First attempt to LED up the rear reflectors

[Brittt1]

So, its bugged me since day 1 that the hatch 'lights' never did light up and were indeed just fancy looking reflectors. So I purchased a spare from ebay and am using it to test MOD.

Basically you can pry the unit apart (three pieces, front back and reflector) using a heat gun and a box cutter (be careful). I then went about trying to figure out how to incorporate LED's into the housing. The reflector actually sits about 1/4 inch above a mirror type piece of plastic that sits in the back section of the housing. Once you pry the reflector piece off then you can then just stick some LED strips onto the mirror piece (matching the contour of the rear reflector), put the unit back together and then wire it up to the hatch brake light.

I was just playing with it today and just placed one strip on the top section of the Reflector. Here is a shot, i figure ill start/finish this MOD fully in the spring.

photo.jpg

[gt4fore]

Awesome - I was thinking about doing the same thing. Keep us updated on your progress.

[bjhorton2005]

YES! I almost commented another of your threads about this. THANK you so much. I also saw artsci state he ordered red leds when he got his for the headlights. I was about to get on you guys to experiment! I think it looks good!

[bjhorton2005]

Also, did you notice that when they unveiled the "production mode" they totally lit up! They just look silly being dead like that.

[Steverino]

Cool. Some pics of the exploded pieces would be great.

[artsci]

I have a different solution in mind, which I should be able to complete as soon as we have a decent warm-weather weekend here in Maryland. It's why I bought a 9 foot red LED strip. As soon as I complete the work I'll post some photos -- have all the parts in place and just waiting for the skies to clear

[AZ-Volt]

I'm going to try out some EL Wire kits. Think they might match to glowing effect the pre-release model had.
Perhaps neon-LED tubes but they are bigger diameter..

[Frankman]

I'm looking forward to what you guys come up with. LED illumination in the hatch reflectors would be great.

[islander]

Did the unveiled production model also show LEDs with a blue tint on some front lights? I though the Volt would be LED'd up!

[bjhorton2005]

Islander, yes it did. Also, read your signature line and sorry to hear. I agree 100% I HAVE insurance, had no catastrophic incidents last year and my healthcare still cost me 5-6 thousand dollars.