Installation of extra led lights in the trunk

[vw norm]

Now that the RVC is almost completed - I'm working on installing LED's under the hood. There is a bend in the sheet metal that is perfect to shine the light straight down into the engine compartment at the front edge of the insulation blanket. I ordered this from Superbrightleds:
WFLS-CW30-BK: 50cm[19.7in] Cool White Weatherproof High Power LED Flexible Light Strip - Black Circuit
Here's a pic lit (just using a 9 volt battery - much brighter on 12V) and off.





Here's a couple pics of the tilt switch. This will turn on the LED strip when I lift the hood.



And the tilt switch mounted. The white wire next to the washer nozzle wiring in the background is the wire for the LED strip. Everything is hidden inside the hood ribs:



And the LED strip mounted:



I removed the underhood insulation blanket and routed the wiring inside the stiffening ribs after threading one of those corrugated cable looms though first, with the intention of following the wiring for the washer nozzles down. I am going to add a fuse to the underhood fuse box (2 empty slots) and try and tuck the wiring in nicely. I will add to this when I get there. All the pics are here as well: http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/...ED%20lighting/

[Juniorfeel]

I'm kicking around the idea of adding a LED or two under the rear bumper to light up the ground when I am at the trunk. Just to make sure I see anything I may have dropped. It would be like when any of the doors open.

Going to wait a bit though since the car goes into the shop next week to have the rear end damage repaired from being rear ended last week

I will be doing this on my B6. I thought it'd be nice too.

[yamaguy]

I had the time to install my version of the Kchorro LED trunk mod last weekend. I drilled 3/8" holes by each LED (being careful not to drill into the deck trim inside the car, or window)and used a 1/4" rubber grommet to hide the wiring on top of the trunk panel.


Untitled by yamaguy, on Flickr

I then used my automatic wire stripper (which is real nice when trying to strip the wire in the middle of it) so that I could daisychain the LEDs together. I then twisted the wire from the one LED to the other and E taped them up.

Untitled by yamaguy, on Flickr


Untitled by yamaguy, on Flickr


I checked everything as I went with a battery from my little drill.

Untitled by yamaguy, on Flickr
By the way if I ever have to sleep in my P, this is pretty comfy!!

Once they were all wired together, I drilled another hole on the passenger side front of the trunk and tucked the wires behind the carpet and ran them to the factory light.

Untitled by yamaguy, on Flickr

Here I used my auto wire stripper again by the factory light connector and twisted the wires on the factory ones and taped it all up.

Untitled by yamaguy, on Flickr

I did 6 of them (2 are blocked in this pic by the seat releases) because I figured at $1.99 each I would splurge. lol

Untitled by yamaguy, on Flickr

Then it was Pizza time!!

Untitled by yamaguy, on Flickr

[vw norm]

Nice clean install. I like the way you hid the wires, easy with no sub in the way.

[Kchorro]

AWESOME !
I also I'm working on adding LED into the hood.

[vw norm]

I finally got around to completing the underhood LED's. I ran a cable to the fuse panel in the dash and added a couple of repair wires to slots 36 (for the RVC Controller) and 37 - for the underhood LED. Here is a pic of the modified fuse panel with 2 new 5 Amp fuses. The blue lug attached to the dash is the ground for the LED strip. Thanks to JetTurbo for the excellent how-to detailing adding a new fuse in his post here:http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62584

I ran the wire from the LED's along side the existing hood harness for the heated washer nozzles and wrapped it with 'real' cloth tape.

The cable was run along the back side of the insulation shield on the front of the firewall. Then I removed the battery and found this grommet in the firewall, next to the factory wiring harness. I thought this might have been for the MT clutch? But it made for a handy place to run my cable through. Drilled a small hole, pushed the wire through and sealed it up with some silicone.

Here are a couple of pics illuminated solely by the LED strip at night. More details on the tilt switch and the LED strip are above in this thread.

This is from a distance showing the LED strip and engine illumination.

[irishpride]

added to DIY

[Griff_333]

I just ordered a dozen... Cheers...

[2JZ]

awesome practical mods =)

Going back to the trunk lighting, does anyone know the guage of the power wires to the OEM trunk light? Not that I'm lazy, just trying to order some parts to splice into it now, otherwise I'll have to wait until probably this weekend (6 month old demands all my time once I get home and car is street parked).

Thanks in advance either way ha

[vw norm]

0.6 mm wire, or 22 gauge. Pretty skinny, but adequate for a bunch of led's!

[2JZ]

0.6 mm wire, or 22 gauge. Pretty skinny, but adequate for a bunch of led's!

Awesome, thanks!

ah...to be back on a car forum again....

[salsaman06]

I just completed the trunk LED mod. WOW! Absolutely fantastic! This has got to be the cheapest, easiest, biggest bang-for-the-buck I've seen in a long time. Huge thanks to Kchorro for this.

Some things I did: installed 8 LEDs instead of 6 (I'm gettin' old - I need more light. ), soldered and heat-shrinked all connections. Used nylon sheaths around all wires. And used the thin strip foam mounting tape specifically for these LED ribbons.

If anyone needs more light in the trunk of their B7 and thinking about doing this - just go do it. You will not be disappointed.

Thanks again Kchorro.