While I had my CRV apart to do other work I wanted to retrofit it with ambient lighting. I typically do this on all of my cars. I had already done the cluster and hvac red. I wanted to use red and amber in the door panels but I actually forgot to order amber LEDs by accident so I used red. In the footwells I wanted to use orange.



Here you can see I designed some small circuit boards for the ambient foot well lighting. I design and build all of my own custom circuitry by hand. The main board (the biggest one) feeds power to the other ones, and it gets its supply from the parking light output.

Here you can see where the main footwell board gets mounted. I designed a bracket in CAD, and 3d printed it out of high temp abs. It attaches to the support on the drivers knee bolster side of the IP.

simple design actually



here you can see the bracket for the rear 2nd row footwells. It attaches under the front seats and shoots back. I tapped a small threaded hole into the rod that runs under the seat for a mini m4 fastener.

All of the boards are fitted with connectors, so it goes together and comes apart like factory

here you can see things installed on the bottom of one of the front seats. The surface of the boards get "potted" with a conformal coating to keep moisture out.

I ran a custom harness from the left side of the IP down towards the back, under the 2nd row seats, and then back forward on the passenger side of the car so I could get the right side.

this picture was before cleaning everything up

just some quick testing while things were still apart

 

This is not my first honda and since I know the door jam wiring is problematic, I removed the doors and rebuilt all of the wires inside, as well as used this to be able to add new wires so I could install a custom homemade door panel harness with ambient lighted LED circuit boards. First I had to do the repair of the connectors. I cut the sheetmetal to accept a different style connector and I used connectors inside instead of at the door.



tracing a hole I want to cut where the factory wires go in the front doors

Here I used a new style "accordian rubber" and a plug that fits the hole I cut. I used super flexible silicone wiring and replaced all of the factory wires. I also added connectors. The only thing bad about doing it this way, is that you have to remove the door panel to remove the door (which is not a big deal if you ask me)

I added circuits for puddle lights, and the ambient lights. Here I have not installed the connectors yet.

I designed 12 circuit boards in CAD, that will give me custom lights on the door panels. Here you can see I am in the process of making the boards. These will be acid etched.

Here I am just doing some testing after adding the components on the boards.

I designed a template out of tape, that can be used reversibly to cut a hole in the door handles of the door panels. This will allow me to mount an LED which shoots down in the handle. I want it to perfectly placed the same on all 4 doors. This is why I did it this way.



all 4 door panel handles done just the same

This is the first hole that I used to make the template for the others. When I put this back on the door panel it will shine downward.

map pockets removed for access to put the other circuit boards on

 

Here I continue with the door panels.





little red light from the holes on the handles - exactly like I wanted

here you can see with the map pockets just being bench - tested

more bench test pictures

a custom wire harness needed to be integrated to all 4 panels so I could connect it to the harness feeding into the door

 

I also took a little time to run part of the circuit to the overhead map lights and put 2 little amber leds - this is common on many new cars. It's a single circuit board and I made a mount - plate with the 3d printer...

 

Nice custom work!