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Dash light conversion finished.

6K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  mb1586 
#1 ·
Hey all. As some of you may have picked up I took the giant leap into the project of converting all my interior lights from the ugly factory light green to red. After about a month of working at this a few nights a week I finally have in finished and am happy with the results. I used an older thread (posted below) for all the led #s and instructions. Its really a good write up and tells you everything you need to know for the install.

http://www.ramforumz.com/showthread.php?t=49034&highlight=dash+lights

Heres my list of additional pointers:

1. Get the brighter option for each LED you plan to install BESIDES the rear power window switch, For some reason that light is much brighter so I would recommend going with the standard LED. (you will see how much brighter this bulb is in the pictures below)

2. Dont expect to do this in an afternoon. No part of this project is too hard but popping the stock LEDS out of the circuits for the 4x4 switch, light switch, and rear power window switch and soldering in the new LEDs is pretty tedious and can be nerve wreaking.

3. Buy a decent quality solder gun, you will need it

4. The aftermarket LEDs will use less current than the stock filament bulbs you will be replacing. This decreased load will trigger a sensor in your computer and cause the lights to flicker and turn off when the dimmer is turned up. You can either install a resistor (i have no idea what size you would need) or (like i did) solder in another few lights into the circuit, increasing the load. I chose a 24" led strip I got from ebay for about $4, soldered it into LED terminals inside the 4x4 box and installed the strip just below the cup holder hinge, hiding the strip and giving a nice dim red glow on the carpet.

ok...that about wraps up my advice...now for the pictures!


Here you see the back of the gauge cluster with red twist LEDs installed


Same photo with the black cover on the back of the gauge cluster


This is the piece of RED RoscoLux gel "tint" I cut out of the roll ($6 on ebay) and stuck over gear indicator section of the cluster.


Heres the overhead computer circuit stripped down with a piece of RuscoLux tint stuck to it.


This is the back of the overhead control circuit with the new LEDs installed with the old factory bulbs beside each LED


This is the housing which holds the bulb that shines down onto the cup holders. After removing it I found that from the factory they just used a similar tint that I was using (only ugly green) so I simply cut out the same shape of my red tint and put it in the housing (see below)





Finished Product: My phone takes really crappy night pictures so they look all grainy and dim but it really does look great. Like I said the only thing I want to change is the rear window switch's light because its too bring. Even with the poor quality night pictures you can see that it is too bright.







I hope this is helpful to anybody else looking to do this conversion and feel free to ask questions. Thanks for looking!
 
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#2 ·
I am looking to do this as well! I am going to do red also. I got a new gauge face made and I asked the guys to do it so I have red LED stripes in behind. I was hesitant since I heard the red is hard to see through. It looks like it came out great!
 
#3 ·
There is a little hot spotting in the guages and the HVAC unit and the red tint on the overhead navigation module is a little dark to see during the day, besides that i love the change!
 
#4 ·
It may just be my computer, but for some reason I can't see the pictures of the finished product, would you mind posting them again? I recently ordered red leds for my truck and I'm wondering what it's gonna look like. And what number Roscolux gel tint did you use?
 
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