NEW Interior LED Mod Thread
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 5,145
Likes: 125
From: The Motor City
Yep, sure do. Here are some great instructions from Carlton;
http://www.spdkilz.com/techtipledrearviewmirror.html
If you're doing Red, they will all light up fine. Blue and White, you'll have to isolate one of the outer LEDs (the forst one would be easiest) and tie into the Hot wire with a resistor, then run a jumper to the next LED in line from the hot lead as well... That should get em all lit up.
Tim
http://www.spdkilz.com/techtipledrearviewmirror.html
If you're doing Red, they will all light up fine. Blue and White, you'll have to isolate one of the outer LEDs (the forst one would be easiest) and tie into the Hot wire with a resistor, then run a jumper to the next LED in line from the hot lead as well... That should get em all lit up.
Tim
Thanks.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 20,030
Likes: 289
From: Wylie TX --> Less is More, except under the hood !
I have some info on my web site about what I used.
www.ToquezZ06.com (scroll down to C5 LED Enhancements)
White and Blue LED's require 470 Ohm resistors, and Red LED's require 560 Ohm resistors.
Toque
www.ToquezZ06.com (scroll down to C5 LED Enhancements)
White and Blue LED's require 470 Ohm resistors, and Red LED's require 560 Ohm resistors.
Toque
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 5,145
Likes: 125
From: The Motor City
Thanks Toque. Your pictures are the reason I'm doing this in the first place.
I'm not positive what tstar meant by "isolate one of the outer LEDs (the forst one would be easiest) and tie into the Hot wire with a resistor, then run a jumper to the next LED in line from the hot lead as well..." though. A pic of the finished board or even a schematic would help.
I'm not positive what tstar meant by "isolate one of the outer LEDs (the forst one would be easiest) and tie into the Hot wire with a resistor, then run a jumper to the next LED in line from the hot lead as well..." though. A pic of the finished board or even a schematic would help.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 20,030
Likes: 289
From: Wylie TX --> Less is More, except under the hood !
Thanks Toque. Your pictures are the reason I'm doing this in the first place.
I'm not positive what tstar meant by "isolate one of the outer LEDs (the forst one would be easiest) and tie into the Hot wire with a resistor, then run a jumper to the next LED in line from the hot lead as well..." though. A pic of the finished board or even a schematic would help.
I'm not positive what tstar meant by "isolate one of the outer LEDs (the forst one would be easiest) and tie into the Hot wire with a resistor, then run a jumper to the next LED in line from the hot lead as well..." though. A pic of the finished board or even a schematic would help.
I'm not sure what he is talking about either..
Toque
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,987
Likes: 18
From: DuBois PA
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14-'15
That was a theoretical (at the time) fix for the mirror arrays using While or Blue LEDs. I've since abandoned that way for the way we discussed Mark. The problem is that there are two many LEDs on one leg of the circuits for White and Blue LEDs to get all the voltage they need...Scoot - Mark will hook you up...
Is this good or bad??????
Tech Contributor
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 20,030
Likes: 289
From: Wylie TX --> Less is More, except under the hood !
That was a theoretical (at the time) fix for the mirror arrays using While or Blue LEDs. I've since abandoned that way for the way we discussed Mark. The problem is that there are two many LEDs on one leg of the circuits for White and Blue LEDs to get all the voltage they need...Toque
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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
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,987
Likes: 18
From: DuBois PA
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14-'15
CF "Young" Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,034
Likes: 26
From: Cupertino CA
St. Jude Donor '12
Heads up to fellow modder types on here about the neo-wedge type 74 bulbs. I just ordered a batch of 20 from oznium, and they've apparently changed the setup on them.
The old style had a flat-top cylinder-shaped LED with a tiny square circuit boards solidly soldered to it with nice thick lead wires coming off that. The new version has a larger, rounded LED with a tiny resistor soldered in place of one lead. The resistor's wire is extremely frail, and the solder between the resistor and the LED is fragile (at best).
Seeing as you have to swap the LED to the factory housing for a proper fit, I attempted to carefully remove three of them from their housings. The first one barely came out intact, the second fell apart as I was removing it, and the third was already apart as received from the vendor.
I contacted oznium about this, and while they immediately gave me a refund and did not require me to return them, they said there's no immediate plans to go back to the old style. This bummed me out as I was going to use the LED's to replace the bulbs on my A/C control board, and the new ones (fragility aside) just don't look like they're going to work well there.
The old style had a flat-top cylinder-shaped LED with a tiny square circuit boards solidly soldered to it with nice thick lead wires coming off that. The new version has a larger, rounded LED with a tiny resistor soldered in place of one lead. The resistor's wire is extremely frail, and the solder between the resistor and the LED is fragile (at best).
Seeing as you have to swap the LED to the factory housing for a proper fit, I attempted to carefully remove three of them from their housings. The first one barely came out intact, the second fell apart as I was removing it, and the third was already apart as received from the vendor.
I contacted oznium about this, and while they immediately gave me a refund and did not require me to return them, they said there's no immediate plans to go back to the old style. This bummed me out as I was going to use the LED's to replace the bulbs on my A/C control board, and the new ones (fragility aside) just don't look like they're going to work well there.
Racer
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 432
Likes: 49
From: Southern Maryland
Heads up to fellow modder types on here about the neo-wedge type 74 bulbs. I just ordered a batch of 20 from oznium, and they've apparently changed the setup on them.
The old style had a flat-top cylinder-shaped LED with a tiny square circuit boards solidly soldered to it with nice thick lead wires coming off that. The new version has a larger, rounded LED with a tiny resistor soldered in place of one lead. The resistor's wire is extremely frail, and the solder between the resistor and the LED is fragile (at best).
Seeing as you have to swap the LED to the factory housing for a proper fit, I attempted to carefully remove three of them from their housings. The first one barely came out intact, the second fell apart as I was removing it, and the third was already apart as received from the vendor.
I contacted oznium about this, and while they immediately gave me a refund and did not require me to return them, they said there's no immediate plans to go back to the old style. This bummed me out as I was going to use the LED's to replace the bulbs on my A/C control board, and the new ones (fragility aside) just don't look like they're going to work well there.
The old style had a flat-top cylinder-shaped LED with a tiny square circuit boards solidly soldered to it with nice thick lead wires coming off that. The new version has a larger, rounded LED with a tiny resistor soldered in place of one lead. The resistor's wire is extremely frail, and the solder between the resistor and the LED is fragile (at best).
Seeing as you have to swap the LED to the factory housing for a proper fit, I attempted to carefully remove three of them from their housings. The first one barely came out intact, the second fell apart as I was removing it, and the third was already apart as received from the vendor.
I contacted oznium about this, and while they immediately gave me a refund and did not require me to return them, they said there's no immediate plans to go back to the old style. This bummed me out as I was going to use the LED's to replace the bulbs on my A/C control board, and the new ones (fragility aside) just don't look like they're going to work well there.
CF "Young" Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,034
Likes: 26
From: Cupertino CA
St. Jude Donor '12
Side note.. there was another thread recently about the damage the stock light does for the lighting of the A4 gear indicator. I had my console off and was replacing my shift boot, so went for it.
I unfortunately didn't get any photos of the process, but I carefully pulled out the big plastic wedge that the light shines against, used a countertop belt sander to grind it just to the top curve, and epoxied a strip of led's to the backside of it. Wired to the the stock light wiring (removed the bulb holder since it was cooked and cracked), it lights up the whole gear indicator incredibly well.. looks like it should've from the factory.
I unfortunately didn't get any photos of the process, but I carefully pulled out the big plastic wedge that the light shines against, used a countertop belt sander to grind it just to the top curve, and epoxied a strip of led's to the backside of it. Wired to the the stock light wiring (removed the bulb holder since it was cooked and cracked), it lights up the whole gear indicator incredibly well.. looks like it should've from the factory.
Advanced
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
From: Burbank CA
Climate Control Buttons not lighting fix
I did this fix. Start to finish 4.5 hours. Would have been much faster but not being an expert at soldering i was extremely slow in removal and re-installation of the bulbs.
I used the Radio Shack bulbs #272-1092 12.0V, 60mA
Once pulling the box apart and gaining access to the board housing the bulbs i applied the soldering iron to the backside of the board at the soldering points for the bulbs. I wiggled the bulbs out carefully.
NOTE this does not leave any holes to run the new bulb attachments through.
Once bulbs were removed I added a VERY SMALL amount of solder to the front side where the bulbs were originally without bridging across. Just a SMALL amount at each point where the bulb was previously attached at two points.
I trimmed the leads on the new bulbs to about 1/8 - 1/4 inch. Carefully i pressed the leads to the solder points and applied heat until it was soldered into place.
After checking all the connections visually and by trying to wiggle the bulbs I re-assembled the control module.
With fingers crossed I put the module back in place and the bezel back etc and low and behold it worked!!
I can't guarantee it'll work for everyone but it worked for me and the total cost of the bulbs was $14.00
I did this fix. Start to finish 4.5 hours. Would have been much faster but not being an expert at soldering i was extremely slow in removal and re-installation of the bulbs.
I used the Radio Shack bulbs #272-1092 12.0V, 60mA
Once pulling the box apart and gaining access to the board housing the bulbs i applied the soldering iron to the backside of the board at the soldering points for the bulbs. I wiggled the bulbs out carefully.
NOTE this does not leave any holes to run the new bulb attachments through.
Once bulbs were removed I added a VERY SMALL amount of solder to the front side where the bulbs were originally without bridging across. Just a SMALL amount at each point where the bulb was previously attached at two points.
I trimmed the leads on the new bulbs to about 1/8 - 1/4 inch. Carefully i pressed the leads to the solder points and applied heat until it was soldered into place.
After checking all the connections visually and by trying to wiggle the bulbs I re-assembled the control module.
With fingers crossed I put the module back in place and the bezel back etc and low and behold it worked!!
I can't guarantee it'll work for everyone but it worked for me and the total cost of the bulbs was $14.00
Racer
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 489
Likes: 5
From: Connecticut
St. Jude Donor '11
Need some help here guys.
Last winter I did the LED mod to my HVAC. Loved it worked great. Got caught up doing other mods and didn't come back to mod the switches, radio, etc until this month. I'm done with everything but the radio and it all works great.
I came into this thread to get a refresh and some tips on how to do the radio and upon rereading some stuff I think I screwed myself pretty good with all the other pieces. I just realized I used 560ohm resistors on all my blue LEDs and the 470 on the two red LEDs I used. Somehow I switched around the resistors and didn't realize it until now when everything is done except the radio.
How bad is it? Do I have to go back and redo everything? Will the blue LEDs continue to work correctly with the 560ohm resistors attached to them? I'm very upset right now that I made this stupid mistake and might cost me all the work I just completed.
Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.
Last winter I did the LED mod to my HVAC. Loved it worked great. Got caught up doing other mods and didn't come back to mod the switches, radio, etc until this month. I'm done with everything but the radio and it all works great.
I came into this thread to get a refresh and some tips on how to do the radio and upon rereading some stuff I think I screwed myself pretty good with all the other pieces. I just realized I used 560ohm resistors on all my blue LEDs and the 470 on the two red LEDs I used. Somehow I switched around the resistors and didn't realize it until now when everything is done except the radio.
How bad is it? Do I have to go back and redo everything? Will the blue LEDs continue to work correctly with the 560ohm resistors attached to them? I'm very upset right now that I made this stupid mistake and might cost me all the work I just completed.
Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 2,889
Likes: 25
From: CALIFORNIA
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 3,294
Likes: 480
From: Brea CA
Need some help here guys.
Last winter I did the LED mod to my HVAC. Loved it worked great. Got caught up doing other mods and didn't come back to mod the switches, radio, etc until this month. I'm done with everything but the radio and it all works great.
I came into this thread to get a refresh and some tips on how to do the radio and upon rereading some stuff I think I screwed myself pretty good with all the other pieces. I just realized I used 560ohm resistors on all my blue LEDs and the 470 on the two red LEDs I used. Somehow I switched around the resistors and didn't realize it until now when everything is done except the radio.
How bad is it? Do I have to go back and redo everything? Will the blue LEDs continue to work correctly with the 560ohm resistors attached to them? I'm very upset right now that I made this stupid mistake and might cost me all the work I just completed.
Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.
Last winter I did the LED mod to my HVAC. Loved it worked great. Got caught up doing other mods and didn't come back to mod the switches, radio, etc until this month. I'm done with everything but the radio and it all works great.
I came into this thread to get a refresh and some tips on how to do the radio and upon rereading some stuff I think I screwed myself pretty good with all the other pieces. I just realized I used 560ohm resistors on all my blue LEDs and the 470 on the two red LEDs I used. Somehow I switched around the resistors and didn't realize it until now when everything is done except the radio.
How bad is it? Do I have to go back and redo everything? Will the blue LEDs continue to work correctly with the 560ohm resistors attached to them? I'm very upset right now that I made this stupid mistake and might cost me all the work I just completed.
Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.
The resistor values suggested by most online vendors are too low in my opinion. The vendors tend to use 12v as the operating voltage for the electrical system. However, the systems is actually closer to a nominal 13.8v.
I had calculated the resistor value needed before ordering when I did my car. The formula is
((system voltage)-(LED operating voltage))/(typical forward current)= resistor value
For a white LED this would be as follows
(13.8v-3.5v)/.02A=515 ohm
Blue is the same as white LEDs.
For red the correct resistor is
(13.8v-2.3v)/.02A= 575 ohm
Hope this helps.
Gary
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,987
Likes: 18
From: DuBois PA
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14-'15
[img]
[/img]The last two are the Type As and used in the Dimmer'HUD switch only. Autolumination.com is the only source for LED Type As that I know of and their bases are a little too large form reports on here, so use the OEM bases with their LED bulbs...
Tim