Heres the Directions: (Thanks 02TahoeMD)
Time: 90ish minutes
Well, this forum just keeps planting ideas in my head, and I tackled the latest idea today. I added LED lights to the cupholders on my Tahoe, it is a very easy mod to do, and I am happy with the results. Wanna do it yourself? Read on.....
You will need some 12V LEDs. I had some I had gotten from eBay awhile back just laying around, and used them. They are super convenient to use with their long leads. I got mine in red:
Next, yank out your cupholder and grab a drill bit that matches the size of the LEDs. I used a bit that was just a touch smaller than the bulb, and worked it around after drilling the hole to widen it just a tiny bit. I only used 4 LEDs for the entire project, since I wanted a subtle light, not too overpowering. I put one one each cupholder and one at each end of the catchall portion of the box.
After drilling in the holes, touch a dab of an adhesive to keep them in place. I used a touch of JB Weld on mine. I then routed the wires and connected them together, and then attached them to a quick disconnect plug that I had gotten from Pep Boys.
I have a 12V switched source that I routed into my console to have as a "master on" for my GPS and XM radio. I just used this as my power source and spliced in the other side of the connector. Voila! Now I have lights. Of course, you could also splice into the dash lights, or tap a line from the fuse box to do this if you want, anything 12V will work fine.
To help cut down on some of the glare directed back at the driver, I painted the tops of the LED bulbs flat black. You can kind of see the bulb tops in this photo:
Last, I took a couple of photos at night with no other interior or dash lights on to show the effect that was achieved with just 4 lights. A water bottle helps to add to the overall glow that you see.
Time: 90ish minutes
Well, this forum just keeps planting ideas in my head, and I tackled the latest idea today. I added LED lights to the cupholders on my Tahoe, it is a very easy mod to do, and I am happy with the results. Wanna do it yourself? Read on.....
You will need some 12V LEDs. I had some I had gotten from eBay awhile back just laying around, and used them. They are super convenient to use with their long leads. I got mine in red:
Next, yank out your cupholder and grab a drill bit that matches the size of the LEDs. I used a bit that was just a touch smaller than the bulb, and worked it around after drilling the hole to widen it just a tiny bit. I only used 4 LEDs for the entire project, since I wanted a subtle light, not too overpowering. I put one one each cupholder and one at each end of the catchall portion of the box.
After drilling in the holes, touch a dab of an adhesive to keep them in place. I used a touch of JB Weld on mine. I then routed the wires and connected them together, and then attached them to a quick disconnect plug that I had gotten from Pep Boys.
I have a 12V switched source that I routed into my console to have as a "master on" for my GPS and XM radio. I just used this as my power source and spliced in the other side of the connector. Voila! Now I have lights. Of course, you could also splice into the dash lights, or tap a line from the fuse box to do this if you want, anything 12V will work fine.
To help cut down on some of the glare directed back at the driver, I painted the tops of the LED bulbs flat black. You can kind of see the bulb tops in this photo:
Last, I took a couple of photos at night with no other interior or dash lights on to show the effect that was achieved with just 4 lights. A water bottle helps to add to the overall glow that you see.