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    Administrator Daox's Avatar
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    Developing a glove box LED light kit - now for sale!

    I have mentioned this in a couple of threads, but several people have commented that they would like a glove box light in their Mirage. Well, Mitsubishi didn't feel that it was necessary and thus did not add one to the car. But, that doesn't mean we can't come up with something quick and easy ourselves to make one, right? Well, that is what I intend to do, and will detail in this thread. So, lets hop to it!

    First off, we need some power for a light. Mitsubishi kindly provided nice 5V power straight to the glove box via the USB cable from the radio. This is a great source of power since you don't have to splice any wires, or anything, just plug your light into the USB cable and bingo bango you got powah! Now, you may be thinking to yourself "that is a pretty fantastic idea Daox, but what about if I want to actually USE my USB cable?" Well, I have that figured out too. Introducing a brilliant device called a Y-cable. It has a single male plug, but two female plugs. Notice, one has a red ring around it? That one is just for power where the other one can handle power and data. Our light just needs power, so we will be using that one. You can use the other one for music, charging your cell phone, or whatever you kids do with USB outlets these days.

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    Now that we have power, we need... a light! (you can applaud anytime). I did a bunch of searching online and found these little LED USB lights. They're inexpensive and actually put off a good amount of nice white light. They're super simple, just plug them in and if the USB outlet has power, they turn on.

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    With these two pieces, you pretty much have a glove box light. You can plug it in, and anytime the car is on, it will turn on. You can even jam the USB connector with the light in it between the dash and some metal piece under the dash to stick the light out of the way and get a nice picture like the one shown below. I adjusted the image so it more closely looks like what you'll actually see.

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    However, the light will be on the entire time your car is keyed on, or in accessory mode. I have a feeling that light will seep out of the glove box while driving at night. I'm not a big fan of this, so I plan to add a switch to the system. This switch will keep the light off until the glove box has fully opened, then it will turn on. I have the switch, I just don't have the mounting provisions made up quite yet.
    Custom Mirage products: Cruise control kit, Glove box light, MAF sensor housing, Rear sway bar, Upper grill block

    Current project: DIY Nitrous oxide setup for ~$100

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 47.2 mpg (US) ... 20.1 km/L ... 5.0 L/100 km ... 56.7 mpg (Imp)


  2. The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to Daox For This Useful Post:

    2of9 (12-28-2017),Cobrajet (12-28-2017),dragon2knight (01-03-2021),Fummins (12-28-2017),Jcpr (12-29-2017),MetroMPG (12-28-2017),strawboss (12-28-2017),Top_Fuel (12-28-2017)

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