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DIY: LED Boot Light

JLneonhug

By JLneonhug
in Skoda Fabia Mk I (1999-2007)

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JLneonhug Experienced

JLneonhug

Posted
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Ironic how Im doing lighting mods in the dark.. anyway, bought two pairs of 3w led DRL lights (£3 posted per pair), one is planning to be under the wing mirror acting as a puddle light, the other is used as a set of LED boot light. Its not complicated so I'll just show you pics, if you need more details let me know...

This for reference which is +ve and ground:

20121218_164236.jpg

Stupid boot panel has 2 screws, 2 plastic nuts (of which the spare wheel needs to come out to be undone!) and 5 push in clip things. I drilled holes to poke the LED light through like so:

20121218_171540.jpg

Looks like this on the other side (side of which you will see):

20121218_171609.jpg

20121218_171556.jpg

Finished product. Boot is messy yes, but I can see exactly how messy now lol:

20121218_180042.jpg

Better than the LED strip I was originally going to use.

Thanks for reading :)

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grr666 Mentor

grr666

Posted
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Whip your parcel shelf out and lock the car and have a nosy through

the window when it's dark... It's possible that they may glow dimly which in turn

may cause battery drain, which in turn may cause false alarms, especially in winter.

I rigged up an LED strip to my Fabia bootlight and had all these issues,

not so much of an issue if the car is driven all the time but in mine which

went out once every week or two the problem became a pain in the butt

and I fitted a plug to it so it would only work when plugged in.

It's caused by residual voltage in the circuit even when off which is enough

to make LEDs glow a little.

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grr666 Mentor

grr666

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Ahh, thats probably why I put a diode in there.. lol I knew I had a reason why I left the diode in there before.

That should take care of things then, great install by the way. Love the way

they illuminate the boot floor.

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viewer Rising Star

viewer

Posted
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No boot lights or boot opener? Oh dear, are you sure it's a Skoda? :think:

Our W reg has a boot light in the left hand (viewed into the back of the boot) side just by the speaker grill and it also has a remote boot release.

TBH I don't use either as the light is blocked by your body when using the boot and I just unlock and lift the boot lid. The LED setup here might be just the answer to the first issue: many thanks JLneonhug.

Question - does the diode fit on the live (+) into the LED? I'm not sure how it would stop any residual voltage effects, but my knowledge of electronics is nil.

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Sirbendy Contributor

Sirbendy

Posted
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Mm, I looked at he speaker plastics/shelf support panels for one as thats where my Astra has it..nothing. Unless a PO has removed it. I had that down as a design oddity. We have the remote boot relese by the drivers seat, but it's a PITA, as the boot doesn't "pop" as such, and you need 1 person moving the boot as the other pulls..heh.

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JLneonhug Experienced

JLneonhug

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Just an update, for some reason using these LEDs and diode combo; the light is on slightly still when boot is shut, didnt happen with those replacement 501 led. As a temp solution I put in the original bulb in to draw some current across when boot is close. I'll probably put a low ohm resistor across it (much like canbus LEDs) when I have time measuring the current draw when boot is closed.

Question - does the diode fit on the live (+) into the LED? I'm not sure how it would stop any residual voltage effects, but my knowledge of electronics is nil.

Diode has a forward volt drop (0.7v? or 2.7v? I dont remember) so I assumed that would be enough to stop the lights from coming on but as explained above it need a resistor in parallel to lights to stop LED from lighting.

Got a pic of how and where you've joined the wires to the original connector/light unit?

Ha, I striped the wires and twisted it together on the "]" bend (see first pic where the bulb is shining)..... This is testing stage at the moment.

But if I were to do it properly, I would get female crimp terminals and stick it where the bulb fittings are. Alternatively, remove the light casing altogether and use male crimp terminals and plug them directly into female plug.

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JLneonhug Experienced

JLneonhug

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Couple more pics:

supe8yhy.jpg

etuturu2.jpg

Would it not work if the diode was soldered directly to the positive wire on the additional lights?

Yeah that can work too. It was easier my way though as it doesn't effect normal operation even with standard bulb in. (though like I said previous post you'll probably need resister in parallel if your only using the leds).

Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2

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grr666 Mentor

grr666

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Just an update, for some reason using these LEDs and diode combo; the light is on slightly still when boot is shut, didnt happen with those replacement 501 led. As a temp solution I put in the original bulb in to draw some current across when boot is close.

;)

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JLneonhug Experienced

JLneonhug

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The only issue I would have with that location is 60 per cent of the time something is likely to be covering that bit of trim (in my boot).

Oh? I normally load things from inside outwards. I give you that putting a pram in will block most of the light but the pram kind of blocks everything. Alternative location is drilling a hole where the removable panels are for the rear light, then you'd have to make the lights detachable too, which is more of a hassle.

i.e.:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-Extension-Lead-2-1-X-5-5-mm-Plug-and-Socket-Male-And-Female-Connections-/230891533351?pt=UK_Computing_Sound_Vision_Audio_Cables_Adapters&hash=item35c2353427

Or simply spade connectors...

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