How to light fog/cruise/mirrors switch bezel with LED's

[turbosax2]

This how-to will show you how to light up a 2g fog/cruise/mirrors switch bezel with led's. I thought this looked so clean and so much better than stock that I had to do it! This idea is fully credited to azdave. I have azdave’s permission to write this how-to.

All questions / comments should be left on this thread: Gauge cluster LED project

This project is designed to compliment your gauge cluster lit up with led’s.
How to light gauge cluster with LED's

The stock brighness control has handled the LEDS just fine and our cars come with PWM brightness control which is perfect for dimming LEDs correctly.


Time needed: This can probably be done in a weekend.

Materials needed:
1. Flexible led strip (color of choice) (a total of 6 lights will be needed, but get extras in case some get ruined)
Flexible LED Strips
Can also be found on ebay for cheaper
2. 1206 smt led's - find on ebay
3. Styrene (or anything else you can use, see later on for details)
4. Tiny gauge wire
5. Jewelers screwdrivers
6. Hobby knife
7. Soldering materials
8. Electrical tape
9. Tons of other stuff you’ll find out you need along the way

Optional materials:
1. Helping hands - great for soldering by yourself
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...itemnumber=319

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A. Fog light switch

1. Pop the switch out of the bezel using a small screwdriver.


2. Unscrew the light bulb.


3. Pry the case off the back of the switch using a small screwdriver.


4. Pull the circuit board out of the switch. Cut the following pieces as shown.

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5. Cut a strip of 3 leds and take all of the insulation off. Cut one light off from the other 2 and solder pieces of wire to it. Wire the lights onto the circuit board as shown.

Good suggestion from VelocitàPaola:

First, for the A/C switch light, I suggest simply wiring a 220ohm or 330 ohm resistor in series with a single LED. That way you can eliminate using the other two unnecessary LED's. There's really no difference between using the 220 or 330ohm resistors. In fact, both are slightly overkill, but those are very common resistor values that are easy to find. I believe about 120ohms would be ideal (depending on the specific LED), but the extra resistance added from 220 or 330ohm resistors is imperceptible and a good safety net.

6. Put the circuit board back in the switch and cover the strip of 2 lights with tape.


7. Position the single light in the hole where the stock light used to be, tape everything up, and put the back of the switch back on.

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B. Cruise control switch

1. Disassemble the switch using a small screwdriver.


2. Cut off all 3 lights and trim the circuit board as shown. (You might be able to keep the “on” indicator light - I didn’t even try because I don’t have cruise control.)


3. Cut the back of the switch as shown.




4. Cut the switch housing as shown.


5. Cut a strip of 3 lights.


6. Remove all plastic covering from the light strip.


7. Cut one light off the strip and solder wire to it. (We will be wiring the lights in series, as they are now. We are simply lengthening the space between the individual lights by adding wire there.)

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8. Place a light in the “off” spot and glue it in place. The wires will go through the top of the back of switch through the hole you made earlier.


9. Place a light in the “on” spot and glue it in place. The wires will go underneath the circuit board.


10. Solder two pieces of wire to the circuit board where the light used to be.


11. Stick the 3rd light into the hole where the old light used to be. Position it so the light is the correct brightness, then glue it into place.

12. Solder all your wires together (hope you remember which wire goes where!)

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C. Power mirrors switch

1. Pop the back of the switch off using a small screwdriver.


2. Take all of the pieces out.


3. Take the clear plastic piece out.


4. Unscrew the light bulb from the back of the switch and solder wires where the bulb used to be.


5. Cut a strip of 3 lights, remove all the plastic covering from the light strip, and solder pieces to the lights as shown.


6. These lights are bright. They appear much brighter in this switch than the fog light switch because of how close to the front they are. To make them dimmer, put a small piece of paper under each light. (Ignore the black pieces in the picture, that was my first try at dimming the lights that made them too dim.)


7. Drill holes on the side of the switch as shown.

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8. Glue the lights in place as shown and stick the ends of the wire through the holes in the sides of the switch.


9. Put the rubber piece back on the circuit board. (The tape on the circuit board is to prevent the wires from the middle light touching the circuit board.)


10. Put the back of the switch back on.


11. Solder the wires together (still remember which is which?)