D.I.Y. Illuminated Chargeport

[northernlights]

I used a simple analog circuit and some off-the shelf components to make a charge port illuminator. It turns on when the charge port door is opened, and stays lit for about 20 seconds before fading out. It took about an hour (longer if you are not comfortable soldering) and cost under $20. I have posted an intstructable for anyone who is interested.

 

[tom]

Nice!

 

[Bimmerific]

nice work. is soldering complicated to do?

 

[northernlights]

Soldering isn't difficult, but it does take a little practice. There are many good youtube tutorials, or since this project only has a few soldered components, you could probably call on a favor of a friend who is a do-it-yourselfer to help with it. You could also use a solderless breadboard to connect the components - this is a little plastic box that comes in various sizes, this project only needs the small one that is about the size of a match box. They have lots of holes in them that you stick the wires or component leads into. Inside the box are little rows of wires that make the electrical connection between the things stuck into any row of holes. You can find them on amazon.