[jonnyg30]

as mentioned on another thread this is one of the most useful things i have added to the car after wasting 5 minutes of my life attempting to place a usb stick in the port at night time!! even with all the interior lights on i couldn't find the hole lol (my style of usb stick doesnt help) in the end i had to pull over and use the torch on my phone. at this point i thought this is not something im willing to live with so on the way to peugeot today i dropped into halfords and picked up a pack of 2 led strips to solve the problem.

i will admit fitting the strip was a major PITA as the car is built too well and nothing wanted to come apart but eventually i squeezed enough space between the fascias to feed the cable through.

the led strip is a low brightness short strip with 3 diodes in it and measures around 5cm in total. it is stuck to the roof of the "usb cubby" and the cable is routed to the drivers foot well where it is tapped off the foot well lights. works a treat!! now whenever the courtesy lights come on the cubby lights up and i can see what im doing!!

 

[allan40alt]

Nice idea....or should I say 'bright idea'...

Looks good and works well.

You realize that you now have to take it all out and take step-by-step pictures as you re-install to show us all how you achieved it.

Al

 

[jonnyg30]

it took me 3 hours, several plasters, many removed bolts and trim, muchos head scratching and a lot of swearing to find a way to hide that cable, it's not coming out!!!

every time i found somewhere to route it something foiled my plan! but being the kind soul i am i'm sure i could provide some in situ photos of how its routed

all you will need is a thin flat blade screwdriver, a set of torques bits, leky tape and your chosen light source.

 

[John2202]

That and an ignition light would finish the car off a treat. That's a good job and you wouldn't know it wasn't a factory fit. I'm free this afternoon i will bring my car round

 

[jonnyg30]

your more than welcome lol

the lights came in a pack of 2 and i only needed one.

i did look at the ignition but thats going to require a bit more "clever".

what im thinking is to make a clear acrylic ring that will sit in the grooves around the ignition then have a tang going off the ring under the trim. the tang can be drilled into and a single led fitted. this should give a ring of light around the ignition providing just enough light to see where your key needs to go in the dark.

 

[ejohn]

Must thank jonnyg and Allan for a good inspiration to improve Humpty on yet another wet day.. following the suggestions on blue lamps for the interiors, off we went to Halfords and purchased a pair of LED's for the footwells - you are right Allan, thats a nice easy job done with delightful result...

Then thoughts went on to the unlit cubby hole which has been just a black hole when it gets dark outside. Found another Halford's blue LED product - which for only a tenner even comes with a push button switch, adequate wiring, its own power supply, and can additionally provide yet another sought after interior lighting solution - a good blue light for finding the ignition key switch

There's another Plus - no tapping into the car loom and wondering if the Warranty will be questioned !

The press button seems of a reasonable quality, and since that and the battery pack will only get a few moments of use at a time, I expect service life to be adequate... certainly cheap enough to replace anyway and as the battey pack consists of 10 in-series 1.5v replaceable cells easily bought on Amazon or Ebay.....

A light pressure on this included new button switches on the two LED's at the same time - perhaps not so good with a lefthand drive car, not that they are left in the dark on the Key entry problem.... but great for Humpty .

Nice bright and very blue light... you can make your own comment on the old geyser's hand.

This light is held in position only by the doorseal rubber trim. and the wiring is easily tucked under it both for support and for keeping it out of sight.. the light beam from this position is more than adequate to let you clearly see the key's entry, and since there is no need of any stick down or damaging screw fixing, can easily be re-adjusted anywhere along the rubber seal to personal preference. When not itself alight the very small lamp is descreet and in no way interferes with outward driving vision.

You will notice in this inverted shot of the cupholder that it shows the button switch is deliberately placed close to the sides of the cup-wells so as not to interfere with the inner rear cubbyhole wall when its put back into place. The battery pack fits neatly into the void within the cup holder - but only after a minor surgery to the structural plastic. All tied down with cable ties for a quiet ride.. Oh, the loom connection was just some useful handy waste but it should makes it easier to take out the cupholder for future cleaning... the joint is not part of the Halfords LED kit.

 

[spinneruk]

Liking the look of the cubby switch/lighting. Do you have a link to the one that you bought from Halfords as I will have to do this...pain in the backside poking around in the cubby hole for stuff.

 

[ejohn]

Liking the look of the cubby switch/lighting. Do you have a link to the one that you bought from Halfords as I will have to do this...pain in the backside poking around in the cubby hole for stuff.

Halfords part number 901983... tis available for delivery at half the price again

Should you also plan to attempt the ignition key placement lighting............
There is an apeture at the back of the cubbyhole... so used a longish (60mm) cable tie and carefully wriggled it through from the cubbyhole end towards the clutch/brake pedals - took a few attempts to succeed mind - and then taped the (extended) feed wire from the key light LED onto the cabletie end to draw it back through with the wire attatched.... to reach it initially needed the drivers footwell kick panel to be removed first (single torx screw and two pushin clips hold it).... bit of a fiddle, as ever.

but keeps everything neat and tidy.

 

[spinneruk]

Thanks for that much appreciated, is the actual led above the USB ports hidden as I cant see it in the pic when it's on if that makes sense.

 

[ejohn]

These lamps are very small - approx. 5mm x 10mm - and come supplied with the options of both tiny screws or/and double sided adhesive pads for fixing as you require.

The one in the cubbyhole (took a flash photo from the back seat to see it) is the small shadow-casting square between the two USB sockets and stuck up onto the 'ceiling' of the compartment... set back a little from the facia line where there is a convenient overlap of interior panels which enables the feed wire to be hidden and safely tucked away. Also showing beneath and at the very back of the cubby are the two black lamp wires feeding down to the switch/battery pack setup under the cup-holder - these can be tidied away under some suitable black adhesive tape down into the back corner of the cubby... not likely however that you will see them unless you shine a flashlight from the back seat.