Tuner has a side-business where he solders LED's into your cluster so that the light is brighter than these aftermarket drop-ins, and uniform without hotspots. The link was in Post #1.

http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...hotos-vid.html

 

What Rochester said above. Sorry if it was unclear.

 

So whats color to go with if i wanted green to match the apexi super afc-2

 

Relatively uncharted territory there.

If I remember correctly the '03 has the blue tint/film to it so just dropping a green LED in there may yield unexpected results. And while with paint blue + yellow = ~green it's not necessarily that simple with light. As such, I'm not sure if you'll be able to match it but they are fairly cheap to experiment with. That said, I recall my AFC being greenish/blue so if you're lucky the green LED might be just enough to get what you're looking for.

 

You can try Yellow ones, but SeedyRom is absolutely correct, the standard colour wheel for paints, etc does not seem to apply the same to the Light spectrum and tinted films. That said, I'm fairly sure a yellow bulb, if bright enough (the HP3 should work), will yeild a green colour, but expect it to be a dim, pukey, yellowy green, not a nice rich green.

 

So even with the route you went with doing your led lights it would probably yeid the same results then

 

It's difficult to say, I have stuff coming in the next few weeks to try the following colours:

Red, Yellow, Green, white, warm white, cool white. Unfortunately, I still don't have a 5.5 style gauge face to test it on, all I have is the 5.5 'style' with the 5th gen SE gauge face. So the illumination is the same, but the colour isn't. Has anyone wrecked their gauges trying to do something to them and want to send me a 5.5 gauge face??? :/

You're in the US, just order 2 yellow HP3's and try it man. Under $10 shipped and you have your answer, post the results to help others.

 

Not sure if it matters to anyone else here but it's related to the thread.

I have an '02 SE gauge in my '03 GLE...I also happened to have the '03 GLE gauge sitting around. The sockets on both are different...with the '03 being a better design (and the bulb is much harder to remove too).

'02 on the left, '03 on the right in both pics

 

This explains why I found the bulb fitment so tight, when people here have been talking about loose sockets. I really had to tug with a bit of force to remove my OEM bulbs.

That's a pretty interesting and detailed observation, Mr. Eous.

 

This is why I had to use one of the GLE's sockets on the SE gauge. One of the copper flanges on the SE's socket had broken off. Uggh.
And yes, the OEM bulb on the GLE was quite difficult to remove. I ended up busting the bulb to get it out.
Thanks...and sorry for the pic quality.

 

FYI...You can get a 5% discount off of superbrightleds by entering 'REMG' for the coupon code. It was one of the banner advertisements here. Otherwise they're pretty stingy about discounts.

v-leds has a wide variety of discount codes available but if you sign up for their newsletter on the website front page then you'll get a code sent to you for 15% off.

 

I can almost hear a resounding "DO'H!" from everyone who has purchased them without this info LOL.

Thanks though, I may just buy a bunch of these to do the LCD screens when I do my brighten job. They work well for that.

 

I installed mine yesterday and wow... this is a must do.

Thanks everyone!

 

Ha! I'm one of them. At least these #74 drop-ins are cheap...but if you're planning on doing the full interior it can add up quick!

 

I just realized that strange, pink backdrop is the palm of your hand.

 

I knew I should've used my pink princess pillow instead.
Hell it was around midnight last night that I decided to take the pic and my hand had the best contrast for a background.

 

 

Jesus guys, I'm used to being under the car or under the hood ... Where might I find these little wedge items, broke the clips on 2 of them.

 

Search !!! Post #266 for Amazon link. You should be able to get them from your local NAPA: Echlin LS6500. Double check the numbers just to make sure.

 

If you want a nice green color I suggest getting a yellow filter and use white bulbs. Yellow filter and blue filter and white light will equal green.

 

Thanks bud...

 

Me too, hahaha...I guess these little wedge things don't need the torque I'm having to use on bolts.

 

Yeah, I broke the bulb coming out, then put it back in and it wouldn't light, then i tried it enough times to weaken the metal and it broke off, and I did it on 2 of them so I decided to stop while I was ahead.

try again later.

 

I swear, I can dismantle the cluster blindfolded now. Kind of funny. Anyway, I have 2 follow-ups on my participation in this thread.

One, the thicker pink filter is holding up just fine inside the clock face. I took it apart again and inspected it as OK, then committed to the filter mod by clipping the clock back into the dashboard. The clock looks great... blue-white color, always bright day and night. I tried taking pictures, but it just hasn't worked out. Not sure why. So I'm done with the clock-mod.

Two, I received 3 warm-white LCD bulbs this past Friday, and tried them out in the cluster this afternoon. I have to say, I prefer the cool-white better. It wasn't even a toss-up; for me the cool-white just looks a whole lot better than the warm white. So I'm done with this mod, too.

I've said it before, this thread delivers.

 

Yup pliers and those wedge bulbs do not mix. Found out the best way to get the bulb out is to rock or wiggle it side to side.

Forgot to get more comparison photos because disconnecting the cluster resets the trip counters.

 

So you only used 1 layer of pink? Does it match the cool-white gauges?
I liked the cool-white too, especially in dawn/dusk.
This thread was great. Costly too, got the led bug and am doing the full interior to cool-white. The wife will say it is "too bright" but I love how bright it is at night. I unlock the doors and my dome light actually lights up the car now, even with 20% tint.

 

Yes, but it's that thick plastic that I posted about last week, not cellophane.

My interior is full-on LED in cool-white, and yes, it looks very, very cool. But understand that while your head tells you "it's brighter", it's actually not as functional as the OEM bulbs. You'll see what I mean when you get there. Have fun with it.

 

Yeah, it's a bit harder to read by the blueish light of the map light so for those I left them stock. Other than that I changed out the door/dome/etc ones.

 

Would you like a strip of this material to use in your clock? PM me with an address.

For that matter, if anyone else in this thread wants a strip of the thick pick material I used to filter my clock from green to white-blue, PM me.

 

I do I do

I want to try a few different things for this Rochester so I'd love to test out the material you have, sounds like it's giving a different effect due to it's different composition and thickness.

P.S. I have LED boards in my Map lights and Dome light, they are at least 300% brighter than the stock bulbs, and make reading a map, etc MUCH easier.... what kind of cheap stuff do you guys have in your MAP lights that makes them worse than stock?!?!?

 

I don't want to get too off topic here so check your PMs.

 

For good measure I went ahead and ordered 5 of these replacement T5 bases.

For some reason my bulbs were stuck in the socket, like really stuck. I broke the first bulb trying to remove it, and annihilated the base with the bulb still in in it attempting to remove it on the second. (trip & Odo bulbs)

So, I plan on installing the new LED's into the new wedges and just straight plugging them in.

Hopefully less headache.

 

ive been looking to do this for a while now

03 black SE 6MT love it

 

I'd like to thank you guys for the great info on doing this mod. I actually stumbled on this by looking for ways to replace the bulbs in the HVAC system. I had a bulb burn out quite some time ago and it's been bugging the hell out of me. I was told that the only fix was to order a new HVAC unit (I believe by the dealer). Thanks to the information here I've ordered bulbs to replace the HVAC and dash. I'll try to report back once I've completed the install. Something tells me that this forum is going to end up getting me into trouble.

 

If any of you have THIS much trouble with the stock bulb removal (not uncommon, they can get REALLY stuck), here's one option:

Drill into the back of the socket (bulb holder) with a very small drill bit, in the center, where it says V-2.

Only drill through the plastic! Stop when you feel the plastic let loose, then take a precision screwdriver that fits in the hole you drilled, and push the bulb out. It should come right out.

 

Just got finished doing the swap on my 2000.

Heres the back of the cluster. I replaced five lights with the "warm white" wedge bulbs from superbrightleds(dot)com:


Before pic of the gauges:


After pic of the gauges:


Shifter light swap. It's actually one 194 wedge, not a #74 Warm White one. Note a hotspot on Neutral, but I don't mind much:


Ignition ring "cool white" LED:


High Exposure:

 

^ Looks great, nice work man!!
I have a few plug and play bulbs for the Auto shifters if you guys are interested, they are much brighter than that. PM for details. Here's a pic:

Stock:



Drop In Bulb:


And what is up with your battery light?

 

I either replaced that led on accident or its shining over from the rpms giving it a pinkish glow

 

Two quick questions for you or anyone that knows.

Are the bulbs the same across the model years? I don't want to snag one if it may not fit. Also I was wondering how easy this one is to get to. The HVAC sort of turned me off given how much crap it involved but if the shifter is the same or easier than the cluster, I'd take a swing at it

 

My buddys 03 used a #74 wedge led (same as gauges) for the shifter I believe. And mine (a 2000) used a 194 (same size as door lights/license plate/parking light/etc.) It was a huge pain in the a$$ for me to get my shifter plate off but maybe it was just stuck real good ...I'd go for it, easy mod and looks great