After reading half this thread and getting more confused I figure I'll ask. I'm sure it's been answered so sorry for not seeing the answer.

I want to replace my burnt out bulbs in my HVAC.

The NEO-Wedge LED bulbs have the resistor built into the base, but you guys are saying you removed the base. So, that means I'll need to solder a resistor onto the LED after I remove it from the base? Or does the resistor come out of the base with the LED?

Any reason why the $1.50 bulbs won't work? They look like they even have the same P/N as the $2.99 bulbs?


Neo - Wedge LED Instrument Panel Bulbs Type A, B & C
(Note to choose the correct bulb, measure the diameter of the base) 79609-S5A-003

Type B (T4)
79674-S3N-941
79607-SHJ-S01
4897949AA
10mm= 3/8"
$1.49 each

as apposed to

Neo - Wedge LED Instrument Panel Bulbs Type A, B & C
(Note to choose the correct bulb, measure the diameter of the base) 79609-S5A-003

Type B (T4)
79674-S3N-941
79607-SHJ-S01
10mm= 3/8"
$2.99 each


What am I missing here?

 

Check out this post....

See post #3

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...p-warning.html

 

All of the lights in the HVAC are soldered to the circuit board. To use the NEO wedge lamps , they have to be removed from the base. A resistor and diode are soldered to the LED that is part of the NEO.

Also the 10mm ones may be too big. When I did my HVAC I used 3mm LEDs and resistors.

Now the circuit board is delicate. If you do not have any electronics expience I would suggest sending the HVAC to JW Motoring for the mod to be completed.

Gary

 

Does any body do the replacements for a fee? Not just HVAC, door switchs etc

 

door switches, glove box, trunk, foot well, rear view mirror and a few others are 5 min projects. plug and play. you can do it yourself with a flathead scewdriver

 

the electrochromatic mirrors are not plug and play. They have 12 factory leds that can be changed to different colors with some skill. Contact Jw motoring, they can do it all.

 

Okay guys, got the door switches done on both sides this evening.

I see what you guys mean now about those "twist-lock" bulbs...they kind of suck. I just ended up pulling them out of their bases and soldering them directly onto the little pads on the circuit boards.

They look good though now, it's a little bit of a pain but not too bad once I got into my groove soldering a few.


Got a question though, I don't understand what is meant by "ohm out" the positive pad and the pin??

What am I looking for in ohms to make sure the pad is the positive side?

Do I set the meter on ohms and then go from (say the driver side door switch) pin 21 to pin 22 and check the reading...?

then go to the....where to check and make sure the pads are correct?

 

Congrats on getting your door's done. Its a good way to start learning what your doing before you get to your Radio/HVAC...

Ohming out..... I hope I can describe this correctly.

The Drivers door connector says that Pin 21 is (-), and Pin 22 is (+). You need to determine which which side of the LED mounting pad is (+) and which side is (-). Polarity matters with these LED's.

Touch your multimeter to pin 21 (-), and when you touch one side of the mounting pad you will either read High resistance, or you should short to 0ohms. If you have 0ohms than you just found the (-) side of the circuit. If you have very high resistance then you are likely on the (+) side of the pad.

Touch your multimeter to pin 22 (+), and when you touch one side of the mounting pad you will either read High resistance, or you should short to 0ohms. If you have 0ohms than you just found the (+) side of the circuit. If you have very high resistance then you are likely on the (-) side of the pad.

The purpose of doing this is to make sure your soldering LED correctly to the board .... You need to know which mounting pad is (+) and (-).

Now... with that said. After you solder your connections. You need to MAKE SURE that you ohm check between Pin 21(-) and Pin 22(+). Your (+) and (-) connections can never be connected together or you will blow fuses, and or fry something.

Think of it like this... If you take a steal bar and touch the (+) side of your battery, and with the other end touch it to the (-) side of the battery. Darwin award candidate for sure..

This will happen to your Radio/HVAC and others if your (+) and (-) are connected together. See first video below.

Touch your Red meter lead to pin 22, and your Black meter lead to pin 21. You should see very high resistance (meaning they are not connected together in any way). If you see very low resistance like 0 ohms, then that means your (+) and (-) are connected together somewhere. You need to find out where your solder job connected them. You need to repair this before you connect it to power !!!

You need to do the above for each component you do before installing it into your car. I also used a 9V battery to see if everything lighted up after I ohm checked everything. I ohm checked on each LED I installed to make sure my (+) and (-) were not connected together. It made it easier to find the problem if I screwed up. This is party why this MOD is so time consuming....

I hope this makes a bit of sense.
Toque

 

Mark,

Thank you so much for that post..I THINK I'll be able to get the HVAC done now.

Donnie

 

Your welcome. I hope it makes some sense. Please be careful and take your time. Verify your ohm checks every LED you install to make sure your connected properly and not shorted...

Good luck !
Toque

 

Does anybody have a HVAC board that they are using for parts? Seems like I damaged one of the micro switches for the fan speed button as I was reassembling the unit.

Jim

 

Hey guys,

Couple questions..

Is there any way to power up the fog light/hatch switch using a 9 V battery or just outside of the car??

I'd like to test it w/o plugging it back into the connector while it's all torn about down to the PCB if possible...


AND, for the little yellow light that illuminates when you turn the fog lights on...I de-soldered one of the little positive or negative pads off of the PCB itself.

Not completely though, it's still connected to the 'trace' that leads back to the connector but right where the lead for the LED itself stick into the board...that little pad lifted off of the PCB.

I should be able to get the bulb soldered back onto the pad but will that pad stick back to the PCB or is it done now??

How are those held down to the PCB??


Last question, does anyone know which side for the LITTLE YELLOW fog light illumination L.E.D. is positive and negative??

I'll post a picture of the board and the little lifted pad this evening when I get home if it helps.


Thanks so much,

Donnie

 

Here is a pic of the fog light board that I stole from Toques post

I put a black arrow right where I ripped the pad off..what type of glue/adhesive/solder holds that thing down to the board?

It's still attached but only by the "wire" not the pad itself that the bulb lead solders to.



edit: and looking at that picture...the FAR LEFT pin is pin number 8 correct?

 

Well I see the picture didn't work..it's the only picture in this thread http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...errerid=228945 of the fog light board. First post.

 

You mean this picture ? Just right click on the picture, then copy image location, then insert image here.




Tim posted the following in Post #4

Bench Testing Pinouts;

Hot Ground Notes
Driver’s Door 22 21
Fog/Trunk 7 8
HUD 6 7
DIC 10 9
TC/AH 1(10) 2 (9)
Passenger Door* 2 1
HVAC C5, C12, C16 C1 Or hook up to the back of any bulb
Radio Hook up to the back of any bulb


You should be able to look down the area where the pins are. Molded into the black plastic are numbers. Look for Number 7 and 8 to first ohm check, then apply the 9v battery to test your lights.

Toque

 

Thanks Toque. So i can just touch a couple of wires to the ends of the 9 v battery and power pins 7 and 8 with the fog light board out of the car correct?

I was able to get 2 LED's soldered into the main bulb spot where one is supposed to go like you did, now I'm still working on replacing that one little yellow LED and just want to test it out of the car before plugging it back in.

edit: what do you think about the fact that i desoldered that one pad off of the PCB? you think i'll be able to just solder it like normal and it'll be okay? what holds those pads down to the pcb..i found these online for 30-40 bucks so if I screw this one up it won't be too bad

 

Ohm check pins 7/8 first. Then go to pin 7/8 with the correct polarity 9v battery and light up the LED's to test your lights.

I'm not sure about the polarity of the yellow LED... I never messed with mine.

If you de-soldered a pad off the board you may need to get a small piece of wire to make a connection.

Toque

 

I'll see if I can get it done tonight or tomorrow.

 

Use a 9 volt and a 560 ohm resistor, and touch the back of the yellow LED to see what the pins are... It'll light one way, mark the positive side and you're good.

Tim

 

Thanks so much Tim. I got it put back together last night but I must have done something wrong on the fog light switch..

The fog light and hatch buttons work to release the hatch and turn the fogs on/off but none of the bulbs light up anymore..

I checked to make sure that the "bigger" bulb(s) were working before I put it back together but the little yellow one(I ended up just putting that one back in). The blue lights lite up before I put the assembly back together by just plugging the PCB into the connector out of the housing.

Then I glued the housing back together, plugged it in and no lights. :


Oh well, I got the PRDN123 light and the footwell/hatch/puddle lights done.

I'll probably just buy another fog light switch on ebay and send it to JW with the HVAC when I get that done.

The DIC/HUD still isn't done but I'll get to it in the next couple of weeks.

Thank you guys again for all of the help, this thing is really starting to look good now.

Donnie