I want to replace the bulbs that light the A/C controls with blue LEDs... anyone know what this entails? I'm pretty sure I cant just swap them outright, there has to be some other electrical properties to pay attention to, right? Resistors and whatnot?

I already know about the Sharpie trick to color bulbs and the rubber bulb caps... tried that. When using blue caps, not enough light gets through and it's too dim. I'm thinking blue LEDs would be much brighter and bluer.

I found this LED... maybe some of you electrical buffs out there can tell me if this would take care of it. http://www.theledlight.com/pinled.html

Open to all info and suggestions. Thanks.

 

try superbirghtleds.com They have led bulbs for almost all automotive applications.

 

Awesome write up on this......check out the link below.

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=28496

Enjoy!

 

I've done the blue LED conversion on the HVAC controls for my xA and I have to say, It's one of the best interior mods I have done!

I purchased my blue LED's at Radio Shack. They are 5MM LED's at 2600mcd (millicandles). They run at about 4.99 each.

You must use a resistor soldered to the positive lead of the LED, make sure you get a 570ohm resistor. Some have said a 460ohm will work, but trust me after burning out $10.00 in LED's I found out the hard way.

The tutorial in the link in the above post is an excellent write up on what procedure is needed to install the LED's just remember to take your time and the results will be excellent!

 

I just ordered my 4 superbright blue LEDs and resistors from Oznium.com.

Grand total of $4.64... including shipping!!!

 

Here's a tip for those doing this: file the rounded end off of the LED so the light disperses better.

 

Swet! Great idea! How do you do it so you dont lose much of the light, though? Seems the rough end would cause you to lose more light than just leaving the round end.

 

use a rough sand paper to take the curve off, then a fine sand paper to polish it smooth and more flat on the tip.

 

bump

 

Nice.......GREAT tip!

 

Actually, an opaque tip is nothing to be concerned about.

Think of a lightbulb. You can buy lightbulbs with clear glass that make a sort of glaring light or you can go for the frosted "soft light" ones that disburse better.

The same thing goes here; LEDs that are water-clear will have clearly defined beam patterns. Frosted ones will have a more diffuse pattern.

 

I'll post pics as soon as I get the LEDs installed. It's gonna look badass.

 

Here we go... LEDs have been filed, soldered and installed... they're brighter in person. They're actually a perfect match for my stereo display and buttons. (It's the same color as the blue "cold temp" light you see when you start your box in the morning.)

 

I like it. I used the "bulb condom" route but found a more translucent bulb cover at Autobacs. It lets more light pass through into the dials. I see you have the same problem I have, the blue light coming through doesn't illuminate the red section on the temp control dial. I've gotten used to it but it still sucks.

Can you offer a little more detail about how you mounted the L.E.D.'s? Did you use the stock bulb mounting or customize it somehow?

 

You can always shove a 6" cold cathode in there if you know what you're doing. I did it, it wasn't that hard.

 

Max2k do you have any pics?

 

surfcitylocal: I used the stock housing... here is a link to the procedure I followed, it's for a 'Vette, but the bulb housing is identical. The whole thing took maybe 20 minutes.
http://www.oznium.com/corvette-led-door-switches.php
I don't have a Dremel or any of that fancy crap... I filed my LEDs with my wife's nail file (should've asked her first, oh well, she'll get over it). I don't even have a soldering iron, I used this Silvering Resin stuff I found at Radio Shack for $5. It's a silver paste, you squirt some on the connection and hold a lighter to it for 2 seconds, it sizzles and boom, you're done. A nice, clean connection.

I'll post a pic tonight of how my whole LED/housing/resistor setup looked before I replaced the console panel. Very easy, very clean.



TIP: Polarity matters, LEDs won't light if you have them backwards (no damage, just won't light). It does not matter how you connect the LEDs to the housing, but you can screw the housing in 2 ways (right and wrong ). There are no markings, so you have to guess which way to screw it in. You want the positive lead to be on the inside (closest to the wire harness acceptor) on both sides. I got it right by chance on the first try.

 

I installed, or tried to install the LED lights last night and found that the resistors I had were too small. I blew out the LED's when the power hit them. I was using 3 mm blue LED's with 510 ohm resisters. I got up this morning and headed over the radio shaft to pick up some larger resistors. I picked up 570 ohm and 680 ohm. I redid the lights trying both resistors and still blew the LED's. Anyone have a suggestion of what the problem might be? I realize that the LED's used in this post were 5 mm but does it make that much of a difference? I can wire up one of the 3 mm's with a 510 ohm resister and hook it straight up to the battery, it doesn't blow! WTF is causing them to blow on the interior lighting?

Edit: I figured it out and it was so stupid I'm not even going to tell you what I did.

 

Cathode vs Anode! We-OOOT! I'm going to try the CCFL trick for this spot. I'll post a write-up/how-to if it works the way I'm planning. If it does work, it should be a bit more fluid over the LED.

 

I did this also except I used 4 street glow LEDs from Circuit City (helps when I do the installs there) Because like Uber-xA I burned out a few packages of Radio Shack LEDs. The Street Glow ones have a positive and neg wire attached so that you don't wire up one LED backwards... also they are preresisted.

The reason I used 4 of them is to give a better overall light area.. It is bright blue throughout all of it and even the A/C / Defrost Buttons. Also being as lazy as I am, I hot glued them in place to make sure they never move. Then wired them to the acual wire for the controls that gets 12v when lights are turned on. Also added in a male and female quick connect inorder to make for easy trouble shooting.