2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

Hi everbody,



I just wanted to share my progress so far in converting my interior lighting to LED:

Clock and ACC from green to white via white clock mod on maxima.org:



Another shot including LED hazard defroster switches:



Closeup of the Defroster Switch:



Ashtray Bulb:



Another shot of ashtray:




Hopefully next week i'll be more productive w/the rest of the climate control and Bose stereo...

Trajiksmax

Looks good! How long did it take you?

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

thanks Trajiksmax! once i got all the stuff out of the car...about 30-40 minutes, taking my time making sure i get enough solder on there. After i first did the switches and tested 'em, i popped them back into the ac vent thing and the positive lead came off, so they light only turned on when u pressed the button. I had to take them both back out and redo them.

Cdg2125

iTrader: (7)

Looks good so far man. What LED's did you use?
How are you doing your Bose?

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

i got 3mm 4000mcd white leds from cwithk on ebay - hes the LED guy that all orgers have been using.

for the bose, i'm going to take out the existing bulbs, and retrofit some leds into there. aznsap did his, i'm pretty much going to be doing the same thing

EDIT: here is aznsap's write-up for the bose: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/352601/3

Cdg2125

iTrader: (7)

Ok thanks a lot! You using the 3mm for the Bose too right?

ethnic6

iTrader: (5)

looks great... let us see the final product...

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

yup!

will do bro. hopefully i don't burn anything out in the process lol

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

ok, so....i finally got around to redoing my climate control and adding some red led's for my needles. I'll let the pics speak for themselves:











I used 3mm 10000mcd led's for the climate control, and 3mm 5000mcd led's for the needles.

chillin014

iTrader: (67)

the how to link for hte bose didnt work mann
lookin good. i need to do my climate control but it gets dim when i add alot of sheets of that film to change the lcd screen to red.
plus i hardly use the climate control.
hey did you put any resistors in with the climate control buttons or just straight solder in leds?

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

thanks chillin014....yea my CC is a little dim in bright sun, but I can still make it out. For the buttons, I took out the original bulbs and kept the bulb bases. Then i installed the led and resistor in there to make it plug and play, so no soldering was done on the board itself...

maxprivate

iTrader: (12)

i never heard of any one putting leds in the bose unit,just changing the lcd color. if you do the leds let me know all mine are out.

SDB318

iTrader: (4)

hey is there a link on how to do the neddles?

aznstormin

iTrader: (4)

looks great! Is the ashtray one an led as well? if so, how did you do it? cuz i wanna change my ashtray to an led..or something brighter.

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

I attempted to do it, but I couldn't even get the face off, so I gave up. I'm pretty sure it was aznsap that had pics of white leds in the bose.

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

http://www.petah.org/maxima/gauge.htm

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

yes, the ashtray is an led as well. You actually need to solder off the old bulb, then replace with an led and resistor. The one that's in there now doesn't look as bright as it used to be like in that pic above, so I'm going to replace it sometime this week. I'll try and take some pics for you...

maxprivate

iTrader: (12)

i checked that link in this thread and he only has the bose lcd done. leds on the bose would be awesome since i refuse to spend money on upgrading my system. i'd rather spend on performance.

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=378940
unfortunately, the pics are no longer up...

ethnic6

iTrader: (5)

very nice I love the gauge

chillin014

iTrader: (67)

what kind of resistors did you use? i dont know anything about resistors and i never know which kinda to buy. when i did my window switches i just straight soldered the leds in there

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

yea, window switches don't require resistors. When I bought my led's they came from resistors, I think they are 470 ohms. I got them from cwithk off the maxima.org group buy.

CystumMax

couple of picture, my camera did not do a good job in night with out flash. It is a lot better in person.

CystumMax

chillin014

iTrader: (67)

wait so what size resistor did you use for the bose headunit?
damn i didnt know you could change your turn signal color haha sweet.

nsnrider

iTrader: (59)

nice job cystumMax, I am currently working on the same progect on my car.

CystumMax

Thanks, The hardest part for me, trying to get the damn resister attached to the LED.. .:-D

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

nice pics cystum, but can you resize them please?

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

i usually twist a bit of one end of the resistor around the positive lead, solder together and snip the extra...

zarek66

was it hard o make the bulb socket for the gauge bigger to fit the bulb into? used dremel right? any other way of doing it w/out having to dremel the hole bigger? thx

mendon99

iTrader: (15)

2 Maximus 4, if you use 3mm inverted or "wedge" style LEDs, that will rid the hot spots you have.

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

no drilling required, just put the bulb in from the other side (inside the cluster).

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

hi mendon99, are you referring to my auto, econ, off buttons? I sanded all my leds to diffuse the light, but I don't think one led is enough to light all those up. I could try a brigher led, or it may be an aiming issue as well.

mendon99

iTrader: (15)

im talking about the stock locations, its like what, about 5 in the auto climates, right? you diffuse the light by sanding the regular LED. a wedge style LED sends the light sideways already, thats why its much more efficient. if you could some how get an SMT led in there, that would be even better.

anyways, thats why i hate the auto climate controls.. theres no room to modify too much..

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

Yea, 4 bulbs in total. What also hurts the output is that most of these buttons have like a greyish plastic to display the light, which is why my temp button is brighter than the rest. I never that about SMT....how much more different is it than wiring up a regular led?

maxprivate

iTrader: (12)

thanks for the link. im gonna try this i have to many lights out on the bose unit.

mendon99

iTrader: (15)

its the same thing thing. they're just MUCH smaller, like twice the size of a pinhead, and square. the output is far superior to that of a regular led however, and it spreads light like a ****. did you see Metal Maxima's LED gauge thread? i think its in members rides. take a look.

the maunal climates are far easier to modify, like this:

mine was done with 3mm leds, 5000mcd.. one LED per button, 4 for the fan speed **** though.

zarek66

so you used 3mm bulb all in the gauge cluster. plus the needle ? the site with the mod says 5 mm bulbs. can you confirm which one you used. thx

mendon99

iTrader: (15)

use 3mm. theres not much space to get an led in there, and the output is the same with the 3 vs the 5mm. warriow (led write up author) has said himself he should have used 3mm leds.

2 MaXiMuS 4

iTrader: (5)

i used 3mm led's for the needles. They are easier to work with and like mendon said they have the same output as 5 mm. As for the cluster illumination, I used Polarg 194 bulbs.