Toolbox Drawers with LEDs

LED Strip cut to the width of the drawer and stuck to the inside of the front.

Negative wire from LEDs is stripped and secured between drawer rail and drawer.

Positive wire is extended and fed through the bottom of the drawer...

to the underside and along to the back.

I found carpet tape sticks a lot better than electrical tape. Double sided tape is holding the 8XAA battery pack to the back of the drawer.

Positive wire from the battery pack is soldered to the common (C) connection on the micro switch, the positive to the LED strip is soldered to the Normally closed (NC) connection. again the switch is attached with a double sided sticky pad.

Negative wire from the battery pack is connected to the drawer rail at the back. make sure its the same rail as the LED negative is connected to, otherwise the lights are dim, or flicker. Tape all wires out the way as there isn't a lot of clearance between drawers. I also taped over the exposed wire in this image so it isn't caught in the rail when using the drawer.

Here is the lights working, the position of the switch is so it presses against the locking mechanism at the back of the box. The placement is slightly different for top drawers that are shallow. there is also a bit more tape over the switch, just to make sure it stays put.

I also added a thin neodymium bar magnet in-between the switch and locking tab on the drawer. This pulls the drawer shut when it's close to being closed and keeps it there. the drawer only needs to open a small amount to turn the light on.

Unfortunately, with the magnets the locking mechanism no longer works as intended. If i want to lock the drawers I either need to remove the magnets or lock the box with all the drawers open, and slam them shut. I never lock my box anyway.

The drawer from the above photos fitted, and working.

Here you can see it only need to open a small amount to turn the lights on.

The other drawers I have done so far (excuse the biscuit crumbs, I had to hide them somewhere). I have gone through many different ways of powering the lights and switching them on and off. I finally opted for this as its far simpler and what I could fit without wasting room inside the drawers.

The shallow drawers have the battery pack inside the drawer, however I managed to hide them under tool trays. The top drawer shown open in the above video has the batteries hidden under the yellow screwdriver tray.

Battery life is very good so far. I fitted 2 drawers with lights when I first posted on Reddit 10 Months ago, i had to rewire one, but the other is still going, considering it contains my brake tools which are used several times a day its doing well. they're only open a few seconds at a time.

To turn the lights off I just pull the drawers out till they're nearly off the rails and flick the switch. And the same for changing batteries.

On another note, I have been using a 50 Cal ammunition tin for my spare bits and bobs for a few years. Its really handy, but the other day I stumbled across organizer trays and they're great! Thought I'd share.