Interior Lighting Upgrades

[Mavans]

My '70 Vert is pitch black inside at night. Has anyone installed under dash lighting that gives some visibility to the floorboards? Ideally, I'd like to have lights that come on at a low level any time the headlights are turned on and lights that light up brightly when the doors are opened. Any ideas?
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Michael
1970 VW Beetle Vert

Previous: 1973 SB Autostick, 1977 Vert

[TX-73]

I've got complete LED interior and exterior lighting, including accent lighting and courtesy lighting when the doors are opened. Take a look in my build if that helps.
2 step ambient lighting is a bit trickier as either voltage ranges or lighting type will need to be set-up. My Mercedes has it and I've come to really like it. I thought about it for the bug but ultimately went with interior footwell COB lighting as courtesy lighting only.
There is a single blue incandescent light under the dash that provides ambient lighting when the headlights are on, directed to the gearshift area.
All in all, I'm really happy with the results/functionality of the LED lighting.
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My 1973 Standard Beetle Build SOLD
Click to view image

[Starbucket]

Buy a rheostat and connect it inline with the bulbs under the dash that you want dim and mount some LED bar lights under the dash and connect them to the door switch. That way the LEDs will be bright when you open the doors and when you turn the lights on you can adjust the dim ones to the brightness you want.

[Mavans]

I'm leaning towards seperate lights instead of a rheostat. I'll check out your thread TX-73. Your setup sounds like what I'm looking to do.
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Michael
1970 VW Beetle Vert

Previous: 1973 SB Autostick, 1977 Vert

[gt1953]

yes I have under my home made partial tray a lamp which does light up the floor footwell area. When my head lights are on so is the foot well light.
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Volkswagen: We tune what we drive.
Numbers Matching VW's are getting harder to find. Source out the most Stock vehicle and keep that way. You will be glad you did.

72 type 1
72 Squareback
({59 Euro bug, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 73 type ones 68 & 69 type two, 68 Ghia all sold})

[TX-73]

[Tim Donahoe]

There is an LED courtesy light available somewhere in the Samba Classifieds. Supposedly, it throws a lot more light.

Tim
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Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[airschooled]

http://store.litegear.com/product_p/lrp-120-x1-tun.htm

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Factory dome light switch

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One-on-one tech help for your vintage Volkswagen:
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[sjbartnik]

For a while I had a 2013 GTI which had bulb fixtures in the footwells that used the same type of bulb as the old Beetle dome light.

You could probably buy the bulb holders from VW and do a pretty nice factory-looking install.

When the doors were opened they came on full brightness, but when the headlights were on they were only at about 30% brightness (this was adjustable through the car's computer).

You could probably do something similar with power being supplied via a resistor when the headlights are on but full power when the door switches are closed.

I personally don't like LEDs for ambient lighting, they generally seem too white/harsh/cold/sterile. I think incandescent is a good choice for that unless you are specifically trying to do something with color lighting or unless you can find LEDs in the 2700-3000K color temp range to mimic the warmth of incandescent.
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[airschooled]

[cletus_zuber]

I have LED strips tied into the dome light, for the life of me I can't find an example online to post a link, but they are hanging on the shelf at autozone. They are backed with 3M tape and can be stuck anywhere. I have some that come on with the door open., and some on a separate switch.
And a red strip as a 3rd brake light!
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1972 1302
HPMX 40's & 019

[TX-73]

All in the eye of the beholder, I like the bright clean light (to me), and how front/rear footwells are lit. I'm older though and will readily admit that I can always use more light. But in any case the fun is making the car to your own style.

Open-door courtesy lighting from below running boards. Pic link in the signature shows smaller blue LED accent mounted in same manner.

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My 1973 Standard Beetle Build SOLD
Click to view image

[sjbartnik]

[Starbucket]