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 Interior LED Installation filtsai?com - Installing LEDs

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After seeing Traubenberg's and. Ben's blue LEDs, I decided to finally do it myself. After some thinking and planning and seeing how Seth and Ben had done theirs, I came up with my own LED install.

Here are the LEDs and the fuse extension I used. The fuse extension plugs into an existing fuse and splits it in two. You can make your own LEDs by going to Radio Shack or you can just buy a pre-assembled LED/resister/wire set at Autozone.

Note that in this picture I purchased an ATO fuse extension, but the Accord (and Ben's TT) actually use the mini fuses instead of the larger ATO fuses so I had to return it and get the correct size. You'll also want some 18 gauge wire.

  

I also chose to install a switch so I could turn the LEDs on and off at will. I chose a blue light-up switch for about $5 and decided to install it on the left of the steering wheel where I have the Cruise Control button and two fake buttons.

To access these buttons, you must first take out your coin tray. Pull it out till it stops, then gently pull farther and it should come out.
  

After you take the tray out, you will see two screws which hold this vent/control panel in place. Remove these.   

Carefully pull out the panel. If you have cruise or fog lights, you will need to reach in and disconnect the wire harnesses. I accidentally popped out the cruise button and dropped it and ended up breaking the cruise LED. Ah well, I can live without it.

Once the panel is out, you should be able to pop out one of the fake buttons.
  

I decided to mount my switch in one of the fake buttons so I used a small cutting wheel on my Dremel and used it to cut out a rectangle of the right size.   

After getting a rough rectangle cut, I switched to a polishing stone to clean up the edges and do fine tuning. When the hole was the correct sise, I popped the button in the hole.   

Back to the car. The power lead provided by the fuse extension is very short so I measured out about 6 inches of 18 gauge wire to run to the switch. The power lead comes with a crimp connector so just strip the wire, feed it into the connector and crimp it tight.   

Now attach the new lead to the positive/power terminal on the back of the switch.

I don't have a picture, but the switch has 3 terminals: 1) Positive/Power, 2) On/Accessory, 3) Negative/Ground. These look like three small metal tabs with holes in them. If you are a perfectionist you may wish to solder these connections, however I did not. I stripped about an inch of wire, fed it through the hole in the appropriate terminal and then looped it and fed it through the hole a second time, then twisted the wire together. This provides a fairly good and secure connection.
  

Repeat for the ground wire. I made the ground wire about 8 inches long as I will ground it right next to the fuse box.

After making these connections, make sure to cover them with electrical tape so they won't short-circuit.
  

Repeat for the negative terminal/accessory power lead. I made this power lead about three feet long so that I could run it to the center console and wire all three LEDs in parallel from the same power lead.

Feed the wires through the fake button, then through the hole for the button in the vent/control panel. Then run the appropriate wires to the appropriate places. The positive and ground both run behind the buttons to the driver fuse box while the negative/accesory power wire runs under the steering column and behind the center console.
  

You will want to remove the center console, lower console panel and radio so you can access the wires and LED ground point. You can also install one of the LEDs in the lower console panel.   

You'll need to find a grounding point behind the radio. There are two at the bottom of the center console on each side. I used the left once since that was already being used by something else as well. Cut a 6-8" wire and connect it to this ground point. All the LEDs will connect to this ground.

This step is optional. I took some medium/fine sand paper and sanded the tips of the LEDs so that the light is diffused more instead of being very focused.
  

I put my 3 LEDs in the center of the driver foot well, the passenger foot well and the little storage nook under the center console.

The driver foot well was a bit awkward but I drilled a pilot hole and then a full size (7/32") hole in the plastic panel below the steering column. Then I installed the first LED and ran the wires the same way as the power lead, behind the center console.

The center LED was easy, I just drilled a hole in the lower panel that I removed earlier then ran the wires up into the center console.

The passenger foot well panel couldn't fit the drill so I had to take off the panel. Open the fuse box on the passenger side and you'll find two screws holding it on this side.
  

There's a third screw on the other side. Since you've taken off the lower console panel you will have access to this third screw.

Once these three screws are out, there are a set of clips holding the panel in. Carefully pop them out and remove the panel.
  

Drill a pilot hole and then the final hole in the appropriate place. After mounting the LED, I also taped the wires so they wouldn't get in the way. You will need to run the wires behind the center console but they may not be long enough, so use a hanger or some spare wire and tape it to the LED wires and run it behind the console.

Replace the panel and then pull on the hanger or spare wire and you should be able to pull the LED wires through to the center console without a problem.
  

Now that you've got the power wires from all the LEDs in the center console, strip them all by about an inch. Also strip the power lead and the ground wires. Connect all the reds with the power lead and all the blacks with the ground. Twist them all tight and wrap them in electrical tape.

You should probably also fold up the wires and try to organize them so they're not all over the place. In this picture thre three arrows show where all the LED wires are coming from and it shows all their wires folded up and twistie-tied.

Replace the lower center panel, the radio and the center panel.
  

Now you're ready to hook up the power. Open the driver side fuse box and choose a fuse to extend off of. I recommend a low amp (7.5 or less) fuse that runs a non-critical item. I chose the R/C (remote control) mirrors in space 4 (I think) since I don't use those much. This way you don't run the risk of causing a problem, and you'll also know that if you ever have a problem with the mirrors, it might be related to your LEDs. The R/C mirror fuse is also good because it turns off automatically with the car.

Pull the fuse and move it to the fuse extension. You will also need a second fuse to run the new power lead. The fuse extension should have come with one. I'm using a 5 amp fuse which should be plenty for just 3 LEDs (the R/C mirrors still use their original 7.5 amp fuse). Push the fuse extension into the original fuse position so the power lead is connected.

Now you need to complete the circuit by grounding it. There is a grounding point just to the right of the fuse box on the metal frame. Loosen the ground bolt, wrap the ground wire around it and re-tighten and you're done.
  

Installation | Completed LEDs    
     

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