Has anyone swapped out ONLY the HVAC bulbs and have the HVAC not dim with the rest of the interior lights????????

Tim

 

Ok would there be ANYONE that would be willing to do my rear view mirror lights??? I have the mirror with the 12 LED lights. I've been trying at it for the past two days and it's just to much of a PITA! So if the is anyone send me a PM.

Thanks,

Corey


Oh and for tstar, i've never heard of that happening my hvac and everything else dims perfect

 

PM sent...

What problem are you having anyway?

Tim

 

I just posted the problems i was having in the "BIG" thread.

Corey

 

Sounds odd, I can look at it for you though.

Tim

 

Ok guys, I managed to get my hvac switched to blue led's without frying anything or permanently disfiguring myself.

It turned out pretty good, although brighter than some of the other areas. The pic doesn't do it justice. The lighting is VERY even and the blue matches everything else, it's just a bit brighter. Also, I forgot to get a couple red led's for under the right side of the temperature sweeps, so I just left the incandescent bulbs in place and that worked pretty good.



The brightness issue is probably due to the led's I bought. I didn't want to mess with grinding all the tops flat, so I found some on ebay that are made that way. They're 5mm and supposedly 4000 mcd, 5000 max. They came with free 510 ohm resistors, which the ad says works with 12 V power.

I may try to soften the intensity with a trick I did on my traction control switch that was too bright for my liking....I used a blue sharpie and colored the top of the bulb and it brought the brightness down.

Question for tstar: Tim, I was using your pics as a guide and bending the resistors off the the side with some heat shrink tubing to prevent accidental shorting, but I ran into trouble with the buttons being able to press their switches.
The rubber surround that lays over the face of the board can't lay flat with the resistors in the way. Do you have problems with your buttons being able to contact the switches on the board?
I ended up going a different route and soldering the resistors in line with the LED legs as short as possible. I believe it's the same way it was done on spdkilz website. They stick up about 1/2" or so off the board, but there's room under the buttons. You just have to bend them slightly after laying the rubber surround over them to get them in the middle of the cavity in the buttons.

Next is the radio. Are there any clearance issues inside of that?

Thanks for the help...(and for putting ideas in my head and getting me into this )
Rick

 

Subscribing for my future mod

Thanks,Matt

 

Rick

Looks good. I don't know about the radio, I installed an aftermarket system. Tim (TSTAR) should be able to tell you what kind of clearance there is.

The gray rubber surround can be trimmed to allow it to lay flat. Getting the LED as low as possible helps spread the light out over the buttons, etc.

One important note, looking at the LED's there is a little tab that sticks off of the leads. This tab indicates the minimum length the leads can be cut to. Any shorter and the LED can't dissipate enough heat to operate properly. Yes LEDs do dissipate heat, a very tiny amount but enough that if it does not have any place to go the LED will fail.

Gary

 

I thought about trying that, but figured I'd see if the other way would work first. I like to keep things intact as much as possible, unless it's unavoidable.
I was expecting to have to take it back apart and make adjustments so I didn't have any hotspots, but it looked really evenly lit to me.

I remember reading about that issue. On the LED's I have, both leads have a flattened area which I figured was the minimum length. I cut the + lead right at that mark and soldered the resistor lead to it. They stick up off the board 1/2", but I didn't have any trouble with clearance when pushing the buttons. Time will tell if they hold up or not.

Thanks Gary.

 

I had the high intensity issue with my blue LED HVAC install. I posted a comparison recently in the "big" LED thread. I was able to use a dremel and take the LEDs down a bit while they were still installed, just a second or two with a sanding wheel on the dremel. That took down the intensity and made is match the other things better.

 

There are a few ways to get around the rubber piece, the simpliest is to position your resistor as far away from the actual buttons on the board as possible, another is the technique you used.... standing them straight up. What I'm doing now, since using 10mms on the rocker switches is bending all the resistors so that it they are standing straight up alongside the LED, I place the rubber piece unto the board, then insert all the LEDs, test and solder em. After everything is working I cut a small slot in the rubber collar for each resistor and then lay the resisitor flat against the rubber on top of it... I hope that made sense.... I don't have any pics, the next HVAC I do I'll be sure to take some and post it up.

The Radio is alot trickier!!! The white reflector plate is a PITA! Also the wave guides. The LED placement within the white reflector plate GREATLY affects how the light is dispersed, it's important to add a reflective material directly under the LEDs unto the Blue/Black diffuser sheet also, I've used aluminium foil with good success but I think mylar would be better. I have some Christmas wrapping paper that is the foil stuff? And is very shiny on the backside, I'm going to try that on the next one. Wrapping the wave guides with a reflective materioal really helps even out the lighting as well...

The toughest one I did was for UnionLandlord, he wanted a Red and Blue LED mix and getting everything evened out was really a bear! I used different combinations of LED sizes, locations (height) within the white reflector plate and added some LEDs where needed.... All in all the Radio is by far tougher then the HVAC to get looking good!

BTW Minitech's advice is very good, shaving the tips wll help soften the light and disperse it better.... Some people us the sharpie technique but it has to be touched up in the future.

It's looking good Rick!

Tim

 

Very good post. I always wanted to change the background color in my vette to either white or Red.

Anyone in the area interested to help me install them we will have lots of Beer and Pizza. I guess i will feel more confident knowing the person helping had done it before

thanks

RB

 

Before I get into tearing the radio apart, I wanted to see if I could do anything to get the fog light/trunk switch a little brighter. It was just too dim compared to everything else.

First, I bought a spare switch because taking one apart involves cutting it open along the glued seam. Having a spare always makes me feel better about ripping things apart.

After getting it apart, it's obvious why the lighting is so dim. The light has to go into the buttons from an angle and also has to make it through the half inch thick silicone rubber they're made out of.

I decided my best bet was to handle it just like the traction control button and embed the LED's into the rubber of the button. I used two Oznium wedge LED's that I removed from their bases.




A little extra wire soldered onto the leads, some heat shrink tubing to protect against shorting, and then solder the wires to the appropriate pad on the back of the circuit board (top is + if I remember right).



It's starting to come together...

 

Ok i know this is a little out of place here..but i need input...Some of you out there may have a C4 and a C5 like i do...I've been adding LED's to my C5 and having fun...But now i want to start doing it to my C4..I started a thread in the C4 section about LED"S and haven't got anything really except Tail lights.....that's not what i'm after.... I'd like to do the bottom of the door stripe, some interior stuff too like i've done in the C5.......Can anybody help here!? Thanks.

 

RJ great job and an excellent post!!!! The Blue guys will apreciate this one!

FYI I have a Red silicone cover on the stock bulb in my Fog/Hatch buttons and it looks good...

Tim

 

I personally don't, hopefully someone will chime in, although if you had no luck in C4... It really wasn't too long ago that this Mod started in the C5

I haven't seen anything yet that an LED won't go into, case in point is RJ's post above, a little knowledge of how LEDs work and a little inqenuity will get you there.

If you're game I'd like to pop over in C4 and if you post some pics we should be able to convert the stuff you want over to LEDs... You could even send me some of the components if she isn't a DD.

As far as wiring the under Door LED strip, you should be able to do it excatly as the C5s are done. Route the wiring throught the Door jamb and tie it into your footwell lights.
Tim

 

Guys,

If I order "74 Neo-wedge Corvette C5 LED Bulb $2.49 from www.ozium.com are those only used for the door panels or can I use them in the HVAC, Switches (Doors, Fog/Trunk, DIC and Traction Control), Dimmer/HUD, Map Lights Electrochromatic, Automatic Gear Indicator (PRNDL).
I am just trying to avoid soldering so not to burn or damage something, they seem like a plug N play LED's. So I open the unit take the old lighthing out and put the "74 Neo-wedge Corvette C5 LED Bulb " is what I said right and if thats the case then I would need 50 of them

Thank you

RB

 

I'm sure that we can give you guidence for the C4. It would be helpful if we knew what part of the country you are in. There is bound to be one of us that is near you.

Gary

 

I'm in Southern Mississippi, right on the coast. I've been having fun with my C5 and LEDs just want to carry it on to the C4.

 

The 74 Neo-wedge bulb fits the following locations;

Door switches
Turnk/fog switch
DIC switchs
HUD controls

It also fits the TC/AH control, however it would be better to solder in a regular LED which can be aimed right into the button.

The PRNDL, glove box, trunk and footwell lights are type 194.

The rear view mirror depends on which one it is. If you have the electrochromatic auto dimming mirror, this already has LED's in it. You can change these out to brighter ones. It does require soldering. It uses 12 5mm LED's.

If you have the manual mirror, it takes 2 Festoon type bulbs. I think the size is listed on the firs page of this thread.

The HVAC requires soldering. You can use the 74 Neo-wedge removed from the base and solder it in place of the existing lamp. Pay close attention to the orientation of the LED, it will only light up in one direction. See the frist page of this thread for templates on how to orientate the LED's.

Gary