Hvac Light Change

[JTURBOGSX]

For you Guys and gals that wanted to change your HVAC light to a colorful blue light or wuterver color suits your needs follow this http://www.angelfire.com/fl5/import/console.html

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[lrseclipse]

cool i might have to do that

 

[DrunkPenguin]

or you *could* by a direct replacement bulb and save yourself alot of trouble.


http://discountleds.com/74.htm

you need the #74 bulbs, they can also be used behind your instrument guage cluster.





Johnny

 

[n0c7]

I purchased the #74 LED bulb for my HVAC but it was too long in length. I could get it to just rest in there but that wasnt good enough. I had a #74 normal blue bulb which fit in perfect so I just used that. The difference really wasnt substantial enough for me to hack up the entire HVAC unit to make the bulb sit snug and have irreversable damage.

 

[DrunkPenguin]

mine didnt fit all the way in either, so i put a very small dab of glue on it to hold it in place, not enough to permanatly keep it there, but enough so it wouldnt fall out. the lights are very nice and bright! but that part was easy, all the other buttons in the car kept me busy for a week! but im just about done finally.




Johnny

 

[Hey-G]

I looked into doing the LED for the last two years. Unfortunately the equipment and pieces were readily available to me. I even went to Radioshack but apparently up here in Canada we dont' get the same stuff and they don't have those blue LED's and resistors available.

My question is regarding the direct bulb replacements. How many bulbs are required in total? #74 works for the gauges as well as the HVAC? they're direct swaps or do you need to shave them to make them fit as well? thx in advance.

 

[DrunkPenguin]

they are a direct replacement for the guages, but they are a little tighter when you put them back in, the hvac didnt quite fit properly. these bulbs are a little bit longer than the stockers, but for the cluster they went pretty good. if i remember, theres 5 or 6 needed to light up your guages and needles. youll need more if you want to change any other lights, blinkers etc.



Johnny

 

[Hey-G]

they are a direct replacement for the guages, but they are a little tighter when you put them back in, the hvac didnt quite fit properly. these bulbs are a little bit longer than the stockers, but for the cluster they went pretty good. if i remember, theres 5 or 6 needed to light up your guages and needles. youll need more if you want to change any other lights, blinkers etc.



Johnny

and which ones exactly did you buy? the $0.99, the $1.79 or the $4.99? wondering if they're the same length.

 

[DrunkPenguin]

I bought the ones that are 1.79. those are leds and very bright. the ones for 99 cents look more like the stock bulbs, so they might fit better, but those style of lights are usually not as bright as an led is.

the buttons, ive done cruise, mirrors, fog light switch, rear wiper, rear defrost, and ac button all required leds such as THESE. Some of the buttons I just had to solder different colored leds, but some of the others I had to get very creative. Some of the buttons have extremely tiny bulbs that ive never found replacements for, so i had to solder on leds in their place with a 330 ohm resister. its not too difficult if your familiar with soldering, but you need a shit load of patience for all those.



Johnny

 

[talontsiawd]

Remeber with led's you can always sand and polish the plastic so they are shorter. It will also give better light dispersion. Just make sure to polish the plastic so scratches don't reflect light and make your led dimmer. Also, if you do this mod, you are going to want to do every switch in your car. It's a pain but well worth it. I did this mod thinking that it was easy (which it was) but ended up redoing all my lights. The switches don't have directly replacements (that i know of, did this about 3 years ago) so it is very time consuming and frustrating. Well worth it though.

 

[DrunkPenguin]

what he said! once you do one light plan on doing ALL lights. the stock tan lights just dont match blue lights very well.



John

 

[n0c7]

Remeber with led's you can always sand and polish the plastic so they are shorter. It will also give better light dispersion. Just make sure to polish the plastic so scratches don't reflect light and make your led dimmer. Also, if you do this mod, you are going to want to do every switch in your car. It's a pain but well worth it. I did this mod thinking that it was easy (which it was) but ended up redoing all my lights. The switches don't have directly replacements (that i know of, did this about 3 years ago) so it is very time consuming and frustrating. Well worth it though.

I tried sanding and polishing the led, but by the time I got it short enough to fit in the HVAC control I hit the LED inside and killed my $5 bulb