Ambient Lighting in the car
09-02-2008, 06:18 PM
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Ambient Lighting in the car I have been wanting to put ambient lights under my seats and in the floorboards. Has anybody on here done this before? What materials are best for this application? Should I go with light bars or LEDs? This isn't taking any priority at the moment. More like a planned future mod. I still have to fix my interior and before I do that buy a new clutch(my current one is feeling like a lizard in the Sahara). 
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. 
09-02-2008, 07:10 PM
#3
Okay, well there's a few things you should note if you're going this route:
Don't do colors. Seriously, it looks bad. I did red for a while but when I switched to white LED's things looked a whole lot cleaner.
It shouldn't hurt your eyes. Not only should the lighting not be directly in any kind of line of sight while driving, but it also shouldn't be near reflective surfaces that will reflect the light near your eyes. It might not be noticeable at first, but your eyes will get fatigued very quickly if you disobey this one.
Lighting in high-end cars is designed to highlight accents. You should do the same. You don't put lighting that lights up carpet, you have it light up something pretty or something important. No one wants to look at carpet no matter how clean it is. And if your car isn't show-room clean it'll look like complete *** with dirt/lint/paper as the only thing people see.
If you really want your lighting to pop, get some kind of stainless steel accent for your interior and have some nice white lights illuminate it indirectly. Check out how the 3 series and up BMW's or (for a real cool look) the Mercedes S550 do it.
Just don't pop some neons under your seats and feet like I did. It looks cool for a day and then it starts to look like *** real quick. I'm yet to see any fbody owner do it "right".
Don't do colors. Seriously, it looks bad. I did red for a while but when I switched to white LED's things looked a whole lot cleaner.
It shouldn't hurt your eyes. Not only should the lighting not be directly in any kind of line of sight while driving, but it also shouldn't be near reflective surfaces that will reflect the light near your eyes. It might not be noticeable at first, but your eyes will get fatigued very quickly if you disobey this one.
Lighting in high-end cars is designed to highlight accents. You should do the same. You don't put lighting that lights up carpet, you have it light up something pretty or something important. No one wants to look at carpet no matter how clean it is. And if your car isn't show-room clean it'll look like complete *** with dirt/lint/paper as the only thing people see.
If you really want your lighting to pop, get some kind of stainless steel accent for your interior and have some nice white lights illuminate it indirectly. Check out how the 3 series and up BMW's or (for a real cool look) the Mercedes S550 do it.
Just don't pop some neons under your seats and feet like I did. It looks cool for a day and then it starts to look like *** real quick. I'm yet to see any fbody owner do it "right".
09-02-2008, 10:41 PM
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Okay, well there's a few things you should note if you're going this route:
Don't do colors. Seriously, it looks bad. I did red for a while but when I switched to white LED's things looked a whole lot cleaner.
It shouldn't hurt your eyes. Not only should the lighting not be directly in any kind of line of sight while driving, but it also shouldn't be near reflective surfaces that will reflect the light near your eyes. It might not be noticeable at first, but your eyes will get fatigued very quickly if you disobey this one.
Lighting in high-end cars is designed to highlight accents. You should do the same. You don't put lighting that lights up carpet, you have it light up something pretty or something important. No one wants to look at carpet no matter how clean it is. And if your car isn't show-room clean it'll look like complete *** with dirt/lint/paper as the only thing people see.
If you really want your lighting to pop, get some kind of stainless steel accent for your interior and have some nice white lights illuminate it indirectly. Check out how the 3 series and up BMW's or (for a real cool look) the Mercedes S550 do it.
Just don't pop some neons under your seats and feet like I did. It looks cool for a day and then it starts to look like *** real quick. I'm yet to see any fbody owner do it "right".
Don't do colors. Seriously, it looks bad. I did red for a while but when I switched to white LED's things looked a whole lot cleaner.
It shouldn't hurt your eyes. Not only should the lighting not be directly in any kind of line of sight while driving, but it also shouldn't be near reflective surfaces that will reflect the light near your eyes. It might not be noticeable at first, but your eyes will get fatigued very quickly if you disobey this one.
Lighting in high-end cars is designed to highlight accents. You should do the same. You don't put lighting that lights up carpet, you have it light up something pretty or something important. No one wants to look at carpet no matter how clean it is. And if your car isn't show-room clean it'll look like complete *** with dirt/lint/paper as the only thing people see.
If you really want your lighting to pop, get some kind of stainless steel accent for your interior and have some nice white lights illuminate it indirectly. Check out how the 3 series and up BMW's or (for a real cool look) the Mercedes S550 do it.
Just don't pop some neons under your seats and feet like I did. It looks cool for a day and then it starts to look like *** real quick. I'm yet to see any fbody owner do it "right".
I plan on having some stuff embroidered in the new floormats I'm getting, so I will have a reason to have the lights. However, what else would be good to highlight under there?
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09-03-2008, 11:51 PM
#8
OK...maybe I just come across anyone who I rubbed the wrong way, but I've never had any complaints of my setup. I also didn't want to go with specific areas lit, but instead of a more generalized lighting effect.
(Pardon the difficulty I had with photographing the UV lighting)
And no...those hotspots are not readily visible with the naked eye.
(Pardon the difficulty I had with photographing the UV lighting)
And no...those hotspots are not readily visible with the naked eye.
09-04-2008, 09:22 AM
#9
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I have some ambient lighting in my car, not as intense as cobrahunters (mine is purple/uv also). It's very subtle, i'll get some pics.
LEDs are your best friend, check out superbrightleds.com they have all kinds of crap. Also some wire, solder, and a soldering iron!
LEDs are your best friend, check out superbrightleds.com they have all kinds of crap. Also some wire, solder, and a soldering iron!
