Changing interior lights

[naladude911]

As most of you know I just installed my headunit, and it is filled with blue leds. I want to change all of my interior lights (ac, door controls, shifter, 4wd) to blue leds. What are the bulb #'s for.......4x4 switchshifterpower windowsac controlsclockAlso, does anyone know how to take out the power window lights?

[fitzx4]

i remeber seeing #74. theres a topic on here by furler within the three most recent pages read it.

[naladude911]

I know the AC and clock are 74, but are all the interior bulbs

[fitzx4]

well the only way to find out would be to look then right either manual or actually get ur hands dirty

[Pwnin O'Brien]

For the power windows/locks switches, they are surface mount diodes which can be a bit tricky to replace. Here are some pictures of what I'm talking about. These pics are both of my drivers door windows/locks panel.

The SMD's are circled in red (5 total).

This one's a little blurry, but you can still see the SMD's.
Modified by Pwnin O'Brien at 4:05 PM 7/28/2009

[KyooX4]

I wouldn't even bother with those.

[Empty V]

For the power windows/locks switches, they are surface mount diodes which can be a bit tricky to replace. Here are some pictures of what I'm talking about. These pics are both of my drivers door windows/locks panel.

The SMD's are circled in red (5 total).

This one's a little blurry, but you can still see the SMD's.

Modified by Pwnin O'Brien at 4:05 PM 7/28/2009

A few months ago I took my window controls apart to see how to change out the LED's and decided that I wasn't interested in it enought to break it down to a circuit board level. It can be done but it's gonna be a pain in the a**.

Billy

[Pwnin O'Brien]

Yeah, if you plan on replacing them with other SMD's, I would say that you're probably just wasting your time. However, it looks like it would be possible to replace those SMD's with standard LED's. I'm not saying just throw new LED's on there with just taking my word for it. It looks like you may be able to replace the SMD's with 5mm LED's, I think there is enough space. I haven't measured the voltage across the SMD's yet so I'm not yet sure what you would be able to replace the SMD's with. If the voltage is really really low, then I doubt you would even want to waste your time replacing them.

I removed all of my door switches to do some maintenance/cleaning but I may tackle this project as well, after doing some thorough research.

I wouldn't recommend even attempting this kind of project unless you are really handy with a soldering iron and know how to de-solder. All of the circuits are pretty close together and one slip could cost you many more hours of labor and/or money.

**EDIT: The factory SMD's measured from 1.87V to 2.01V (forward voltage), all with 20mA current (forward current). Switching to 7000mcd white LED's would make a huge difference. The only issue would be heat dissipation, it would probably be necessary to mount the LED's a couple of millimeters from the board.
Modified by Pwnin O'Brien at 5:47 PM 7/28/2009

[Pwnin O'Brien]

And the shifter light is a 168/194 (the same bulb for the license plate lights and third brake light). The bulb has a little blue cover on it to reduce the light output across the gear indicators. If you take the cover off, the light is not distributed evenly across the gears and P is really bright.

[Qxxx4]

if he asks what bulb sizes he needs i dont think hed know the difference between SMD and through-hole LED's

Nala, dont bother with the stuff that hasnt been done yet. For example, my heated seat switches, i broke the clips on on removing it trying to investigate how to put a LED in there instead of the orange light, now i need to buy a new switch and it wont even be any different from what I had it before

if you dont have any electronic fabrication experience, stick to step by step tutorial mods

[Pwnin O'Brien]

If I do end up changing out the LED's, I will definitely post a full step-by-step tutorial on how to do it and what to purchase for the job.

[naladude911]

Well I guess for now I can do A/C lights, but I think il just stick with the dome light.

[fitzx4]

you are the same guy who didnt know how to wire a headunit so i dont think that you should mess with that stuff. im not trying to be a d!ck but if that was over your head why in the hell do u think this isn't?

[naladude911]

the dome lights are plug and play.....

[KyooX4]

I think fitz was referring to replacing the SMDs in the boards.

[fitzx4]

I think fitz was referring to replacing the SMDs in the boards.

yeah i was the dome lights is an obvious one just did mine hardest part is that they are polarized but a monkey could figure that out considering there are only two choices

[Pwnin O'Brien]

Almost done.

Driver side...

Passenger side...

[djorgenson99]

I need to change the gear shifter light. Has anyone done this before?

If so, can you provide instructions for accessing the bulb?

Thanks so much!

- Dan J.

[Qxxx4]

OH DAMN i love the window switches! surface mount led's? lets go with the pics of circuitry i would like to tackle that

question...my switches only show 1 button lit "auto" for windows, shouldnt the lock switch adn stuff be lit?

[Pwnin O'Brien]

So you only have one switch which is lit up? I'm not too sure about the 99.5 QX4, and I doubt you would have all those blown LED's. The only way to know for sure would be to open up the switch pack!

When I first tackled the switch LED's I promised I would put up a full tutorial on how to do it. Well, after starting I found that this job isn't really a DIY at all. Switching out the SMD's involved soldering in new resistors, cutting a board trace, and measuring voltages and currents with a DMM. Now if someone really wanted to tackle this project, I would be more than happy to help, but this job is not for everybody. Qxxx4, I know you're really tech savvy and I would definitely help you out with the project, just let me know.

To get started, I posted some pictures of the switch pack circuit in a post above. I circled the factory SMD's so you can get an idea of what needs replacing.

I replaced the factory SMD's with some 5mm white through-hole 18,000mcd (30 degree) LED's. They are bright as hell at night, and it's awesome!

[Empty V]

So you only have one switch which is lit up? I'm not too sure about the 99.5 QX4, and I doubt you would have all those blown LED's. The only way to know for sure would be to open up the switch pack!

When I first tackled the switch LED's I promised I would put up a full tutorial on how to do it. Well, after starting I found that this job isn't really a DIY at all. Switching out the SMD's involved soldering in new resistors, cutting a board trace, and measuring voltages and currents with a DMM. Now if someone really wanted to tackle this project, I would be more than happy to help, but this job is not for everybody. Qxxx4, I know you're really tech savvy and I would definitely help you out with the project, just let me know.

To get started, I posted some pictures of the switch pack circuit in a post above. I circled the factory SMD's so you can get an idea of what needs replacing.

I replaced the factory SMD's with some 5mm white through-hole 18,000mcd (30 degree) LED's. They are bright as hell at night, and it's awesome!

Dude that's sick! If you can post a tutorial I know at least a few will benefit from it including myself.

Billy

[Pwnin O'Brien]

Ok, I'm typing up a tutorial now. I'll post it later tonight so I can get some better pictures.

[Ron Burgundy]

Interesting...

I have only one lit up and it is the "AUTO" as well..

[Pwnin O'Brien]

Just posted the tutorial on how to change out the LED's...

zer...-leds