timmahh Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 So this is the first one i'm putting in, would like one for the back seats somewhere but there isn't a light directly above them so i'll hold off on that until I think of something creative. Anywho, so one of the things I liked about my TL was the ambient lighting in the front area that helped light up the shifter / cup holder area at night. I thought not having them wouldn't be a big deal in the Leggy, but to me the cockpit is very dark at night to the point where it could use some lighting. I ordered some oznium amber LEDs and LED holders (3mm) knowing I atleast wanted one LED in the front to provide lighting. Two I think would be overkill, but one seems to be enough - for me anyways. My initial idea was to drill holes in the map light areas and tap into the auto dimming mirror power [which I later found in another thread on here.. great minds!], but initial testing came up with a pretty fatal flaw which was a good amount of light showing in my rear view mirror.. no good.. can't deal with that. When I make interior changes to my cars I want it to look as OEM, and clean as possible.. So my next thought was to install the LED in my new auto dimming mirror, which is what I ended up doing. I had orignally planned on taking the mirror apart and doing a full internal install, however after a few attempts and a scratch on the top of my mirror housing I said fudge it.. not going to break a $200 mirror for this. So I drilled a small hole in the bottom, and one out the back to route the wires. No opening or possible breaking the mirror required! The LED itself is small, but I didn't care for the fact that it stuck out past the housing, and was a bit too bright.. So I got some fine grit sand paper and rubbed the LED across it to accomplish two things - 1) to diffuse the light and 2) to get the height to be flush with the LED mounting piece. Overall I am extremely happy, it turns on/off with the key, isn't really visible in the light, and provides a low key solution with good output. Sorry for my giant novel post, here are the pics.. http://www.fuzi0n.com/imgz/cars/subaru/ambient/ambled1.jpg http://www.fuzi0n.com/imgz/cars/subaru/ambient/ambled2.jpg http://www.fuzi0n.com/imgz/cars/subaru/ambient/ambled3.jpg http://www.fuzi0n.com/imgz/cars/subaru/ambient/ambled4.jpg http://www.fuzi0n.com/imgz/cars/subaru/ambient/ambled5.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyJoe Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 wow...very clean look on those night pics...just the perfect amount of lighting from what i can see. Great work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmahh Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 Thanks! The more I look at the pics the more I wish I did an internal wire tap but like I said I didn't see a way to get the mirror apart.. there are no screws so I assume it's glued and didn't want to break a week old item! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleeper8406 Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 pics are gone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramm Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 nice idea, but with the nav, i have to turn the dimming down because its broad daylight in there haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomfohr15 Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Great idea. I did like the ambient lighting of my parents' BMW I drove around this summer while visiting and was thinking about doing something similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmahh Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 pics are gone shouldn't be.. I saw red X's and refreshed.. unless Godaddy went down! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aodhan Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Looks awesome. What power source did you tap into? I might have to try the same! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmahh Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 The auto dimming mirror / homelink harness. I really wanted to tap into it directly at the mirror or internally to minimize the extra wire [which I can still do at a later date I guess] but didn't want to hack up the harness or break the mirror trying to get it apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSiWRX Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Wow, that's pretty cool! <-- I love Winky, my "periwinkle" (ABP) LGT! - Allen / Usual Suspect "DumboRAT" / One of the Three Stooges '16 Outback, '16 WRX, 7th Subaru Family Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex--TheGreek Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Looks very clean! Very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aodhan Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 do you have any close up photos of the splice into the wire harness? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmahh Posted October 22, 2009 Author Share Posted October 22, 2009 do you have any close up photos of the splice into the wire harness? I do not, there are only 3 wires in the homelink/auto dimming mirror connector up by the map lights - I used yellow one [outer pin] and the one next to it, I believe yellow is power and the wire in the middle is ground. I used the easy-cheesey crimp-on wire taps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lossol Posted October 23, 2009 Share Posted October 23, 2009 neat idea, looks great in those night shots VBG1 gauges available at www.gtboostgauge.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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