Ambient lighting for passengers in the back

[DTT6]

I’ve read many posts about front door card LED’s but haven't found any ideas for my issue. I’ve a Caravelle and limo grade tints. Great in the sunny weather but really gloomy in the back for the passengers other times. It would be handy to have some decent door card type ambient LED’s instead of just the standard blazing LED’s from the roof for the second and third row passengers. Has anyone added ambient lighting back there which illuminates with the front door cards?

 

[Bav]

If you want to talk van lighting - internal or external - then you need to speak to the resident expert, @Deaky. He's got a fabulous build thread - I *think* it's this one...

Deaky’s Kombi to Camper journey

So I picked my van up on Friday and started a few jobs on Saturday... Extra door seals 69E7C6EC-4905-423A-9B30-DECA81D963DB by Deaky posted 21 Oct 2017 at 16:44 Swapped the interior light for one with ambient lighting in it Before 9C7FF261-F542-434F-AFED-D542D651299A by Deaky posted 21 Oct...

www.t6forum.com

 

[roadtripper]

Caravelle owner here pondering the same thing.

Currently I have a small LED strip on a ruler that I tuck under the back of the table. That runs off my small Beaudens pack in the rear, cable tucks under the bench and then in the rails channel.

I have the back arranged train table style with facing seats, you do have to remember it's there before moving stuff about.

Roadtripper's Caravelle tinkering

Well, bother. The field we were going to stay in and experiment is waterlogged so it's had to be called off. Anyone got a field I can borrow :rofl:

www.t6forum.com

 

[roadtripper]

The next thing I'm going to try is wiring something to the ambient lights on the rear of the front seat bases.

One option is to hack one of these kits that have side emitting fibre optic in a moulding you can tuck into trim driven by an LED - I'm wondering if I can run them along the edge of the rails and tuck the LED end under the seat base behind the rear plastic moulding:

Pardon our interruption...

The other is I have a couple of these cheap "motorbike driving lights" I had hoped to make a reading light out of using the load guard roof mounts but there isn't a good way of cabling to them. They're just a loose LED PCB in a case so out in the wet they'd last a few days, but I filled them with some UV clear resin (left over glass crack kit) to pot them. I'm wondering about putting some heat shrink over the bracket to stop scratching and then just tick under the outer edge of the seat base pointing back, or possibly running up the B pillar trim and point them at the headlining:

Motorcycle Motorbike Headlight LED Driving Fog Spot Light Spotlight Lamp Parts | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Motorcycle Motorbike Headlight LED Driving Fog Spot Light Spotlight Lamp Parts at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

As you can tell currently tinkering with things that don't involve popping trim or making hole.

 

[david173]

The next thing I'm going to try is wiring something to the ambient lights on the rear of the front seat bases.

One option is to hack one of these kits that have side emitting fibre optic in a moulding you can tuck into trim driven by an LED - I'm wondering if I can run them along the edge of the rails and tuck the LED end under the seat base behind the rear plastic moulding:

Pardon our interruption...

The other is I have a couple of these cheap "motorbike driving lights" I had hoped to make a reading light out of using the load guard roof mounts but there isn't a good way of cabling to them. They're just a loose LED PCB in a case so out in the wet they'd last a few days, but I filled them with some UV clear resin (left over glass crack kit) to pot them. I'm wondering about putting some heat shrink over the bracket to stop scratching and then just tick under the outer edge of the seat base pointing back, or possibly running up the B pillar trim and point them at the headlining:

Motorcycle Motorbike Headlight LED Driving Fog Spot Light Spotlight Lamp Parts | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Motorcycle Motorbike Headlight LED Driving Fog Spot Light Spotlight Lamp Parts at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

As you can tell currently tinkering with things that don't involve popping trim or making hole.

I have installed these RGB LEDs in the back of my kombi, albeit I mounted them to the ceiling. I did it so we can have them on in red when driving so we can see thr kids in their car seats when its pitch black outside. The red light works really well and doesnt give any driver glare or distraction at all, its almost like it just illuminates what the light touches rather that light up the whole area like a white light if that makes sense? Think millitary submarine on the movies.
Point it I know its not 100% what you were after but these do work well, and the remote is great as I can turn them on and off and adjust the brightness from the front of the cab.
I wired mine in from an ignition live in the front fusebox @Dellmassive style using a cigarette lighter extender so they only go live when the ignition is on so wont flatten the battery if left on. Ill grab a pic when im back home if it would help?

With yours being a caravelle you could probably hide all the wires behind the headlining, did a similar setup in my wifes car, and then poked the led strips out if the OEM roof light holes so didnt damage the headliner.

 

[david173]

@roadtripper just realised the lights in your link are slightly different, mine were LED strips instead albeit the principle is the same

 

[DTT6]

@Bav @roadtripper @david173 thanks for your replies I’ll do some reading later

 

[Deaky]

The RGB LED side lights down the soffits of my roof are also hooked up to the ambient lighting circuit and come on dim red when the lights are on. Just enough to see in the back but they cant be seen by me when driving.

 

[DTT6]

Thanks @Deaky sounds like red is good shout

 

[Skyliner33]

The RGB LED side lights down the soffits of my roof are also hooked up to the ambient lighting circuit and come on dim red when the lights are on. Just enough to see in the back but they cant be seen by me when driving.

View attachment 221320

Oh nice, I can't remember of you posted how you did this in your build thread, been a while since I read it.

 

[Deaky]

Oh nice, I can't remember of you posted how you did this in your build thread, been a while since I read it.

Because the RGB strips are common +ve, I added a relay which switches when the side lights come on. This connects the red -ve to ground via a big resistor to limit the current and dim the LED.

 

[roadtripper]

@roadtripper just realised the lights in your link are slightly different, mine were LED strips instead albeit the principle is the same

These are LED strip too but they are hacked out of a cheap eBay "car ambient kit" so they are 15 RGB LED strip in a decent stock on extrusion.

One day I'll build up the confidence to move a trim panel or headlining on the Velle, but not yet