Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Aesthetics HOW-TO: Install LED's in Door Handles. *PICS*

Awesome How-To. What i dont understand is why u dremeled the housing.

I did this two years ago and just pulled the old green ones out and rewired it to be blue.

Then again maybe im misreading something or perhaps u dont have the same housing/leds

Well, you "could" just pull the green light out, however it is a longer incondecent bulb. I wanted the lighte to fill the door handle more, and since I was using a 5mm (narrow angle) LED, not much light would come out the side of the diod, as it has a 30-40 degree viewing angle.

Its just how I did things... if other people have different methods, it would be cool to have pictures to compare the different effects. Anyways, thanks for the imput.

Hey phlop I have a few questions. First of all, excellent how-to and very thorough explanation. When I first started reading your how-to, I thought that it was going to explain how to get the LED's inside the switches. This is the mod that I wanted to perform more than anything else. Is there a walkthrough for that particular mod here on this forum? Will you be thinking of performing that mod yourself as well? It looks like a tight-looking mod that might require more than a handful of LEDs but totally worth it.

Let me know your views on this...

XL

Beautifully done.

My stock lighting in the door handles still exists after ten years, and I always recieve compliments on it. But I want brighter

I'll probably drop a few green LEDs in there now. Another project for SZ 05 is to get some of my old neons and MOUNT THEM RIGHT this time I always planned to put them in the storage compartment of the Contour's doors (to match the door handles at night) but I could never figure out how to send the wire through the door without taking it apart..which was more than I felt the mod was worth. So, I mounted them where people kick them off all the time and it's really annoying!

Nice detailed How To.

Ok, here ya go......buy 4 tri colored led's, add the resistors, build a small PIC throw a potentiometer on it and there you go!
I am in the process of doing this now. This way you can have the tri colored led in each door handle as they slowly change from one color to several other colors, and you can still dim or brighten them! The leds would change in color similar to the pens that you can buy that when activated, they change colors through the shaft of the pen. They had them at the dollar store at one time.
I made a light refraction rod a while back (same principle)and installed it in my Cougar. It came on when I had my amp on so that I would remember to shut it off before I get out of the car. It worked very well!