fu jesus —]

A few shots of how mine turned out at this point.

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I wanted to disguise the LED wires, so I simply ran ~2" of heat shrink shielding on each pair until they *just* went inside the top holes.

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I then ran a larger diameter of shrink tube shielding (about 3") to join wire pairs. At this point, I cut the wire pairs to joint them and to only have to run one wire pair along the header and a-pillar. Take note of the which side the RVM the wires are in relation to how the RVM mounts in the car. I wanted to conceal the wires as much as possible so the stem of the mount also blocks them from view. If you wanted, you could seal the top holes with a dab of black RTV.

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These next steps involve installation back in the car. I did not take pictures of this. You will need to drill one more 3/16" hole in the plastic header cover on your windshield. Loosely install the RVM to see where to drill the hole. I centered mine on the mount, between the RVM header mount and the windshield. Feed your wires through the hole, along the header panel, and down behind the a-pillar on the driver's side. I didn't remove the header panel or a-pillar cover. I used a plastic spackling knife to create the gap and ran it along the length, following with my finger on the other hand to slip the wire in. I only had to stop to remove a hardtop mounting plate. I also pulled off the weatherstripping, partially, that runs along the a-pillar the body to feed in the wire. When I reached the side of the dashboard, I reached in with my other hand from beneath the dash, in the footwell, to route the wire through, up and over the wiring harness to my OE interior light. I spliced the two wires into that circuit to operate on the OE 3-way switch. You can read more about that HERE.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Here are some shots in my garage, no external light. All the light is from the LEDs in the car.

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This was how poorly the centerstack was lit before:

[— kung fu jesus —]

The nice part, to me, is the light is strong enough to read by without killing my retinas. The bulbs sit flush enough that the part line around the mirror shields the glare from my eyes when they are on, a nice bonus!

The intention for me on this interior lighting project was to keep the stronger lights lower in the cockpit so my eyes can recover at night faster, yet still allow me to see the floor, nooks and crannies to find items that may have fallen.

Let's be honest, too. The door bars + Lotus seats + fire suppression on the passenger side doesn't make it the easiest car to get into, so a little visual assistance helps.

Future lighting additions will involve the glovebox, trunk, and engine bay.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Daylight pics:

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[Demon I Am]

Fantastic job, buddy!

[— Agent☣Orange —]

That's a great job KFJ and obviously LEDs have come a long way since they first came out. I've been meaning to post in your lighting threads to look for COB LEDs nowadays instead of the strips of 2032s. I still like LED strips but only if they have the 5050 LEDs but if possible, I'd rather use a COB such as you did here. They are much brighter and fewer LEDs in a chain means less chance that one of them will go out.

I got the original aftermarke lights that replaced the side-mounted, center console bolt covers but they were incandescent. Then I ordered some silly festoon bulbs from I don't know where and they didn't last too long and then finally got COB bulbs and boy what a difference. The 370Z has a dim, incandescent festoon in the trunk that is so pointless, I'm surprised it's there but after a COB panel replacement, it was perfect. Same thing for the Corvette trunk and footwells.

[JLBMX5]

I really like that mirror. I need to go see if i kept my oem mirror and if so I want to do this as well because my lighted mirror is closer to my head.

[— kung fu jesus —]

What is COB?

I forgot to mention, the Oznium LEDs are waterproof and the housings are aluminum. It may be beneficial to others who still rock a soft top, should you get caught in the rain. It seems the off-road truck groups seem to love the products this company sells.

As for the rest of the car, I am apprehensive to put LEDs in the instruments. I have read about people having the LEDs terminate rather quickly, lack of circuit resistance causing wonky issues, and the light not being even across the gauge faces. Removing the gauge hood a lot isn't something I care to repeat a number of times.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

COB stands for Chip On Board and as of this post, is the latest and greatest form of LED lighting. You have already been exposed to COBs, obviously from your recent map lights but there are bigger versions that can reach 100W for consumer use such as COB LED home lighting, higher for commercial use such as street lights.

COBs are wide-area panels that are super bright and can come in different Kelvin output from yellow to mimick incandescent to pure white like HIDs. They're all around. Pick up a small, AA-powered flashlight at Radio Shack advertising 100 Lumens and that is a COB. Go to Lowes and check out the LED ceiling lights and they're all COB.

Now, before anyone thinks about replacing their headlights or foglights with COB LEDs (which I've obviously have considered by now), COB LEDs can generate a LOT of heat. You can buy a 100W COB panel on eBay along with it's driver circuit board but bigger COBS need a proportional aluminum heatsink and/or mini fans to keep them cool much like a home computer's CPU cooler. A couple premium car manufacturers have already ditched HID for COB LED headlights.

Instrument cluster lighting doesn't need that level of brightness but they sure are sharper than incandescent which is why when retrofitting dash lights with LED, I've experimented with a combination of diffused LEDs and "frosting" clearcoat on celophane strips to try to beat the hot spots but then I got a different car with LEDs already built in.

Here is an example of small COB lighting for the side console lights in festoon style along with a primitive, Edison-type incandescent bulb:



Lower wattage COBs come embedded in ceramic while more powerful COBs come with aluminum heatsinks because they're cheaper to produce and some require active cooling which is why some come with fans or giant fins although I suspect that larger, ceramic heatsinks would be better if not more cost effective in mass production.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Great info!!

The festoon bulbs I bought may be COB, they have a multi-finned heat sink on the back. They put out a LOT more light than I was expecting.

[HarryB]

Do you know where I could take my hands on such replacements for the side console lights? Boot lights would be welcome as well.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Harry, I ordered the side lights off Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o00_s00

I am fortunate enough to live near Atlanta, so I can get their Prime vendor products same day. These bulbs fit, but are a bit longer than the originals. As for the boot, I don't know. I don't have lights there, my Miata is a '92. I hope to add some in the future though!

Generally, for LED replacement bulbs, you just need the incandescent bulb number and look look for it's LED equivalent. Like AO mentioned above, stick with the COB lights. Good luck!

[JLBMX5]

Steven I ordered the 11mm lights for rear view mirror install. Maybe I will be able to attempt this project mext weekend.I do not remember seeing what wires you tapped into so if you could please tell me what two wires you tapped into on the oem knee light please that would help out.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Sure, read this article by Adam. He describes which wires to use on the knee light here:

http://revlimiter.net/blog/2013/03/let-there-be-light/

Good luck!