How to improve your interior light - quick rainy day job :-)
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 1:39 pm
I actually did this job many years ago in order to improve the light being harvested into the cab from my LED bulbs. It made a very useful difference. I've just reverted to the original filament bulbs and decided to redo the reflectors and take a pic. A simple job you can do indoors with a cup of tea, since the light unit can be unplugged and removed from the car. It helps to have a sharp modelling knife for making the circular cut-outs in the foil and in the double sided tape I used as a patch surrounding the bulb holders and that I pressed the reflectors down on to. Three tips:
1) Curve the overlapping ends of alternate 'leaves' before pressing into place to ensure they slide over the adjacent leaf rather than buckle the foil.
2) Press the reflector into shape in the recess before removing it, putting the double sided adhesive patch in place, and finally fixing the reflector in place
3) With the double sided tape, stick a suitably sized square onto a glass surface or similar. Use the sharp modelling knife to make a circular cutout. Then lift an edge of the backing paper and fold it back so that you can easily grab it with tweezers after you've put it in place (and tamped it down, especially in the exposed corner, using the pointed end of the knife blade, as it may otherwise lift and get stuck to itself when you pull off the backing paper).
Job done, light now being reflected into cab rather than absorbed by black surface. Only possible caveat (with filament bulbs) is more heat reflected back at bulb, but I doubt its anything of consequent. Certainly I had LEDs in place for years with no trouble, though they run cooler.
You can get lensed LEDs but I don't know how effective they are. These ones are not cheap either (though others may be)!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-WHITE-6-LE ... 1823774083
I notice you can get 10w filament bulbs (standard is 5w). Anyone tried them? Increased risk of overheating maybe?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-2X-T13-12 ... 1e9e35c903
Click on thumbnail to see work in progress
1) Curve the overlapping ends of alternate 'leaves' before pressing into place to ensure they slide over the adjacent leaf rather than buckle the foil.
2) Press the reflector into shape in the recess before removing it, putting the double sided adhesive patch in place, and finally fixing the reflector in place
3) With the double sided tape, stick a suitably sized square onto a glass surface or similar. Use the sharp modelling knife to make a circular cutout. Then lift an edge of the backing paper and fold it back so that you can easily grab it with tweezers after you've put it in place (and tamped it down, especially in the exposed corner, using the pointed end of the knife blade, as it may otherwise lift and get stuck to itself when you pull off the backing paper).
Job done, light now being reflected into cab rather than absorbed by black surface. Only possible caveat (with filament bulbs) is more heat reflected back at bulb, but I doubt its anything of consequent. Certainly I had LEDs in place for years with no trouble, though they run cooler.
You can get lensed LEDs but I don't know how effective they are. These ones are not cheap either (though others may be)!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-WHITE-6-LE ... 1823774083
I notice you can get 10w filament bulbs (standard is 5w). Anyone tried them? Increased risk of overheating maybe?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-2X-T13-12 ... 1e9e35c903
Click on thumbnail to see work in progress
I had LEDs in for a while but missed the warmth of the filament light and, more importantly, got fed up with the flickering when an LED failed and the dim glow they gave out when everything was off (all discussed on here - it seems LEDs can excite even with v low current flow).