Has anybody changed the color of the lightbulbs behind the A/C heater controls? I tried to take them apart to get to the bulbs but I did not succeed. I want to change all my orange lights to blue. Thanks in advance....

yeah some dood just did it with LED's that acost 4 bucks a peice. hold on i'll find teh write up i saved got it. sorry if you wrote this i dunno who you are

k....I got the answers to this problem as I just changed my HVAC colors last weekend. I had wanted to do this for a long time but thought it would be too much of a headache. Contrary to popular opinion, the color of the illumination is determined by the bulb color. I have seen a lot of people say that it's determined by the color of the lexan or the gauge trim itself. I changed mine to blue and it looks unbelievably tits.

First thing to do is remove that upper vent piece. That's not all that easy because there is a vent cable that runs from the vent piece down to the vent behind the radio. You can detach it pretty easily by opening the glovebox all the way and getting to it from the side. Once the vent piece is loosened, unplug all your buttons up there. Now, there are only two bulbs that illuminate that whole HVAC piece. One of them is located in the top of the a/c button, if you have one. And the other is located at the top of, and behind, the HVAC dial assembly. In order to get to the dial assembly bulb, you must first remove the a/c button. Once you get the a/c button removed, you can remove the dial assembly bulb with a really small set of needle nose pliers. Just use the pliers to perform the 1/4 turn in the clockwise direction as you are looking at it. The bulb in the a/c button is easily found once you get the button removed.

Now, which bulbs to use??? Easy. You don't use bulbs at all. You use LED's instead. And not just any kind of LED. You want to get gallium nitride LED's. They are extremely bright and perfect for the job. They are kind of hard to find in some places and are also kind of expensive (appx $4 ea). But, these LED's are rated to last for 100,000 hours and use less current than bulbs. Plus, you can get them in several different colors. Here is a website for the maker of the LED's that I used (http://www.varad.com). These are the same LED's that are used in Photon lights, which some of you ravers might know something about.

But wait, you can't just hook up these LED's straight to 12v. They are rated at 5-6 volts. So, you need to put a 330 ohm resistor (easily found at Radio Shack) inline on either the positive or negative lead, doesn't matter which. But, just make sure you have the polarity right on the power hookup. The size of the LED is perfect for the dial assembly bulb. I just removed the bulb, cut the leads from the LED down to about 1/4"-1/2" and inserted the leads and LED into the bulb socket, keeping in mind the polarity. I then cut the positive illumination wire (green w/white tracer) and soldered the 330 ohm resistor inline. All of your positive illumination wires in the dash are green w/white tracer. And the negatives are black w/yellow tracer.

You have to be a lil more creative with the a/c button. The bulb in that button is much smaller than the other one and is actually part of the socket. I just removed the bulb, made the hole big enough for the LED to fit into it snugly and inserted LED. You really don't need to glue the LED into the hole if you're careful about how large you make the hole. I then had to do some tricky soldering to get those leads connected. Just make sure you don't forget about the resistor. It only takes one time burning up one of those nice $4 LED's for you to learn your lesson. The same thing can be done for all the other buttons in your dash as well as the cig lighter illumination ring...and even the speedo/tach illum if you want to.

Here's a tip: You know those lil red, blinking LED's that come with car alarms? Well, those bitches are bright as hell and you can use those if you want red illumination. They might look really big in their red, plastic assembly. But, the actual LED can be removed from it's housing and it's extremely small. What you need to do is grab the two wires coming from the LED in one hand and grab the LED itself in the other and pull. If it's being stubborn, you can take some pliers and put pressure all around the housing at the base where the wires come out. That will break the glue seal and enable you to remove it easier. The 330 ohm resistor law applies here with this LED too. You might have a hard time finding some alarm LED's in your local Radio Shack. Try going to your local Circuit City or Best Buy and asking their car stereo installers if they have any extra laying around that they might be willing to sell for about $1 each. Any installer worth their weight should have some and be more than willing to sell them. I should know, I have been an installer for 14 yrs.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions or need help in obtaining the correct LED's, feel free to email me at poplife319@earthlink.net.

GOOD LUCK!
pop


I just got into my dash to start messing with this. I went into it thinking it was going to be a huge project so I ripped apart the center console, took out the radio, disconnected all the cables going to the heat/AC controlls, then I realized has I removed the vent plate at the top then reached behind I coulda had it out in about 2 min.

THIS IS SIMPLE! The toughest part is finding a new bulb! Just get a flathead, pry the center vent plate off, squeze the clips on the sides of that ac switch and pull it out, then reach down in between the on/off switch and the heat level adjuster and turn the bulb socket a 1/4 turn. DONE!

The gotcha.... All the other comonents have the leds built into them. The defrost, rear wiper, ac, fog light, hazard, cruise, all have little pain in the ass leds in them that you gotta switch.

oh as for the other switchs and such... yes there are a some leds in there but only a few in a select few switches.. ie... cruise control and i think the defrost and the a/c swithc, but the main lighting is a very small bulb... im not done with mine yet as of yet but im mostly done with my conversion... and yes for the blue leds they are like $4-5 a piece... but well worth it if you do it right. Ill be posting a writeup as soon as im done and have the time to write it.. but if you have questions ill try and answer them..

hehe.. dont we all... i will soon come out with what i did with a more extensive writeup.. and all the credit goes to Poplife319 for the post menchened above... here's a little candy...

I'm still looking for bulbs as LEDS can't be dimmed. I think I actually found a 4 volt neon blue bulb. I sent and email the manufacturer to see if I'm just dreaming or not. This is a 2 month and counting project for me. My poor dash is 3 different colors :-(

Last resort is to use a LED for me. How many ohms you use? 330? Just a LED? No zener diode? No problems with the narrow output of the LED?

looks like you have done some research yourself... i used the 330ohm resistor with the led but i dont think its the correct one for the voltage or the led... and i think i found a convertor of sorts, but so far its going strong as of 2+ weeks and yes.. the leds dim with the rest of the lights... and also yes there is a slight problem with the fact that the led isnt as bright towards its sides, but it still lights up pretty well, but i will find a way to make it a bit brighter by adding one or two more in the HVAC assembly, the rest of the lights work fine with most types of leds because of the smallness and not much light travel/distance to light up.. if you saw that pic that is how bright it is for the HVAC because of how it was designed.. although you lose the red side of the temp dial and blue when using a red lightsourse behind it.. ive also done more in depth hard-core stuff to the swithces that have individual light sources.. i found it much easier to soder the resitors directly onto the circuit boards of those switches to add in a plug and go quick and dont have to work "in" the car when i dont have to and its much cleaner... and i have pics just hit me up with email and ill hook u up with the "Secret stuff" :-)

the trick with the narrow output of the led in most applications is to just try and point that output towards where you want the light.. works in most places, but not all.

oh and you can get the blue leds at RadioShack... cat no. 276-316 they are bright as hell

more and more write ups! i want them all! haha.. iamnotwhoiam.. are you doing the setup that poplife did? i didnt get to see your pic.. i right clicked it, but it didnt work... maybe the site was down or something.. how many pics of your interior do you have? i would love to see how it looks.. also, any thoughts on getting behind the speedo/tach gauges.. i was going to do the led setup all throughout the dash, icluding the gauges, its easy to get back there, and would make everything match.

yeah i am doing what poplife did and such... but i have taken quite a few pics of all that i have done.. check them out here http://66.25.57.121:8080/photoalbum/cars/jason and for the other pic it should show up now.. i had my server down for awhile and as far as a writeup just follow what was written by poplife and that will get you started and as soon as i get around to writing the writeup then it will be done as for now its kinda on an individual basis when someone asks for help in doing it.. its really not that hard to do and once you get the feel for it, it becomes even easier to do and understand... and for the gauges it will be a little different but im currently working on that.

yo my dad has these little rubber things from pinball machines, just like the ones on the stock lights but these are better quailty. they come in blue yellow red and green i will try to see if i can get a couple to sell to people email if your interested iw ould have to order some

Gel paper works well also, if you can find the color you want. I wasn't able to find the color I wanted.

As for the main gauges, I just installed 6 color adjustable indiglo gauge faces. They work perfectly. I may change to this though:

nice work iamnotwhoiam.. i like what you have done so far.. doesnt seem too hard, just need to get around to doing it (along with the millions of other things to do with my car). how long did it take you to do? as for the that indiglow needles, i got them a while back and they look tite.. thats the reason why i want to do the rest of the car.. i know that the potential is high, and an overall finish would be sweet!

hey what exactly did the kit with the needles come with and what did you have to do...

hey how do you do the indiglo needles?
i am sick of my orange!! need a change. thnx


"Proud to be, a 2gnt"


-mitsuman
AEM cold air intake
NGK plugs
custom grill
motegi mr7 17''
yokohama A550v 235/45/17
sony xplod cdxm620 deck
2 10'' audiobahn subs and
audiobahn amp

Wanted:
1. Star stage II(possibly the
NER kit now)
2. lots more crap

coming very soon:
1. CF hood
2. blitz front end
3. H&R race springs

They are just rings that sit on the inside of the pivot point of the needle. They are hella expensive though. Its like $190 for the kit, so I just stuck with regular old indiglo gauges.

yea, the kits came with like ring stickers with leds on them, then the wires lead to a dimmer switch. the kits do look good.. and it was simple to put them on. the instuctions were pretty good on that caem with the kits... take note of how all the needles are positioned before starting this process, (pic or drawing).. just got to know how to get the gauge cluster out (two screws to get the first piece off, and then four screws that hold the cluster in place) then just pull the cluster out of the car. once out of the car, all you have to do is pry the plastic covers thru the clips and your set.. make sure you mark where the needles are pop them off and place the new rings down.. that was a real fast setup of how i did it, its really quite simple, if anyone needs further assistance, just holla.. at that point, i sanded the amber off the backs of the gauges, and now they are white. so i have white numbers with blue needles.. im going to try to make the every light in the interior blue... we'll see how it goes.

oh yea.. the kits dont cost $190.. got mine for like 70. they look better than the indiglow gauges imo, and are not as common.

those needles are sweet...where do i get my $70 set ?????



'95 Eclipse RS
INTERIOR
-Sony CDXM 750
-2 JL Audio 12w0 subs
-Premiere Amp
-CompuStar 2WAS Alarm with Remote Start and Pager
EXTERIOR
-Enkei 15" wheels (came with the car)
PERFORMANCE
-K&N Filter

you can buy the kit for the needles at http://www.importintelligence.com

yup.. ^ thats where i got mines.. also, they got some pretty nice gauge faces on that site too

I have ac autotechnic reverse indiglos. DO you have to take the needles off to install the rings around them?

not sure which you are reffering to... but, for all of the indiglows (reverse ones too, i think), you should just be able to thread the needles through and not worry about taking the needles off. for the indiglow needle kits, yes you have to take off the needles. the rings are not big enough to thread the needle through, the black bases are too big. hope that helped

for those that have taken apart your gauge cluster and HVAC controls. Is this what those bulbs back in there look like?

I think just replacing the bulbs would be easier then the led bulbs.

i think those bulbs will only work for the gauge cluster.. i will be certain though when i receive the ones i ordered. if only they made smaller ones to fit in the buttons and such... guess ill have to keep looking.

those arent what are used behind the gauges. he bulbs behind the gauges are much smaller, and twist in.

i know the pic is deceiving some on the accuall size but the site says they are for the gauge cluster.. and those twist in things are holders for the lights.. the lights will just pull out of the holder. if im wrong well ill find out soon..

yea, those do look a little big.. hopefully it fits... dont forget to sand off the amber on the back of the gauges.. not sure how the bulbs would look coming through the amber color. i sanded mine off, but it looks yellowish cus of the bulbs.

yep already did the sanding.. :-) and if you want to make them a bit more white over yellow find a sheet or clear plastic that is blue the darker the better but still have it transperant.. then cut out a siloet(sp?) of the gauge and place it behind it it will get rid of the yellow and make it whiteish.

I've now done my interior lights all blue and my gauges will be blue by the end of the week. Also made my vents glow blue by placing an LED behind them. I will make a writeup soon.

p.s. Thanks to poplife and Suter for tips

post pics of that ish! OK, so behind the hvac lights, do u have to sand it? Or just get new bulbs? I wanna do this, but don't wanna spend a week.

you only need to sand the gauges.. for the hvac, just get new bulbs and you shold be fine.

Your going to need 6 for the whole center console (just did mine)

2 for the defrost switch.
1 for the wiper switch
1 for the AC switch
1 for the HVAC cluster
1 for the cig lighter

I'll be doing the fog/mirror/cruise stuff as soon as I can get more bulbs.

ya know, i've seen bulb spray paint on some sites. it's apparently a semi transparent paint, as far as i can tell. wouldn't it be just as easy to take the bulb out and spray it with this stuff?

hey if you can find some and want to try it, then let us know how it comes out.. that could be a viable solution

was thinking about that.. didnt want to try it myself tho. hehe. but was thinking that the bulbs are not that bright as they are right now, and dont know how bright they would be if you put paint on them.. i like the idea of the leds, just b/c they are so bright. any word if the bulbs above are the right size? that would seem to be pretty easy. thoughts?

what if we took a blue sharpie and colored over the bulb you think it would shine blue pretty bright? Just tryin to think a little ghetto

jebus mang, this post is two years old:o

Originally posted by EclipseTenzoR
what if we took a blue sharpie and colored over the bulb you think it would shine blue pretty bright? Just tryin to think a little ghetto

it will look like ass, get some led's at radio shack cheap