How-To: Cupholder LEDs With Swicthes

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sidepipe87
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How-To: Cupholder LEDs With Swicthes

Post by sidepipe87 » Wed Dec 31, 2008 5:37 pm

**Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for you messing anything up doing this. Do it at your own risk!**

Well lately everyone has been doing LED cupholder installs and even more people have been asking for a how-to for one, so I decided to make one. These will be wired to switches and can be turned on or off when the exterior lights on the car are on. The will also dim when the other interior lights are dimmed. Hopefully it will help someone out.

Basics needed:

* 3 LEDs with resistors wired in. (I used the prewired SuperFlux from Oznium but any will do)
http://www.oznium.com/prewired-superflux
* 2 rocker switches (non-lighted)
http://www.oznium.com/rocker-switch
* spool of wire with positive and negative side (used model train wire)
* wire cutters
* wire strippers
* crimp tool
* male/female connectors
* ring terminal
* soldering gun/solder
*electrical tape
* heat shrink tube
* lighter


I started off by putting wheel chocks in front of the rear wheels, and disconnecting the negative terminal from the battery

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Next I started by unscrewing the 2 screws in the front cupholders with a long philips screwdriver

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and the same with the 4 screws in the bottom of the center console. I did this install throughout a few days, that's why the switches are already mounted.

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At this point you can see why the wheel chocks were used. In order to get the center console out, I have found it is easiest to recline the passenger seat all the way back, pull up on the e-brake to the very top, and if you have an atx, put the gear selector in N with the key to 'on'.

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Now lift the console up making sure to get the e-brake through the opening and and work it out from under the dash by rotating it. Put the car back in P now.

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You need to tap into the Orange wire that goes to the gear selector bulb. Supposedly mtx cars have this wiring as well. I chose to wire in 2 lengths of wire and crimp female terminals on the end. These will serve as disconnects for the front cupholders and the rear cupholder. I would suggest covering your tapped in connections with heat shrink. I misplaced mine, so I used electrical tape.

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To make this wire easier to access I pulled the bulb from the shifter, dont be afraid to use pliers, its hard to get out. Also there is a tab holding the wires to the console support on the floor. Pop the christmas tree fastener out for more room to work

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I then took the center console in my garage to do the remainder of the wiring. Here are some of the tools I used

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Next, unscrew the 4 screws holding the center console bin in, and drill two 3/4" holes somewhere that won't interfere with the shifter or anything under the console. I put mine on the side above the e-brake area. Disregard the hole at the top, it's for my iPod cable. The switches will have to be pushed in after the bin is screwed back in otherwise the terminals will hit while trying to reinstall the bin.

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I chose to drill the holes for the LEDs in the backs of the cupholders because there isn't much room to mount the front ones from the bottom. Also it cuts down on a bright light in your eye, but still work excellent.

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and the rear

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For the wiring, refer to my schematic. I decided to only use one LED in the rear cupholder instead of two, but it makes no difference

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Here I've wired both positive leads from the front LEDs together to a length of wire. Then I soldered on the lead coming from the swicth with the female connection on it.

Image

Do the same for the rear LED, then connect a length of wire to both of the other leads coming from the switches then crimp a male connector on the end of each to connect to the ones you've already tapped into the shifter light. I then solder all 3 negative leads from the LEDs together and crimped a ring terminal on the end. This will serve as our ground connection. I chose to drill a hole in the metal brace on the floor next to the left front screw for the console. I sanded the area down to bare metal for a good ground.

After I wired everything together I taped the wires up and zip tied them together. I stuck them to the sides of the console with duct tape so that they would be out of the way. I sanded the area around the holes I drilled for the lights with coarse sandpaper to give the epoxy something to stick to, then epoxied the LEDs into the holes, but the LocTite no mix stuff I used didn't work very well, so I wrapped electrical tape around the cupholders to make sure the LEDs don't fall out. I would look for a better epoxy, or some other mounting option.

I attached all the female terminals back up to the 2 switches I ran and screwed the bin back in.

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After this, were done wiring and need to reinstall the console left it up far enough to connect the quick connects and screw the ground wire to the bracing

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Be sure to put the car in N again to be able to get the shifter back in easily, then put it back in P when you get it in. Screw the 6 screws back in to hold the console down and you are done inside!

Daytime shots

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A crappy night shot

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Dont forget to remove the chocks from in front of the wheels and reconnect the negative battery terminal. Turn your lights to either parking lamps or headlights and turn your switches on and try them out!

Let me know if this is unclear.

-Ryan
Last edited by sidepipe87 on Sat Mar 30, 2019 1:24 am, edited 4 times in total.
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bstc00
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Post by bstc00 » Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:21 pm

very nice write up.

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sidepipe87
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Post by sidepipe87 » Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:27 pm

Thanks bud. I'd have more pics but my camera died half way through and I had to find some new batteries.
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Post by Jenni » Thu Jan 01, 2009 1:01 am

Very nice write up!
Very cool hiding place for the switches!! :thumbup: Image

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Post by danman132x » Thu Jan 01, 2009 1:54 pm

Great write up. I'm doing my soon also, just waiting on a few misc parts to come in. I was going to do a how-to, maybe I still am, be even more reference. Looks good.

Edit.
Was checking some older pics when I had my console removed, and my 03 manual indeed does have the orange dimmer wire and even the conector.
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sidepipe87
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Post by sidepipe87 » Thu Jan 01, 2009 2:35 pm

cool, yeah I read in another thread that there was one there. I assume they put that wiring in before the drivetrain and either use it or tape it up.
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Post by farmboy » Thu Jan 01, 2009 7:36 pm

just curious, why do the parking lamps or headlights need to be on? otherwise it looks really good. might have to do something like that on my 2 neons.

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Post by sidepipe87 » Thu Jan 01, 2009 9:08 pm

The reason the lights need to be on for this application is the choice of power source I chose. I have no interest in having them on during the day, so it didn't matter to me. I tapped into the light on the gear selector. It only lights up when you turn the lights on. If you wanted them on all the time you could wire them up to constant 12v from the cigarette lighter for example. You don't even need to wire in switches but I wan the option to turn them off. Understand?
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Post by farmboy » Sat Jan 03, 2009 8:48 am

completely. i was just curious is all.

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Post by sidepipe87 » Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:20 pm

No problem bud, just wanted to make that clear in case other people weren't sure either.
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Post by Sykora » Sat Jan 03, 2009 11:51 pm

cool dude- wanna come over and do mine for me? I'll buy you lunch ;) I'll have to try this whenever I get a whole bunch of time to sit down and not have to use my car for a few days :)
-Eric
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Post by sidepipe87 » Sun Jan 04, 2009 12:54 am

haha sure. yours is easy if it's a 5 speed. you don't even need to socket wired in for the light so you can just use that wire. get me a plane ticket out to Texas and I'll do it for ya :lol: seriously, it's not very hard. if I can do it, so can you. It just takes a little time getting all the stuff out of the car, and soldering the wires and crimping the connectors, gluing the stuff in. etc. it just takes some time, it's not difficult though!
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Post by Sykora » Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:47 pm

^^ Yeah? I'm glad you're confident- I'll have to try it. And I'm actually at school in Indianapolis :) Just got here today.
-Eric
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Post by sidepipe87 » Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:05 pm

ah ok, well im in Pittsburgh for school lol. Yeah, give it a shot though man. There's not too much you can mess up.
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Post by Sykora » Sun Jan 11, 2009 12:12 am

Image

Ah! Ryan- I think I did something wrong!
-Eric
Image

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Post by supermike » Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:23 am

sidepipe87 wrote:ah ok, well im in Pittsburgh for school lol. Yeah, give it a shot though man. There's not too much you can mess up.


:laughing3: What did you say about not being too much you could mess up?

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Post by sidepipe87 » Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:51 am

I call bullshit... that's a 1gn!

but that reminds me. disclaimer..
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Post by supermike » Sun Jan 11, 2009 2:10 am

sidepipe87 wrote:I call bullshit... that's a 1gn!
1gn Neons had cupholders too, didn't they?

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Post by sidepipe87 » Sun Jan 11, 2009 2:13 am

Sykora has a blue 2gn... just like his sig
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Post by Mat00ES » Sun Jan 11, 2009 2:15 am

He had the 1st gen front end conversion.
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Post by sidepipe87 » Sun Jan 11, 2009 2:18 am

Man at this point I'm not sure. I'm not in a state to be wondering either. ha.
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Post by Sykora » Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:42 am

Mat00ES wrote:He had the 1st gen front end conversion.
yeah! lol :laughing3:
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Post by SOKADAO954 » Sun Jan 11, 2009 11:29 am

Sykora wrote:Image

Ah! Ryan- I think I did something wrong!
:rockon: :rockon: :rockon: :beatstick: :beatstick:
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sidepipe87
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Post by sidepipe87 » Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:15 pm

so really... is that just a random pic of a burned 1gn, or what happened?? I'm curious.
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Post by Sykora » Sun Jan 11, 2009 4:59 pm

^^ lol yeah I found it on google images :) :) :) I didn't really toast my car- haha
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sidepipe87
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Post by sidepipe87 » Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:11 pm

Ok, just making sure it was meant as a joke.. I started to get a little concerned last night when I saw that. I knew from it being a 1gn it wasn't yours.
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Post by onewickedkid05 » Mon Jan 12, 2009 12:59 am

this is how mine came out


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sidepipe87
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Post by sidepipe87 » Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:02 am

looks good from that pic. Are you happy with how it turned out?
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Post by Tagar89 » Sun Mar 29, 2009 1:59 am

WE will se how my cup holders turn out i ordered my stuff today.

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Post by sidepipe87 » Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:53 am

post up some pics when you're done.
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