NEW Interior LED Mod Thread
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 31,233
Likes: 201
From: Utah
WOW Tim looks great. I kind of gave up for a bit on trying to get all my lighting perfect. I didn't really think it was possible but know that I see yours I might have new found motivation to keep trying.
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 4,048
Likes: 1,475
From: South Florida
I used this thread to do my HVAC today.
Now when I plug it in to the car, the LED's light up nice and bright but NOTHING works.
The display stays blank, the selection lights on the HVAC buttons do not light up, the A/C won't even turn on.
Did I break something?
Now when I plug it in to the car, the LED's light up nice and bright but NOTHING works.
The display stays blank, the selection lights on the HVAC buttons do not light up, the A/C won't even turn on.
Did I break something?
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,317
Likes: 9
From: McCall Idaho
I was putting LED's in my PRNDL A4 selector last night and didn't disconnect the battery. One thing led to another and I ground-shorted the light power. It took out a fuse that gave me all sorts of issues tracking it down. Had power to the HID ballasts but the light buckets wouldn't drop. Some other funky symptoms, too. found the blown 10amp fuse in the footwell station and replaced. Good to go then. Had me worried for a bit.
I'll check my manual troubleshooting section, maybe get lucky...
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,987
Likes: 18
From: DuBois PA
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14-'15
Just take yor time and experimant with different things... 
Tim
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,987
Likes: 18
From: DuBois PA
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14-'15
Not an expert but a couple of things I'd check are all the connections and corresponding fuses.
I was putting LED's in my PRNDL A4 selector last night and didn't disconnect the battery. One thing led to another and I ground-shorted the light power. It took out a fuse that gave me all sorts of issues tracking it down. Had power to the HID ballasts but the light buckets wouldn't drop. Some other funky symptoms, too. found the blown 10amp fuse in the footwell station and replaced. Good to go then. Had me worried for a bit.
I'll check my manual troubleshooting section, maybe get lucky...
I was putting LED's in my PRNDL A4 selector last night and didn't disconnect the battery. One thing led to another and I ground-shorted the light power. It took out a fuse that gave me all sorts of issues tracking it down. Had power to the HID ballasts but the light buckets wouldn't drop. Some other funky symptoms, too. found the blown 10amp fuse in the footwell station and replaced. Good to go then. Had me worried for a bit.
I'll check my manual troubleshooting section, maybe get lucky...
Tim
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 4,048
Likes: 1,475
From: South Florida
What happens if I did? 
All of the LED's work the way they should. But that is it. nothing else lights up. Fuses and connection all look fine. The soldering points also look clean.
I dunno how I would have blown the power board. I thought I read a thread on this somewhere before. Someone was doing the HVAC LED mod and had the same issue I am having. I forgot the outcome and I have not been able to find it in a search yet.
All of the LED's work the way they should. But that is it. nothing else lights up. Fuses and connection all look fine. The soldering points also look clean.
I dunno how I would have blown the power board. I thought I read a thread on this somewhere before. Someone was doing the HVAC LED mod and had the same issue I am having. I forgot the outcome and I have not been able to find it in a search yet.
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Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,987
Likes: 18
From: DuBois PA
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14-'15
A couple of times members have blown the power board by having a shorted LED connection on the display board. The typical result is that the LEDs will never turn off but the HVAC functions correctly, sometimes the LEDs won't dim via the dimmer switch but again, the HVAC functions correctly.
I'm having a hard time believing that your LED swap caused the HVAC to stop working altogether, minus a bad connection (inside and outside the HVAC, bent or missing pin?) or blown fuse... You should check to make sure you have power at pins 5, 12 and 16 at the connector using pin 1 as the reference ground.
Have you checked the fuse? What Model number is your HVAC (on the back of it)?? Can the LEDs be controlled by the Headlight and Dimmer switchs or are they just ON all the time?
Tim
I'm having a hard time believing that your LED swap caused the HVAC to stop working altogether, minus a bad connection (inside and outside the HVAC, bent or missing pin?) or blown fuse... You should check to make sure you have power at pins 5, 12 and 16 at the connector using pin 1 as the reference ground.
Have you checked the fuse? What Model number is your HVAC (on the back of it)?? Can the LEDs be controlled by the Headlight and Dimmer switchs or are they just ON all the time?
Tim
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 4,048
Likes: 1,475
From: South Florida
A couple of times members have blown the power board by having a shorted LED connection on the display board. The typical result is that the LEDs will never turn off but the HVAC functions correctly, sometimes the LEDs won't dim via the dimmer switch but again, the HVAC functions correctly.
I'm having a hard time believing that your LED swap caused the HVAC to stop working altogether, minus a bad connection (inside and outside the HVAC, bent or missing pin?) or blown fuse... You should check to make sure you have power at pins 5, 12 and 16 at the connector using pin 1 as the reference ground.
Have you checked the fuse? What Model number is your HVAC (on the back of it)?? Can the LEDs be controlled by the Headlight and Dimmer switchs or are they just ON all the time?
Tim
I'm having a hard time believing that your LED swap caused the HVAC to stop working altogether, minus a bad connection (inside and outside the HVAC, bent or missing pin?) or blown fuse... You should check to make sure you have power at pins 5, 12 and 16 at the connector using pin 1 as the reference ground.
Have you checked the fuse? What Model number is your HVAC (on the back of it)?? Can the LEDs be controlled by the Headlight and Dimmer switchs or are they just ON all the time?
Tim
I appreciate the help.
My HVAC was working perfectly fine before the LED swap
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 4,048
Likes: 1,475
From: South Florida
A couple of times members have blown the power board by having a shorted LED connection on the display board. The typical result is that the LEDs will never turn off but the HVAC functions correctly, sometimes the LEDs won't dim via the dimmer switch but again, the HVAC functions correctly.
I'm having a hard time believing that your LED swap caused the HVAC to stop working altogether, minus a bad connection (inside and outside the HVAC, bent or missing pin?) or blown fuse... You should check to make sure you have power at pins 5, 12 and 16 at the connector using pin 1 as the reference ground.
Have you checked the fuse? What Model number is your HVAC (on the back of it)?? Can the LEDs be controlled by the Headlight and Dimmer switchs or are they just ON all the time?
Tim
I'm having a hard time believing that your LED swap caused the HVAC to stop working altogether, minus a bad connection (inside and outside the HVAC, bent or missing pin?) or blown fuse... You should check to make sure you have power at pins 5, 12 and 16 at the connector using pin 1 as the reference ground.
Have you checked the fuse? What Model number is your HVAC (on the back of it)?? Can the LEDs be controlled by the Headlight and Dimmer switchs or are they just ON all the time?
Tim
-The LED's dim with the dimmer switch, they also turn on and off properly with the interior lighting.
-HVAC has no bent or missing pins.
-No fuses in the car are blown.
-I have power on pins 5,12, and 16.
-When I plug the HVAC into the car the front windshield defroster comes on and pressing the buttons does nothing. The little orange selector LED's are not lit and the green display screen does not light up either.
-Model # is 09380441
Which pins can I apply 12v power to and a ground to see if the display lights up?
The HVAC worked perfectly fine before the LED swap. I am not new to soldering and electronic work and I think I did a good job at this. I wonder what went wrong
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,987
Likes: 18
From: DuBois PA
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14-'15
Are all the 241 SMT resistors on the power board makng a good connection? I assumed you did the Dim Display fix while you were in there, maybe that was a bad assumption??
FYI 5, 12 and 16 will power up the whole HVAC, pin 16 is the interior lighting circuit...
Tim
FYI 5, 12 and 16 will power up the whole HVAC, pin 16 is the interior lighting circuit...
Tim
Last edited by tstar; Jan 5, 2009 at 01:01 AM.
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 4,048
Likes: 1,475
From: South Florida
I will try applying power to pins 5,12, and 16 all at once tonight and see what happens. I presume pin # 1 is the ground?
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 4,048
Likes: 1,475
From: South Florida
Ok, when I apply power to 5,12,16 and ground at 1 I get the same thing as when I plug it into the car. All LED's light up, no display and no orange LED's in the buttons.
Here is a picture:
Here is a picture:
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,987
Likes: 18
From: DuBois PA
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14-'15
OK we know it's isolated to the HAVC... I would go over both boards with a magnifying glass, look for lifted tracks, dropped solder (which could be anywhere on the board), part of a cut LED lead that may have gotten stuck somewhere on a board, look closely for a solder bridge between an LED hook-up.
It's something that happened while you did the LED swap so it should be able to be found... pretty unique problem though.
Tim
It's something that happened while you did the LED swap so it should be able to be found... pretty unique problem though.
Tim
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 4,048
Likes: 1,475
From: South Florida
OK we know it's isolated to the HAVC... I would go over both boards with a magnifying glass, look for lifted tracks, dropped solder (which could be anywhere on the board), part of a cut LED lead that may have gotten stuck somewhere on a board, look closely for a solder bridge between an LED hook-up.
It's something that happened while you did the LED swap so it should be able to be found... pretty unique problem though.
Tim
It's something that happened while you did the LED swap so it should be able to be found... pretty unique problem though.
Tim
I just went over it a third time with a jewelers magnifying glass. Looked for dropped soldering, bridged LED's on both sides, pieces of a cut LED lead....nothing
If i bridged the LED's it would either short the LED out or cause the LED's always on issue. I think I managed to damage something else somehow when testing for power.
Thanks for the help Tim. I am actually shipping it to the EBAY repair guy tomorrow to get fixed. IF that does not work I will just bite the bullet and buy a new unit for $265
Altho I still want my LEDs!I planned on doing the LED mod to my door control buttons too. Once this issue is resolved I will resume my efforts.
I will let you know if it can be repaired and what the problem was.
Thanks again for your help Tim.
-Jason
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,987
Likes: 18
From: DuBois PA
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14-'15
Jason,
Man that's a real head scratcher! I don't have a clue what could have happened, I'm not sure the guy on EBay can fix it but I hope so for your sake!!!
When you start again, I ALWAYS ohm the LEDs for shorts first then light them up with a 9 volt battery, if all that looks good THEN I connect the display board up to the power board and fire everything up...
Good luck to you...
BTW interesting move making the Passenger script Red...
Tim
Man that's a real head scratcher! I don't have a clue what could have happened, I'm not sure the guy on EBay can fix it but I hope so for your sake!!!
When you start again, I ALWAYS ohm the LEDs for shorts first then light them up with a 9 volt battery, if all that looks good THEN I connect the display board up to the power board and fire everything up...
Good luck to you...
BTW interesting move making the Passenger script Red...
Tim