Yeah the NEO wedge bulbs are plug and play (PnP) for the majority of the switches in the C5. I found (years ago) that they worked great in the door switches and worked good in the trunk release button. Everything else needed custom installs with 5mm LED and resistors to look great. At that time there was nothing available for the HUD/Dimmer (much smaller bases and bulbs) switch and of course the HVAC and Radio... I've heard good things about the new PnPs but have no personal experience with em.

The Hyperflash fix is only for the turn signals when converting them to LEDs OR if your flasher goes south and you don't feel like tearing the dash apart...

Tim

 

Thanks for the quick reply, that's all that I needed. I've already found my go to forum

 

Hi Tim,

Been a while since we talked. Hope everything is going good for you.

For cars with LED tail lights. Do you have a fix for the static that occurs on the factory radio when the brakes are applied? Seems to occur on radio stations that have a weaker signal.

Guy

 

Hi Guy!!!

It has been awhile, I'm OK... Hope you're doing well also!

I didn't know there was an issue with interference from LED brake lights, I never had an issue with them. Which ones do you have?... AM, FM, CD, all? I'm not much of an audio guy but I would assume the static is coming thru either the power or ground vs. RF from the LEDs. I'm betting ground as that would more likely be a common connection. Regardless, it sounds like you got a "dirty" tailight or two (dirty as in the LED driver is allowing the fast switching to leak out or there were never any installed in the first place). You might be able to filter out the noise at the tailight harnesses??

Tim

 

Gotta say this HVAC looks great compared to what I have even after I just did the 8 resistor retouching up the solder / dim display fix. I bought my '98 C5 never having owned or been in one before so I didn't know what the HVAC display should look like until after I received my very badly misrepresented "no issues" 'vette. Lesson learned on buying without seeing in person... Anyway, in addition to the dead display(now fixed), I have my cluster out for replacement (awaiting mileage correction on the replacement), and my original IPC is taken apart for experimentation on a on/off means of turning off the DIC display (the reason being mine was scrolling info..intermittent), so I can't easily just plug it back in without having to put it all back together. My question is, does the HVAC have general illumination of the buttons separate from their 'on' light for each button when activated as yours shows, or did you do all that yourself?

Also in that lit up blue and red temperature sweep (I know that part was your customization of the blue / red LEDs), but is the sweep normally lit? I have a HVAC / climate control that almost looks like the faceplate is missing or someone really messed it up. I have no driver, passenger, red / blue sweep markers, just a black faceplate that looks like something was peeled off it or it was painted with a rubbery black paint. I'll try to post a picture of it, but the reason I ask all this is while the HVAC display works great now after the resistor fix, and the button white 'on' lights work (within each button I mean) is there a general illumination of all the panel / buttons etc., that I can expect to see once my cluster is back in?

 

Hi,

Man you're sure going through the ringer with that Vette!

Anyway, I 'm not sure I understand what you're saying but it sounds like your "cosmetic" covering has been removed or plasti-dipped or something...

Stock


Faceplate intact;


Now here's some comparison shots of a stock unit with a few burned out bulbs and a unit I did in White LEDs. Excuse the exposures;



Hope this helps????

Tim

 

It does help, but it also still confuses me. Each button has an 'on' light (little circular light wthin button) , and all those work, the display now works, but your nicer looking example shows the button icons lit such as the A/C snowflake, the car shape circulation, the words front / rear etc. That really looks sharp! I want one of those!!! (the one with the white LEDs) It makes sense that all the buttons would have genera illumination for night time, but believe it or not, I haven't driven the car at night much except to check my new DEPO headlights, so never paid attention to the HVAC for general lighting & especialy since the display was dead, I generally ignored it (or didm't want to look at it..).

If that's a custom job kudos on the top notch job, but if a normal non custom HVAC just looks like the second image down from top (in a turned on state), then I'm ok with that, but I obviously need a new faceplate / cover. See pics of my ugly HVAC (both unpowered and on, but no IPC to determine extra illumination working). I did open it again and saw all those LEDs in your internals pics, so I'm assuming it should light up the buttons and such in a general way. Sorry for overexplaining, and again thanks for thee great info and sharp mages,

 

All those icons on the buttons should light up as well as the Temp sweeps and the "Driver" and "Passenger" wording... It should look EXACTLY like the top photo I posted titled "Stock"

That friggin HVAC you have is a godamn mess man!!!!!!!!!! Good lord!

I have some faceplates laying around the shop you can have for shipping, they aren't perfect but they look a gazillion times better then that abortion! Send me your address in an EMail to;

tstarsvette@yahoo.com

Tim

 

Wow that's mighty generous and considerate of you Tim I greatly appreciate it! You're right up there in generosity with Dennis at Double D Mods who sent me an ashtray door just pay shipping ($6 but sent him $10). I really appreciate the replies and REALLY appreciate the offer of a replacement faceplate / housing. That's awesome man. Just to give you an idea what I've gone through since my car arrived from these crooks of a stealership. While the car came with a 3 year comprehensive coverage warranty (not just 5 yr. drive train - they upgraded it from their 5 year power train warranty on their own - guilty conscous maybe?), and it runs great / low mileage (80K for a 1998), and was maintained well (spoke with the mechanic that serviced it most of it's life - clean clear original Carfax history).

The problems were: Alpine after-market radio functional (buttons / display wise) - but nothing to speakers (turned out due to power amp miswiring). Removed P/A & rewired the Alpine's 4 ch amp outputs direct to the speakers (thankfully they apparently had bypassed the Bose door amps (checked w 9v battery to identify speaker locations &-sounds great now! Has CD, removable HU and USB input works + Bluetooth enabled so a + there, and it's pre-wired for a power amp with super high quality thick monster cables from gnd, battery, RCA's and heavy cables from head unit to large rear storage compartment (kind of a plus, & I sold the amp for $180 on Ebay, a small + there too), the driver side power seat button assembly came lying on foor, no seat retaining bezel, passenger side bezel broken (but it's a power seat - so a + there - since not sport seat equipped), tires were bald and mismatched - bought new Direzzas for a good sale price (Tire Rack) w/ $$60 rebate & Pep Boys gave me a break on R&R, lifetime bal, TPSU rebuild, (sealing)) for $80 + tax -(manager is a friend of mine), oil pressure sending unit was bad so thanks to this forum I did the 3" cowl hole, got that done & used the hole piece, taped underneath, taped and black plastidipped up top to seal it & for future access - looks fine & is waterproofed, had to buy new Depo headlights as the ones on it were severly cracked and hazed, installed new set ($309.00 on Ebay), cup holder door missing, found new one Ebay $33 shipped, also bought the two P/S trims - Ebay $60, got an IPC on Ebay for $150 w/ 30 day warranty. Plus's when car arrived? Body / engine compartment, glass immaculate, leather seats not even wrinkled, battery had bad cell, butPep Boys warranteed it no cost 'cause ony 3 mo.s old, so trying to just look at the positives as best I can for a car that was supposed to have zero issues....

Then check this! I came across an ad on Craigslist for a full staggered set of 4 factory GM OEM chrome wagon wheels / center caps, with fully working TPS units, Goodyear F1 GS 80% tread fronts, Bridgestone EMT rears 80% tread with the chrome on the wheesl /caps that look like they just came out of the chrome vat - no kidding. Not even a scratch, all for $250!!! I can now have two looks on the car next spring! It was a Mexican owned custom wheel shop and they thought it was a mismatched set and even though I told them that was how they come, they stuck to their price! I think the universe is trying to help me recover costs versus recovering from the crooks I got the car from as they're relying on their 'sold as is' notice to not refund anything towards all the stuff I found wrong w the car.

Car also came with cold air Y intake, but I found a used airbox assembly with air filter for $51 on Ebay so I'll be putiing that in. I'm a factory original kind of guy, but can live w/ the Alpine with the up-to-date features. Anyway, just thought I'd elaborate on the comment about being put "through the ringer". Being an electronic tech with years of auto electrical experience came in handy. Sorry for this rambling epic but more importantly thanks again for the kind offer and helpful info! I'll send email and you can reply with your Paypal address ok!

 

Well you certainly are getting it squared away... Good work!

Mighty odd what happened to that HVAC faceplate though...

Tim

 

"Mighty odd what happened to that HVAC faceplate though..."
Yeah that blacked out rough hardened black plastic faceplate / cover is a real mystery to me...

Well you certainly are getting it squared away... Good work!
Thanks, but a lot of credit goes to some great help from guys like you and Dennis (DD Mods), who's now sending me an ashtray insert with the little spring loaded lid. (I have the ashtray, but learned it has its own lid), and others that provided electrical diagrams and the guy that posted the cowl hole method of R&Ring the OPSU.
I intend to get this car to the level it was described to me so that If I was to sell it, the next guy will get a car with zero issues as I was told I was getting... For the most part its already there, just a few cosmetic things left. The IPC arrives FedEx tomorrow so once you send that cover I'll be good to button up the dash and get her back on the road!
Got the chrome wheels on it a week ago, and took some pics before I started taking the instrument panel and cluster off this week. Pictures didn't come out so great though.







Man, you could make a good income from custom lighting up people's radios and HVAC / climate controls with custom colors. I'm sure lots of people would like to have theirs personalized with various colors.

 

yeah... i've been waiting 5yrs for him to figure out purple

 

Just in case you were serious..http://tinyurl.com/pyl4fbs

 

We kinda got it figured out don't we?????????????



And keepinmyc5alive, I DO offer complete LED conversions for the C5, C6 and several other cars. Matter of fact I just completed doing my 2012 Dodge 1500 HEMI, that HVAC was a PITA!!!!!!!!

Tim

 

"Got it figured out"
Yeah you do my friend! And with your help I'll have a right proper looking console and climate control!
"I DO offer complete LED conversions for the C5, C6 and several other cars"
I kinda figured you'd be good at making this customizing a business. Is there a way to make the IPC lights aqua? Just wondering as the Alpine radio lighting is aqua blue. Haven't been in the car enough lately to remember what the IPC general illumination color is at night though. Did take it down the street today, (steering column on my legs and all), just to confirm all IPC functions worked and I needed to turn the wheels enough for the TPMS readings to come up. Good to go! The IPC illumination is from the side HV light tubes though huh?



Ignore the ugly HVAC below the Alpine..

 

Can you provide a little more detail on how you connect the resistor to the LED, and then the combo to the board? Solder one lead of resistor to one lead of the LED, then bend and poke other leads of resistor and LED through board? Do you insulate the soldered-together leads?

In the above pic it looks like you have two things attached to the LED...looks like a resistor and something else--what's the something else?

Thanks!

 

Man that pic is soooo old!

The other item you're seeing is heat shrink tubing over the hot lead between the resistor and the LED... Used to protect against any shorts, I've since stopped using it as well as 10mm LEDs... But after you solder the resistor to the LED, bend the hot lead to look like these (minus the heat shrink);



I believe the first few pages of this Thread goes into how to make and solder the LED/resistor combos...

Tim

 

Ah, OK, that pic helps. Do you do a solder lap joint between LED and resistor?

 

yeah, i've been serious for a while & found some decent purple SMDs that Tim played around with a few years ago. it's more getting everything to match (with a couple items having a factory blue film that changes the color & other pieces not having it)

i did my truck IPC in 2010, but that only requires the T10s in a twist-lock socket. i'm pseudo-capable of soldering, but not that good - especially on small circuits.

but you never said whether or not the rest of it worked out & matched

 

Yeah I've got oldmanitis eyes from years as an electronic tech and soldering / troubleshooting tiny parts on PC boards (that's what I blame it on anyways). Need glasses, but refuse to break down and get them, so I use readers for soldering small parts. Tried contacts, but only one eye would keep the soft lens stable (they're weighted due to astigmatism so if they move it screws up the vision). My eyesight isn't horrible since I could read two lines below the one needed to renew my driver license in July. Made sure to get it for 8 years versus four. Was that last comment for Tim?