Door Handle LEDs.... - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

skylinepkr11 · 12-31-2008, 12:59 AM

Hello everyone!

I'm fairly new to TN and own a 00 Toyota Gen 4.5 Camry...

I havent done to much to it but have doin little things here and there. My next project is that i want to add leds under my door handles so that when i hit unlock on my OEM toyota alarm, they fade on and fade off a little while after the doors are closed.

Does anyone know where the alarm relay or whatever i need to power the leds is?
Any other ideas of how to do this?
Also how do i make it fade?

thanks to all..

-prince

cruisn76 · 12-31-2008, 01:03 AM

If you want it to fade you can try and tap into the Dome wiring and run a switch from the alarm to the LED's on the door. Once you unlock the door, you send a voltage through the switch which turns on the dome for a sec which will automatically dim like when you open the door and close it.

Did I explain that right? I think.... someone add to this

skylinepkr11 · 12-31-2008, 01:49 AM

I understand but i know for a fact that my car's dome does not fade on, atleast i dont remember it like that...

bigbird · 12-31-2008, 04:10 AM

eaisest way to get that to work will be to get the...relay, i guess...that makes the dome fade out. other wise youll have to have an entierly new circuit. i believe teh XLE's and ES's all had that.

Gibson99 · 12-31-2008, 12:58 PM

what about the illumination ring around the ignition? even my 98 CE (cheapskate edition) has that. since I don't have keyless i don't know if it lights up when the doors are unlocked, but i know it stays on a few seconds after opening the door. And I figure if my Cheapo Edition has that, all of them should.

ekopel · 12-31-2008, 04:24 PM

The fade seems like a lot of work. BTW; love the idea. I have seen it done before and it looks good at night.

IMO, and if it was me, it would not be worth the time to create a fade on circuit. I would just connect it to the dome light or ignition ring (lol?) or w/e. If i was going to do it, I would just find some part on the car or another car that fades on then off, and just use that relay and connect it to some power source which turns on and off with the alarm.

my .02 cents

desentrix · 12-31-2008, 04:28 PM

Like explained, you would wire it exactly like you would wire floor cathodes. Have it flood on with the dome light.

skylinepkr11 · 01-01-2009, 06:39 AM

Yay, thanks for the ignition ring idea. I will definitely use that, it makes my work a lot easier. Now for the hard part, where do i start to take my doors off from?
I dont want to ruin it, also i wanted to change the cloth part of my door to a blue suede kinda deal, anyone know how or where i can get that done or is it easy enough for me to do it myself?

Thanks to everyone, TN is much more nicer than a lot of other forums

Gibson99 · 01-01-2009, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skylinepkr11

Yay, thanks for the ignition ring idea. I will definitely use that, it makes my work a lot easier. Now for the hard part, where do i start to take my doors off from?
I dont want to ruin it, also i wanted to change the cloth part of my door to a blue suede kinda deal, anyone know how or where i can get that done or is it easy enough for me to do it myself?

Thanks to everyone, TN is much more nicer than a lot of other forums

you have to take off the interior door panel to remove the exterior door handle. You can probably search and find a how-to on here somewhere, but the long and short of it is to take off the little black triangle by the side mirror (it just snaps on), then go for the screws in the bottom of the arm rest, and the one in the interior handle. Check the bottom edge of the door too - i don't remember if there are screws there too, but they aren't hidden if they are there. then just use an upholstery tool to snap the door panel off the door.

have fun running wires thru the rubber tube that connects the door to the body - that's always my least favorite part of the job when i install those signal mirrors, add power locks, or upgrade speaker wiring. tip: use electrical tape to tape your new wire to a piece of wire coat hanger and use that to push your wire thru the rubber tube.

2unknown · 01-07-2009, 03:14 PM

Your power source would have to come from what you plan for it to do.
For example: If it is to work with the alarm/doorlocks try to safely tap power from there.

I would recommend you try this out and see if it's what you're looking for.
This would require you to make a electronic circuit to solder the capacitors, resistors, and diodes to regulate the needed voltage to power the LEDs without burning them out.
Also I would get an enclosure to put the circuit into
and tuck it out of sight.
The components here can be purchased at any electronic store or online.

Here's the schematic I developed. There are two different schematics.
The first schematic powers the LED quickly and fades off; the second one fades on/off.

I would recommend the first schematic because at a push of a button the LED will light and the capacitors will be charged, capacitors will discharge to the LED when no more voltage is flowing through.

The second circuit fades the LED on/off, but the capacitor requires more than a pulse
of voltage to charge it completely. I'm not sure if it suites the idea of turning on
at a push of the alarm or door locks.

First Schematic
Top circuit charge/fades faster with 1000uF capacitor
Bottom circuit charge/fades slower with 2000uf capacitor in parallel.
*Diode is needed for this to work. (Keeps capacitor from discharging back to source)
*Component values are correct to operate at 12V DC.
*Voltage value can change depending on source.
*Been simulated, built, and tested.

Second Schematic
*Transistor is needed for operation.
*Capacitor C1 value can be changed to increase/decrease charge/discharge rate.
*Component values are correct to operate at 12V DC.
*Voltage value can change depending on source.
*Been simulated, built, and tested.

Hope this helps.

nukem678 · 01-08-2009, 10:19 PM

^Wow that is awesome!!! How hard would it be to increase that number of leds on that circuit?

skylinepkr11 · 01-09-2009, 12:36 AM

WOW, thanks so much bro!
i bought these already so should i replace the resistor and the led on the circuit for this?

also i was thinkin about just tapping into the power locks for power....would this circuit work?

skylinepkr11 · 01-09-2009, 01:02 AM

WOW, thanks so much bro!
i bought these already so should i replace the resistor and the led on the circuit for this?

also i was thinkin about just tapping into the power locks for power....would this circuit work?

2unknown · 01-09-2009, 02:17 AM

nukem678
Adding more LEDs is simple.
The only changes are the value of the resistor or capacitor(s).

skylinepkr11
I didn't understand what you bought and how it should be replaced.
Can you be more specific?

I don't know the voltage that powers the door locks.
Power from the door locks should work if its above 6V.
6V is the minimum and 12V is the maximum for the circuit to operate (Simulated)
Only way to know for sure is to prototype it on a breadboard and test
with different voltages and component values to get desired operation.
I'll get to that this weekend.

Here is the schematic for multiple LEDs.
I have simulated both circuits but have not test them on my hardware
since I have class in the morning.
I will get to it this Friday afternoon or the weekend.
Simulation results vary from the actual hardware so it takes some
adjustments to get the preferred results on hardware.

This is all I got for tonight. I fried the actual transistor for the other circuit,
so I'll get back to that other one this weekend.

If there's a specific circuit you're into, let me know so we can focus on that one.

shuluke · 01-09-2009, 02:25 AM

Hmm... Interesting. What are you using to simulate the schematic? Pspice?