Goin to do a interior light kit in the wifes xB and searched but didnt find what I was looking for. The cold cathode lighting is single color, pick it & live with it. The 6CD in dash unit has a bunch of colors available, and she loves options. Since the cupholder lights have 7 color choices in one LED that I'm installing, is there a reason to stay away from the LED interior lighting as well? In this ebay auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW Theres a set of 4 10" tubes with controller and wiring for under $50, and you can change the interior lighting to suit the mood just like the radio & cupholders.. makes sense because you're not stuck with one color, but is there a significant drawback to LED vs Cathodes? Heat? Amp draw? The few extra bucks for the variety is worth it to me money wise, so I'm looking for valid reasons I shouldnt buy the LED setup before I place the order. Opinions?

 

The only drawbacks i could see are a combo of these:

1st, depending on the layout of the led tubes you may have few leds and they might cause uneven, harsh lighting, and if theres too few, weak lighting.


Thats about it, not much of a list, as far asconsumption i really couldnt tell you. sorry



If you wanna compare intensity, you can go off the MCD ( cathodes are about 30,000 i believe)

 

I'm not 100% sure but it looks like they use RGB LED's and probably a micro controller to control the amount of voltage going to each color (RGB) led. When you vary the voltage or intensity of each of the primary colors, you are basically changing the visible output color of each bulb. Well now that I got the technical aspect out of the way, I think it's an ok price to try them out to see if they're good or not. The major difference you'll notice is that cathodes will be brighter than the LED's (like an alien ship or something). Temp wise, the cathodes will run cooler too, but it's not like you're going to hold them in your hand all the time, so the heat generated by the LED's won't be noticeable similar to cathodes. LED's are good for a nice subtle look and like you've noticed, you can do more of the mixing color combinations to make different unique colors. The power draw of LED's should be similar to the cathodes in that they're both are made to work off of 12V so you won't have to worry about the power usage. Also if they do get too bright for your taste, you can always hook your 12V to a adjusting pot and vary the amount of voltage going to the LED bars. Well if you do try them out, keep us posted how it worked out. Also I just remembered it now, you might want to PM EvilDave since he had color changing LED's on the undercarriage of his car and he also works with them as a living. So he'd be the one to get first hand experience from.