Hi. I was in my friends new acura (TSX I believe) the other night and he has the coolest stock lighting item in there. There are these two really faint blue LED's pointing from the roof panel (near where our sunroof controls are) straight down onto the shifter. They come one when the car's lights are on. They do not obstruct your night vision at all. In fact they are hard to tell that they are there unless you look right up at them or down at the shifter. This is a FAINT light that gives off just enough light to illuminate the shifting pattern on the ****.

I know it's useless because most of us have the shift pattern memorized in about 2 shifts but I am looking for something cool to put in the car now that the warrenty has come and gone.

I would imagine that because of the low power required to light up LED's that one could run them off the wires going to the clock (I have a 2003 MC).

I would appreciate anyone's thoughts or experiences if they have done this already.

 

I did this already. I call it my "Dragon Light", since I purchased a white 4-LED cluster light at the Deal's Gap motorcycle store. It's sold as a 'courtesy light'. It's also black and with similar contours to the existing sunroof switch and blank panel/hands-free mic cover. I added a small switch and wired it into the clock power. The curent draw is only about 65mA. The resulting installation gives me a very cool and diffuse 'moonlight' effect that is useful as a map light, courtesy light or whatever. Not too bright, not too dim. Looks like it's part of the car.

 

The initial description made me think of a very low powered LED flashlight. Or some sort of laser pointer set on low power.

Sounds like a cool effect and has got me wondering. Don't do much night driving, but soudns very cool.

 

Check out a BMW... they all have the same built in lights to gently illuminate the shifter and console area. It is tricky to get the right intensity so you aren't blinded... I put some blue LEDs in my footwells and if I wear white shoes it reflects enough for people outside to see (no tint on the windows yet). However, I did some long drives at night and it didn't bother me in the long run... I just marveled at my handy work a lot.

There is a post on here that talks about installing a garage/gate/whatever opener in the generally unused vent/mic cover. it is really detailed about how to remove the plastic trim panel up there so you can play with things.

Good luck and lets see some photos! You can look up mine in the member gallery.

 

So do the mini although they arent pointed at the shifter...look under the toggle panel they point at the cupholder/ashtray

 

I might be mistaken, but as I recall the 05s have the lights you want standard. 05s have a new module to replace the old clock, and the new module includes two switchable reading lights and two LEDs shining down on the shifter......

I don't have a 05 to verify though. 05 owners please comment.

 

My 05 has them, very nice effect.

 

here's a link to another thread. these are some light up trim rings for the shifter and cup holders. the brightness is adjustable with the dash lights. mine are red/orange to match the rest of the car but you can get then in a bunch of different colors. check it out.


https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...112#post406112

 

Yes, they're standard on the 05.

-mike

 

What's up Mike, you're here too.

Yes, those orange lights are standard on the 05s. I also have a 04 Acura TL, the blue lights are standard also.

 

Hehe, hey Frankie. TL's a nice alternative to the MCS (not that you need one).

By the way I forgot to mention the (fairly obvious) fact that these are the same technology used in BMW's. I drove an E46 325i as a loaner for one of my parents' cars for about a week, and it had exactly the same technology.

-mike

 

Greatbear...do you have a pic? Thanks

 

I took these tonight. The first two are flash pics of the light installation, the third is the best I could do to show the effect of the light. It's not excruciatingly bright as it appears, rather it's a comfortable moonlight-hued, well diffused light that can be used at night as a less intense alternative to the maplights from above and behind, or just to cast a soft light to see things in the dark. I have a tiny toggle switch for now, the small pushbutton swith that I had planned on using was onlya momentary switch, not a push on-push off style. I can change that at any time, though I did kinda get used to the toggle now. :smile:








This last one looks like stadium lighting, but it's not.

 

Cool lighting stuff, indeed. Now...imagine this....

Remember the "submarine" MINI in the last GoMINI mag. It had two rows of toggles ! Wouldn't it be cool if the aftermarket someday gave us a blank panel that looked just like the OEM panel but with the ability to wire all kinds of stuff in w/o impacting the car's existing electronics? It could attach below the existing one but it would be far less complicated, just a blank panel with the little "hoops".

Finally I could get that ejector seat I've been wanting!!!

(ps...I'm not an engineer, I just think it'd be cool to have more switches.)