It took some doing but I got it working perfectly. I'll let the pics do the talking and I'll write some brief explanations of each image:
This is a shot of the Radio Shack brand magnetic switch partly disassembled (it's the normally open type).
Hot-glued the magnet to the inside rotating tray of the storage console.
Partly disassembled storage console to show where magnet was attached.
This is one of the led's already in its holder, secured in the hole I drilled through the console. I wanted to drill at an angle, but then the led holder wouldn't clear the tray when it swung closed.
Here's a shot from the other side, the led holder screwed and crazy-glued in place
I hot-glued the magnetic switch to the back of the console, aligned with the magnets position. Once the magnet swings 1.25" away from the switch the normally open switch closes and turns on the leds as the tray goes down.
Here I soldered two resistors (330ohm and 10ohm in series to make a 340ohm resistor). This should limit the voltage getting through to the led's, which in the Radio Shack package called for 3.6V and 20mA each. I put the resistors on the positive side of circuit as that is how I saw on an online diagram I found.
Leds are wired (in parallel). Notice the grooves, they are for a separating wall.
The separating wall is placed back in position.
This is how it looks installed. I didn't have someone to help out, so I could not get a shot of the wiring hack that I did under there. I basically cut the positive (red/white) lead to the ceiling light, stripped the ends and used a wire nut to joint the positive leads together. The other wire from my contraption doen't get hooked to the other lead wire (green/red), instead it needs to be grounded. I stripped the end of the wire and ran the copper lead through the screw hole on the metal support bracket (see Ben's post on FitFreak.net for a picture). When I screwed the ceiling light assembly back in place the wire was securely grounded in place. Now for a test. Drum roll please...
Okay, so it's day time and the light from the leds is barely visible
People wanted to see how the center storage console looked with the tray and the read door opened, so here it is
Okay, here it is the console with one of the leds turned on (now that it's gotten darker outside).
A wider view. Notice I put a white plastic film on the inner walls so the white light from the led would reflect just a little better than with the gray, textured plastic of the console.
One last pic to show just how much the leds illuminate.
It took a lot of work, I got my fingers burnt by the soldering iron (it was 4am, what do you expect?), had to consult with my dad overseas regarding the resistance value for the resistors (thank God for Skype
), I accidentally marred inner walls of the tray while drilling/widening the holes (the plastic film served a dual purpose
), but the end result gives the Fit a more upscale look I think
Linear Mode
