milky

iTrader: (9)

nice upgrade, and awesome camera you got there.

ceng41

2thfixr,

Nice modification, they light up the trunck well. Where did you purchased the LED arrays? Can you post a link? I was going to buy another factory trunk light until I saw this mod,

roddydawg

I think earlier he pointed to an earlier thread, stating they were purchased here: http://www.superbrightleds.com/mini_tubes.htm

I can't be certain, but it appears he used the MCM series 6-LED.

I'm thinking this may be my next project, just curious to see how/where the wiring was run.

BurgBoxstr

First off, I refused to pay $50 for a second OEM light at dealer and secondly, I wanted 2 lights controlled by one switch.
So I had to get creative. Anyhow, I remembered the lights I used on a footwell hack for my other car and ordered a
Porsche trunk light instead. It was all of $2.75 from Sunset Porsche and includes a 10W bulb.
S&H was $9, but I'm still well ahead and it looks just as good - if not better than
OEM (which is just 5W BTW). I originally planned to add a second (third total inlcuding OEM) light on the drivers side opposite OEM,
but at this point, doesn't look like I'll need it.

Anyhow, here are some details w/ pics:

Pulled out existing housing and soldered a wire onto the 'switched' part of light and crimped another using a tap connector to the ground.
I did also put in m/f crimp disconnects just in case it ever goes in for service and they need to pull the liner. This way, they should be able to
do so w/ out any problems or destroying my work (which should have been done at the factory anyway).



close up (w/ the gray housing cover removed for detail)


Then, in the middle of trunk towards the rear part of the liner that drops down to make room for the subwoofer, I located the light.
Just cut one small rectangular hole. Fished the wires up to there and connected using crimp on female connectors. Here are some
pics of the result:







I did also order some LED festoon bulbs off Ebay to replace the incandescants for all of $10.
The lighting is more than adaquate,
I'm just changing over to LEDs for asthetics.
The trunk seems to be the ONLY place in my '07 GS350 that has incandescant bulbs (go figure???).

If anyone is interesed, I purchased the light(s) from
Sunset Porsche www.sunsetimports.com
and ordered Porsche trunk light part #997-632-201-00.
Depending on where you live, S&H is $7-10.

Thanks to those before me who did a lighting hack on theirs for giving me
the ideas I needed to do mine and yes I know I should upgrade my digital camera some day (soon).

Good Luck!

EyeKutr

iTrader: (5)

Second factory light with LEDs looks awesome also....
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...=255955&page=2

BurgBoxstr

Yours look great - I was trying to find that exact post to show mine (you may recall I replied to you looking for the p/n but came across this post first). Definitely can't wait for my LEDs to arrive. I ordered the 31mm for the OEM and a 39mm for the other light. Thanks for the idea on replacing w/ LEDs and how to mod the OEM to fit the 31mm festoon. Will post pics when they get here and I swap 'em out.

EyeKutr

iTrader: (5)

Awesome, $3 light is amazing....can you post a pic of that part ...did you take a pic b4 install ? Thanks

2thfixr

Come on guys, why bother with factory lights and festoon bulbs when you can have this? The original pics in this thread are weak and the lights look dim because I used a P&S out of laziness. This shot was taken with my D2X so I could take a longer exposure to show you guys how bright the lights are. This is a fairly accurate representation of the amount of light that I have in there with the LEDs and as I stated, I even turned off the factory light because it was dim in comparison and didn't make the trunk any brighter. Plus the trunk now matches the LEDs in the rest of the car.

roddydawg

I concur.

The photo you took is super sweet also, so that's a good selling point!

Did you use the MCM series 6-LED from this site http://www.superbrightleds.com/mini_tubes.htm?

BurgBoxstr

Here you go w/ some photos:

lighting before adding second light (you can faintly see the red/white umbrella)


after - same angle (as close as I could get at least )


parts - new light on left - OEM on right w/ wire I soldered on to switch


location of new light in trunk w/ lamp on


another shot of new lamp in trunk - wider angle for reference


location of new lamp w/ light off (second rectangle hole further back I presume is to act as the air port for the sub on rear deck)
I cut a hole on the very rearward horizontal portion of the liner
that drops down around the woofer. Aside from being a tad bit askew
looks pretty OEM to me and is controlled by the OEM's switch.


I'm sure once my LEDs get here it will be even brighter - plus match the rest of the car which has LEDs (except for the DRLs... for now)

Good luck!

BurgBoxstr

2thfixr-
Yours does look good. Of all people though, I thought you'd give me some slack since I used a 997's part? I'll match w/ all LEDs once my bulbs get here.

Nice ride(s) BTW

2thfixr

No, 997 lights are crap compared to the LEDs. Not knocking your install job, I probably would have done it myself but the LEDs were super bright and they pull such a small amount of current that I didn't have to worry about amperage on the trunk light fuse. BTW, were you amazed by how easy it was to pull the panel down? I couldn't believe it was so simple!

2thfixr

Yes, I used 4 of the ALM-x6 lights. Awesome lights!

BurgBoxstr

Agree, the panel is extremely easy to pull down. When I installed the XM kit a few weeks back, I was amazed at how easily all the panels in the trunk are removed. Plus it was already pre-scored where I needed to cut it out to make room for the XM tuner kit. Pretty slick assembly all the way around indeed - efficient and precise.