DIY: Led door lock light

Tools:
1. 10mm wrench.
2. Flat head screwdriver.
3. Soldering iron and solder.

Materials:
1. 5mm led (Radio shack pt# 276-0017).
2. ½ watt 470 ohm resistor (Radio shack pt# 271-1115).
3. Heat shrink or electrical tape.


Step 1.

Warm up your soldering iron and take out one resistor and one led. Cut one side of the lead on the resistor and one side of the lead on the Led about a quarter of an inch. Solder them together like so.



Step 2.

Remove the cover of the door handle to expose the two 10mm nuts holding the handle in place. I used my screwdriver to slowly pry it off. Too much force will break the clips.



Step 3.

Once the two nuts have been removed the handle will come apart. There are two clips holding the rods on simply unclip them and the rod will come out.





Step 4.

Pull the handle away from the door slightly you won’t be able to remove it as there is a wire connected within the door. Now there is a wire clip holding in the door lock and the light. The light will have two white wires connected to it. Remove the wire clip and the light will come out which is encased in a rubber housing just cut the wires close to the bulb.



Step 5.

Add some heat shrink to the wire clip like so.



Step 6.

Feed the led into the rubber grommet and then temporarily connect the white wires to the led and test the function by pushing down on the short rod in the door. If the led does not come on then switch the wires around. Once you have confirmed that the led works solder the wires and heat shrink them. Make sure all exposed connections are heat shrinked or taped up so it does not short out. Finally you can place the light back into the door lock and clip it into place.



Step 7.

Install door handle in reverse order and you are done!

 

Hmmm nice write up

 

Thats a nice write up and would be really good, but most of these cars (mine included) have been badly butchered inside the doors by now. A lot don't look anywhere as prinstine as yours does in the photos.

People rip out and cut off the white wires and let them fall inside the doors, etc. A lot of people have tried to tell me that the white wires are some sort of (and I quote) "alarm bullsh!t, so I ripped it out"

My car does not even have the wires left anywhere visibly near the lock, so I removed the door trim looking for them- they were chopped/torn off flush

 

Hey I'm not sure if I did something wrong or what but my led seems to not want to turn off until the car is started. Once the car is in the led turns off, but once the car is turned off the led turns back on. I used the same exact materials and wired it up the same way as the description. Just wondering if anyone else got this problem and had a way to solve it?

 

Where can I get that little plastic piece in the keyhole?

 

Yeah I was going to ask what activates the LED to turn on and off?

Really great idea by the way, one of the best I've ever come across!

 

It's a stock piece most fd's have them missing now. You can make one out of opaque plastic.

 

I just fixed mine. The led turns on for about 20-30 secs when you pell the door handle and then it turns back off unless you unlock the doors in which case it will stay on until you lock it again or turn on the car.

 

 

Is there a fuse hooked up to the door light wires? I'm replacing mine and accidentally touched the wires to some metal inside the door and got a nice spark.

Wondering if I shorted and blew a fuse since now the LED I'm going to use won't light up at all attached either way to the wires when the lock bar is pushed down.

 

Why does one need a resistor ?

 

Current control

 

Nope, likely damaged CPU#2.