JoeAllenPro

I've previously retrofitted the ambient lighting into the door panels, you can see my thread about this process here. It's still working great and looks totally original!

Today, I completed another ambitious project for my interior ambient lighting. Here's the finished result...



These images make the lighting seem very bright, but it's actually a great fit with the rest of the interior lighting.

The LED Fibre Optics

The solid "bars" of light are created using something known as "side-glow" fibre optics. This is the same method used in the door panels and on the sides of the centre console with the standard factory-fitted ambient lighting.

I used 3mm diameter "skirted" side-glow fibre optic, the skirt means I was able to simply tuck the fibre in between the interior trim panels. This means no glue or adhesive was needed at all. Fibre optic is famously difficult to glue, and i didn't want to apply nasty glue to my interior.

To light the fibre optics, I ordered the same LED modules used for the exit warning system in the door panels. This means the red colour is consistent throughout the entire cabin. These LED modules are specifically designed for illuminating fibre optics (this is how the exit assist light bars also work) so they were perfect. The part number is 8W0-947-356-C, I used one for each of the fibres.



Since this part is used for the exit assist, it's only designed to blink quickly for a few seconds. It's a very bright LED but will warm up quickly if lit constantly, this can shorten the life of an LED so I added a simple 180 ohm resistor to the positive wire. The LED now lights brightly and stays cool.

The LED Strip

The red LED strip in the centre console is a very simple 12v red LED strip available from Amazon, eBay or even in electronics stores. These are sold with an adhesive backing, I attached the strip above the 12v socket. The textured plastic is not great for this adhesive backing, luckily there is a smooth plastic section a little further back which worked well.

The LED strip initially ran very bright and a little worm, so I used a 220 ohm resistor to reduce the brightness a little. It looks great now.

Wiring & Power

I removed the footwell LED module and soldered extra wiring out of the module (there's a convenient gap that the wiring fits though). I also wrapped all of the wiring in car loom fabric tape to reduce rattle, and added a simple clip connector for easy installation. I wanted the entire install to be as comprehensive and professional as possible. All of the wiring and connections look like they're factory fitted, and can be entirely removed in a matter of seconds.

Using the footwell LED module for power means the lighting will illuminate and fade with the rest of the interior lighting.

JDA_yeg

This is phenomenal Joe! It looks like a Q7 now. I wish I had the technical skills in doing these sort of things but my specialty lies somewhere else.


But you make a fellow Joe proud.



- Joe

up-n-coming

Very, very nice. I always enjoy your threads.

bob m

Agree - looks incredible and I'm lacking those skills also, even though you make it look easy, I'm sure I'd short circuit something out.

minmet

+1

DizzyA4

Wow! Well done! That looks fantastic.

Robert Rudnik

DOPE !
How I wish I had little bit more knowledge about electricity

VipinLJ

That actually looks pretty nice but like others said, I know I'm not made for such complicated work. I wish I could do it in my car though.

ekyp

Looks amazing. Great work!

i would love to have the led for the front air vent just like the q7. Would be sweet if I can tie it into my colour ambient light or something.

JoeAllenPro

That would be fairly easy...

You can order the LED modules that are used for the coloured interior lighting rather than the red ones like I did, then simply use the wiring from an existing module in the car. The one in the side of the centre console is easy to access. Are you also able to chose the colour of the footwells? This would be even easier to access, just like how I did above.


That way they will light at the same time, and the same colour as your centre console or footwell (or whichever other module you chose to wire into). There would also be no need for any resistors since they're identical to the existing setup and wiring and designed to be constantly lit.

Almost plug and play!

I wish I had the multi-colour interior lighting!