Poor interior lighting on my Subaru

[AndyW]

Need some help on tweaking interior lighting in a 1999 Subaru Legacy Outback
wagon, my wife's driver. The only courtesy lights inside are the dome and
hatch lights. My wife and I are a bit disappointed that there are no under
dash courtesy lights. Also, there's difficulty seeing the shifter console
(auto trans) when dark.

Any ideas as to how to "light up" the under-dash area as well as maybe the
driver side door area where the power lock/window switch cluster is? LED's
come to mind, but where to get them and how to install is a bit of a
mystery. I would also like to wire them into the door switches as well as
having a toggle/rocker on the dash somewhere in tandem to operate them when
doors are closed.

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Andy

 

[hippo]

Need some help on tweaking interior lighting in a 1999 Subaru Legacy
Outback
wagon, my wife's driver. The only courtesy lights inside are the dome and
hatch lights. My wife and I are a bit disappointed that there are no
under
dash courtesy lights. Also, there's difficulty seeing the shifter console
(auto trans) when dark.

Any ideas as to how to "light up" the under-dash area as well as maybe the
driver side door area where the power lock/window switch cluster is?
LED's
come to mind, but where to get them and how to install is a bit of a
mystery. I would also like to wire them into the door switches as well as
having a toggle/rocker on the dash somewhere in tandem to operate them
when
doors are closed.

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Andy

I'm a bit confused here
by the selector question. My 99 OB has a light in the trans selector on
the console and a gear select telltale on the dash at night - as long as
the lights are on. You're not a moonshine runner are you...?

I agree that leds in the window switches would be good, but the same shape
switch off something else that already has them would probably look neater
than a home made solution, at least in daylight. Any suggestions out
there?

Older Libertys in Aus had courtesy lights on the door panels. Don't think
they'd carry over but you could try. Maybe a couple of round lights off
some suitable wrecked ancient coupe or something with opera windows would
fit unobtrusively on the front inner guards or under the dash. Then you
just carry a pair of wires through and scam a spare Subie switch that'll
fit into one of the blanks. Probably not as cheap or quick as a butcher's
job but a whole lot prettier! Cheers

 

[ZZ]

Need some help on tweaking interior lighting in a 1999 Subaru Legacy Outback
wagon, my wife's driver. The only courtesy lights inside are the dome and
hatch lights. My wife and I are a bit disappointed that there are no under
dash courtesy lights. Also, there's difficulty seeing the shifter console
(auto trans) when dark.

Any ideas as to how to "light up" the under-dash area as well as maybe the
driver side door area where the power lock/window switch cluster is? LED's
come to mind, but where to get them and how to install is a bit of a
mystery. I would also like to wire them into the door switches as well as
having a toggle/rocker on the dash somewhere in tandem to operate them when
doors are closed.

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Andy

They still haven't done much to improve. My 2005 Forester (USA) is
also lacking in the courtesy light department. That lighting is
something you don't notice in the showroom or on a test drive.

If you are in the US, Fry's Electronics www.frys.com has a large
assortment of low voltage LED's in standard, and high intensity
versions. Colors too.
They are in the small parts aisles.


Here are a few other sources:

http://www.sciplus.com/category.cfm?subsection=15&category=147

http://www.optoloco.com/index.html

http://www.allelectronics.com/index.html

 

[Andy]

Nope, nothing illegal here The gear selector in in the middle between
the seats, no light to see if you're in "P", "N", etc. I can put'er in
drive by feel, but the wife likes to be able to see the "D", "R", etc. I
pulled the cover off the selector, no light or socket. I was thinking of
installing a single LED under the cover so the "glow" would light-up the
letters and only come on when the parking lights were on.

 

[Andy]

Excellent! Thanks for the info

They still haven't done much to improve. My 2005 Forester (USA) is
also lacking in the courtesy light department. That lighting is
something you don't notice in the showroom or on a test drive.

If you are in the US, Fry's Electronics www.frys.com has a large
assortment of low voltage LED's in standard, and high intensity
versions. Colors too.
They are in the small parts aisles.


Here are a few other sources:

http://www.sciplus.com/category.cfm?subsection=15&category=147

http://www.optoloco.com/index.html

http://www.allelectronics.com/index.html

 

[Surendar Jeyadev]

......

I agree that leds in the window switches would be good, but the same shape
switch off something else that already has them would probably look neater
than a home made solution, at least in daylight. Any suggestions out
there?

Drive around at night for a while. You will learn to figure out what
is where. Its like going to the bathroom in the dark

It would be kind of ridiculous, but the thought of a light on top of
the gear shift (I drive a standard) that says "SHIFT" makes me crack
up.