thats exaclty what Im doing... problem is that mine DO burn out.

Yes I know this but I dont believe they function as a one way electrical path like a standard diode.

 

ok, i confirmed this and i'm only going to say it one more time since it seems like i'm repeating myself over and over only for people not to believe me.

10mm neo-wedge is drop in for 98-99 acc (may fit others). autolumination.com has the smt version.

 

Exactly, most people calculate the resistance values for 12V, in actuality, you're running closer to 13-14V. The resistors were are obiously not enough ohms, simple as that.
No you don't need to install diodes, as has been clarified here, run the proper resistance values and you'll be fine.

 

[QUOTE=BLACKonBLACK98;6744993]i believe it's the 10mm base but don't quote me on that. easy way to make sure is to measure.


Yes you answered but this seems like an unsure answer to me when you use words like " dont quote me on that" thanks for the info though. I have a 97 so Im assuming the climate control bulbs are the same for the 97 thru 99.. I know for the gauges I believe thats a different story. I'll measure it to make sure.

Has anyone tried these 10mm neo wedge bulbs in the climate control?

 

Yeah I figured that the resistors had to be wrong.. I hate when sellers post false information like leds will come with resitors working for 12v

 

i know what fits 98-99 acc. they will not work for every bulb in 95-99 mcc. i have never looked at 95-97 acc.

nobody else has gone this route, every time it comes up the thread goes a lot like ths one.

open up your cc. if you have bulbs on extended pedestals they might not work correctly. use your judgment. measure the bases for the correct size. resistors/diodes are a non-issue when dropping in led bulb replacments as they will be built into the bulb as well as there being circuit protection. when replacing on-board leds with loose leds they are obsolete as well.

the problems you guys/gal are experiencing are most likely a result of the additional circuit you added. if you work within the existing circuit you should not have problems.

 

the issue could be false advertising (it has been proven before) but equally likely it is a result of the way you tapped the circuit. if the seller sends you resistors appropriate for 12v and you tap a 13.6v hot you are over-driving the leds. leds are very sensitive to amperage and over-driving them reduces the life expectancy exponentially.

 

Yes I agree with that statment of adding an additional circuit is what causes problems , but Im not even sure if these type of bulbs (neo wedge) were available when people first decided to start retroing leds in the acc. I would much rather have a drop in replacement bulb.. its quick and simple.

 

True indeed , I never checked the voltage supplying the acc. But like I stated , I wish I would have know of these bulbs before... I would never have bothered with the extra work of adding Leds. At least not in the climate control.

 

they have not been avaiable the whole time but they've been out for a while now. i bought the first version over a year ago, while the smt application is only a couple months old at the most.

what happens is people who know what they did think that said way is the only/best way to do it. they get to quoting numbers and it leads ppl to believe they know what they are talking about. if everyone would just take the time to learn ohm's law, get specs for their application, and do a little research on basic electronics it would be much easier. instead questions like "what size resistors do i use" are asked and whatever answer is taken for truth. any answer without knowing all the parameters is wrong!

 

Very true indeed and I am guilty of this. But to simplify things... a drop in replacement is always IMO the way to go. And yes I was unaware of the current bulbs that are available now. Thats why Im glad we have the Org.

 

Looking at the pics from autolumination.com the Neo wedge 10mm type B definitley look like the replacement bulbs and base in my 97 acc . I just have to measure and confirm. So you have tried these BlackonBlack... Are you happy with the output of them compared to stock?

 

yeah buit like i said i go for a near stock appearance. richer (and of course, different) color but i'm not looking for over-the-top bight.

 

Ugh. Fine. Enjoy your localized spread.

Let's see some INSTALLED. In a MAXIMA.

Look, dude. I haven't posted on here in awhile, but please spare me your holier-than-thou mantra. I will bet ANY amount of money I have more LEDs in my interior than ANY member here. I imagine your methods are fine, as are mine. If you want me to post pics, I'll gladly oblige.

I'll happily under drive my LED and not EVER have to worry about them dying off.

 

niether am I , Im just looking for a bright white.. it doesnt have to be super bright or anything ,I'll be happy with better than stock which Im sure they are.

 

You were in this thread...now you're searching the forums. You won't find the pictures, they were hosted on my college server. Let me know if you want me to host and repost. Make sure you type LED in the search engine when you do, let me know how many threads you find.

 

I'm out, I've got to head to bed.

maxprivate, I hope this all works out for you. I, personally, have not had success with any stock LED after market bulb. The light output is great, but tends to be localized. Please make sure to post pics once you have them in. Honestly, I hope I'm wrong and I can recommend a single bulb fix to other members here.

Good luck, dude.

 

hmm maybe im retarded but i remember reading LED's had a super long life span and only need a minimal amount of power to operate.

is there a diff. between the ones im talking about and LED bulbs?

 

so i guess taking pictures of the difference of smt to inverted to round leds meant nothing.







i really shouldn't even post these pics becuase of the quality but i know how it came out.

better example of color, hotsspots still exagerated:



i know who you are, but don't get it twisted... you came in giving you're opinion on what i know to be fact. i personally guarantee you have never touched these bulbs. i would think that you, being such an intelligent cat, would know better but obviously you are more concerned with recognition than positive contribution.

if you want to talk about what you do that's fine, but don't tell me what i know is right is wrong. everything i have said can be supported in theory and practice, while your comments can be torn down very easily.

and we all know more is better right?

seen it and wasn't impressed in the least. not my style of modification.

whatever works for you, but "good enough" doesn't fly with me.

proper engineering > hack job

searching for pics of my work not yours, you really have a superiority complex.

that black and white nightmare with ricey blue lighting... you can keep it. since you obviously want to get personal.

 

the problem with white is some parts (gauge cluster comes to mind) have a tint that will color the output.

 

Yeah I NOTICED. It comes a with a bluish tint to it but thats ok.. My AVN 6620 has a baby bluish wall paper so it works. Metal Max I think the pics in BlackonBlack max looks good for aftermarket interior lighting. I would love to see a pic of your and a lists of type of led or bulbs you used. BlackonBlack ... so you used SMT for your gauges? window switches leds with resistors? and for acc bulb replacements 3x neo wedge am I right?

 

Case and point.


I have used these before, but don't prefer the hotspots.

Many ways to skin a cat, my friend.


Now you just come off looking like a hypocrite. Recall the following: if you want your lights rediculously bright then my methods may not be for you.



So plug-and-play constitutes your definition of proper engineering and my custom work with fully-regulated boards is a "hack job", eh?

Not really. We'll explore this momentarily.

Meh That's fine, I like it. No superiority complex here.

Wait a damn minute here...what color is the interior you posted above?

No, I really didn't. What we have here are two people with firm beliefs that are failing to compromise. I'll agree to disagree here. I'll enjoy my ricey b&w nightmare and you can enjoy your localized lighting distribution.

 

Everything is heavily customized, nothing is plug and play.

 

Dam I must amit its flawless .. I don't see any hot spots all. Now these are in what year max? What's the specs for your lighting? If mine can come out like that If properly done I can see why you stress Quote localized lighting . Not that theres anything wrong with it but I do see your point.

I never took the time to do load calculations none the less get the right leds with brightness Im happy with. I have also plenty of money on leds and bulbs and still unhappy.

 

Thank-you. The switches are standard 5mm LED, the climate control is superflux bars, custom built, as are the lighting under the dash and doors, the cluster is SMT. Each run is controlled off of a separate switch and regulated using a linear Fairchild regulator from Mouser.

Admittedly, they may be under-driven, but that was how I intended to do it. I purchased brighter bulbs and under drove them as peace of mind.

Dude, IT’S THE NAME OF THE GAME, I cannot tell you how much money I burned (no pun intended) attempting to get it right. I empathize with you completely.

Like I said, give the bulbs a shot, maybe they’ll work out for you! If you want to pursue this method, let me know, I’d be more than happy to help you out. GL, man!

 

So being that you used regulators then your leds did not need resistors? what Mcd are the leds for the gauges and window switches ? all 5mm? Yeah I'll give the bulbs a shot for my acc and see how that works out. As for the guage lighting I would like to have a bright white like yours. It looks like you have black faced gauges though and mine are white. With that being said I have used blue Smt bulbs 194 from vleds (45 bucks for 6 ouch!! which I will sell now not happy with them) and retroed some leds behind the needles (red) so I don't know how to completely block the back round light from the blue smt gauge bulbs and in turn my speedo needle looks pinkish.

I know its a different application than your's so I guess its something I'll have to put a little more thought into to figure out a solution to that. I have tried using electrical tape to tape off the translucent path from under the needle used to help light it from the gauge bulbs which is what it was designed to do in 97 max and it didn't help much when it came to the speedo needle. I wonder what others have done.

 

I'd like to see what you mean by superflux bars for the climate control

I have a decent amount of led experience (done interior led's in my nissan, ex's accord, and buddy's ram). I am in no way an expert tho I just love to tinker.

From my experience I prefer custom installed and wired led's to plug and play types simpy for the intensity and the ability to eliminate hot spots.

I have had led's burn out begin to flicker multiple times in my car and I am actually in the process of redoing my entire interior.

I just made white smt boards for my map and dome light 8 and 10 led's in each respectively.

For my dash I have reverse indiglo gauges with 3mm led's installed to light the needles. To achieve this i used a drill bit the size of a 3mm led, and drilled holes into the clear plastic used to spread the light over the gauges. Each of the small needles has one 3mm led and each of the large needles has 2 3mm leds (one on each side of the needle base) They are each wired individually with a resistor (the included ones from the ebay auction to work with 12v) to the original bulb sockets.

The manual climate control I have a 3mm led drilled into that clear plastic piece behind each button and 3 3mm led's behind the fan speed.

I also have a red led behind the hot temp and blue behind the cold temp on the slide bar.

The wiring gets really tight inside the manual control with the addition of so many led's compared to just one at each original bulb location. The output is wonderful tho without any hot spots.

After reading this thread I have to believe the reason I have had led's flicker on and off is due to too much power running to the led's. I think the idea of using a bit higher resistor is a good idea or calculating the resistor to work with 14v instead of 12v.

some older pics of the setup, I'll post up gauge pics when i get a chance, that fake alum dash kit is gone now and i have a sirius sportster mounted at the double din spot and the headunit in the single din spot.
The hazard light is now red.

The dome lights are changed as well.

http://community.webshots.com/user/pavelsmax

 

Yes I agree the resistors not being the right size are the problem. I bought 5mm leds and resistors from radio shack to do my hazard and deforst switch and these have been working for 3 plus years now. I don't remember the specs on the resistors though. The leds and resistors for my Acc are from ebay as well as the resistors and they continually burn out.

Drilling a hole in the translucent path for the needles is a good idea but I have non digital speedo head much more clutered than digital. How did you drill the hole in the center of the needle? pics would help. Also how did you filter out the rest of the light the translucent path picks up from gauge bulbs?
The paths will pick up light from everywhere to help light the needles. To have a solid needle color that path will have to be blocked out somehow.

 

ok... new day.

i personally feel like the best way to go is to work off the pre-existing circuit. there are products for every bulb that will yield positive results. the gauge pictures above where with single smt 74 bulbs. there are very minor hotspots, but they would be eliminated by using the newer 3x smt because of the side firing leds. for the cc it is not an issue because the area to illuminate is much smaller.

should one decide to go the custom route thought and calculation should be used. there is no one size fits all solution and what works for one may not work for another. src voltage, led specs, and number of leds per series are all variables that should be accounted for.

and i'll retract my personal attack, as long as you are happy with the work you put in that's cool.

 

Unfortunately I don't have pics and its all together and in the car now. I have the non digital trip odometer as well.

The reason mine works to light the needles and not light everything else is cuz I have reverse indiglo gagues on there that don't emit any light thru them, only the needles and trip odometer are light from the led's I installed. So not really an option for everyone just how mine happens to be.

I'll try to describe it since I don't have pics

I removed the needles and gauge faces and clear light refracters.

I drilled holes in the light refracters to the left and right of the center hole.

I sanded 3mm leds and pushed them into the holes that i drilled.
I bent the leads to the left and right sides flat against the clear plastic refracter.
There is enough room that nothing touches the trip odometer.
I attatched wire/resistor to + to each lead and ran that to the 194 bulb sockets.

I know that this works because I have the reverse indiglo overlays but it is a good way to illuminate the needles in any case.

It is true that light spreads thruought the cluster. If one was to want an all red illuminated cluster adding 3mm leds at the base of the needles and then elsewhere behind the gauges to illuminate the numbers would work.

One color is the choice tho however.

I have a gxe so the needles are white/clear

 

Do you wear sunglasses when you drive this car at night?

 

oh I see you removed the needles .. that something I will not do. I tried on a spare speedohead I had and messed it up. So you have different gauges than the stock white and it makes a worls a difference when it comes to hot spots IMO. Im still interested in the specs for Metal Max gauges.. That's is the one area I would nt mind being that bright. As for the acc ill try the bulb route.

 

As will I. Like I said, I think we can agree to disagree, let's just make sure we point out a variety of means in a more agreeable light (pun fully intended)

 

So Metal Max how exactly did you utilize the smt for the cluster? Are they SMT bars ? or are they SMT bars?

 

NO crap! That is waaay too bright. Talk about distraction, both to other drivers and yourself. That's just dangerous.


But seriously, stop being so ethnocentric and consider the possiblility that one mans way of doing something might be better than yours, at least to them. I'm not speaking directly to anyone but in general.

The original questions and problems are valid and fairly well written.

To the OP, don't be upset and say that the LED's you got with 12V resistors were falsely advertised, because they clearly weren't, the problem is simply that the voltage wasn't properly thought out, either by you or the seller.
Punch in your numbers and get the proper resistors.

And to clarify, there is no such thing as a 'white' LED. They're getting pretty close, but there is NO true white LED

 

Max - uploading pics now, lemme get everything together for you.

 

Oh, and guys, my camera over-exaggerates the light, I certainly hope you're all bright enough to realize that, har-har...

 

http://s369.photobucket.com/albums/oo137/MetalMaxima/

 

well i must say, even though it is imo ridiculous overkill and you still suck at math () the craftsmanship is of decent quality.

ohhh... and your toes are ugly too.

 

Thank-ya. I just prefer to play it safe and underdrive.

Oh, HELL YEAH they are.