Poor interior lighting on my Subaru

Need some help on tweaking interior lighting in a 1999 Subaru Legacy Outback wagon, my wife's driver. The only courtesy lights inside are the dome and hatch lights. My wife and I are a bit disappointed that there are no under dash courtesy lights. Also, there's difficulty seeing the shifter console (auto trans) when dark.

Any ideas as to how to "light up" the under-dash area as well as maybe the driver side door area where the power lock/window switch cluster is? LED's come to mind, but where to get them and how to install is a bit of a mystery. I would also like to wire them into the door switches as well as having a toggle/rocker on the dash somewhere in tandem to operate them when doors are closed.

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks. Andy

Reply to
AndyW
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I'm a bit confused here by the selector question. My 99 OB has a light in the trans selector on the console and a gear select telltale on the dash at night - as long as the lights are on. You're not a moonshine runner are you...?

I agree that leds in the window switches would be good, but the same shape switch off something else that already has them would probably look neater than a home made solution, at least in daylight. Any suggestions out there?

Older Libertys in Aus had courtesy lights on the door panels. Don't think they'd carry over but you could try. Maybe a couple of round lights off some suitable wrecked ancient coupe or something with opera windows would fit unobtrusively on the front inner guards or under the dash. Then you just carry a pair of wires through and scam a spare Subie switch that'll fit into one of the blanks. Probably not as cheap or quick as a butcher's job but a whole lot prettier! Cheers

Reply to
hippo

They still haven't done much to improve. My 2005 Forester (USA) is also lacking in the courtesy light department. That lighting is something you don't notice in the showroom or on a test drive.

If you are in the US, Fry's Electronics

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has a large assortment of low voltage LED's in standard, and high intensity versions. Colors too. They are in the small parts aisles.

Here are a few other sources:

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Reply to
ZZ

Nope, nothing illegal here :-) The gear selector in in the middle between the seats, no light to see if you're in "P", "N", etc. I can put'er in drive by feel, but the wife likes to be able to see the "D", "R", etc. I pulled the cover off the selector, no light or socket. I was thinking of installing a single LED under the cover so the "glow" would light-up the letters and only come on when the parking lights were on.

Reply to
Andy

Reply to
Andy

Drive around at night for a while. You will learn to figure out what is where. Its like going to the bathroom in the dark :-)

It would be kind of ridiculous, but the thought of a light on top of the gear shift (I drive a standard) that says "SHIFT" makes me crack up.

Reply to
Surendar Jeyadev

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