LED bulbs for centre console switches?

Haylz

Haylz

Ex. Club Member
Hi,

I replaced all my bulbs in the instrument panel today with red led's, looks really nice but now I would like to change the colour of the bulbs in the switches in the centre console. I just wondered if they are the same kinda bulbs as those that are in the instrument panel?? And also if anyone has changed theirs and if you have do you have some pics so I can maybe see how it looks?

Thanks in advance
Haylz

P.S would also like some advice on whether I should put a red sunstrip on the windscreen or a black one?
 
Personally i would go for a black sunstrip as you still have black trim on car anyway. Too much red might spoil it. Looks very clean though.
 
Thanks!!

I was actually leaning towards black myself but wanted to know what others thought too! :grinning:
 
go black
and i dont think u can change the bulbs in the center console (dont take my word but pritty sure) just paint the souround
what colour is the car

toney
 
yea i changed the ones in the centre console to red. it aint easy and you will have to do alot of bodging...

to do the switches first take them out and you will see round screw things on the side. twist them and the pull out. you will see a bulb with the wires from the bulb wrapped around the end of the plastic thing. i unwound the bulb and got a small 3mm red LED and a resistor and wrapped the legs of the wire and the risistor round the plastic bit. it's very fiddley and your soldering has to be as neat as pos so that the LED will fit in the same space.

the heater controls, you have to take them out of the centre but leave them wired in, then pull off the black plastic and the heater twisty things and behind that you will see an open area with wedge bulbs. i pulled out the wedge bulbs and layered the whole thing in tin foil to act as a reflector then i stringed together lots of LEDs like a set of christmas lights and then fitted a wedge on the end which fitted into the existing lights. then i glued the lights in random places. the light is a bit un even but it looks good.

i'd post a pic but i don't have any at the mo :)

hope this helps, post pics if you manage to get any where :)
 
no probs mate, i hope it all goes well and if you find a better way of doing it let me know :)

another thing is to choose bright LEDs and low resistance resistors. check
www.ultraleds.co.uk

from what i remember it was the switches which were the hardest because i remember them springing apart... but i don't think you actually need to take them apart i must have just been messing about,

Red LEDs seem to be really dull. are the ones in your gauges bright enough? i don't think mine are...
 
yeah the led's in the guages are brighter than the original bulbs were.

The only one that isn't is the clock but my clock light had stopped working a day or so before I changed them anyway so at least now I can see it again lol
 
ohh what did you use? i modded the existing bulbs with two 5mm LEDs for every one light.
 
Nice one mate i might have to give them a try and see if they are brighter than mine :)

remind me to get some photos for you of the dash as i've pulled out the console for painting ;)
 
ok, thanks.

I emailed the guy I bought the led's from earlier to ask about bulbs for the centre console.

This is the reply I got:

HELLO
YES THE HEATERS ARE SIMPLE
PULL THE KNOBS OFF
THEN PULL OFF THE SELF ADHESIVE PLASTIC STRIP AND REPLACE WITH 3 X 501 LEDS
WE CAN SUPPLY THESE FOR 9.99 AND THEY ARE WIDE ANGLE TYPE
Click to expand...

he didn't mention the switches tho which I also asked him about.
 
59 bhp is more than enough said:
if they are just leds cant you just buy the bulbs and do it yourself.
Click to expand...


That's what I thought but I think (I may be wrong) if it's just a case of swapping bulbs then I have to make sure I buy led's which are ready to work on the 12v circuit otherwise I have to also put my own resistors on.

A mate said something to me about that which is why I'm now wondering if I should bother. If it's just a case of swapping bulbs then it's not a big job.

If anyone could shed some light on this I'd be very grateful :grinning:
 
that's interesting about the centre console. they would need to be wide angle thou.

if you get a set then let me know how they look and i'll buy some :)
 
i have done all my guages, and switches, il go get a pic, but cant see the quality being very good, id love your opinion on it tho ppl.....

clocks1.jpg


clocks2.jpg


Please note, the pictures really do not do my guages any sort of justice, they look uneven in the picture, however in actual fact the light is very evenly distributed nad overall really does look really well

i did my indicator thin sin the dash in red for a bit of a change from all the blue


Ste
 
Looks good.

What bulbs did you use for the switches? and where did you get them?

Do they just swap over like the ones in the instrument panel do?

I keep meaning to check this out but haven't had time to yet.
 
i used 3mm ultrabright blue and red LED's from ultraleds with their 'std 12v reistor' wich if my memory serves me correctly were about 420 ohms

i soldered mine in on the guages / instrument panel but jus wrapped them roundthge saples sbulb holder as the original bulbs were in the switches.

the length of the led plus resistor was too long for the switches so u have to pull switch to bits and put a 90degree bend on the leds pointing the correct way before clipping back together and installing again.

Ste
 

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