Agreed!

Red seemed logical to me, but I REALLY liked some of the blue I was seeing. And Toque's pics of the white interior were impressive.

In the end, seeing it in person (ordered a couple of each bulb color to try) red won hands down for me.

Now if I can kick this cold that has be stuck in bed on the 4th of July, I will get my darned new gauges installed and see how the whole kit looks together.



ps - woot! - 1,000th reply to thread

1,000 replies... Good lord! And the original Thread was huge also!

Get well and post some pics when you get done lighting it up Tusc! :thumbs:

Tim

Wow. This thread has been active for just over 5 years.

Tim, where has the time gone. It seems like it was not that long ago that you were emailing several of the early LED adopters for help with putting together the parts list and techniques for installation.

Gary

I know!!! It was you, Carlton and the OP of that one Thread who I've forgotten that started all this... Bell was instrumental back then also.

I first used Red silicone bulb covers and thought I was the Cat's a$$!!! :rofl: That first thread was what... 8 years ago???? Couldn't be... Could it??? :willy:

Yes, it has been like 8 years since I started installing LED's in my car. I saw what Carlton (SPDKils?) did with the mirror and door controls. It just progressed from there.

Gary

Yeah... There was like 4 of us here in the Forum that hammered all this out I believe... It took awhile to learn how everything was wired and the lighting layout in the HVAC and Radio and how to even get the Radio to light up nicely with LEDs!!

That was a good time back then, pioneering days!! :thumbs:

Remind me when it's close to your trip... I'm going to try and hook up with you for lunch or something! :cheers:

Tim

Yes, that was some pioneering times.

I'll PM or email you later with when I will be in town.

Gary

Has anybody used ebay LEDs? The prices are very reasonable, but I'm not sure if an LED is an LED, or if these are just going to burn out. Or if the ones purchased from a website at $.50 each aren't just China ones anyway..

A friend at work purchased some high power LEDS from Ebay, I think 1watt LEDs. He used 30 of them for a fish tank and he saw no difference in them compared to the high price ones. They were all consitant in color. Just what I was told... Good luck either way you go


Im thinking about buying 100 PLCC-2 for $5 off of ebay and see how they are

The underhood festoon.

I had initially bought a piece off a vendor which did not at all match the car. The instructions were also daft and in bending the brass mount to work with their product, the tip snapped off.

I tried a festoon from autolumination, but due to the missing piece on the bottom the array will bounce out easily when jarred. I attempted soldering the lower connection together, but did not have enough hands to hold the array in place while doing it.

Is there an alternative you can suggest? Maybe yank the parts which are there, hardwire the array and then double-side tape it to the location? Seems like a bit jury rig idea.... that's why I'm looking for ideas.

Wow, i wish i had the guys to do this to my interior controls! But I do not think I can & would probably break something.

Tim is the ONLY guy I would trust with my LED interior... Running Red throughout the cabin including doors... of my C5Z....

Hey 0h1z06 how much did Tim charge u to do the interior?

Thank you for that very glowing recommendation!!!!
:thumbs:

I work for JW Motoring, you can order whatever you need done through JW!

:thumbs:Tim just upgraded my HVAC and stereo to leds and done an awesome job!EXCELLENT guy to deal with and outstanding work!!THANKS TIM!!!:thumbs:

Did you get that pesky SVC knob yet???? :rofl:

I got it!:thumbs:Forgot to email and tell you.I appreciate it!!!

As a caveat'.. Tim has to be one of the most stand up, honest men that I have done business with on this forum... No surprises w him... Good stuff Tim... you sell that car yet?

:iagree: let us know what you're looking to do.

It varies I guess depending on what exactly you are wanting to do... I chose to do it all.... JW can help ya!:thumbs:

Nope... not even a nibble!!! It isn't your "standard" Vette so it may take awhile for someone looking for a weekend track car/show car to find it or I'm asking too much for it... I'm not exactly a motivated seller either if you know what I mean! :lol:

Did you see the For Sale post?

Tim

Actually I did... and I DO know what you mean...:rofl: That is a good way to be...:thumbs: Patience Grasshoppa...

Amen brutha....

OK... Back to our regularly scheduled programming!

Hopefully someone can direct me to the right direction, i jus had my hvac get in led upgrade, i love the way it came out and am happy with it. But i wanted to do a bright white led set up with only the a couple of leds in different colors but the rest of the hvac white. They came out a baby blueish color. I removed the plastic piece to the shifter to replace that led with a bright white 194 and that also came out baby blueish. I actually took a liking to this and would like to replace the rest of the switches with this color, would buying blue leds from oznium (since they r plug n play) be good and change the color to this baby blueish or would they be a darker blue? Thanks in advance
[IMG]http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8b004e45.jpg[/IMG]

The baby blue hue is the result of a blue filter on a pure white light source. You should be able to replicate this on your other lights using the blue bulb filter found on the filament bulbs and placing them over a white bulb-style LED (it would work on chip style, but wouldn't be as easy to keep the filter mounted)

Whoever did your HVAC should have discussed this with you first to warn you that White LEDs in the Radio/HVAC turn out Blue/White or Ice Blue...

As RF said you would have to tint the LEDs in the remaining switches with a Blue Film or stain like a Blue sharpie perhaps. The problem is that every damn switch is different in material and thickness of material making it extremely difficult keeping the same hue throughout the car, that's why I stopped doing White on a normal basis!

FYI the Dimmer switch also has Blue film embedded in it while the HUD switch does not...

Tim

Thanks for the replies radioflyer and tstar, i should have jus went with an all blue interior, more than likely what i will end up doing and the jus leave the hvac that color.

Hello everybody ! I need some help with my mirror LED's.

I purchased these here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/170875083885...84.m1423.l2649

They work fine and are very bright.

Attachment 48178858

My problem is they are really loose, they do not fit my 1997 C5 mirror very well. I took the mirror off the windshield and tried to squeeze the connectors together so I could get a tighter fit but they are still loose. Only so much those would come together until they would pop right back to their original shape. I looked at this list and bought the 42mm Festoon bulbs but it seems the girth or diameter of the bulb socket is just too small, they could even be a bit longer and would not have a issue. I even had to try and slide them to one side really far to try and get them seated. I took it for a spin last night and before I got home one of them had worked its way loose.

So do I need a different bigger bulb? I have plenty of room in there! haha

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Here is some more pics, I replaced my footwells with White and my rears with Blue. Gotta still do the panels which I am going to do with white.

Attachment 48178859

Attachment 48178860

These match my amps really sweet. The PowerBass name lights up in blue on these when they are powered on.

Attachment 48178861

What is the best place to get the neo-wedge type b's from these days? I need them for my doors, dash panels, shifter etc....

Superbrightleds.com

I ordered too small of a bulb. I for some reason had it stuck in my mind 42mm and I needed the 44mm bulbs. Thanks for the link! I will get some of the right ones ordered.

I had a question i did these mod and it turn out bad but my real question is would you know why my lights dont light up in the car also my buttons dont work on the radio i tested the leds with a 9v and they all work

As I mentioned in the other thread and may not have been totally clear on, since you did not disconnect the front panel from the main circuit board when testing with the battery that may have damaged the main circuit board.

Gary

ebay $15 bucks shipped for the pair. Its like daylight in my car..Don't mind the wiring mess I was installing boost/fuel gauge. That strip is plug and play

Attachment 48178862

Attachment 48178863

Good stuff!:thumbs:

Bump for this thread! I was stumped trying to figure out how best to make the TC/AH button light up better and this thread came through.

This is an awesome thread! I may have missed it, since the thread has so many pages, but is there a way to change the color that the HUD displays? I think a blue display would look great.

Not that I'm aware of but I haven't torn one apart yet either. The other displays (Radio and HVAC) are sealed units and can not be changed.

I'm finally getting to work on the C6 stuff and I changed the display color on the HVAC easily, they are back lit LCD displays and I simply swapped out the backlighting PLCC 2s...

Tim

Anyone replaced their orange "floodlight" with another color and have a picture? I'd like to replace with something in the orange/yellow range, but just would like something a just smidge brighter.

Any suggestions?


Edit: Is this still correct mod for the LED board in the mirror?

http://www.toquez06.com/led/led11.jpg

Thanks guys

Yes, Although you dont need to do it for red. Works like a charm!

Planned to do white which is why I was asking. Always have to pick the hardest of the options! :willy:

Now just have to find a replacement LED for the shift illumination LED that is yellow/orange'ish, but brighter than the stock one and i'll be golden!

Are you doing it white also? A 5mm led is all you need.

Naw, doing 5mm whites on the maplights, on the "shift illumination" light I'm wanting to do a high millicandela orange'ish led. Similar color to stock, just brighter. I have to be difficult, hah.

r2h - PM a pic when you're done. I'm just across the Atchafalaya from you. Going to be doing my interior soon and cold use all the lessons learned I can get.
:cheers:

Just got my white and orange LEDs. The orange is definitely brighter than stock, exactly what I wanted. Whites appear they'll be brighter.

Attachment 48373709

Light up great. Haven't decided if I'm going to flatten the tops yet. Want to test if the whole assembly back in the car to see if I need to widen the output. I think the little plastic diffuser assembly would probably diffuse it enough though.

I plan on doing my hvac in white with the red and blue sweeps. I got some super bright leds from oznium, with the matching resistors. Going to solder the resistors on the leds, etc.

When everything is all done, how can i test to make sure all the leds work perfectly before putting everything back in, without frying the board?

Early in this thread there are some instruction for powering it with a bench supply. First ten pages or so i think.

Post number 4 of this thread has the pinouts for all the components and diagrams.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1565006981-post4.html

Gary

[QUOTE=_r2h;1586274743]Attachment 48373704

Did you strap all three rows together at the top and bottom? If so, let me know how that works in the car cuz I do NOT strap the middle row with the jumpers...

Tim

Make sure there are NO SHORTS before you do anything!!!!! Use an Ohm meter to check between any power and ground lead to make sure... Then you can hook up a 9volt battery to the back of any LED to check functionality of the LEDs... :thumbs:

Tim

[QUOTE=tstar;1586283069]Just finished up with this project.

Whites in the map lights, bright orange in the shift illumination light, and changed out the green auto dim LED to a brighter amber. It all looks great. Gonna get my fancy photographer girlfriend to take some shots for me, since her $4000 camera will do it proper justice vs my cell phone.

Tim, the strapping I did works great. All the LEDs are evenly lit. :thumbs: I believe I traced two power lines going to the LED boards and one common. I just pulled all the powers together and the commons all together. And then cut the trace at the top. So each pair of two LEDs is powered equally, no sharing. Does that make sense? hah.

Now which module to modify next. Going with a BMW orange-like theme.

Yeah disregard my previous comment... if you look at the tracks on the board, the middle row is already tied to the (in your pics) far left row so you strapping the middle row was redundant but didn't hurt anything either! :thumbs:

Do the HVAC next and see how the Orange light comes through the embedded Blue film...

Tim

You just want me to be your guinea pig! :rofl:

Guilty as charged!!!!! :D

I've actually done a lot of different combos but I can't remember Orange in the HVAC, Radio or Dimmer where there is Blue film embedded...

Post up some pics! :thumbs:

Tim

Just finished up the Door switches, AH switch, fog/hatch switch. Looks awesome with that BMW orange look. (Think e30 interior lights). Girlfriend even approves and she never approves anything. Since my cell phone camera sucks she's gonna take some with her canon 40D and process it to look like it does in person.

Next couple days I'm off I'll be attempting the HVAC controller. All that is left is DIC, radio(not sure I want to even bother) and the HVAC. Wanted to test my skills on cheaper modules first, hah.

:woohoo:

The blue film on two of my buttons I think got melted by the old bulbs is there anywhere you can get new buttons separately?

Which two? I have a few buttons laying around but too many, I 'll have to see about picking up a few more spare HVACs...

I sell them @ $10 a piece, may seem high but I have to buy a whole HVAC just to get the buttons...

Tim

try ABS Fixer, he has them.

I hooked up a 9v to my Leds and none are working. To test I hooked up an led I had lying around and that didn't work. Tried a couple different 9v. None work to test now with an ohmmeter what sort of reading am I looking for??

1. You are using resistors right?

2. Did you try reversing the leads on the battery?

3. Your HVAC is haunted... Run far and run fast!


Your looking for an open or very high resistance. Touch the two probes together and note the reading or needle deflection (should be 0 ohms), then ohm out an LED and you want a very high reading or no to barely any needle deflection...

Tim

I put resistors on all of my leds. There weren't any shorts that I could see. For example I went to touch one led with the 9v and the whole board lighted up and then went out. Then I test another one and the whole board lighted up except for the previous one I touched. Having run out of leds and resistors to use I popped everything back in and 50% of the leds work. Maybe the leds just burnt out? If half the board is working perfectly it can't be the circuit board right?

What accidentally contacting both leads burn out one led but not the rest?

Only thing I can think is I wasn't paying close enough attention and accidentally touched pos to neg while testing. I have more leds and resistors coming in (with extras this time) and will do a test. Didn't hear anything go tzzzz while testing or smoke

It's kinda hard to say from long distance but you could have burnt a track while soldering the LEDs on and that certainly would affect the "downstream" LEDs...

What Ohm value resistors did you use and for what color LED?

It's good you saw no smoke nor heard the Tzzzzzzt... Frying a power board means buying a new/used HVAC!

Anyway, if you're still having problems send it to me... :thumbs:

Tim

This picture, as bad quality as it is, the blur shows you the lights that do work. Fan sweeps beside passenger blue work.
A/C, auto, drivers word, and recirculation work.

Now mind you, tell you the truth lol, I had installed all of them backwards, and they all worked perfect when I tested them until hooked up to the car. So I reinstalled then all pos on top. That's when they stopped working as I tested. Lighted up for a moment then off for the bottom row.

I've ordered warm white leds so I'm going to swap all the white ones and replace the blue sweep. See how it goes soon.

On a positive note...sanding the tips of the leds flat with 220 sandpaper really creates a nice even dispersion. I also fixed the back lcd display so not a complete waste of several hours!
Attachment 47782904

Also I originally got the leds from oznium and did the resistors according to what they had on the website there.

Double check all your solder connections and make sure you inspect for burnt/crackedtracks or solder pads!

Tim

Figured I'd post this in here since I'd been having trouble getting even light spread throughout my single zone HVAC controls. I originally had some pretty "interesting" LED setups soldered together trying to spread the light but nothing would really do what I wanted and it was all rather fragile. Worst part is it seems like you guys with the dual zone don't have this problem! Worth noting this only affected the top half, the bottom half was painless as everything had it's own LED.

Anyway, it dawned on me a week ago that I'm spending all this time trying to piggyback LEDs onto one another to get them where I want them physically and still having to solder resistors on to get them to accept 12v... Then I realized I had LED strips that you can cut apart into sections of 3 LEDs a piece and they're already built in with resistors to accept 12v so I gave it a shot and had I done this from the beginning I'd have been done SO much faster and with no headache at all!

Here you can see how I laid out each strip and connected them together so I only had to wire each half in. Note that there is a single LED still soldered in at the top and that is the single blue LED!
Single Zone HVAC PCB

Just a closer shot so you can see a little better. I used a single dab of super glue on the right hand side to make sure it stayed in place, otherwise the 3M adhesive held well enough.
Close Up

Here you can see my solution to the red/blue mixing too much. I simply cut up a piece of plastic and glued it in place to keep the extra blue spread from going too far into the red.
Barrier 1
Barrier 2

I will post a shot of the finished product once I get a camera that will actually capture it properly and not wash it out completely.

Good job! I can't wait to see the finished product... :thumbs:

Tim

After many, many failed attempts with my Galaxy S4 and then my new Galaxy S5 this is the best I could do for a shot of how it looks in person. Fact is the camera doesn't really show it because it's not nearly so uneven and in the pic it appears that the 5 has blue light bleeding into it but it doesn't look that way in person from either seat.

Single Zone HVAC

At any rate, I HIGHLY recommend using the cheap strip LEDs from eBay/Amazon/wherever as it makes it infinitely easier to spread the light for the single zone HVAC controls.

Looks really good!! I know that taking pics of the lighting is a major PITA!

Good job and thanks for the tip!

Tim

I've gotten as far as soldering in new LED's in place of the stock LED's but when I go to solder in a 3mm bulb with the resistor, I can't do it! This is my first soldering project and it makes me want to throw it all away! Is there a forum member who can help me out? I'd ship you the bulbs and resistors, name your price!

PM sent...

Where are you using 3mm LEDs in the HVAC?

Tim

I think that was a typo. I'm not at home but I believe I have 5mm bulbs for all incandescent lights except for the two under the rocker switches, those are 10mm. I was successful in installing 3mm bulbs into the existing led spots.

Yes the mode indicators are 3mm... I use 5mm everywhere else in the HVAC though.

Tim

I'm looking to do a slightly different LED swap on the auto dimming mirror. Does anyone have the pin out diagram for the connector on the auto-dimming mirror for testing voltage and illumination?

thank you

Cree LED modification in Auto-Dimming Mirror:

Attachment 48178864

Attachment 48178865

More details here:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...post1586910173

That looks good George! :thumbs:

It must be like two little mini suns in the car with the Crees!!!! I know swapping the stock bulbs for strong white 5mm LEDs is like night and day (no pun intended of course! :D)

Tim

Pulling this back up for a question
 

I know this is an old thread and maybe somewhere in it is the answer im looking for but I figured id ask anyway to see if anyone can help. I've updated all the lighting in my c5 with the exception of the automatic transmission shifter. I just order 5- 10mm by 26mm bulbs from the website listed on the 1st page. Im wondering if anyone has a write up/pictures on how to take apart the gear shifter. I have the dash taken apart no problem, but I don't want to break anything with the gear shifter. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

-Jason-

Just wanted to share the results of my PRNDL mod from this thread. I used blue LEDs. As usual the pics aren't as good as seeing them in person. It's much better than the single 194 blue LED which failed after about a year. The individual LEDs under each letter are crisp, clear and bright. The single LED was crisp under the D but became noticeably darker towards the P and the 1.

Attachment 48178866
Attachment 48178867

Hi Guy!!!

Yes the LED strip mod in the PRRNDL is the way to go!!!!

Looks great! How much bleed out around the edges are you getting??

Tim

Hi Tim,
There is a little bleed around the edge of the plastic near the boot as you can see in the picture, I think this can be cured by sealing up the edges with some black material. The numbers and letters are really clear, I much prefer this to stock or even the 194 LED bulb.

LED's in heating/air conditioning control
 

If you put super white leds in the hvac, do the buttons then have a resulting bluish look to them? How can you avoid that so that they look white?

you need to use warm white LEDs to compensate for the blue filter in the buttons.

Tim,
any luck getting the purple worked out?

:willy: I must REALLY not want to do this subconsciously or something!!!! I keep putting it off and keep finding excuses!!!

We know the Radio and HVAC look great with just those pink LEDs as the embedded blue film combines and makes a great bright purple. The remaining buttons shouldn't be an issue with the gel film you found, except for the HUD button... Might have to mod the back of the button assembly to accommodate the larger PLCC LEDs...

The map lights has already been done with a combo of blue and red LEDs to create a nice purple...

I was supposed to do the experimenting right?? I had a HD crash and lost the P/N for the gel film and the info on the LEDs as well...

Tim

Tim

i'll look back through & see if i can find what gel i used.


it's GamColor #842
http://www.musson.com/sales/product_...oductID=563%29

link is dead... stand by

or if you could get hold of a gel swatch book from Rosco or Gam, you could compare it to a piece of the stock film from a radio/hvac panel. that would ensure a perfect match.

I live in the sticks so getting a hold of a swatch book would be a shot in the dark...

Tim

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GAM-Color-Lighting-Gel-Swatchbook-/261352923739?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cd9d9225b< $7 shipped ain't too bad.

Timmy!
 

Hi Broseph... Saw this thread is still goin and you're still helpin us all with our interior lighting dreams:) Thanks for being so awesome and always there when needed over the years.. You need to go on a "Night Owl Cruise". If there is such a thing... That way you could be up late and have fun vacation activities during the wee hours and your friends would be glad to know you're taking time for you buddy:rock::cheers:

That would be fun Tman... :thumbs: And I can't believe this thread still has legs either! :willy:

How's that ride of yours doing????

Tim

just bought a pewter 02 yesterday, will have to read all 5 somethig pages of this thread to do the leds in the car. found a guy that will do them for me for 600 but for that I will try it myself.

BUCKSFAN, where are you located? There may be a member that has done the conversion that can help you.

I am in Southern California and have done 4 C5's including mine for friends. There are many on here that you can PM for assistance with parts selection and installation questions.

Gary

$600!?
I did it wearing a backbrace. I think you'll kick yourself for paying that kind of money to install some bulbs.

Agreed!!!! Hell, I charge half that for a complete interior job...

Tim

I agree also.... very easy!!

I have completed all of mine now except for the radio and hvac. Those are next. :yesnod:


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...6dfc72ca48.jpg

Looks great !

The Radio and HVAC are by far the most time consuming to complete.
Gather up a LOT of patience... Your going to need it... :D:yesnod:

Toque

You're site has been a GREAT BIG HELP Toque!! :thumbs::yesnod:

http://www.toquez06.com/