Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

It's been done before, but i'll share my method of mounting the resistor (neater) and also show you what the A/C unit could/should look like.

post-3573-1158892892.jpg

01) For reference, this is the lighting in the room.

Camera set to 1/20th second, f2.6.

post-3573-1158892909.jpg

02) This is what a stock globe with blue silicone cap looks like

The silicone cap takes away the orange of the bulb, and makes it a soft blue/white.

post-3573-1158892922.jpg

03) This is what the standard globe looks like without the blue cap on.

If you broke the cap, it won't light up white. It lights up a horrid orange.

post-3573-1158892939.jpg

04) This is a 30,000mcd 5mm LED.

Sweeeeet. Looks like my hazard button!

post-3573-1158892957.jpg

05a) Firstly, remove the A/C unit. Same as changing your head unit.

Easy done. You can see both of the globe bezels on the back in white. 1/8th turn with a flathead screwdriver will do the job. Turn it upside down and shake a little...

post-3573-1158892973.jpg

05b) And out pops your globe!

The two wires at the front touch the contacts in the A/C unit... they wrap around from the back.

post-3573-1158892992.jpg

06) The back is where the wires from the globe poke out, and get wrapped around to the front.

post-3573-1158893008.jpg

07) Pick at the ends until you have them up, then unwrap the legs till they're straight enough to go through the holes they sit in.

post-3573-1158893032.jpg

08) Remove your old/dead globe.

post-3573-1158893054.jpg

09) If you are replacing your globe for another standard "grain of wheat" globe, then this is the tricky bit.

The globe can be bought from Dick Smiths (online too) P8140 is the product number. OK... tricky bit. Use a *really* small flathead screwdriver, or my preferred option, a needle to unbind the silicone cap from the globe.

It doesn't show here, but the blue cap has a darker ring on the inside, about 1/3rd of the way from the tip. This is where the glue was applied to hold the cap onto the globe. Using the pin, hold the tip onto the glass, and slide it inside the silicone cap. Keep the angle of the pin at at least 15 degrees, otherwise you might poke a hole through the end of the cap! Keep sliding it in and out, jabbing the glue-ring until it doesn't look darker anymore. This means the glue has seperated from the globe.

Carefully, try to push the end of the cap towards the tip... the whole thing should slide off. If you pull from the tip, you risk tearing the silicone.

post-3573-1158893079.jpg

10) For those who want LED-action, here is one of the 5mm LEDs that I used.

It is the brightest 5mm LED you can buy ($5 each), and the extra fat negative leg could be an issue. You could drill out the hole in the globe holder to make it fit in futher, but I did a test-fit first, with the whole of the LED just outside the holder, and it still went in and screwed into the A/C unit... so I just left it like that. Less work you see. ;o)

Specs:

* 5mm

* 30,000mcd

* 3.6 typical volt-drop

* 75mA typical

post-3573-1158893100.jpg

11) Shove it in, and bend the negative (shorter) leg into its groove to hold the LED in place.

post-3573-1158893121.jpg

12) Depending on the LED you use, the resistor value will have to be calculated.

This is 120ohms... The last stripe denotes the tolerance in watts. Gold and silver are typical. Knowing that much, you know to read from left to right, with the gold or silver last. This is brown-red-brown, gold. That's 120ohms of resistance, which will heat up a bit. Depending on the LED you choose, the values will change. I could have run this LED at 100mA (milli-amps) if I wanted to.. this particular LED can handle higher, but the "typical" values are probably the best to stick to. Use this calculator with the LED specs: http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz

Resistors don't have a polarity, so you can mount the resistor either way round, on the positive leg of the LED.

post-3573-1158893144.jpg

13a) Stick the resistor into the groove on the side of the positive leg.

post-3573-1158893161.jpg

13b) And bend the top to meet the positive leg of the LED.

Other guides have the resistor mounted flush with the holder, but I don't like this idea for two reasons. One, it gets in the way of the screwdriver slot, and secondly, it looks like it could move around. From the screwdriver slot, one side is positive, and one is negative... you don't want one to touch the other. Also, the resistor can/will heat up quite a bit, so I didn't want it to be touching anything.

post-3573-1158893179.jpg

14) Solder the resistor to the positive leg of the LED.

With the right-angle bend on the resistor, and the rigidity of the LED leg, this rectangular shape is quite hard to bend. It shouldn't touch anything where it is.

post-3573-1158893196.jpg

15) Trim the legs with a pair of side-cutters after you have bent the leg and resistor into their grooves.

Chop the ends to the right length to end perfectly in the groove.

post-3573-1158893209.jpg

16) Test-fit your new LED globe!

As you can see, it gets close to the side of the plastic in the hole... but that's not a problem at all. If anything, this mounting method should provide good heat-dissipating properties to the resistor. (they get quite hot to the touch)

If you have a powersupply or even a 9 volt battery and some alligator clips, test your LED before you actually install it. Remember to only use the front of the holder for the contact points. This is before the resistor! Doing it from the back might work, or it might completely blow out the LED. On a 9v battery it may be fine to test an LED without a resistor for a few seconds, but just don't chance it if you're using $5 LED's.

post-3573-1158893231.jpg

17) Here is your other view of the top of the resistor, it doesn't even poke out the top of the hole, so you can be assured that it won't be touching anything behind the dash.

Another note on putting these back in. An LED is a Light Emitting Diode. The keyword is diode... represented on circuit diagrams as:

->|-

Diodes allow current to travel one way, but not the other. The direction of the ">" symbol denotes the direction of flow. Anyway, the important thing about this is that if you put the LED setup in your A/C unit the wrong way round, it won't blow up or anything. You just unscrew it, rotate it 180 degrees, and screw it in again. This time, it should work.

Well anyway, step 18 will come with another photo once I get round to pulling it all apart again and putting these into my actual (working) A/C unit. The unit I have used for this guide is just a dead one I have sitting around.

Edited by RANDY

Yeah, they're coming. I submitted the post first, incase it timed out while I was tidying and uploading... but I didn't realise that the mods have to approve it before it shows up. The whole thing disappeared on me.

There is a sticky which doesn't sound helpful, but has helpful information within it about how the process works.

  • 2 weeks later...

cough*

>_<

A tip Id recommend that I wrote in my original article on LED climate control lights, is to lightly scruff up the LED to mist it up, it will help dissipate light more evenly.

the original article has been relocated here:

http://www.dorished.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=451

Edited by midnight
  • 3 weeks later...

Regarding the scruffing of the LED, the pictures I have attached are with no scruffing at all.

I have only used one bulb/LED for the example pics, so only half the panel lights up. Either way, the panels buttons all light up the same brightness... so... experiment if you feel like it, as midnight suggests.

=-]

Additional: sorry, Midnight, if it looks like i've just redone your guide. I started documenting it and taking pictures before I found your guide. (while searching for mine after it didn't appear immediately after posting).

I then changed the title a bit so it's clear that mine is a secondary to yours. =-]

  • 3 months later...

http://www.ledshoponline.com/automotive_dashboard_bulb.htm

Is it possible to use these LED globes here^ instead of using a separate LED/Resistor combo? It seems that these are an all in one 'drop in' solution. They are more expensive, but much easier to install by the looks of it.

What size globes does the AC unit take? T5?

  • 5 months later...

Followed this guide and the result is brilliant :laugh:

Very nice white colour to the light, and just the right amount of brightness.

Not hard to do, took about an hour all up (pulling apart dash, taking out aircon unit, swapping globes, putting unit back in, putting dash back in).

For $10 bucks all up Im very impressed with the result :domokun: Cheers!!

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
http://www.ledshoponline.com/automotive_dashboard_bulb.htm

Is it possible to use these LED globes here^ instead of using a separate LED/Resistor combo? It seems that these are an all in one 'drop in' solution. They are more expensive, but much easier to install by the looks of it.

What size globes does the AC unit take? T5?

None of those will work. They're not a "drop-in" kind of globe. You can buy them from DSE though, and they're called "Grain of wheat". You have to wrap the wires in the same manner as this LED guide... no T5 or anything like that. The unit comes with its own globe-holders that you need to re-use.

Followed this guide and the result is brilliant :thumbsup:

Very nice white colour to the light, and just the right amount of brightness.

Not hard to do, took about an hour all up (pulling apart dash, taking out aircon unit, swapping globes, putting unit back in, putting dash back in).

For $10 bucks all up Im very impressed with the result :P Cheers!!

Cheers! Glad you liked it!

I should really post up my "after" results, hey?

I don't know... but I doubt it? The clock uses a liquid crystal display.... I don't know much about how they illuminate a particular colour, but I don't think it will be an LED shining through the display.

A quick wiki search shows this:

300px-LCD_subpixel_(en).png

So I guess it might be possible if you were somehow able to unbind the colour filter from the LCD. Highly unlikely, I'd guess.

  • 1 year later...
  • 1 month later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • For these last 7 years of ownership, I've always had to use a small scissor jack under one of the front tow hooks to raise the front just enough so my low-profile jack fits under to reach my subframe jack point. I'm beginning to get annoyed of always having to do this. Are there any lower low-profile jacks that fit under the gtr lip on a dropped car?
    • Seat of the pants assessment of the new intake: The car is way less "doughy" when hitting the loud pedal, especially off idle when stopped or in traffic, I did use a cheapo lazer thermal thingo to measure the temp around where the pod filter got its air, it was between 55 - 60°C, in saying this the car was shut off and not moving, so the OEM intake pipe was not supplying any fresh air to where the pod was when the car was at least moving A weird bonus was induction noise on the throttle in the cabin increased a bit,  I was worried that I was actually going to lose some of that induction noise I love so much, outside though, when I got the daughter to do a WOT drive by pass for me, the induction noise has increased alot when on the throttle, not quite ITB doort, but well up there I'm extremely happy with the results and have been exploring the country roads in the region  As for house mods: 1.New front fence is up and is awesome, it really upgraded how the joint looks from the street, and the added security is nice 2. Electricians have replace some interior lights, and with more lighting in the garage, a few new motion detecting lights out the front above the garage, front room, and at the front door, which I have already found heaps helpful coming and going, also now has fancy pants CCTV all round the house The only hold point for power though is the solar and batteries due to supply issues, although this will happen over the next few weeks 3. I have done a heap of landscaping out the front and I'm almost ready to do a new small retaining wall with some nice blocks to replace the brick and cemented in rocks around the raised garden beds cemented in river stone "was the fashion at the time" the house was built. I currently have a pallet of retaining wall blocks and 2 bulka bags of 20mm blue metal to replace the wood chip that is in the raised garden beds around the house 4. I now have 3 big raised garden beds for out the back to grow some vegetables, about 70cm high, 200cm long and 100cm wide 5. My 2 compost bins are already pretty full with brown, green and kitchen waste from the landscaping I'vedone so far, but they will probably take a few months to break down, so anything else that gets chopped, trimmed, and kitchen waste will just start filling the base of the raised garden beds to about 30cm before I start throwing 40cm of good compost, and stuff, for the vegetables to grow in, I'll need a few ton of compost and soil, but the local supplier can sent me bulka bags of the stuff Basically the logs, wood chips and a few strategically placed rocks for drainage, will give the beds some good organic materials down low to break down over time, and they will hold moisture during the warmer months to save the water in my big arse water tank if we don't get alot of rain So, all in all, the car and house mods are going well, and I'm really enjoying being retired, I sleep in too 0700 and slowly plod around inside until I feel like actually doing anything, and only work in the yard for as long as want, which has actually been alot over the last few weeks,  although when you look at it, it seems that not a huge amount of work has been done,  until I look at the before I started the work pics Happy days and good times indeed 
    • hahaha yeah. Plan is to get side skirts and probably just rear pods. But going to do them one-by-one. I've got a set that I really like from RHDJapen, but that one isn't shipped to AU. So need to find someone who can get it for me
    • Here's an idea, answer the questions I asked you as they are trying to work out WHY the LSD will be binding up in a straight line.
×
×
  • Create New...