LED light swap (lots of pics! dial-up=bad)

[sl33py]

In the middle of having fun with this......ran into a snag though.

Has anybody had trouble with the 3022-xHP2 for the heater controls? All i can get out of this festoon in that socket is a slight flicker when I turn the lights on. The stock bulb works great. I ran jumpers from the festoon socket and hooked them to an old TaskLED I had and it shines just fine. I hooked up the 3022-xHP2 to a 110 to 12v converter and it shines just fine........but, again, only flickers in the festoon socket.

Yes - had same issue. I found that at certain angles it works without issue, other angles it flickers. I ended up removing the white diffuser so i could angle mine the right way - and also went with a red gel behind the heater plastic anyway.

great to see this thread still kicking along!

 

[sl33py]

Rob, the red LEDs look great! But how do you dim them? I have a 1983 24V HJ60, and there's no dimmer on my dash. And I'm not much of an electrician, so... But my dashboard lights suck!

Wim

Hard to believe there isn't any dimming of the dash bulbs...

And as far as 24v - the LEDs are able to handle that range of voltage - but make sure to double check before buying them. You should look at the specs for whichever you buy.

GL!

 

[alaska60]

This still one of my favorite interior mods that I have done...Im glad I found this thread a year ago.
Thanks again SL33PY!!!

 

[biomax]

Also, for this piece:

don't get one of the WLED-xLX units. I still have to replace the one I installed because the beam pattern is so narrow it's as if there's nothing there. I'd recommend trying the WLED-xHP5 in there and see how that does. It's got a 360-degree beam, so it should work better than the one I have in (WLED-RLX, which is also what I use in my gauges).

Man, I really need to read carefully...

So (1) I got a WLED-R-120 (120 degree) for the switch light. Its beam pattern is WAY too low. Basically barely can tell it is even on. So I'm ordering a WLED-XHP5 for this. Also, wish I had re-read some of the earlier posts, as I forgot the bulb in the heater and A/C controls. It is a 3022-GHP4. So I'm now ordering that.

Still looking for the proper bulb for the rear defrost bulb. In the picture below, the rear heater bulb is in the middle. The left bulb (for reference) came from the A/C switch. The right bulb is what I thought would fit. NEO3-A. Note the threads of the stock bulb are higher (thicker base). That keeps both of the bulbs (r/l) in the picture from seating properly. Anyone change this bulb out w/ a LED? If so, what did you use?

 

[Waggoneer]

Ditto on the problems with the rear defrost bulb.

 

[sl33py]

Still looking for the proper bulb for the rear defrost bulb. In the picture below, the rear heater bulb is in the middle. The left bulb (for reference) came from the A/C switch. The right bulb is what I thought would fit. NEO3-A. Note the threads of the stock bulb are higher (thicker base). That keeps both of the bulbs (r/l) in the picture from seating properly. Anyone change this bulb out w/ a LED? If so, what did you use?

Hey Biomax - nice pic to help troubleshoot. Your pics of the back helped out another mudder in another thread so he could see what i was talking about. thanks!

So on the above odd bulb - do i see a wire coming out down and around the base for contacts? Including on the LED that doesn't fit but is close? Can you try carefully prying them both out and see if you can swap in the new LED bulb into the old one?

Just a thought. Also, might be worth measuring in mm and calling superbrightleds to see if they have another option. Or a bulb that would fit if you can get it into the old base - they have loose LED bulbs i believe. Not ideal, but might work for you.

Lastly - went through and fixed a bunch of pics for anyone that finds the thread. Initial pics work again, plus some edits mentioning or showing the newer equivalents.

Let us know if you figured out this last bulb issue - close ups of the contacts and see if they are removable?

GL!

 

[biomax]

Thanks for the suggestions on the rear defrost bulb guys. I was able to pull out the NEO3-A bulb from the base and put it into the rear defrost base (swapped stock bulb for LED bulb - using factory base).

While removing the LED form its base, I broke one of the 2 wires. Either it was glued into the base, or the 2 resistors made it too tight to get out easily. But a dot of solder was all it took to reconnect it.

In the first picture, you'll see that it all sticks out a bit, but there's ample room in the switch for this.

Here are the unlit/lit pictures:

I also changed the 2 red bulbs in the FJ62 shifter to HP bulbs. Non-HP bulbs just didn't light up enough to see these bulbs in the daytime. And as these are warning bulbs, I figured they needed to be obvious. So I changed them to HP bulbs:

So my revised table of bulbs is this:

 

[sl33py]

Biomax - very cool. glad that did work.

love seeing this thread pop up time to time.

good call on the HP bulb for daytime visibility.

I may dig into the dash on mine again, plus update the side markers and if i do i'll update the first post in this thread to reflect any new updates...

 

[polarweasel]

And while we're reviving this thread, I just ordered a pair of the PCB universal dome lights from Superbrightleds, along with the M1 marker lights front and rear. Will update when I get them installed and working.

...Or when I get them repaired and reinstalled after I break them.

 

[SNLC]

Awesome thread! Great details and info....thanks to all who have contributed. I plan to upgrade my interior lighting when I get a chance and this thread will be great help in that!

 

[polarweasel]

PCB domes installed!

And while we're reviving this thread, I just ordered a pair of the PCB universal dome lights from Superbrightleds, along with the M1 marker lights front and rear. Will update when I get them installed and working.

I now have the PCB dome lights (SBLEDS part UPCB-xWHP30, in warm white) installed. Waiting for dark, but from what I saw testing the boards in the house last night, holy s*** they're bright. And they stay a lot cooler, so maybe I can stop hoarding dome light lenses now.

The PCBs are definitely a tight fit, but you can make them work. For the front dome, I hot-glued the board to the plastic base. In the rear, I bent the switch assembly out a tiny bit, and hot-glued the board to the lens. The rear one is wedged in so well that it probably didn't even need the glue, but overkill is good.

Note the wire polarity in the pics! LEDs only work when they're wired right. They're light-emitting diodes, remember?

(And yes, I cleaned up all the strings once the glue cooled. Too impatient to wait for the pictures, though!)

 

[polarweasel]

(Also, we have two FJ60s, so I'll post up a comparison of incandescent vs LED tonight or tomorrow...)

 

[polarweasel]

lousy night shots

The upshot: it's worth replacing both dome lights with the PCBs. It's $40 well spent.

Here's as good as it gets with my camera. "Night portrait" mode with no flash. Apparently I don't have a long-exposure mode on the camera like I thought I did. If I can borrow a better camera, I'll update these.

In person, there's really no contest. The front LED lights up the whole truck better than both incandescents do. Even in these pictures (both 1/8-second exposure at ISO 400) you can definitely tell the difference.

There's also no contest, heat-wise. I left both trucks' lights on for about ten minutes while I messed around taking these pictures. The lenses over the incandescent lights were both quite warm, while the lenses over the LEDs were the same temperature as their surroundings.

Pics show old, new, and comparison (new on the left). Both trucks have both dome lights on.

 

[BG_TX]

Bumping a good thread.

I've replaced all of the dash, shifter and glove box bulbs (FJ62) with LEDs from 'superbrightleds' (appr $50 excluding shipping). I used Biomax's chart and added some updates.

Dash illuminated:

Dash illuminated and warning lights:

Chart for stock colors (FJ62):

 

[assocco]

Thanks BG TX! I just replaced my heater control with a festoon bulb from superbrightlcd.com and loved it. I was just going to research the other bulbs a there you have it spelled out! Thanks brother!
I love ih8mud!!

 

[klinetime574]

@BG_TX: Holy cow those are bright! Do you find them distracting at all? I've been thinking about LED interior, but I really enjoy my incandescents, other than my one temperamental bulb

 

[BG_TX]

I replaced the gauge cluster OEM incandescents about a year ago with these:

Although they did brighten up the dash a bit versus the stock bulbs with the green boots over them, over time I wanted the dash brighter (not to mention the shades of green seemed to vary between bulbs). I debated the LED swap, primarily due to concerns of excessive brightness, but I am pleased with the appearance (and they can always be dimmed). I was really impressed with the bulb for the switches, it sheds an amazing amount of light - even lighting up the flooring area a bit.

 

[klinetime574]

Good to know!

While I have you here. Is that a Pioneer radio? I really want to get a radio with a green backlight. I feel stupid for ever selling the one I had in it before. But oh well.

 

[BG_TX]

It's a Sony Xplod CDX-GT210... Out of the box the display has some annoying graphics/animations but after messing with it for a bit I figured how to shut all of the graphics/animations off. Not a bad unit (for me) but I don't invest much in car audio.

 

[FJ60CRZR]

I just bought a new Sony, has 32k color combos. You can dial in the shade of green.