My auto climate control lights all burned out when I removed my stereo. I am certain that they burned out and are not simply missing a connection or blown fuse because (a) you can look at them and see they are darkened like a burned out bulb, and (b) for a while, one of the four worked, but it is out now.

Anyway, I cannot find these bulbs at any auto parts stores. The climate control uses four bulbs and they cost almost $7 each at the dealer (definitely out of the question). So, I'd like to replace them with LEDs since they are cheap and easily available. The only writeup I can find in the stickies is about doing an LED swap to the manual climate control. Anybody know how to do this to the automatic climate control? Do you always need resisters and soldering when working with LEDs or are there any that would be plug and play (the original incandescent bulbs are shaped and sized about the same as LEDs with two wires coming out the bottom and wrapped around a plastic housing)? Any idea what wattage, voltage, etc. I would need?

 

Yes the bulbs are expensive. A cheaper (but still not as cheap as we would like) is to order the bulbs from Jerry Rome Nissan or Pinnacle or Midway Nissan - they will be 3 bucks a piece from there. I got all 4 for 15 bucks shipped last year - the same thing happened to me - somehow I fried the bulbs while swapping out my headunit.

 

I've done the LED's in a automatic climate control thing, its easier than a manual climate, use 3mm led's and 470K ohm resistors, same concept as doing the door switches... and ALOT easier than the manual.

Sorry I would post pics but I never took any.

 

Did you have to drill any?

 

Only for the recycle and defrost button, the little light that turns on when you turn on either of those 2 bottons, for the rest of the buttons no drilling required...

ALSO I used 5MM LED's, 3MM would mean probably less drilling or you might not have to at all....

 

What color did you do yours? I was thinking blue, but I suppose the white LEDs will do since they give off a hint of blue.

 

I did white w/ blue LED on the recycle and vent or whatever that button is... So when I turn them on they light up blue...

Looks nice, blue might be a little brighter than white, but white does have that blueish tint to it but very little, it actually looks white, unlike white LED's in teh gauges, they look blue.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean. I have White 194 bulbs in the guages and the turned out FULL BLUE

I will see what I can do. Ima get white because I might be making some cool corner LED lights and some Angel eyes soon

 

Would those LEDs be 12V? Can I get them at Radio Shack? Where would the resistors go in relationship to the brown plastic housing around the original bulbs (I don't know where a resistor would fit)?

 

I used the 5mm white resistors with 470K, fit perfectly in the stock bulb holes, just used a small drop of super glue on each to hold them in place. I tapped into the 12V illumination wire going to the stereo for power, it was easier than using the power source for the climate control.

There is a group buy on LED's right now
LED's

Its a bad pic but you can tell its brighter than stock.

 

with white leds you'll get hot spots. at least for mine (99 auto climate w/ ambient) the only thing lit up bright white is the blue and red arrow and 'temp', while the others are a sort of greenish, bluish hue. if you don't like uneven coloring, i might recommend the blue bc i've done it and the color filled well. i just couldn't drill out the brackets to the bose to match up the lights so i switched back to white.