Timed Iluminated Ignition Key Barrel

[sVWatt]

Why was it that my Polo lacked an ilumination point around the key barrel, when more basic cars had it? Dunno. But I do know it bugged me having to fiddle around in the dark trying to place the key in the barrel without scraping the surrounding trim. So I resolved to change it this weekend...Timed in sync with overhead lighting upon door opening;

One 22c Jay Car clear LED (it emits a red light but is clear in colour - two benefits; 1. translucent when not on, so blends in with black trim. 2, it has a wider light dispersement when on, so gives greater warm glow, as apposed to over bright spot light focus). One $1.00 bag of Jay Car 470 Ohm resister - you'll just need one. One last Jay Car thing - 4 meters of their thinest figure of 8 cable. it needs to be thin so you can 'hide' it in the pillar and rooflining trim.

Oh and for safety - 5cm or so of heat shrink (covers the exposed metal of the led - so no short to car)

Following the instructions for running in-roof OEM mic for bluetooth cable (see elsewhere on forum) - in brief;
1. pop top half of steering column trim - it pops up easily
2. gently twist a small (3-4mm) hole into the rubber boot around the key barrel. This is the critical part in terms of getting the lighting effect correct. See my photos. The LED placement should be such that the lighting shines down. I found placing it under the wiper stalk worked best.
3. solder up your LED, resistor, and fine wire. Check the polarity of your wiring at this stage. LEDs have a flat edge - thats the -ve side. Solder it to the cable's black lead. Ensure you heat shrink each LED leg individually so neither leg shorts to each other, or the car body.
4. poke (read - wiggle and gentrly coerce) the LED head through the hole in the rubber boot - from within the steering column plastic trim)
5. run the cable down the inside of the body of the steering trim - ensure it is clear of the wiper stalk.
6. run it up and past the fuse box slot.
7. run it towards the driver door - up the rubber trim, until you reach the removable trim at window height. I found no need to remove the trim as the wire was so fine - it poked into the gap between trim and body and hid itself.
8. run the wire under the headlining along the front top of the windscreen - again easily done.
9. remove the front plastic trim beside the over head lighting / individual reading light trim piece.
10. gently pull down / remove reading lighting trim piece. The wire has about 10cm of spare length within the roof lining.

Now your ready to test then afix your two wires. The connector bringing power to the lighting module has 3 cables. the two outer ones are switched negative (ground) and the central one is switched positive (12v). Your LED wiring earlier is now important - your cable black lead is your ground, and the other remaining lead will be your 12v.

Bare 3-5mm of wire and insert black into either outside pin of the 3 pin connector, and the other wire into the middle (positive) pin of the three pin connector. (if you've got the wrong polarity - dont worry - you wont damage anything).

Key in ignition, or open a door, or press the middle lighting button (interior on) - your little red LED should light up.
If not - check your polarity / ensure you've got a decent connection.

Once I'd tested mine - I made a permenant connection for the leads by prizing them under the metal connector strip running around the lighting module.

I popped the lighting module back in place, popped the steering column trim back, and then took these shots;
(total instal time - circa 3 hours)

with door open;
http://i.imgur.com/qSNUt.jpg

key approaching barrel;
http://i.imgur.com/hfimv.jpg

key in barrel;
http://i.imgur.com/3MPs4.jpg

key turned, lighting goes out;
http://i.imgur.com/2nzsb.jpg

JAYCAR Part No:
Heathshrink WH5562
Cable Bell Fig8 WB1700
Resistor 470R RR0564
LED 5mm clear red ZD0152
total cost $3.76

[Bassik]

What a great job for almost next to nothing. I believe this can also assist in those random scratches you get around the key entry as well.

[sVWatt]

yeh. Just came back in from looking at it in the dark (6.40pm) - working a treat. Soft glow around the top half of the key barrel...


with key and hand - it's still a soft glow (just the basic iPhone over exposes the reflection off the metal part of the key) ...

[RoknRob]

Very, very cool. Love how cheap it is to do, too. Bit time consuming, but probably worth it!

[Polo_GTI]

I just did this. Thanks for the post, it worked a treat

[sVWatt]

I just did this. Thanks for the post, it worked a treat

Awesome

[Polo_GTI]

Only difference is I used a white LED rather than red one and instead of drilling a hole in the rubber surround I wedged it between the rubber and the steering plastic trim. The benefit of this is there is no hole in the rubber and because the LED protrudes further out, the light shines directly into and illuminates the entire key barrel

[sVWatt]

Only difference is I used a white LED rather than red one and instead of drilling a hole in the rubber surround I wedged it between the rubber and the steering plastic trim. The benefit of this is there is no hole in the rubber and because the LED protrudes further out, the light shines directly into and illuminates the entire key barrel

Like the idea of wedging it in. Any chance of a daytime and nighttime photo?

[Polo_GTI]

Sure... I only have photos of when I did the install with the Red LED though. I changed it to White light but haven't had a chance to take any photos yet. I'll upload photos of the white light when I get a chance. Here's what I have:

[IMG][/IMG]
A little overexposed by the iphone camera. It's not that bright.
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

[sVWatt]

Sure... I only have photos of when I did the install with the Red LED though. I changed it to White light but haven't had a chance to take any photos yet. I'll upload photos of the white light when I get a chance. Here's what I have:

This looks good - better spread of light. Ill try repositioning mine, or maybe just pulling it further thru the rubber to let more light from the LED body out...