I have a lot of random parts laying around, and i finally came up with something to use some of them. As i was looking at the cupholder/glovebox, i noticed that that hole than connects them would be a really good place to mount some cupholder lights! So i scrapped together some stuff to make a final product that looks almost OEM.

~Parts~
+12v car USB adapter/charger
+USB Cable
+LED's
+Plexiglass
+Hot Glue
+Tape
+Soldering iron and solder (may not be needed...)
+Sandpaper

First, i measured out a length of cable that would reach from the power outlet in the glove box to that hole that connects it to the cupholders (its probably about a foot long). Cut the a little longer than you think it needs to be, then strip the outer black insulation, leaving you with something that should look like this...



Next, trim off the green and white wires, leaving this...



Strip about half to 3/4 of an inch of the red and black insulation off...



Now, grab your LED's, and solder them to the red and black wires from the USB cable. I used an array of LED's i had from a broken flashlight, but you could order some off of ebay or go to your local radio shack and buy some. If you order a premade panel off ebay designed to run on 12v, you have to have an adapter that puts out 12v (USB is only 5v), or wire it into the car's existing wires.





Most likely, unless you ordered wide angle LED's, you wanna diffuse them so that you don't end up with bright spots. I just used the dremel sanding bit and ground them flat. If you dont have a dremel, just scruff up the outside plastic with sandpaper. Be careful that you dont grind too much off, and break the electrodes inside the plastic.



Here's how they look after i put them in the reflector housing from the flashlight



After soldering and taping of the wires, you should be left with something that looks like this...



Sorry i dont have more pictures of this process, but next you have to cut your piece of plexiglass to fit the hole. I dont have any measurements, but i eyeballed it, and went back and trimed off bit by bit until i had a perfect fit. After you think you have the right width, heat the back of it in the middle with a lighter, in slow up and down motions until you see the surface start to bulbble, after that you should easily be able to bend it. It doesnt take much of a bend, just look at the curve of the cupholder and try and match that (refer to the picture below as to how far i bent it). You want it to be tight enough where it can be wedged into the hole and support itself. Once you have the perfect size, grab your sandpaper, and scuff up both sides of it. This will make the plexiglass more opaque and help diffuse more of the light so it looks like the entire strip glows, not just the part directly in front of the LED's.





Next, hot glue your LED's to the plexiglass. It would probably work better if you had 4 individual leds glued on either side of the bend, but i used what i had on hand.





Finally, you are ready to install your new cupholder lights. Plug in your USB charger, and the USB cable into the plug on the charger. Insert the plexiglass from behind, wedging it into the hole there. I had to use the eraser of a pencil to push the edges and line everything up so it fits flush.

Here are pics of how it looks in the dark, with the lights on-

From the front


From the back


From above




Tomorrow ill post pictures when its light outside of what it looks like without the lights on. It actually ended up being flush with the cupholder, and looks OEM (). I might end up taking the lights out of that cluster and soldering 4 of the individual ones on either side of the bend, because it looks PRETTY bright now.... haha. Questions and comments welcome! If anyone wants to build it from the individual LED's, i can help you figure out a circuit for them.

 

Pretty neat, I thought about doing something like this but more with the Scion concept, where it comes from below the cupholder and shoots the led up, but it wouldn't be too bright. I was thinking of like using some sort of angel eyes setup but under the cupholders so it's somewhat hidden until night time.

 

LED cupholders was actually my first mod. I have UV LEDs shooting upwards. It looks really cool when you have a plastic water bottle in there at night. Almost like the backlit bottle holders they have at bars and night clubs. maybe ill put a pic up...

 

nice setup... keet it up!

 

That's pretty cool. Little too bright though. I probably would've used less LEDs.

 

good work, man. little bright for my taste tho
think it's possible to tap into the light that's already in the center console? instead of using a 12V charger?

 

I want to see that! first thought of your mod was, thought it was kinda useless or too bright but now sounds cool lol

 

After driving around with it for a while, i decided it was wayyy to bright. gonna take out 3 or 4 leds and just use them instead of that whole array. I thought about putting them below it like you said, or around the edges like in fords, but didnt wanna do much drilling and cutting, i wanted to be able to take it out if i needed too.

And tay119, you could definitely wire it into that. I would buy one of those bulb adapters that plug into the socket and have leads coming out of it, that way you could hook your leds directly to that. If you did, i would use 4 leds, that way if you wire them in series, they would be getting about 3v each if the socket puts out exactly 12v, but usually they put a little more than 12 out.

And i noticed that glowing effect you guys mentioned, works good with water, gatorade and mt dew, makes it look radioactive or something lol

 

if the picture worked, here's what it looks like during the day with the lights off. if the picture isnt there ill get it up when i am back at home

 

here's the pic that didnt work above, of how it looks during the day with it off

 

Looks good!
Too bad - I don't have cup holders, that's where the computer sits...

 

ill post a pic up. just gotta find a camera other than my cell phone...


props to the OP though. put a glass/plastic bottle in there and watch that shit glow.

 

couldnt find any AA batteries so i did the entire post with my cell lol.

here's with a bottle of gatorade

looks much better in person, the garage wasnt dark enough and the phone doesnt take good dark shots

 

needs to be a clear bottle lolll

 

it is a clear bottle lol. the bottle is clear and the stuff is red, but you can see through it, its the G2 stuff not original

 

no i know, i meant the liquid should be clear. it glows so much better.

 

hahah sorry to argue about the clearness of the liquid, but it is clear. its not the regular gatorade that you cant see thru. its that low calorie, clear, G2 stuff

 

lolll i know we keep going back and forth about this but i just meant a water bottle. not gatorade or anything just water. ok enough of that nonsense. props to you sir. i like the setup. as soon as it gets dark enough im gonna go out and snap a pic of mine.

 

 

Any way to get a DIY on one shining upward.

 

follow this DIY cept drill a hole in the bottom of your cupholders. It is a seperate piece and comes out easily once the console is unbolted.

this is pic during my install a while back (before i converted my interior to black and red)


also while i had the console out i put LEDs facing outwards out of the rear A/C vents. i will try to get pics of the LEDs installed posted soon.

 

oh ok man i gotcha. ill get a pic of a water bottle at some point. was disassembling all of that necessary? i am thinking about doing the upwards facing ones using some of the LEDs out of that array, i would imagine you can just take that little insert piece out and drill into that? there is more than enough room to run wires underneath it, so you don't have to take apart all the trim on your console. if i get around to putting some underneath too, ill post pics of the process. i was gonna do the same method, with the plexiglass filling the drilled hole, that way it looks clean, not having a LED sticking out of the cupholer.

and the guy asking about the "angel eye" bottom, you could do that with EL wire, or cutting a circle out of the bottom, cut a piece of plexi the size of the hole you cut out, and depending on the width you want it to be, cut a circle out of the middle of the plexi, and use the piece you cut out of the cupholder to fit the middle of it. if that makes any sense at all haha. it would be easy to see with a picture

 

well i probably didnt need to but it was my first mod and i was a total noob so i just took the whole thing out haha. it made everything easier cus it was all exposed. besides i needed to get to the rear vents anyways so this way i could flip the whole thing over and drill the holes for the LEDs in the vents. i also drilled holes in the tubes that carry A/C to the rear vents so everything in my cup holders is nice and cool. amazing how well it works sometimes (when its below 85deg outside).

 

anyone have pics of the underneathe setup? ive been thinking of doing the same but really dont know how to without it looking tacky

 

Does anybody have a DIY for putting LED's into the rear ac vents? That would be way cool.

 

I like that red on white look. You can probably mix it up with the interior lights.