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SolaraGuy.com • View topic - Interior Lighting
Everything about the Toyota Camry.

Interior Lighting

Interior Lighting

Postby chrono807 » Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:38 am

Ok, I KNOW it's a little bit teenager-ish and a bit ricey, but I want to get some kind of interior lighting wired up the right way (i.e. the way ricers tend NOT to do it). I don't want to walk into walmart, walk out with a few neon tubes, wire them into a cigarette lighter adapter and plug and unplug to control the power. At the very least, this is my plan:

* Get a 6-circuit automotive fuse panel and wire it directly from the battery (I want to get a 6x30A because this will allow me to run an Infinity Basslink if I add one in the future too - I'll wire up the fuse panel with 4 gauge wire which is safe for 200 amps at 15 feet and we're only talking about 180 amps at less than 5 feet).

* Get a switch panel - use one switch as a master and have one switch for footwells, one for cupholders, one for center console. The slave switches will have one side wired to the ground on the lighting circuits, and the other side will wire into one of the posts on the master switch. The master switch's other post will wire into the vehicle's ground.

Some considerations:

* Cupholders and console would definitely be LED. For footwells, what's better, LED or cold cathode? By "better", I mean taking all into account - heat production, current draw, not so much brightness because let's face it either way it'll be enough to light up the footwells.

* Where should I mount the fuse block?

* Where can I get and where should I mount the switch panel?

* Heat will certainly be a consideration when mounting the fuse block, but how about the switch panel?

Aside from anyone's personal feelings on interior lighting, is there anything I haven't considered?
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Postby corlon » Tue Mar 10, 2009 11:30 pm

a fuse block sounds like overkill. led lighting draws very little current. i put a couple of switches in front of the shifter near the 12v adpater. good luck.
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Postby chrono807 » Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:58 am

corlon wrote:a fuse block sounds like overkill. led lighting draws very little current. i put a couple of switches in front of the shifter near the 12v adpater. good luck.


The main motivation for including the fuse block is to make sure I have the ability to add more accessories later. (I wouldn't USE its entire 180 amps of capacity with my 80 or whatever amp alternator, but having the ability to safely draw 30 amps through each circuit will mean it will NEVER have a problem with the little 5A I run for the lights).

Using a 6x30 fuse block would mean I could even add a sub later without having to drill the firewall again - 30A x 12V = 360W, and an Infinity Basslink II (probably the biggest I'd get) peaks at 250W.

In the end, I might have to drill anyway if I decide to add the 4sc expansion module because I'd get Infinity Kappas (2-ohm) and that would add another 200W total RMS - 450 / 12 = 37.5A. Ouch. That would probably be hell on my alternator too - would I need to upgrade to the Highlander alternator to run the Basslink 2 w/ the 4SC?
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Postby Chinky420 » Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:04 pm

for the footwells, i'd recommend using LEDs (probably about a 3 to 6 LED strip). get under there and check it out. the driver side is pretty easy to find a place to mount an LED strip (out of sight)...but the passenger side footwell is a bit more restrictive.

there's a plastic panel from the bottom of the glove box to the top of the floor pan. it'll be pretty hard to get a cold cathode tube in there, as there isn't much space to work with. or, if you do use a CC tube, it'll probably be visible by anyone sitting in the pass seat.


my recommendation: get in your car and check out how much space you have to work with beforehand. i didn't, and ended up lucking out (everything fit and was flush). when i got to the passenger side footwell, i was a little bit miffed at how little space i had to work with (i also didn't do any drilling or cutting of anything. i just ran the wires from my reverse-glo guages, so that they click on automatically whenever my headlights/dash are illuminated, and everything was tucked in the center dash, behind my headunit).

also: depending on what color you go for in the footwells, make sure it's not too bright. it can be distracting, and if it's too bright, could attract unwanted attention (like from cops). i went with a 9 LED strip in each footwell, and it turned out being a little bit bright on the drivers side (it was tucked up higher, behind the steering wheel mechanics), and REALLY bright on my passenger side (like i said, it mounts very close to the floorpan, if you don't do any cutting/drilling).

all in all, it took me about an hour or two, but i didn't solder anything and i didn't install a switchbox/fusebox or anything.
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Postby Chinky420 » Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:08 pm

oh yeah, i have the beige interior...which may have contributed to the pass footwell being so much brighter (the light reflects good off the beige floormats)

if you have the black interior, you may be able to get away with a few more LEDs without it being too bright.

but then again, it's all about personal taste...i was going for the subtle look (akin to the newer acura TL-S....like the one my brother got), but ended up making it too bright.



my solution: cover the excess LEDs with electrical tape, until footwell is dimmed to my liking.
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Postby chrono807 » Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:36 pm

Chinky420 wrote:oh yeah, i have the beige interior...which may have contributed to the pass footwell being so much brighter (the light reflects good off the beige floormats)

if you have the black interior, you may be able to get away with a few more LEDs without it being too bright.

but then again, it's all about personal taste...i was going for the subtle look (akin to the newer acura TL-S....like the one my brother got), but ended up making it too bright.



my solution: cover the excess LEDs with electrical tape, until footwell is dimmed to my liking.


I'll have to see what kind of space I have to work with in an '07 Camry... should be a bit more than the Solara on the passenger side (although I did a cold cath install in my first Toyota, a '97 Camry LE and it was no treat so I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!).
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Postby Kenn157 » Wed Mar 25, 2009 3:43 pm

Check my CarDomain site. I have 6 LED strips under the dash that go on with the lights I also have a toggle switch to turn off all the time. I had it installed by a custom car place in greater Boston.
Had a 99 Solara SE V6. Had a 06 Tacoma. Now I have a 2008 Camry SE V6
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Postby GzNutz » Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:21 pm

Kenn157 wrote:Check my CarDomain site. I have 6 LED strips under the dash that go on with the lights I also have a toggle switch to turn off all the time. I had it installed by a custom car place in greater Boston.


Where did you get your led strips from. They put off a really nice glow!
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Postby Kenn157 » Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:03 am

GzNutz wrote:
Kenn157 wrote:Check my CarDomain site. I have 6 LED strips under the dash that go on with the lights I also have a toggle switch to turn off all the time. I had it installed by a custom car place in greater Boston.


Where did you get your led strips from. They put off a really nice glow!


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