DIY: door handle LEDs
 

Tools/Items list:
Soldering iron
Solder
Wire(I think I used 20 gauge)
Wire cutters/strippers
Shrink tube
Lighter
Liquid electrical tape
Electrical tape
Needle nose pliers
9v battery and leads(to test your work)
LEDs
Resistors (you can use a multimeter to determine the correct resistor)
Multimeter(helpful but not required)
Philips screw driver
Dremel (or something else to flatten LEDs)

LED Prep:
1. Flatten the tips of the LEDs. I used a glass grinder since my mom is into stained glass and it just happened to be handy, but you can use a Dremel. I recommend doing all 4 at the same time.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0012.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...IMG_0017-1.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...IMG_0019-1.jpg

2. cut the LED down to size. Don’t forget which end is positive and which is negative. The longer is positive and the shorter is negative.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0023.jpg

3. solder the resistor to the positive end of the LED
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0024.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0029.jpg

4. solder on about 8-12 inches of wire, don’t get positive(red) and negative(black) mixed up.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0031.jpg

5. now you need to seal up all exposed wire, for this I used liquid electrical tape, then shrink tube. Warning liquid tape is flammable. To shrink, shrink tube, you need a flame.
I found that putting a flame to liquid tape (after it was applied to the wires) causes to to harden up quicker and create a good seal.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0033.jpg

after you apply liquid tape, put the shrink tube on. Then shrink it.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0035.jpg

6. I then wrapped the shrink tube in electrical tape to hold it all together.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0037.jpg

Finished product should look like this-
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...IMG_0017-2.jpg


Removing a door panel (just in case you don’t know)

1. Use a Philips screw driver to remove the two screws.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11.../IMG_0042A.jpg

2. Pop the door handle out by pushing it to the left.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0047.jpg

3. Disconnect the rear of the handle and the harness.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0049.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0050.jpg

4. Pull the door panel toward yourself to pop it out, then push it up. Then, unplug the remaining window control harness.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0051.jpg


Putting the LED into the handle
Run the wires through the slot under the door handle. The LED shouldn’t be able to slide through this slot, but you can use clear silicon to secure the LED if you like later. Then run the wires inside the door (see pics).
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0056.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0061.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0062.jpg

Once the wires are somewhat inside the door, you need to reach in and pull them tight.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0064.jpg
^the red box is where they should be
You will probably have to use both hands, push/jumble the wires from the outside and pull them at the same time on the inside. After they are inside and in place, make sure your door handle goes all the way down and work right, if it doesn’t just play with the wires until it works right.


Powering the LED (passenger side front door)

I tapped into my front door light.
The two wires you are going to tap into are:
white wire with blue stripe and repeating 2 silver marks (POSITIVE / RED).
yellow wire with repeating 2 silver marks is (NEGATIVE /BLACK)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0067.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0068.jpg

Powering the LED (driver side front door)
The two wires you are going to tap into are:
White wire w/ blue stripe and 2 repeating silver marks (POSITIVE)
Yellow wire w/ blue stripe and 2 repeating silver marks (NEGATIVE)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...IMG_0013-1.jpg


Powering a back door LED

Since the back doors don’t have door lights, you are going to have to run your own power wires. I wanted to run the wires in the rubber but its much harder than it looks.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0078.jpg

After you have the wires to this point, you need to remove these 4 trim pieces. They all pop off.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...IMG_0025-1.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...IMG_0024-1.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...IMG_0023-1.jpg
I couldn’t remove trim piece 2, so I pried up the edge enough to get the wire under it.
Run the wires to the passenger side fuse box, just leave them there for now.
Sorry I don’t have many pics of this, but its pretty self explanatory.


Wiring a front door to the dome trigger (front passenger side)

The reason we are tapping into the dome trigger is so that when you press the unlock button on your remote, the leds light up. They also fade in and out with the dome light.
The wires you tapped into inside the door come into the car. On the passenger side they are in this harness.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0032.jpg

unscrew the harness
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...IMG_0033-1.jpg

remove the connector that comes from the door
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0034.jpg

Find two wires and tap into them. Use about 7-10 inches of wire.
The wires you are looking for are:
White wire w/ blue stripe and 2 repeating silver marks
Solid yellow wire and 2 repeating silver marks.
You will be wiring these wires to the dome trigger.

Wiring a front door to the dome trigger (front driver side)

On the driver side the harness is a little different. All the harnesses plug into a panel. You may have to remove 2 harnesses to get to the one that comes from the door.
The two wires you are looking for are:
White wire w/ blue stripe and 2 repeating silver marks(Positive)
Yellow wire w/ blue stripe and 2 repeating silver marks(Negative)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0021.jpg

Use about 7-10 inches of wire. You can connect the positive and negative to the positive and negative from the driver side rear door.


Wiring everything to the dome light

Pop the front passenger side window pillar off
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0026.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...IMG_0027-1.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...IMG_0030-1.jpg

Tap into the dome trigger wires.
The two wires you are looking for are:
Black wire w/ white stripe and 2 silver repeating marks (NEGATIVE)
White wire w/ blue stripe and 2 silver repeating marks (POSITIVE)
NOTE: there are two black wires, make sure you get the right one.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...7/IMG_0077.jpg

Send the wire down to the passenger side fuse box area.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...IMG_0036-1.jpg

Hide all the wired under the dash.. zip ties or duct tape work well.


Here is the finished product-
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...IMG_0001-3.jpg

One thing I would like to add: Along the way, my interior light fuse blew out. It was a 7.5 amp fuse. When I went to radio shack to get a new one, they only have 10 amp fuses. So I ended up getting the 10 amp fuse, everything works fine now. I am not sure if the 7.5 amp fuse couldnt handle the LEDs or if I just messed up on something.

If you need help with something, I will try to help as best I can.

Sweet. Thanks for the write-up chris.

Werd Son. Thanks.

Very Nice write up. :thumbsup:

Put it in the DIY Mod Sextion.

Very Nice, Thanks! Now Go Relax For A While!

You're all welcome. Im glad I can give back to the community after taking so much. haha. I never knew how hard it was to write a DIY.. took maybe half the time it took me to figure out how to do the LED project.


done

Awesome Chris....You have any more pics??

what type of fuse was it, and if I could ask, if you still have the package of the fuse you bought, on the top there should be a number, with a " - " in between, can I have that number so I know what Fuse to get when I go to work at the shack.

270-1093
pack of 3
for like $1.49 i think

I get 30% off, HOLLA! Thanks

so that means you are only pay 20% more than anywhere else? unlike the rest of us... lol @ overpriced shack! naw, im jk threepointtwoteeel

More pics please.. diffrent angles?
Very nice mod!

Here you don't specify which wires are positive and negative. I would assume top is positive and bottom is negative because that's the pattern so far, but you change the order in the next step. :dunno:
Could you label them? Thanks.

thats nice............... :thumbsup:

I'm pretty sure he's using red for positive and black for negative.

I know that red is positive and black negative, I was inquiring about the wires from the harness that he mentions but doesn't have the positive/negative in parenthesis, the white and yellow wire. But nevermind because I just realized that the white is always the positive and the yellow is negative. Now to go try this myself because I have nothing better to do today, except clean my car.

this is a great diy, i'll prob try it over the summer when its warmer

my bad...
The two wires you are looking for are:
White wire w/ blue stripe and 2 repeating silver marks(pos)
Yellow wire w/ blue stripe and 2 repeating silver marks(neg)

hey what resistor did you use, in term of OHMS. also are those lights always on or do they turn off as the dome light goes off?

looks great!! thanks for the DIY- it will definitely come in handy not just for this but for other things :thumbsup:

oh and EXECELLENT job, btw.

nice writeup! so for the LED mounting, did you use silicon sealant or something to hold it in place, or does it just wedge in there? That's pretty sweet that there's already holes for routing the wiring.

Awesome, thank you. What mcd LED did you use?

Great work....on the car and the DIY....

On one of the pictures, it shows some wire, like 3-4 inches of wire thats shown when the door is open, idk if you thought about this but if you wrap that in electrical tape or shrink wrap it wont be so noticable.

wow, thats a great writeup on how to do it! Thanks!

alright so the day he made the DIY public is the same day my LEDs and Resistors came in the mail and is the same day I started on this (Started=10 PM Ended=4:30 AM). I did The Front And Rear Right Doors and drivers door. Saturday I did the rear left door. I had to redo the front doors cause I didnt think about the windows and the cables were basically in the way of the windows when they go down so i fixed that. Then I did the wiring from the fuse boxes to the Dome light trigger. It took me an hour to figure out why it wasnt working, but its cause on the passenger fuse box, I had to tap into a solid yellow cable, but didnt see that I tapped into a Yellow wire with a white strip. It blended in but I figured it out and its working. This is the first time I take so many things apart in my car. After a while it got annoying taking the door panels off but it was well worth it. Thanks Bro amazing.!!

lets see some pics.

has anybody else done this mod. and do you have any other pics from different angles. maybe straight one the handle from the side.

This is hot... Nice job. Im going to do this one also.

Oh yea what size LED did you use and what Ohm rating were the resistors. I cant really see the color band fully to see for my self.

I have done this as well, as well as some others while I had time during spring break. I will post some pics later, I'll probably just start a "what I did on spring break" thread of some kind. I don't have my memory card with me right now.

You can use 470 or 560 ohm 1/4 watt resistors, I used 470, they will be a little brighter, 560 is technically the right one because the battery while the car is running is closer to 14V, 13.4 or 13.8 I think, not just 12V. 470 ohm will reduce the overall life of the LEDs but only by a few thousand hours, not bad when you consider that most have a life of 100,000 hours or more.

I used 5mm, 10,000mcd white LEds, I suppose you could use 10mm, there would be no way it could come out the back of the slot in the handle but it may be a little over kill, plus you would feel it every time you opened a door. You could use brighter LEDs too but 10,000mcd works great, I can see my car from accross the parking lot. If you have a black car I would suggest brighter because black likes to absorb light.

:2cents:

Kool thanx man. did you seal yours with silicone? Or are they just in there.

Right now they are just sitting there, causing no problems at all. I intend to seal them only so they don't move, just haven't done it yet. I used liquid electrical tape where suggested, then double shrink wrapped them and sealed the ends of the shrink wrap with glue/sealant, I doubt anything is getting through that.

badasss any more picss

As soon as I get my memory card in the same place as my card reader. Hopefully later tonight.

Got a quick question, I need to stop and get myself some wire to run for these. What's the recommended guage for these?

how did u guys secure the LEDs...does it jus fit tight or is sumthin holdin em?