komobu

Hi;

I love the look of my 2005 es330. The interior is black leather and with the led lighting and the rose wood dash it really looks nice during the day. At night however, it is kind of dark. I am going to buy some green led strip lighting and do drivers and passenger footwell, and under the rear seats. I also want to take the strip lighting and cut it off so that all I have is one led. I am going to attach this to the inside top of the door handle cup, pointing down on the handle and window controls.

What I would really like to find is a single led type of reading lamp that has the led at the base of a 1 inch tube for example. With this mounted behind the rear view mirror, you wouldnt see the light looking through the windshield down the road for example. I am hoping it would light up the dash pad over the radio, hvac controls, and the shifter. I am looking for something to give these a soft lighting that I could still drive with.

If you have seen anything like I am looking for or know of anything I could use to accomplish this, please let me know.

speedkar9

Without a diffuser, LED's wont give you a soft light compared to an incandescent. I don't recommend driving with lights shining inside your vehicle at night, not only is it distracting, but it could attract police.

Here's my Lexus with LED footwell and dome lights,

JetsonES

It is possible to soften the light from an led somewhat by filing the surface of it flat, you just have to be careful not to file into the actual electrode. An alternate method would be crafting a diffuser lens out of an opaque plastic.