aruffell

The light in the glove compartment is a horrible yellowish 194 bulb.... I decided to put an LED light but the ones on ebay all pointed in the wrong direction (forward, or all around 360). What I needed was a LED that would point down so all the light was concentrated in my glove compartment... duh! ;-)

The first version I built in the one without the plastic base... it worked fine BUT I shorted the light circuit and went without for a few days as I did not realize a fuse in the engine compartment had gone out... I was afraid I had killed the dimmer (125USD). Anyhow after testing the dimmer I saw no voltage was actually reaching it so I searched for a fuse and found the "Illumination 10A" fuse (duh!?! to me) that was blown... The problem was that the copper traces were too close so I shorted the fixture contacts when insterting the bulb.

My second attempt was using a similar system... but this time I reused the plastic base of a terrible LED 194 light. The result was great... I don't have a picture of the glove compartment, but the light, I can assure you, is much better.

The LEDs I used emit 50,000mcd of light each... so this solution is 150,000mcd. I also created a custom dome led light which emits 600,000mcd! Check it out at: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-interior-audio-electronics-24/custom-dome-led-light-101017/

NgoRX8

iTrader: (1)

freak!!!! must be bright as hell.

Anderzander

My glove box bulbs seem to be unremovable....

any tips for getting them out? or are they normally pretty easy?

aruffell

I had to use double sided sticky tape between my fingers and the lightbulb as I could not get a good grip of it. The holder might also come out of its lodge but it is fairly easy to put it back in by reaching behind the glove compartment door.

Anderzander

That's a good idea - thanks, I'll give it a try and report back.

momo

From whom are you getting these bright @ss leds? I know that you get them form ebay, but from which seller?

aruffell

The eBay store I purchased the LEDs from is:

http://stores.ebay.com/Light-of-Vic...aFQ3aSLLRQQtZkm

I purchased the white 5mm, 50,000mcd LEDs. The resistors they send you are for 1 LED at 12V so I calculated the resistor I needed for 3 LEDs in series.

momo

Thanks aruffell, I now have a new source for leds.

Anderzander

That is a top tip, thanks aruffell!

I tried it today and the bulb just came straight out. When I tried before I thought I was on the verge of pulling the wires out or breaking the bulb because I was having to apply so much force.

Brilliant :-D

Steve

aruffell

I know what you mean.... I thought I was going to have to remove the glove compartment door but then came up with that solution... I'm glad it helped you too!

As an update my 3 LED light started blinking as one of the LEDS failed. I think it is due to the fact the LEDS are on all the time (I keep my lights on 100% of the time) and I might have pushed them too much by selecting a resistance that is too low. I replaced 1 LED as it failed and it is working now but I think I will have to put a different resistor in there or add a zener diode (can someone help with this?) to protect the LEDs. I have not tested this but I imagine the car voltage will vary between 12 and 14V and this might throw off my initial resistance calculation. Of course I can calculate the resistance as if Vin were 14V all the time but then the light will be lower when I need it the most (not moving thus 12V).