Anyone interested in a very easy DIY for LED reading lights?

[wbarfels]

Like the title says, I figured out a pretty simple way to make your reading lights accept led's with about 5-10 minutes worth of work......Ill make a DIY if anyone is interested....

EDIT:

I also found a way to make the "dome" light Ridiculously bright, So I added a third option for both to the poll if your interested....

[flyfishvt]

I almost never use those light for reading. The only time I really need them is when I first get in the car. I'll stick with the stock set up

[scooper]

go for it man and thanks for offering...

[Zodiacbw]

Do it, the license plate led diy was a good read.

[013137]

I rarely ever read in my car, unless it's like a receipt or nutrition label or something.

[wbarfels]

Well Its nice to have the option to use Led's anyways, and with BMW's brilliant Idea to provide power to housing (which in every other car Ive ever worked on, wired the way it should be) it's at the very lease handy......And Led lights last much, much longer then conventional lights......Not to mention Ive found such a simple way of doing that It's pretty easy. While I don't use them, Ive had people in my car who want a light on to look at whatever on there side of the car, and to be able to do it without blinding me with the Dome-light is pretty nice.

I'mdoing my headliner right now, so I figured why not. Plus the hard part of the whole thing is only getting the connector wire unhooked. As far as the actually wiring.....Well that took me all of 2 minutes to do (soldering the wires) and would take all of 30 seconds to us butt connectors. But since my latest car is almost completely untouched.....I have just been soldering any connections I make and then using shrink tubing. (starting with my 18 button OBC)...... That way the next time I take something apart I have all my bases covered and I wont have to worry about a wire coming loose!

Speaking of reading lights, My car has the 2 bulb style with the switch in back...... So Im changin that to the old dome light LED I was using (18 full size LED's per side) and ditching the button. I dont have anyone ride back there anyways, and this way is much brighter and simpler to boot. As for the Super bright main Dome light......Well lets just say I happend to order some with a crazy amount of Superbright LEds, and they came in a set of 2, and with a slight mod....well lets just say that as far as I know my "dome lights" are the brighest to ever set foot in an E36 (Im sure someone some were has a set up to rival mine, but not that I know of) The best part is that even though it took a few weels to get here (from china of course) The whole setup ended up costing right around $4! I naturally tried to order a set from the US frist, but that ended up being inferior, and they cost about $20 instead of 4.

Ok, Im going to go ahead and cover all of this, in this post, as well as revisit the error free License plate lights at the same time. That way I can reword a few things that were a tad confusing, and at the same time Make something that will cover EVERY LED for your car in one p;ace! Hopefully I can get a MOD to move this to the DIY section this time.....That way people can find all of the LED goodness in one refinned spot!l


OH>>>> I have now completely cracked the nut for one button starting system! One button to rule them all! AND Ive even managed to come up with a way that you just push the button for a second, and it will crank your car over long enough to start it, along with turning on all of your accessory's, and allowing a second push to kill EVERYTHING without grinding you starter!

There is one more hurtle to overcome, but it's an easy one wither way. And What Im looking at doing is providing you with a simple "black box" with all of the relays and what not pre wired inside the box, and some kind of either speaker wire posts, or speaker terminals all labled on the box and ready to go! You will also have the option of holding the button down until your car starts, or a single button push to start the car without holding the button down.! All you will have to do is tell me how many seconds you need your starter to crank, and I will program that into the Box. The Install will have Detailed Instructions on where to find the needed wires and what socket to plug them into. This will of course be separate post from the LED DIY.. The system will be secure via central locking (In other words with central locking engaged, this will not start your car! It will also not require you to put your key in the ignition, nor leave the Whole key in the ignition. IT will also not require the removal of the steering wheel locking mechanism. IF you have an Alarm I can add an Additional if security......... and It will most likely have a simple cover for you ignition switch so that A key is no longer necessary......

I have ALL of the electronics for this, plus Enough to make 3 more as it stands. I can also make this system completely Key less..........As in you leave your keys and FOB in your pocket, and everything else locks and unlocks automatically for you. This will drive the price up to around $150 (give or take)

THE ONLY thing I have to work out is the fact that our cars list 2 ignition wires (and I have yet to set aside the time to figure out whether I need to interrupt(and re-connect) both, or just one. A small matter to be sure, just one That I Have not had time to track down yet. If anyone knows the answer to this I would greatly appreciate any insight you may have into this matter.