Do you need underbody lighting?
The LED underbody does not provide any benefit or practical purpose to the driver. Its main goal is to attract the attention of others so that other car enthusiasts admire the work of the master. If you look at this creative from the other side, then with the help of lighting you will be able to quickly find dropped keys or a wallet.
Unfortunately, traffic police officers also pay attention to original cars. You need to understand that they will definitely stop the driver of such a car and ask to show documents.
INTERIOR OF THE CAR
The interior lighting is worth a separate discussion. The interior of the VAZ 2114 is illuminated using the following devices:
- Interior lighting;
- Individual light lamps;
- Instrument lighting on the control panel;
- Light in the glove compartment, cigarette lighter and separate bulbs for some buttons and switches.
The general light in the VAZ 2114 is located in the car interior and illuminates it. The engineers decided that it would be optimal to place it above the heads of the driver and front passenger, so it is simply built into the headliner and bolted there. Usually this lamp lights up when one of the doors is open, and goes out when it is closed. This is familiar to us from the classics, where a similar system was organized with light bulbs on the door pillars.
Interior lighting
Here the lamp lights up when the VAZ 2114 door limit switch, which stands on the racks and is pressed by the door itself, is triggered. There are also separate buttons for the passenger and driver to turn on this lamp if desired.
Allowed or not?
Many drivers do not know whether installing underbody lighting is legal. They are also interested in what fines may be imposed on the owner. Of course, many motorists claim that they have not had any conflicts with traffic police officers over the lighting. But sometimes such tuning is assessed as a deliberate change in the design of the car.
Unfortunately, the law does not have a specific clause on which there are requirements regarding lighting. The driver has the right to make adjustments only after permission from the State Inspectorate, but only if they affect the functioning of the car.
It is believed that if the backlight is installed according to the rules, then no sanctions will be imposed on the driver. Otherwise, a traffic police officer may regard the tape as a device that “illegally” transmits a light signal. In this situation, the driver will be deprived of his license. An additional fine of 3,000 rubles is imposed.
IMPROVEMENT OF INTERIOR LIGHTS
The interior lighting of the VAZ 2114 can be customized with your own hands to suit your purposes and needs. The most interesting option is considered to be the complete removal of the standard lampshade, and the installation of a programmable analogue along with integrated LEDs instead. It is better to do such an upgrade as soon as it was noticed that the light in the VAZ 2114’s interior does not work - why repair an already broken old lamp if you can replace it with a new and much better one.
In addition, the new lamp will have the following functions that the standard version does not have:
- The ability to select brightness from three possible options, adjusted by pressing a button;
- Automatic shutdown after a certain time if the door is not completely closed or just open. This will prevent the battery from draining overnight;
- Smooth extinguishing of the lamp, switching off occurs within 10 seconds.
Kinds
Today, lighting for cars is created on the basis of LED strips. They do not heat up, do not fade and shine brightly. Ribbon is available in a variety of colors and shades. If desired, car enthusiasts can install RGB backlighting to control the glow themselves.
In addition to LED strip, the use of neon lighting is allowed. Unfortunately, it is not very popular due to installation difficulties. It is easy to damage. Most often, this option is installed on exhibition models of cars that are not planned to be used.
Installation of lighting based on neon lamps
Neon has been used in advertising as an inexpensive and economical light source for a very long time. Today it is being actively replaced by LED technologies, but motorists like the diffused glow that characterizes neon lamps. In terms of service life, they are noticeably inferior to LED prototypes, but this does not stop decoration lovers.
If you intend to use neon lighting when opening a car door, then the easiest way to implement your plan is to use a neon cord. It resembles LED strips in appearance and is mounted according to the same principle.
First, you need to dismantle the sill trims, and then carefully lay out the neon cords of the required length along the outer edge. It is advisable that after installing the casing in place, it should be positioned close to the backlight cable. In exactly the same way we install neon electrical wiring on the car door limit switches.
To secure the edges of the tape, we will need fastening elements such as self-tapping screws, tie clamps and aluminum corners. The corners are cut exactly to the size of the neon tracks, they are mounted under the dashboard using self-tapping screws. Clamps are needed to attach neon lamps to the corners. One end of the tape is connected to the door opening sensor, the other to the power source.
With this method of installing car door lights with your own hands, the illumination will light up automatically when the doors are opened.
Design methods
When installing lighting, a motorist can choose one of several options. Let's list them:
Direct connection. The lighting device is connected to the car's electrical network.
Flicker. To create a flashing light, a controller with a specific function is used.
Remote. To control the backlight, the driver uses the remote control or a button on the instrument panel.
Autonomous operation. The operation of the lamps does not depend on the car's electrical network.
The car enthusiast can choose one option, or several at once. It depends on personal preference.
Tools and materials used
When implementing any type of interior lighting with your own hands, simple tools and consumables are used.
- The installation tools you will need are pliers, a sharp knife, scissors, and a soldering iron.
- Consumables are considered to be tin and rosin for soldering, one or more terminal blocks, screw-on lugs, as well as a toggle switch or a locking button.
The LED strip is sold by length, so the necessary measurements should be made in advance.
During installation, the individual lighting components are connected to each other by a flexible (multi-wire) cable, the core area of which should be 1 square millimeter. Soldering and contact connection points are covered with electrical tape. A conventional multimeter is used as a means of monitoring correct installation.
detailed instructions
Do-it-yourself installation of underbody lighting should begin with electrical work. First, you will have to develop an electrical circuit for all LED segments and test it for functionality. There are several connection methods: parallel and serial. The latter is a connection of segments in turn, when 2 wires are connected to the battery. This scheme is best suited when you plan to install a tape along the entire perimeter of the bottom. The parallel method means that the wires from the sections are combined in parallel, and one wire is output to the battery.
Next, the tape is cut into several parts, while simultaneously preparing the wiring for soldering. This is necessary to connect all the segments together. At the joints, the tape is soldered to the wire, remembering to follow the polarity. Only then is the resulting circuit connected to a power source. If everything went perfectly, then the soldered areas are insulated with heat shrink tubing.
As for fastening, you will need a profile. It should be cut into pieces, the length of which should be several centimeters longer than the section of the LED strip. The reserve will be required to install wire fasteners after the soldered areas, and the wires must be long. The fact is that the wires and tape connected by tension can break during vibrations. If the length is too long, the tape will sag, which will result in an uneven glow of the bottom.
Nylon ties will help secure the tape better. They are installed in the profile holes at intervals of 10 centimeters. The excess ends are cut off, and the finished part of the backlight is attached to the base with self-tapping screws.
The next stage of installation is to connect the sections into one electrical circuit. To ensure that the electrical circuit is durable, all wires are individually passed inside the tube and secured with ties. After this, you will have to find a place in the car interior to install the power button. Last but not least, installing a fuse is required.
Once the functional blocks are in place, all that remains is to connect them to the power system. You can connect them to the battery through the cigarette lighter outputs, or use other options for this.
The battery often has high voltage. It negatively affects the operation of LEDs, overloading them. Accordingly, the operating time of the tape is reduced. This can be avoided if you use stabilization circuits. You can assemble them yourself.
The last stage of work on installing the backlight is testing. While in the garage, the driver needs to turn the light on and off several times. If the LEDs are too bright, you will have to force yourself to get used to it.
Installing backlighting requires a person to have knowledge in the electrical field. If the driver is not sure that he can cope, then he should seek help from a specialist.
Installing LEDs on cars
Light elements are used to tune a car. Recently, LED strip lighting for cars has become very widespread. It is used as illumination in the interior, on the bottom of the car, and also for illuminating disks. In the case of a salon, you can experiment as you like without violating traffic rules. Side lights are easily replaceable with LEDs for cars.
Small bright bulbs can not only replace the standard lighting of the instrument panel, glove compartment, trunk, interior, etc., but also create additional comfort and coziness.
Before preparing your car for painting, it is best to see how your car will look in its new “role”, using graphic editors for this. Do you want to make your car unusual and original? Vinyl stickers will help you with this. Read more about them in this article.
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Illuminated door handles in a car
For a clear example, let’s look at how LED lighting can be used for car doors, in particular, let’s install lighting for the pockets of the interior door handles.
The installation location was chosen to be the inside of the handle itself. At this point the LED will not be visible, and at the same time will illuminate the entire pocket.
Car door handle
For this illumination, a bright LED with a resistance of 1 kOhm was used. Additionally, the lens was ground down, so we get uniform light. The lamp itself was secured with hot glue.
Mounted lamp
If you doubt your calculations, you can use one of the calculators for calculating LEDs that are available on the Internet.
Handle illumination
LED lighting for music lovers
If you have installed the backlight and it is still not enough for you, then you can connect our lamps to the speaker wires. This way the LEDs will shimmer to the rhythm of your music.
The LED leads can be connected in parallel to the speakers. With this connection, you need to take into account that the resistance of all speakers is standardized and is usually 4 Ohms, but there are exceptions in the form of 6 and 8 Ohms. By connecting the tape parallel to the speakers, you will increase the load on the radio, which can cause it to overheat or break. This will also cause a decrease in the efficiency of the working speakers, which will only produce a fraction of their power.
To avoid this situation, there is an electrical circuit (LM 3914), which, due to its own high resistance, reduces the load resistance at the output of the connected radio. The signal to the input of the microcircuit does not come from the speaker wires, but from the low-power output to the amplifier. To operate such a microcircuit, you only need one resistor and, accordingly, the correct connection.
Electrical connection diagram
The output transistor is the power control element. The LED backlight is powered from it (at a negative potential of the transistor base). To set the backlight turn-on level corresponding to the level of the input signal to the microcircuit, we use a slide switch. If the volume is reduced, then the potential from the 1, 17, 18 or 16th leg is supplied to the base of the transistor through the indicated switch; when increasing, you should switch to one of the following legs: 15, 14, 13, and at maximum volume - to 12, 11 or 10th.
There are many ready-made solutions on sale, but whether it’s worth paying 3 times more for them is up to you to decide.
Recommendations for use
Many drivers, especially those who do not like tuning, believe that the presence of backlighting is the path to getting fines. In fact, car enthusiasts themselves do not fully understand whether underbody lighting is allowed in the country or not? It is indeed possible to install it, but according to the prescribed rules. In this case, no claims will be made against the owner of the car.
If the driver still decides to take a risk and install a tuning light, then he needs to study the regulations regarding changes to the car. Sometimes traffic police officers know that lighting is allowed, but they specifically extort money and issue fines.
Impulse power block
It is recommended to connect power to both the stabilizer and the other via fuses.
If you are not a radio amateur and are not familiar with soldering circuits, and you don’t want to bother with this matter, you can buy a ready-made stabilizer.
Despite the fact that they are very cheap on the AliExpress website. Literally one or two dollars. They are a miniature box based on the “LM2596” chip.
You can find them in a variety of quantities here.
Such a stabilizer practically does not require any setup, just solder the wires to the input and output and run them onto the tape.
It is designed for a current of up to 1.5A, which means you can connect LED strips with a power of up to 20W through it.
If the RGB strip comes with the control unit, then the switching power supply must be connected in front of the unit.
By the way, with the help of such a block, it is better to supply not even 12V, but only 10V.
Believe me, this is practically unnoticeable to the eyes, but the service life of the LEDs will increase significantly! You can adjust the voltage with a screwdriver by tightening a special screw.
If you are scared by all these difficulties with switching sources and power supplies, then you can do it the simple way and power all the lighting in the car from a battery.
Backlight installation requirements
Having found out that backlighting can be done using different types of tapes, the driver must understand the requirements for its installation. The main thing in installing LED lighting is to position the strip correctly, and the front and back colors must be a certain shade. All these rules are prescribed in state standards.
We list the basic requirements for bottom lighting:
The light located under the bottom cannot illuminate areas beyond it. The “rays” should be directed downward, and the brightness should be moderate. Lights that are too bright will distract other drivers from the road.
The reflected light must correspond to a certain shade. For example, the front is allowed to use yellow or white. You can't have white lights in the back and red or blue LEDs in the front.
The flickering and operation of the LED strip cannot coincide with the flashing of the emergency services. It is impossible for the backlight colors to shimmer from red to blue.
It turns out that there is no penalty for correctly installed lighting. But for violating the rules or for creating an emergency, the punishment is stricter.
BACKLIGHT DOESN'T WORK
In cases where the light in the interior of a VAZ 2114 does not turn on, drivers who do not understand the electrical equipment of the car and its repair immediately begin to go to the Internet and try to find some advice or a solution to the problem there. But, no matter how strange it may be, you can fix the interior lighting of a VAZ 2114 yourself, you only need a minimum of tools for this and a detailed action plan, which we will analyze today.
INITIAL CHECK
It is better to start repairs by checking the functionality of a specific lamp - perhaps the light bulb has simply burned out and will simply need to be replaced. If the light in the interior of the VAZ 2114 does not go out or, on the contrary, does not turn on when the doors are opened, then you need to check the door switches for functionality, you need to see if the contacts are in order, if they have oxidized, then it is better to clean them and wipe them with alcohol.
There are also certain nuances if there are LEDs. Typically, drivers prefer to replace conventional lamps with LEDs as quickly as possible, this is due to the following factors:
- Cost-effective;
- Longer service life;
- Light brightness is much higher at low cost.
But when operating such lamps, it is necessary that the electrical circuit be fully taken into account, since for LED lamps it is important that the polarity be observed.
So you need to check the plus and minus, and if so, turn the light bulb the other way and see if it lights up after that. In any case, it is better to convert the lampshade of the individual lighting of the VAZ 2114 to LED lamps so that it produces more brightness.
Also, on all light bulbs you need to check the voltage at the contacts and find out whether current is flowing there. If it is not there, then you will have to look for a broken wire somewhere in the wiring. This will require disassembling certain parts of the car, but there is no getting around it - if the interior lighting of the VAZ 2114 no longer works, then it needs to be repaired. The greatest attention still needs to be paid to the limit switches; often the problem with breaking the circuit lies precisely in them; a wire can easily break there, and you won’t even notice it.
Is it possible to legalize the use of backlighting?
If the driver is thinking about how to make the backlight “legally,” then he needs to understand that it is quite difficult. Few people know that neon tape is not certified, i.e. It cannot be installed on any vehicle. Neon glow will not be legalized. That is why it is used extremely rarely.
LED strip cannot be classified as a lighting device. No one can issue a fine on this basis. Despite this, LED strips are also not certified. If a car enthusiast, in addition to installation, makes changes to the design of the car, then he will also be subject to a fine (no more than 500 rubles). But in practice, many inspectors do not pay any attention to tuning, especially if it complies with the rules.
In theory
1. Turn on the footwell lights when the key is inserted into the ignition.
According to the signal table, when the key is inserted into the ignition switch, a voltage of 12V appears on the wire of pin 9. Accordingly, we toss the wire to pin 9 of the chip and get a positive wire for illumination, and we toss the ground wire where it is convenient. Done, now when we insert the key into the ignition, our foot lights come on. They pulled out the key and the light went out.
2. When the lamp is turned on, the foot lighting turns on.
According to the signal table, when the lamp is on, ground appears on pin 8 of the chip.
Accordingly, we connect the ground wire to pin 8, and the positive one is convenient. Ready! When the interior light is turned on, the footwell lights come on. Let's give a round of applause to those people who dismantled the plastic and the ceiling to make the lighting for the feet directly from the lampshade.
3. Foot lighting when the ignition is on.
According to the signal table, 12V appears on pin 13 when the ignition is on. Accordingly, we connect the positive wire for illuminating the legs to pin 13, and the ground is convenient. Everything is working.
How to properly connect an LED strip in a car
You can connect the LEDs in your car to the on-board network or directly to the battery (not advisable, more on that later).
The on-board electrical network of the car does not correspond to the nominal power parameters of the LEDs, since the voltage taken from the battery reaches 14.5 Volts. This is not fatal for LEDs, but it significantly reduces their service life.
The second risk factor for direct connection to the on-board network is significant current drops. Any car has units with significant power draw from the battery - starter, head lighting, air conditioning, electric power steering. They consume hundreds of watts, and currents reach tens of amperes.
You've probably noticed how, when starting the engine, the headlights go out, the radio and on-board computer turn off, and turning on the air conditioner "cuts down" the volume of the music. And this is when the wiring lines are separated through a distribution box and there are current stabilizers in the equipment.
Use stabilizer
Any LED can operate for a long time only in a narrow range of currents and voltages. For example, an SMD 3528 LED element requires 2.8-3.4V and 0.02A for power supply. Thanks to the limiting resistors on the tape itself, they only feel comfortable at a mains voltage of 12V.
To connect the LED strip to the 12V of the car, use a stabilizer; it is connected to the gap in the positive wire from the battery. You can assemble it yourself. Below is a diagram using the example of a voltage stabilizer LM 7812. It has an output voltage of 12V and produces a current of up to 1A. This is an outdated model and requires additional cooling.
More modern switching stabilizers will be a good replacement for outdated analogues. Here are the characteristics of a regular switching stabilizer from Aliexpress:
- Wide range of input voltage (4-36V) and adjustable output (1-36V);
- adjustable output current (0-5A);
- protection against overheating and short circuit;
- a wide range of operating temperatures is declared -40 +80 degrees;
- Conversion efficiency 96%;
- They cost around $3-4 on Ali (220-270 rubles).
Switching stabilizer 12V
Connecting RGB strip
Remember , there is a list of lighting colors that can be used on a car. Violation of the rule entails deprivation of rights, with confiscation of lighting devices. Read below about the legality of installing the backlight.
When connecting an RGB strip, an RGB controller is added to the circuit, which regulates the power of each color LED and allows you to obtain any color. It is connected after the stabilizer, before the RGB strip.
Details about the principle of operation and connection of RGB strip.
Connection diagram for RGB tape in a car
When connecting the diode strip to a car, you should avoid bending it. Any break will lead to a rupture of the conductive coating. If you need a sharp turn, make a break and connect the ends with connectors.
Use connectors
Soldering is the most reliable method of attaching wiring, but it is not always convenient. In conditions of limited space, there is always a risk of damaging the car interior trim with a hot soldering iron tip, and soldering in an acrobat position is not comfortable. To connect the segments, you can safely use connectors with pre-soldered wires.
They clamp the contacts tightly and are quite reliable even in conditions of constant vibration. But it is better to fill the places of such connections located outside the car with sealant or hot-melt adhesive. If you had to make additional holes in the machine body to route the LED strip wiring, carefully treat them with an anti-corrosion compound and, if possible, seal them. The connection points of the wires should be covered with heat-shrinkable tubing for reliable insulation.
