anyone removed the climate control panel? (with buttons)

[johnwc723]

hi, im thinking of putting blue LEDs behind the climate control board for when it is nighttime instead of the green ones, can anyone tell me if they recognize this style lightbulb (im thinking that this will be the one in those switches as it is from the cruise control switch, which looks similar at night)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid103/pff7ead4fa12169308a1d27f75af1e2c1/f9a77e4f.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid103/pd2759c4f67c7bd7e07ecaed3dc22174b/f9a77e4b.jpg


thanks a bunch!

[smufguy]

this is the second similar post of urs. Well like the other thread mentioned, its not possible unless u clean off the rear of the button faces of the letterings with a paint solvent or something. Do know that u have to pop out the knobs on the sliders for the fan and heater control and pull the face out, then u will have to pop the center vents a lil up to expose the screws on top and there will be screws below the heater position button cluster to remove it.

Check pauls website and download his manual that relates to HEATER and u will find the how-to to remove these safely, i would suggest that u dont bother unless u find a good enough strong paint solvent.

[johnwc723]

yep, blue leds still shine blue through the green! tried it already, not a problem

[smufguy]

yep, blue leds still shine blue through the green! tried it already, not a problem

I think anything besides blue or green LED would not shine in true color for example, u cant have a red back light with red leds with the blushingreen paint still behind the gauges.

ANyway, i would love to get my hands on this project if its successful, i need while led backlight.

[johnwc723]

i dunno it might work, the thing is that the leds are rediclously more powerful than the incadescnets were and i think "over power" the filter somehow i dunno, it looked pretty damn blue to me!

[smufguy]

an LED does not spread out, but the regular bulbs do, thats why the got the claer acrylic thing running around the back of the gauge to transfer the light all over. It might happen, but i never tried the white LED on the back of my gauge. ill give it a try and see how it works. If it does shine thru (i doubt if it will thru the filter) it would be awsome. But do post some pics of it tho, i would love to see it look. Im also looking for UV leds but i cant find anything.

[johnwc723]

hmm there are lots of UV leds about! what do you mean you cant find any!? well im waiting to win an ebay auction here supposed
BLUE LEDs 20count
30deg hot spot
6000MCD output

hopefully they will be all that, i bet my instrument cluster will look pretty damn cool! :)

[smufguy]

hmm there are lots of UV leds about! what do you mean you cant find any!?

where do u get it? im not a ebay person. online i have seen prices for a uv led go from 5 bucks to 20. not very cheap.

[johnwc723]

dude if you are gonna own a 3geez you gotta be an ebay person! :) lots of good deals out there for our cars in terms of parts if oyu dont want to go to a junk yard... anways do a seach on ebay for: uv led 5mm or 3mm if you want smaller, here is just one i pulled up in 3 seconds, they are quite cheap!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2595189333&category=26207

[smufguy]

i know :D but im scared of ebay. i have a friend who got fucked over a shifter and a CAI for his corolla 5 months back, the seller would not contact him and he spent over 200 bux and it was a pain in the ass for him to get things straightened out. Also now books we ordered over Amazon is fucked up too. So you know, i am not comfortable with Ebay or with amazon besides Yahoo shopping. Never had a fuck up and im glad with it. Its just me, i have a junkyard right across my apartment u could say (like 2 miles from me) and i can go there whenever i need something and the guy Rick who owns it knows me so its not that bad.

But yeah, everyone knows that im scared of ebay :D :lol:

[Magny]

what led's are you using, I might take up on that mod, plus most of my lights are out anyways LOL.

Where is that how to on doing the lights with the buttons, a few of those are out too and I wanna replace them.

[johnwc723]

i am using these bulbs http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2595061197&category=32720&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWN%3AIT&rd=1

they are 3mm (better be too loose than too tight!) 30deg 5000MCD output ones supposevly, i got a nice deal all in all it was about 10$ i paied today, ill tell you guys how it works out once i get it

realy the only downside to this mod is you will have ot resistor the leds or keep the dimmer way down, if the dimmer is way down than you need to have non stock gauge faces, (i wanted them anyways) also if you turn the dimmer up by mistake you will fry all your leds!!

i plan on just soldering them directly onto the board when i get them driving them at about 3.3V via the dimmer. they will be rediclously bright!, i just hope that the light diffuses enough

ill let yall know how it goes later this week..

[johnwc723]

as for getting screwed over on ebay, i almost did on some cold cathodes awhile back it was only about 15$ but i still fought for it and eventually paypal just refuneded my money, if you complain enough they will do that, you always have to pay with paypal, i would really suggest buying those leds, im buying from the same buyer, ill tell you how it goes, if they have a rediclously high feed back with like no negative you really shouldnt have to worry!

[smufguy]

im eager more than every dude. I wanna see how the UV led actually looks on our car. The guy with his corrado was the only one i have seen with the UV lighting for his gauge and it looked bad ass. Since our numbers and needles are white, i am sure it would look killer hot. I would love to use a straight cathode instead of LEDs but they only sell those in Europe. I think paul was talking about it once a while back.

[johnwc723]

http://www.elwirecheap.com/si6winco.html there is a cold cathode different colors light (including UV) i have similar for my overhead lights from the same website except i have dual output inverter with blue lights, havent had any problems with their cold cathodes yet... the first set was shattered for some reason but i told them and the second ones they sent out for free were fine and have worked in my car ever since.

yeah leds would work for UV too i know you can buy a 20 pack on ebay for about 10 bucks, somoene should do the UV and take a picture of it, with the white gauges and stuff it woudl probably look pretty freakin cool!