Fitting logo puddle lights; ghost shadow lights

I fancied fitting some logo puddle lights- although these were usually very expensive. I found these LED logo sets on eBay at around £16 which I thought was great value.

Inside the box you get both light units and even a hole saw!

 The light units come with generous flex. The fuseholder-like object actually contains a box of electronics of unknown function! This complicate fitting a little.

The front of the unit unscrews to reveal the logo hologram disc- here released.

These units are made to install into the base of the door. However the GRP doors of the Excel are too narrow so it can be installed in the base of the trim panel. However make sure you fit it far enough towards the inside of the car that it will clear the moulded strengthening ribs on the inside of the door.

Use tyhe hole saw to drill through from the inside of the trim panel

The object is to remove the disc of GRP but not to cut through the trimming leather itself. Use a sharp knife to make diagnonal cuts from the centre to the side of the hole creating triangular sections that can be folded backwards. Then, using a flat object like a lolly stick, work some leather glue in and under the trim leather, pressing it back into position so that it sticks around the edges of the hole. Then using a sharp knife trim away the leather covering the hole to leave a neat edge stuck down to the door.

At this point I test fitted the light

I intended to wire up the light through the door edge feeds. Power enters these through the purple wires and flows to earth via the purple/white. This means that the positive red of the lights has to connect to the purple and the black to the purple white. LEDs must be connected the right way round to work.

However the connection has to be detachable or the door panels would become non-removable. This means using a connector and as the LEDs draw only a tiny current they come fitted with very fine wire- far too fine for normal crimp connectors, so I soldered lengths of standard 5 amp wire after the electronics box.

Strip back the outer covering revealing the inner black/red wires. I used my finger nails to strip the insulation from these over 10mm or so.

 
 I wrapped them round a stripped 5a wire...

 ... and soldered the connection

 ... before covering in heat shrink

... and finally wrapping the join in insulating tape. The idea here is to strengthen the join and provide rigidity as flexing around the soldered length would very soon break the thin wires.

Finally I was able to crimp a bullet connector onto each of the thicker wires  ready to join with the door edge feeds.

Finished light installed.

Do not screw the cap tightly up against the light body, the idea is that the spring feet will exert enough pressure to maintain tension on the cap and  keep the light secured, but if there is some free play in the thread then the cap can be turned underneath the door to orient  the logo projection and make sur eit projects the logo the correct way up!

Door edge light removed. Note the gaps made in the wire using an automatic wire stripper to cut and push the insulation along the flex.

I removed the edge lights and used an automatic wire stripper to make a gap in the flex to connect a feed wire take off and then pushed a sharp point through to make a junction point.

I prepared 5 amp wire fly leads by  fixing a female bullet connector to one end and stripping the other to join onto the edge light wires, and I could then feed the free ends through the edge light feeds and wrap the wire around the exposed section to secure.

This makes a firm and strong join without solder but just to be sure I did apply a blob of solder to each.

Finally I covered the joins in heat shrink. Obviously when you make a join this way you have no free end  to feed heat shrink over- in this case the free end has a terminal so I had to use a wide piece of heat shrink- too wide really to contract properly...

... so I also wrapped thelot in insulating tape.

The new wires need to be brought forward out of the door cavity through a hole drilled under the door's strengthening ridge so that it can lie along the inside of the trim panel. I could then fit the trim panel and reconnect the speaker as well as linking up the feed for the puddle lights. This completes the installation- I will try to get a picture of the projected light effect when its dark enough!