After getting a bit fed up of searching around my boot in the dark with what seemed to be the light of 1 candle glowing in the near side corner illuminating only a fraction of the vast boot the Mk1 Octy has, I decided to do something about it.

Searching e-bay i found the perfect LED's at a very reasonable price.

White 12V 30cm Flexible Car Auto 15-LED SMD Strip Light on eBay (end time 13-Dec-09 02:51:59 GMT)

I will admit, the packaging left a lot to be desired and one of the strips arrived broken in three places but the seller refunded me in full. (I also used the strip anyway as all the LED's still worked and the seller didn't want me to return the item)

That problem solved, I fitted them and they were a perfect fit and provide £1.48 worth of brilliant white light each.

To fit them I basically spliced into the original wiring of the 'candle' and ran the wires under the boot carpeting for the LED strip on the drivers side. They come with a self adhesive backing making installation a doddle. I then removed the wick (bulb) from the original light and hey presto, a modern looking boot illumination.

Typical for me though, I ended up doing it in the dark which may have made it a little more challenging but it was still very simple. The bonus being, apart from a little time, it cost £2.96!! (if you buy 2 strips. I only ended up paying for the one).

I will post pictures if people want me to.

Edited 15 November, 200916 yr by andy-fisher

:wrthless:

They're bloody cheap!

Might grab a couple of these myself. The pathetic boot light in mine also annoys me!

P.s. Get some pics up!!!

Phil

PICS PLEASE

Pictures as requested.

I will add that, if I had thought about the location for about 30 seconds instead of 10 seconds then maybe more light would end up in the boot, rather than the side of the car. Still, at that price I could add 4 more strips and have Blackpool Illuminations in my boot.

I did consider getting some for the footwells that come on with the courtesy light...

Also just found this strip on ebay from the same seller.

90 cm LED Flexible Light Strip 45 Bulbs White Car Lamp on eBay (end time 17-Dec-09 04:08:36 GMT)

Same price for the item, but 50p more postage, however, you get 30 more LED's

Looks like you can't go wrong for that sort of money!

UNLESS - they're going on a Mk2 and they get flagged as being blown bulbs!

Mind you, still worth a punt......

I like the idea! The boot light is rather weak! Just an idea, instead of splicing into the wires, could you not remove the standard bulb and mock up some kind of connection from there? Or was it for neatness that you did it another way? Is the normal boot light a festoon type bulb?

There is a very simple way of tapping into the electrical connection on a car if there is a connector plug to do so with:

(Taken from Fabia 12v's post on retro fitting coming home lights)

Have done it many a time with mine and it work very well!

I assume there will be a similar type of connector going into the boot light. If not then yes there is no reason why you couldn't sacrifice a festoon bulb and solder the wires to the metal parts and wedge something in between the metal ends to hold it in the bulb holder.

When I first fitted them I did just solder the wire to the metal parts in the festoon holder and used a blown bulb to hold it all securely. I didn't like the idea very much though so I changed it. It's just a little neater than my soldering. I think I will use Philje idea in future though, very tidy.

Happy to try out some of the suggestions comming in, I never think much about a job before I do it and generally do the first thing that comes into my head that seems like a good idea. I have already thought that I should have stuck the strips in a different place but where they are seemed such a good idea at the time, hidden from view and out the way. It's a shame they point in the opposite direction to where the light is needed though. Still, at that price, I can just get some more and do it again or add to the ones I've already fitted.

ITs good to see someone with the same idea - bought this item a few weeks ago

Blue Waterproof Flexible Car 24 LED Strip Bulb UK Light on eBay (end time 10-Nov-09 21:03:02 GMT)

just waiting for time to fit as a boot light and ambient floor lighting in the car - all to match the red & blue interior lighting of my polo

I will add that, if I had thought about the location for about 30 seconds instead of 10 seconds then maybe more light would end up in the boot, rather than the side of the car.

Any chance of posting some more pics with some zoomed out shots to make it a bit clearer where you've put your lights and where you thought (after the initial 30 seconds) that they should have gone. Did you fit 1 or 2 sets?

Any chance of posting some more pics with some zoomed out shots to make it a bit clearer where you've put your lights and where you thought (after the initial 30 seconds) that they should have gone. Did you fit 1 or 2 sets?

I shall post some more pictures ASAP. I can't get in the boot yet as it is frozen solid. They are stuck to the inner lip of the plastic side bits that the rear speakers would be mounted to if I had any. This means they point to the wheel arch. I should have stuck them on the bottom part (90 degrees to where they are) so they point down onto the boot floor. ????Confused???? I shall try to get some photos to help explain.

I fitted two strips, one either side of the boot.

Edited 20 December, 200916 yr by andy-fisher

Since asking for the pics I decided to throw caution to the wind and bought 2 sets of the same leds.

I was initially going to fit them facing down on the plastic part sides of the hatchback tray but due to the supplied cable not quite being quite long enough, I took the easy option and stuck them in the arch at the top of each 'cubby hole' opening in the boot with a discrete hole for cabling.

They were joined in parallel to each sides normal boot light thereby causing no canbus problem. Access to the bulb cabling was via the trapdoors in each side of the car and a firm pull removed the bulb plug to enable greater ease when 'splicing' in the wires.

Here's a pic to show what I mean:-

This may appear a bit disjointed as I've inserted the pic after andy's next message but I'm awaiting delivery of another 2 smd leds for the footwell lighting. This will need additional wiring soldering on but it's possible to join on to the front interior light wiring via the LHS door pillar so shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Edited 20 December, 200916 yr by john999boy

Since asking for the pics I decided to throw caution to the wind and bought 2 sets of the same leds.

I was initially going to fit them facing down on the plastic part sides of the hatchback tray but due to the supplied cable not quite being quite long enough, I took the easy option and stuck them in the arch at the top of each 'cubby hole' opening in the boot with a discrete hole for cabling.

They were joined in parallel to each sides normal boot light thereby causing no canbus problem. Access to the bulb cabling was via the trapdoors in each side of the car and a firm pull removed the bulb plug to enable greater ease when 'splicing' in the wires.

Im not lucky enough to have a boot light both sides... Where you said you were going to fit them is where I should have put them. My explanation was pretty useless. I had to extend the supplied cable anyway to get the feed for the o/s strip from the n/s boot light so I could have put them anywhere, I just didn't think it through very well. I even know that LED's are pretty much directional and not a lot of light is emitted from the side of an LED but I was so keen to get them in and hidden away that I ignored myself. I was thinking of removing them and putting my new ones in the "right" place and using the original strips in the front footwells. Sounds like a bit of a messing around but my new ones are brighter so would be more suited to the boot. (they are brighter as they are standard LED bulbs rather than SMD type)

Edited 20 December, 200916 yr by andy-fisher

Just got some of these to replace the woeful lights in my glovebox. Already have four cold cathode tubes in the boot and they work well enough ... some pics of them if you click my sig.

Will post some pics of glovebox once fitted.

Edited 28 December, 200916 yr by allclownsareevi

Just got some of these to replace the woeful lights in my glovebox. Already have four cold cathode tubes in the boot and they work well enough ... some pics of them if you click my sig.

Will post some pics of glovebox once fitted.

Very impressed, my LED's ain't quite so bright but are much better than standard kit of 1 candle in the corner. Can't believe the difference £3 made to the ammount of light in the boot. I've not done the footwell lighting yet but it's on the cards now I have the parts.

Im attracted to the light!

Im attracted to the light!

Don't go into the light.....!

Don't go into the light.....!

Ah thats it!

How do you post pictures now? Before I just uploaded to the forum but now it wants a URL.

Since asking for the pics I decided to throw caution to the wind and bought 2 sets of the same leds.

I was initially going to fit them facing down on the plastic part sides of the hatchback tray but due to the supplied cable not quite being quite long enough, I took the easy option and stuck them in the arch at the top of each 'cubby hole' opening in the boot with a discrete hole for cabling.

They were joined in parallel to each sides normal boot light thereby causing no canbus problem. Access to the bulb cabling was via the trapdoors in each side of the car and a firm pull removed the bulb plug to enable greater ease when 'splicing' in the wires.

Here's a pic to show what I mean:-

This may appear a bit disjointed as I've inserted the pic after andy's next message but I'm awaiting delivery of another 2 smd leds for the footwell lighting. This will need additional wiring soldering on but it's possible to join on to the front interior light wiring via the LHS door pillar so shouldn't be too much of a problem.

I like very much. I still need to wire up my footwell lighting but I can't see it happening for a while. Got alot on at work for the next year or so, well, till about mid Jan 2011... So much to do, so little time to do it.

edited as I can't spell for toffee

Edited 27 December, 200916 yr by andy-fisher

Well with Christmas causing havoc with delivery times, my LEDs finally showed up yesterday.

With that I slotted in a strip of them into the glovebox to replace to very dim standard bulb. Wiring them in was done via the exisiting bulb carrier. For anyone removing the glovebox bulb, the bulb carrier is a pretty complex thing and if it "explodes" as you remove it (as mine did) take a while to figure out how to get it back together. Once you've done it, it's not something you'll soon forget.

Anyhow, connected the LEDs onto the bulb connector to negate any need to cut any original wires. Finally I might be able to see what I'm looking for in the glovebox. Why VAG didn't fit higher rated bulbs in the boot and glovebox is beyond me.

Thankfully the LEDs are hidden from view, because they do look pretty chavvy to be fair. You just end up with a bright crisp white light.

I bought 2 120cm strips from the same seller, already did my glove box and have done all the interior bulbs in the car and it looks so bright when you turn them on now its crazy how much brighter leds are!!

Am going to do 2 in the footwells and run another strip across the boot!

I bought 2 120cm strips from the same seller, already did my glove box and have done all the interior bulbs in the car and it looks so bright when you turn them on now its crazy how much brighter leds are!!

Am going to do 2 in the footwells and run another strip across the boot!

Nice to see that the LED bug is biting!

I've just checked ebay and the seller I bought from still seems to have the best 'all in' prices Cheap LEDs for Briskodians!