Ambient overhead lighting ideas

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Mazda CX-5 Touring w/bose-tech
from another thread that i participated in decided to explore options for modifying some overhead ambient lights that are becoming popular.

the center console is the most obvious place, so i pulled mine out and checked for places that could work, here's some pics of what i found

you need to open the sunglasses holder and remove the two screws inside there, then carefully angle the piece down and disconnect the three harnesses (lights/power, moonroof controls, and what i believe is the voice control/bluetooth phone mic)

here it is removed and the 'inside'
there's the spot that is the other little grill opposite where the microphone pickup and two spots located right near the moonroof control

ovrhdfullintopt.jpg


here is an 'outside' shot of the overhead with the locations marked

ovrhdopt.jpg



here is an angle shot of what looked like good places near the moonroof control

ovrhdint.jpg


here is a closeup of the location

mrltintclose.jpg


and an outside shot of where those locations would be

moonrooflt.jpg


here is a closeup of the inside of that open grate opposite the mic

grateint.jpg


and an outside close shot of same spot

grate.jpg


i'm trying to find options for lights, but unfortunately most blue leds (what i would use) are very high powered and therefore too bright, in lumens and 'color' i like the royal blue i've seen used in fishtanks for 'moonlights' but those are all very high power lights and have large'ish starplate mounts which would make mounting them somewhat difficult in this application. so if i can find a lower frequency led (less than 465nm or so) and then just bump up the resistor needed to drop the forward current and hopefully make the led 'darker' so the lighting isn't too harsh



from what i've seen in other places of people making up setups like this the best method is to drill a hole same size or slightly smaller than whatever your source is (smd, standard led, whatever) and mount the light on the inside(possibly even with a spacer to move it farther from the hole) so that it doesn't protrude thru the hole, that helps keep there from being a 'point of light' in your view that would be too noticeable and possibly distracting.

here's examples of what this guy did in his jeep

http://i317.photobucket.com/albums/mm387/Muddy4dsm/2012-01-26195335.jpg
http://i317.photobucket.com/albums/mm387/Muddy4dsm/2012-02-12133943.jpg
 
My 2010 Mazda 3 had a blue one in the overhead, if you could get that part used off ebay or somewhere similar you may be able to extract that bulb and use it.
 
My 2010 Mazda 3 had a blue one in the overhead, if you could get that part used off ebay or somewhere similar you may be able to extract that bulb and use it.

true, depending on its mounting setup, but at the insanely cheap prices for leds and resistors flooding the market it would probably be cheaper to go the component route
 
yeah i saw that thread before...

i know what i'm trying to do, but that 3 forum doesn't apply because its different components
(rant....i'm not signing up to see the pics, i hate when forum users add the pics as attachments instead of inline so that they can be viewed directly)

it would still require several modifications to put into our overheads since there isn't any setup for that in existence

so at that point, its much much cheaper (and probably easier) to just go with components rather than oem part from a different vehicle (not to mention you have creative control over what type/color of led to use, not just whatever the OEM decided)
 
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after reinstalling the console, it looks like the spots near the moonroof switch wouldn't work so well (pics 3,4,5 in OP)

using a marker cap i simulated where the light would point and in the recess it would point almost directly at the screen of the radio, on the flat spot one, it points down at the armrest on the center console

so it seems like the honeycomb grate (last two pics on OP) on the pax side might be the best spot (plus it wouldn't require any drilling of the console) its a tiny bit off center left/right obviously but with a decent projection angle on the led, should still get good coverage

i'm curious if the grate would cause any shadows though or if the distance is enough for the wave properties of light to spread and even it out (as long as the particle nature of it doesn't cause interference patterns lol)

when hooking it back up to the harnesses i did notice there is an extra connector on the assembly, maybe someday when its nice out i'll grab the multimeter and see if any of the pins are hot (and when) or ground that might be useful for this or other projects (perhaps some el wire work?)

extraplug.jpg
 
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I posted the service manual link in my post for the Commander Switch thread. You can look through it and see if there is any mention of what it could be.
 
I posted the service manual link in my post for the Commander Switch thread. You can look through it and see if there is any mention of what it could be.

yeah i saw a link to a service manual but the link wasn't right (at least the one i saw) it went to a generic page
 
thanks, maybe thats why it didn't work when i went to try it before
stupid that it has to have you disable javascript to use it...smh

but still there's no way that even a used module would be as cheap as buying the led components, as low as a couple bucks in some instances for the part(s)
 
just ordered one of these the other day, in royal blue

LUX-xx-led-accent-light-store.jpg


if i figured it out properly, i can dremel off the metal tangs on each side, that plastic module in the middle should fit really nicely in the empty grill (unnumbered red arrow) opposite the microphone

extraplug.jpg


i'll check the pinouts on that 'unused' connector, see what there is, hopefully a 12v ignition switched feed and a ground, if so, i'll use those so that it only comes on when the car is running

with its lower lumen count and dark blue color hopefully it'll provide a nice subtle blue glow to the front center of the vehicle

grate.jpg
 
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well ramped out some leads this morning in the console

that 'unused' connector, the furthest forward pin (left hand pin in pic) is a hot 12v source (similar to cig plug inside armrest) so that might be handy for someone

i couldn't find a switched 12v lead (that only came on when ignition was on) in the console

but i did find one in the power plug for the moonroof motor inside the headliner near the hole that i will probably use to power my ambient light

just waiting for mail to deliver the led then i'll install it this afternoon and try to take some pics of it tonight
 
are you using any sort of dimmer on that light? It looks really bright for ambient lighting on their site
snow-mobile-led-light-module-lux-snow2.jpg
 
are you using any sort of dimmer on that light? It looks really bright for ambient lighting on their site
snow-mobile-led-light-module-lux-snow2.jpg

those are the standard colors, the regular blue is very bright i'm sure, i got the royal blue which isn't as bright lumen wise, plus the darker blue makes it 'dimmer' than the others, i'll try to get some pics of it tonight

anyhoo

after some dremel modding of both the light (took of the metal tangs on each side) and clearing out some plastic tabs on the back side of the overhead console (had to disassemble it some as well, just a few screws, no big deal) it fit in pretty good

minor disappointment in that my previous concern about the grid causing shadows was correct, it does, but they aren't too bad
get a decent light cast in center of vehicle, i'd probably be ok with it being a little dimmer but its not too bad

one other slight annoyance is that the holes in the grid are reflecting light making it easy to see the light coming out of the console so i may try to sharpy or paint the inside edges of the holes so they dont 'reflect' and therefore light up

overall fairly happy with the outcome, just took some minor alteration, after i blackout the sides of the holes i may try putting a piece of 'magic' scotch tape on the inside to help diffuse the light a little more
 
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here's some pics of the install





well after getting kinda annoyed with the reflecting from the sides of the holes molded in the console which is slightly annoying during the day, and mildly distracting at night, here is a daytime shot, the blue you see is many many shades lighter blue than what it actually looks like



i pulled it all apart, and picked up some tape and testors flat black model paint to stop the sides of the holes from reflecting



we'll see how it is tonight and see if i can get some pics of the light it casts, and the hopefully reduced 'glare' from the holes, but not holding my breath on the area pics because its a rather dark blue (although i think i'd like it a little deeper shade) and not sure where my gorilla pod is to keep my camera stable for a clear long exposure

when i was taking it all down to paint the inside i noticed that the module was really quite warm, so i'm considering seeing if i can find an inexpensive photosensor to wire into it and install in the forward edge of the head liner so it only comes on at dark

 
ok checked it out in teh dark, its better, but still somewhat noticeable, we'll see how it works out in the long run, found the gorillapod and got some pics, with the long exposure times it looks a bit brighter than it does in person, i shade and light level (meaning that in person, its dimmer, and a darker shade of blue)



 
Stromdriver, that's really nice!

I would like to do the same blue, but in the footwell area. Do you have any ideas on how and where the LED's can be wired for footwell lighting?
 
Stromdriver, that's really nice!

I would like to do the same blue, but in the footwell area. Do you have any ideas on how and where the LED's can be wired for footwell lighting?

thanks
not off hand, i've never looked, i'm sure you could run something up to the fuse block easy enough to tap into an aux feed

Very cool! Now you just need some music playing - I'd suggest something like this:

http://www.greensville.net/StorageL...r/01_bee_gees__stayin_alive__stayin_alive.mp3

disco? really? (rolleyes)

the spots are because of the grate in the panel (despite your mirrored ball reference), i'd prefer it not have them mucking up the light distribution but there aren't many other options for installation that wouldn't require more modification

by all means, lets see you do it then?
 
thanks
not off hand, i've never looked, i'm sure you could run something up to the fuse block easy enough to tap into an aux feed



disco? really? (rolleyes)

You didn't like? Now you hurt my feeling.

Maybe if you listen to whole 4:45 it will grow on you.
 
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