I was driving home late on Saturday night when I noticed that there are two very white, LED?, lights shining down onto the gear stick area when my lights are on. They are not internal lights that I can turn on and off although they are housed in the same section. I found this light very off putting and would like to turn it off. I looked in the handbook and they are called diffuser lights and I assume someone at Skoda thought they would be helpful. I can not see any way of turning them off and I would like to. Can anyone help?

I appreciate that I could just stick some electricians tape over the two small lights but that would look messy. Is there a simple way of doing this?

Some white blue-tack? Roll it into two little balls and stick it over them?

The point to these is to softly light up the central stack so you can see the controls easier.

The other way is to open up the unit completely and remove the LEDs.

Yes the only way to disable them is to disconnect them. Other option is to swap your Monster for one with a sunroof and alarm system, then there not fitted

TP

I think the centre console is already lit up like Blackpool illuminations so I do not need any more lights. If I wanted to see where the gear stick was, always tricky in the dark!!!!, then I would click on the internal light. I was hoping to avoid the electricians tape, hey ho.

They are Red on my car and I find them quite useful having some ambient light in the cockpit. Bit surprised they are white and not a more gentle colour tho.

:yes:

Don't even notice they are on in mine, and I have the dash turned down to it's lowest setting.

And these lights are supposed to make you feel "safer". Have a read of this:

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/08/ambient-lighting-makes-drivers-feel-safer/

In the MINI you can change the colours of these to whatever you like! And they are not just limited to two dots in the ceiling either. Look at the doors in this BMW:

Maybe I should place some strategic scented candles around the cockpit and light them when I am next driving in the dark. I think these lights can be quite useful in certain dark spots, BMW have excellent ones around door handles for example, but shining down from the roof of the car to the centre console area is not subtle lighting especially when that area is a mass of green lighting anyway. I found it kept catching my attention in my left eye.

Different things are picked up by different people in a car and this is one that seems to affect me. Thankfully I seem to be in a minority. The tape is on my desk and ready to be applied this afternoon.

Maybe I should place some strategic scented candles around the cockpit and light them when I am next driving in the dark. I think these lights can be quite useful in certain dark spots, BMW have excellent ones around door handles for example, but shining down from the roof of the car to the centre console area is not subtle lighting especially when that area is a mass of green lighting anyway. I found it kept catching my attention in my left eye.

Different things are picked up by different people in a car and this is one that seems to affect me. Thankfully I seem to be in a minority. The tape is on my desk and ready to be applied this afternoon.

Just walked in after driving 120 miles in the dark. I find the overhead LEDs very unobtrusive and useful, they provide enough light to illuminate the gearlever and the surrounding area. When the radio is off, the lighting in that area is minimal.

What I found distracting was the light from the Bolero screen which does catch the eye. i intend to try to reduce the overall light from this screen with the setup control.

My previous 530d BMW had these same lights in orange. I quite liked them.

Mike

Had a fiddle on the way home from work last night.

I presume you have realised that the rheostat to turn the dash illumination down also turns these lights down, and seems to affect the Bolero screen as well?

As always it shows that people have different likes and dislikes. The light bothers me, it does not bother others. The Maxidot is distracting for some at night, others like it. Ideally we would have the option to switch things on or off as we choose but there has to be a limit as to how far we can personalise our cars.

I retrofitted an interior light from a W8 Passat to my L&K which has the red diffused lighting and its great. The white lighting on the Yeti is a tad harsh for long trips at night, red is the ideal colour for this as it is least likely to interfere with your night vision.

Winding the dash illumination down helps quite a bit though.

I retrofitted an interior light from a W8 Passat to my L&K which has the red diffused lighting and its great. The white lighting on the Yeti is a tad harsh for long trips at night, red is the ideal colour for this as it is least likely to interfere with your night vision.

Winding the dash illumination down helps quite a bit though.

Maybe I'll try the old trick of eating a Strawberry Quality Street and sticking the red cellophane over the two white lights.

I dont think its a problem with sunroof cars as I understand this feature is disabled because of the roof console ? but is this something the dealer can refit with red light or alternatively you could make some kind of red filter to fit the hole ?

:yes:

dismantle & paint red?

Mike

is this something the dealer can refit with red light or alternatively you could make some kind of red filter to fit the hole ?

:yes:

The best solution would be to change the LED's for red ones - however I can imagine few of you will be wanting to take a soldering iron to a new car .

The best solution would be to change the LED's for red ones - however I can imagine few of you will be wanting to take a soldering iron to a new car .

Not to mention trying to explain it to the dealer when it goes back under warranty lol !!

:yes:

Edited 22 September, 201015 yr by redandwhitepauly

Done correctly then I bet they would be hard pushed to notice, after all they are red on most of the VAG cars that have them fitted.

It would also only affect the warranty on the interior light.

Maybe a red felt tip would do the job as I don't fancy dismantling that section. As long as I don't get pen on the material surrounding it that could work. If it doesn't work then I can wash it off the lens. I shall raid my daughter's bedroom.

I dont have my SM yet so I dont know exactly what the holes are like which hold the ambient lighting, so are they recessed ?

If someone got me the depth of the hole from the front face to the glass lens, and an accurate diameter of the hole at the bottom face, I could get some nice NV filters cut to size and colour

Done correctly then I bet they would be hard pushed to notice, after all they are red on most of the VAG cars that have them fitted.

It would also only affect the warranty on the interior light.

If they are red LED's on opther VAG cars, the betting is that those red replacements will be a snap-on fit for the Yeti. Auto mfr's just love the economy of common parts. It knocks cents off the cost - which multiplied with millions of items save a bundle.

I don't have them on mine, so cannot go take a look.

LED's are normally soldered directly onto a PCB though.

LED's are normally soldered directly onto a PCB though.

No they aint - ive made loads of LED panel lights which are wire based with the resistor just soldered onto the wire depending on the voltage to be used.

Edited 22 September, 201015 yr by redandwhitepauly

I'm was referring to those that are used in automotive items, normally space is an issue, so it makes sense to solder them directly to a PCB, you then also have a means of mounting them as well.

I have not looked at the inside of the Superb's interior light to see if this is true here, but I know on both the MKI Octavia and MK5 Golf they use a PCB for the interior lights, so it would make sense that these LED's are also fitted directly to the same PCB, no?

Larger items such as panels normally have lots of room to work with so I agree a PCB would be pretty pointless.