markboris
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Mark
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2019
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- 26
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- Location
- Sonora, CA
- Vehicles
- _______ '20 Shelby GT500 FPB '21 Mach-E GTPE IS
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- Retired
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- #1
This is a very quick and easy way to add ambient lighting in the rear door storage area.
I had taken the door panels off to sound deaden the doors and thought of adding some lighting to the rear doors but had some other projects going so never got around to it. Then went to have the windows tinted and the shop wanted to take off the door panels to "make it easier" for them to get down to the bottom part of the windows. Took the car home and took off the panels and had the windows tinted. This time I figured before I put the door panels on again, I would add lighting to the door storage area in the rear doors.
Couple of things.... I only wanted to add Ice Blue LED lighting as that is color I like and keep my ambient lighting on for the rest of the car. I like to match the color of the switches and controls which are always Ice Blue. This lighting only comes on when the parking or headlights are on (basically nighttime driving) so it is not part of the ambient lighting circuit.
Removing the door panels are fairly easy and only take a couple of minutes. Once removed you lay it down on the front side and from the back, remove the 7 screws that hold on the speaker grill. Turn it back over and attach an LED light strip of your choice on the door panel just under the speaker grill lip. Depending on the intensity of the lights you get and how bright you want it, you move the LED strip either more under the grill to give less and defused light or more away from the grill to shine light directly down into the storage bin giving you more light. Run the wires through the already small hole in the door panel to the rear of the panel to the window switch just above the speaker. There are four wires on the plug for the switch. The two wires that are for the switch illumination are White/Blue for positive and Gray/Orange for negative. Tap into those wires and you are done.
I have a couple of photos below showing where the LED strip goes, where the wire for the strip goes into the door panel and the other side where I tapped into the switch. I did tape everything up and secure the wiring but wanted to show the photo without that so you can see where I tapped into the wiring. This project literally takes about 45 minutes to do both doors if you are familiar working with interior trims and electrical. Below my photos I included how to remove the door panel from the service manual.
This is the Ice Blue LED strip lighting I got from Amazon but of course many colors are available. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Z3744P1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Again, this is not multi colored ambient lighting and there is no electrical in the door for ambient lighting that can be controlled from the center display. This will only light up when you have the headlights on, when all the other switches in the car light up.
I had taken the door panels off to sound deaden the doors and thought of adding some lighting to the rear doors but had some other projects going so never got around to it. Then went to have the windows tinted and the shop wanted to take off the door panels to "make it easier" for them to get down to the bottom part of the windows. Took the car home and took off the panels and had the windows tinted. This time I figured before I put the door panels on again, I would add lighting to the door storage area in the rear doors.
Couple of things.... I only wanted to add Ice Blue LED lighting as that is color I like and keep my ambient lighting on for the rest of the car. I like to match the color of the switches and controls which are always Ice Blue. This lighting only comes on when the parking or headlights are on (basically nighttime driving) so it is not part of the ambient lighting circuit.
Removing the door panels are fairly easy and only take a couple of minutes. Once removed you lay it down on the front side and from the back, remove the 7 screws that hold on the speaker grill. Turn it back over and attach an LED light strip of your choice on the door panel just under the speaker grill lip. Depending on the intensity of the lights you get and how bright you want it, you move the LED strip either more under the grill to give less and defused light or more away from the grill to shine light directly down into the storage bin giving you more light. Run the wires through the already small hole in the door panel to the rear of the panel to the window switch just above the speaker. There are four wires on the plug for the switch. The two wires that are for the switch illumination are White/Blue for positive and Gray/Orange for negative. Tap into those wires and you are done.
I have a couple of photos below showing where the LED strip goes, where the wire for the strip goes into the door panel and the other side where I tapped into the switch. I did tape everything up and secure the wiring but wanted to show the photo without that so you can see where I tapped into the wiring. This project literally takes about 45 minutes to do both doors if you are familiar working with interior trims and electrical. Below my photos I included how to remove the door panel from the service manual.
This is the Ice Blue LED strip lighting I got from Amazon but of course many colors are available. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Z3744P1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Again, this is not multi colored ambient lighting and there is no electrical in the door for ambient lighting that can be controlled from the center display. This will only light up when you have the headlights on, when all the other switches in the car light up.
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