Blue Lighting HVAC and Radio

[Lonehunter]

I know I've seen pictures of the HVAC and radio controls converted to blue but can't seem to find the information on it. I found the B3.8D led bulbs for the instrument cluster, but I'm not sure what to use on the HVAC and radio lights as they seem to be 12V bulbs soldered to the board. I can't seem to find anything that would fit in place of those bulbs. Anyone know what to use?

~ Carson

[The Shaolin]

Desolder the bulbs and put LED's in it's place.

[Lonehunter]

Can you use a standard 3V 5mm LED? I thought those bulbs were still 12V, though it seems I am wrong, which would make it easy.

~ Carson

[The Shaolin]

Yes, the bulbs are 12v. Use a resistor. Also make sure which is positive and negative. Bulbs can go either way, LEDs cannot.

[Lonehunter]

how did you position the resistor with the LED and keep it in the same position as the original bulb?

~ Carson

[The Shaolin]

totally badass soldering.

[Lonehunter]

Haha, figured it had to be that. Now if only I had a description or picture of said badassness, haha.

~ Carson

[detroitbass]

yeah really, can't you post a picture?

[The Shaolin]

Uhh...



that's all the pictures I took when I did it. I can maybe get better pictures later...one of my LEDs is out, i'm going to re-do it eventually.

Pretty much cut both the positive leg of the LED to about a MM, and the negative leg to about 5mm. Cut both legs off the resistor to 2 or 3 mm on each side. Put the LED over the original mounting hole, solder the negative lead into place, and then run the LED away from the LED and then back to it so that the LED is in the original mounting hole. I can MSpaint it if you really need to see.

[Lonehunter]

Thanks for the info. Put the parts on order last night at about 2am. Got to love the college sleep schedule. I'll try to get pictures through the build.

~ Carson

[detroitbass]

I sure hope you ordered from Oznium.com

[The Shaolin]

Uhh...I sure hope you didn't...you can get better LED's for MUCH cheaper on eBay. Oh, well, things could be worse...you coulda ordered from Radioshack.

[detroitbass]

How MUCh cheaper can you get than 29 cents each? You also get great customer service from Oznium. Good luck with the customer service from eBay.

[Lonehunter]

I actually ordered them from the super bright led site. They were a bit more expensive but I was also ordering the B3.8D bulbs for the console so it was easier. Total for everything was $30 shipped.

~ Carson

[The Shaolin]

How MUCh cheaper can you get than 29 cents each? You also get great customer service from Oznium. Good luck with the customer service from eBay.

Uhh...half of that or less, buy in bulk.

What do you need customer service with LED's for? "Uhh, yeah, my 15 cent LED is broken, how do I fix it?"