Just thought I'd share the results of the work I completed last night...red LEDs in my window switches, hazard/defrost, climate control, and Bose headunit. Also did the white display mod for the clock/climate control/Bose headunit. I'm sure my cardomain already has the details so I won't get very wordy here. Please let me know what you think! Enjoy

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/837045/1

 

They look pretty orange to me... or am I color blind? Regardless it looks pretty nice. Tho to be honest I would have gone with white LED if I had the same white Maxima. But thats just my opinion and everyones different.

 

Yeah I'm not sure if you read what I wrote in my cardomain or if you just went straight to the pics but the pics do make them look kinda orange (if you can't tell I also can't take pics for ****). In person though they're as red as...well...a laser pointer? I really don't know what else to compare them to. I agree with you that white would look pretty nice as well, but stock color for the center console is white and while it would be nicer with the LEDs I still like to be bold so I chose red. To me white is for a more subdued look and that's what I would have chose if I wanted that look but I wanted something with authority and since red is known as the power color that is what I chose (also because I haven't seen anyone else on the org with red), but I've seen more blue than I can count, quite a few white, and one orange.....so now we have a red

 

Think it looks great, I think the reason why its orange is probably because of the camera, but otherwise, I think you got a great car...

 

pretty sure i've seen red on the org. but i love the look. +1 on originality and doin your own.

now gold/ yellow. thats not been done

 

yeah looks orange sortof, but in my pics sometimes my blue looks purple because my camera is wonkey.
your HU looks sweet man. the down button on your climate is dim though
is that resistor ever huge!
what are the values of the resistor and leds?
it looks likeyou took your whole door pannel off, did you need to? i thought you just pop out the switches and leave the door in one piece
nice job though anything else planned

 

Thanks for the comments guys (as always)!

Ricosuave - if I ever get bored of the red I may have to try to yellow/gold sometime! Ok well maybe not, lol...this kind of work is just too time consuming

Dayglo - The down button on the climate control was dim even with the stock incadescent bulbs, but even more dim with the LEDs. I don't think it's more dim because of the LEDs themselves though, I think it has to do with the LEDs being red. The blue color from the down button absorbs some of the red light I think, but I don't really care, it still lights up sort of blue and at least the up button to make the air warmer lights up red I think most of us know that when you do things like this it's almost nearly impossible to get perfect, so I'm still happy with the results. The big resistor is an 82ohm allen bradley resistor rated at 2 watts (though my ohm meter measured it at 87-90ohms). The LEDs are rated to handle 1.8-2.2 watts, are 3mm, rated at 30ma (i'm feeding them around 27-28ma to be safe) and are 5000mcd. Got a package of 100 of them shipped for $6-$7! I only used the large resistor for the climate control, the hazard/defrost I used small 470ohm 1/4watt resistors that we're all familiar with, and in the HU I used 330ohm.

The pic of the door panel off is from a few weeks ago when I was getting rid of some rattles. So no I didn't take it off to do the LEDs

Not much else is planned at the moment except for making a LED light to replace the dome rear light and doing the ignition switch and cruise control switch as well as the LED gauge needle mod. Hoping to get that done by this weekend and I'll be posting more pics of the final result upon completion

 

I also realized u took most of those pics in the day.... do u got any pics of that interior when its dark out? Maybe they wont come out so orange then (yes i know they are not really orange)

 

Haha believe it or not I'm just a night owl. The clock says it's about 12:30 but that's 12:30 at night Cameras just do weird things to LEDs, I've seen pics with white LEDs that look blue, blue LEDs that look white, and now my red LEDs that look orange. Them cameras lie I tell you! No wonder why everytime I have a pic taken of ME I think I look hideous in it!

 

looks nice. i like it. how long did it take and how much??

 

Well I spent more money than I had to because while I had a soldering iron I didn't have a desoldering tool so I picked one up at radioshack along with some extra solder and resistors. The LEDs I ordered from a guy in hong kong off ebay...his username I believe is ubiditnow or ubitnow, something like that, but if you need to order LEDs let me know and I'll go into my ebay account and check for sure. I paid like $6-$7 for 100 LEDs shipped which is a deal you simply can't beat. So overall I spent $7 on LEDs, probably $3 on resistors since radioshack is a ripoff, and $7 for the soldering tool and like $1 for solder......so...about $20. It took me a little over a week since I don't have much free time on my hands and was only able to dedicate a little bit of time here and there, plus the first time I put the LEDs into the Bose HU they all blew since it was 2am and I was tired and forgot to use resistors, so then I had to take it apart, unsolder everything, and solder new LEDs with resistors back in, taking care to place the resistors in appropriate spots as to not block any buttons from being fully compressed. Also the first time I did the display screens I was dumb and used heat shrink wrap which of course shrunk once we had a hot day here in Mass so I had to go out and get cellophane paper to do it over again. All in all if you know exactly what to do before you start and have all your supplies handy you should be able to do it in about 4-5 hours, maybe less, but I tend to work really slow because I'm very particular and in some ways a little OCD about stuff. I do think this mod will take the average person longer than they would expect it to though while first going in to it. Hope that helps, I'm glad you like it though

 

I let you know what I think on your Car Domain...very nice, good job!!! I think changing your LED's is an awesome mod.

 

i think they look realy good. night shots? might come out in a truer color. i love how it contrasts with the painted dash!! wanna do it for me??? haha
jk

oh, and how do you like your budget b-pipe? i'm surprised you got that first over the y-pipe!! if you like it without the Y, you'll love it with!

 

Haha guess you didn't read my above post. Those ARE night shots! But my headlights were on and reflecting off the white garage door, so maybe that made it look like it was daylight out in the pics? Or maybe it's because you see the clock says it's like 12:30, but that's 12:30 at night. I just can't take pics for ****, but I'm going to try again tonight and see if I get any better shots. And thanks I love how it contrasts with the painted dash too. I definitely think I'm going to have a classy interior once I do the LED gauge needle mod (hoping to get around to that tonight after everyone leaves the house from my sister's graduation party). Oh and hey, if you made the trip and stopped by I'd do it for you, but would you REALLY want me playin around with YOUR max!?! Haha, didn't think so


Oh and I love the budget b-pipe. It really is a great piece for the money and don't have any complaints. The reason I got it before the y-pipe is because my stock exhaust from the cat converter back rotted out, so I had to replace the b-pipe and muffler so I went with the budget b-pipe and the Borla muffler. I plan on getting the budget y-pipe within a month or so. And I just got a job as a general maintenance auto mechanic for goodyear so now I can bring my car and just throw it on the lift and will have access to air tools to make the installation reallllllllllllly easy! I also need new tires soon, so employee discounts will be my friend!

 

sounds good. and no, you aint touchin my girl as long as i'm around!! i just really like your dash , but i wouldn't have any idea how to work with the LED's. the stickies and how-to's just don't make much sense. i'll just have to sit down and really read them some day. how about if i order everything and you come over and hold my hand while i'm installing, k? great. thanks.

 

Ok, how about you buy me a plane ticket...THEN I'll come over and WATCH you and make sure you don't do anything to **** up your circuit boards and stuff. Holding hands is : haha jp dont think i actually took that literally

 

Then I'll pick you up from there and you can do mine!!! Good plan, lol! I really am too scared to try and figure that out though.

 

yea i was going to say, they look pretty bright for daylight!
do your guages now and 194 bulbs

 

Write up!!!!!

 

Chillin - I almost forgot about the writeup! I'll get on that right away and PM you when it's completed. I never took pics while doing the work so I won't have pics to post but I definitely can write something nice and detailed that just about anyone should be able to follow. If there is enough interest I'll pull everything out of the car again so I can take pics, but I'd like to avoid doing that unless there's more interest for a writeup. I'll keep you posted though

Northern Max - I REALLY think you should try it. At least get yourself a soldering iron if you don't own one already and practice by making a simple circuit of your choice on some scrap board (you can pick it up really cheap and I can give you a feel links if you're interested). Also if you do a google search for "how to solder" you will find a ton of info on it (i even stumbled upon a site that had video clips of a guy going through all the steps to make a good connection). After you think you have the feel for it you simply just have to take a risk and go out and try doing it. I'd first fool around with something not very important and not as easy to mess up, such as the hazard button. While it's nice that it lights up, if you screw up and can't get it to light up it won't be the end of the world since it will still function (but make sure you can put it back together though because if you can't put the button back together upon taking it apart you will NOT have use of your blinkers!). Anyways it really isn't hard at all (remember this was my first time soldering ever and I still successfully completed it) and I definitely don't consider myself a super handy kinda guy. I'll give you any help/advice/tips you need. Even if you screw up it's almost aways fixable. The hardest part about this mod (at least for me) was finding the time to do it and having the patience to figure it all out (and you won't have to deal with the figuring it out part since I'll tell you exactly what size resistors you need, etc...). Take a chance, once you complete one button/board and it all lights up you'll have the confidence you need to go on to the next and you will get better and quicker as you go along. That's what happened to me and now I want to do just about anything I can think of with LEDs in my car. I love those little things and the light they put out is just so pretty Sorry don't mean to ramble, but I think you need to be open-minded about this. You really don't know what you're capable of doing until you try, and chances are you're much more capable than you think you are There's Bill's words of wisdom for the day...

 

Well, I don't have new 194 bulbs yet (haven't decided on what color I want to go with). So far I have one vote for red gauges with white LED needles. I'm still open to other suggestions. Any other color combos anyone thinks would look good?

 

awesome, your car is awesome.
as far as the actual DISPLAY, you can't change the color on that?
i gotta do this, i got everything red except the dang center console.
oh yeah, how hard is it to paint that dash.

 

looks good

 

Thanks glad you like the car It's still nothing compared to what some guys have here on the org but I'm proud of it and am doing the best I can with it given that I'm a poor college student. And yes you can change the color of the actual display. If you look in the how-to's I believe it's in there but it's just a matter of going out and buying some red/magenta cellophane paper and placing a sheet of it over the display (you need to take it apart and place it on the actual screen connected to the circuit board..just tape it with standard scotch tape). I also put a dab of glue here and there just for extra stability in case the car got really hot one day and loosened the adhesive on the tape a bit, but it should stay put. The red/magenta cellophane paper will change the green display to white, and once it's white any color you place over that will change it to that color.

Painting the dash is extremely easy. There is a write up for it in the how-to's as well, though I painted a few more pieces in mine than what the how-to's had. Just paint whatever you want to get the look you're looking for

 

i did the cellophane to my clock and its pretty hard to see sometimes. impossible if the sun is shining on it. I only have the one layer, that makes it white. Im thinknig the display wouldnt be that lame but who knows.

 

man looks great dude.. for somereason red seems like a more original color then what i did my interior.. i did mines all blue.. but then again thats my cars "theme" color white and blue..

 

Did you ever disconnect the dimmer? That's a must if you do the cellophane mod. If you didn't do that...pull the top piece out of the center console and cut the red wire with the blue tracer. I think it's a given if you have a white clock you won't see it well if the sun is shining on it, no matter how bright it is. The wavelengths will be absorbed by the sun's light. There are too many variables as well, depending on the exact color of the cellophane you used (whether it's lighter or darker) will make a difference. I can see my clock even with the sun shining directly on it, though not as clear as I would without the sun shining on it or at night time (for obvious reasons)

 

all mine turned out orange (the pics) so i haven't even posted them. I'm in the middle of doin the CC and other things anyway.

Look good man, I got my LED's from him also, they are really nice. opt for the resistors next time for $1 more, there much smaller than those huge RS resistors.

 

this is the thing, the dimmer only comes on when i have my lights on( at night), right? Well during the day, its NOT dimmed so disconnecting the wire won't make a difference during the day, and i dont really NEED it brighter at night.
or am i wrong.

 

Hey thanks I wasn't even aware that he offered resistors as an option! It's ok though I only used one of the large resistors (only for the climate control). Everything else I used the normal small resistors, though I paid 99cents at radioshack for each pack of 5 that I bought which is a huge ripoff. You're right though he does sell really nice LEDs. I was impressed considering the price I paid for them. Come to think of it i'm going to order a batch of white LEDs from him tomorrow with resistors just so I have them. By the way I'm glad to hear you went with red LEDs as well, they really do look great

Chillin - yes i'm 99% sure you're correct about the dimmer although for some reason ever since I disconnected it my clock has appeared to be slightly brighter even during the day to me, but I think it's just my eyes playing tricks on me. Also some people drive with their lights on during the day even (I used to though I don't anymore). I guess with every mod there's always a disadvantage, this one being that it may be slightly harder to see the display while the sun hits it at certain angles but i dont need to see it 24/7, so the sexy color combo I get is worth the loss in clarity to me

 

well done..nice job. Iwould like to change also mine, but the simplest way for me to to do is to change it with colored incadescent bulb, can you tell me the bulb size (OEM)bulb no. and wattage before i start my plan.

Thanks!

 

Good work...it looks very cool.

 

Hey not sure if you know this but the stock incadescents are also soldered into the boards, so you're going to have to solder either way which is why I'd personally go for LEDs. The bulbs are very small and I have never seen them for sale before. My guess is you could just call any nissan dealer though and ask them what kind of bulbs are in the climate control though because the bulbs in there are the same as the ones that were in the Bose HU. I threw them all out and never bothered to see if they had a wattage or anything listed on them. If I have time later I'll try to do some research for you though, but you may want to consider the LEDs. The only extra work involved is attaching resistors

 

thanks for your help bhmax16. i'll try to modify mine also...will post picture soon. RED is hot.

 

Looks good man, it's nice to see a color other than blue.

 

Not a problem if you have any questions about the modification feel free to send me a PM and I'll do my best to help you out

Enjoyincubus - Thanks I'm glad to see a color other than blue as well.

Hey does anyone think I should use up a few more of the red LEDs but putting a few in the air vents so they "glow" at night? Or would you consider that ricey? I think it looks sort of cool if done right and if it's kept subtle and not too flashy. At least it's not like putting neons in the car or something. What do you think?

 

I agree, it doesn't matter that much to me either.

 

I think that would look really cool as long as the bulb isn't visible...just the glow. I'm starting to want to learn how to do this more now!

 

that looks good man, good job

 

Awesome I'm going to go ahead and do it then just to give the interior that extra subtle touch I'm sure I'm going to be so excited about it once it's finished that I'm going to have to post pics again. I'm headin out though...I just set up a hott date for tonight! Hopefully the chick thinks red LEDs are pretty