For those out there with the full center console (LT package?), has anyone felt that there needs to be a light shining on the console? Specifically where the cup holders are. I drive to work in the dark and cannot see anything on the console (dark gray interior). I've thought for sometime that a small, dim light mounted under the lower cubby that points to the cup holder area would be nice. Any thoughts on this?

Yes I wish it had one. SO I put one in.

I purchased a pack of blue LEDs on ebay for like $5. (RadioShack carries them in Red, blue and yellow) I then went to Radio shack and bought I believe a 550 Ohm resistor and put it in line with the 12v power feeding the LED. I used the 12v source that was feeding my roof clearance lamps. (Since I only wanted the LED on when the parking lights were on.)

I drilled a small hole in the over head console, and put the LED in a piece of black tubing, this narrowed the beam down and allowed me to aim it on just the cup holders.

I used to do a lot of driving at night and hated it that I couldnt see the spout on coffe cups, etc.

Leds are generally rated around 2.8v, so you will need a resister that can cut the 12-15v coming from the truck down to 3v, otherwise the LED will burn out instantly.

The only photo I have of the install is at

http://duramax.onlinedesk.net/LED-mount.jpg

wow great idea........I was thinking the same thing but i was going to get some flush mount LED's and install them into the cup holder itself ....or if you wanna go the alternative route....go to target and walmart and look for one of those cigarette map lights..few diff colors and bright as heck.....ill take some pics tonight....

Good idea Andrew.


MY C5 Corvette has a little amber light that lights up the console and it is really handy. I need one to see the air pressure guage, and my scanner and CB when they are not lit.

I'll give your Radio Shack LED and 500 Ohm resister a try.

Thanks!

its cheap and you can use it in any car.....
http://www.streetracr67.com/light.jpg

Very nice idea. Something to add to my list of things to do.
On my old '83 Chevy truck I made a center console that had two cup holders I made out of alluminum and the cup holders I lathed out of solid white plastic and I put a light triggered to the parking lights that illuminated the cup holders in the dark. Easy to find when in the dark. And it kind of kept the coffee warm a little longer.

Maybe you could get that led light and wire it to one of the metal style hood lights that triggers on when at a curtain angle and rig it up under the plastic lid in the center console so that when you opened it, it would turn on. The wires could be conseled between the two plastic peices.

Andrew,

I like it. Thanks for the idea!

When I first installed mine I didnt use a big enough resistor, this caused the LED to burn out. When you go to Rat Shack, if the guy behind the counter is intelligent, he can possibly confirm that it is a 500 Ohm resistor. It might be 550 or 600. The cost is so little, pennies, that you could start with 550 or 600.

I wanted something that was out of sight, mine and passengers, and didn't take a ligher port. I picked blue because my wife's car has a orange light, and it was too "dark" for my truck.

If your truck doesnt have clearance lights, you could find which wire controls the light in the mirror. Or just wire it to be on all the time, since LEDS supposedly will run for thousands of hours, probably longer than the truck will ever run. ;)

good ideas. my wifes honda accord came with an orange led that shines down on the console and i thought it was a great idea but it never even dawned on me to try it in the truck. just what i need, another project...

When I first installed mine I didnt use a big enough resistor, this caused the LED to burn out. When you go to Rat Shack, if the guy behind the counter is intelligent, he can possibly confirm that it is a 500 Ohm resistor. It might be 550 or 600. The cost is so little, pennies, that you could start with 550 or 600.

No chance of that happening here at our RS):h

Went to Radio Shack last night.

Bought a Blue LED, 500 & 680 Ohm resisters and a chrome holder for the LED.

The 680 was just the perfect amount of light for my truck. I dont have it hard wired in but just ran some quick connectors and alligator clips to test.

Total cost $5.20

Perfect.

Thanks for the tip!

Check out www.streetglow.com (http://www.streetglow.com).

They have a map light on sale for 4 or 5 bucks,different colors,works well for me.
Also have a bunch of other cool stuff!!

HTH

Nor Cal where did you get that plug in light?

Just got back from Radio Shack, got all the goodies to to this mod. All I need is info on how to do this. Like first, where do I tap into to get power for the lights? Second, where do I put the capacitor. Maybe someone could draw me a picture type of thig. I would tap into the clearance lights but I do not have any on my truck. This is a great site and you guys have always pulled through for me.:ro)

target has them......5 or 6 different colors and about 8 bucks...wal mart might have them too

I have a question. If you tap into your map lights up top with these LED's and install a switch to turn them off with out turning on your map lights, would the automatic power saver turn them off for you if you forgot to turn them off?
Or are the LED's to low of current to let the system know of it.

Just wanting to know if anyone could help with this mod. I would like to work on it tomorrow, being Sunday. Where should I tap the power into if I have no clearance lights? Could I try the cigarette lighter power leads? Thanks.