Door Switch LED Conversions

because i did this to my truck over a year ago, i figured i would finally make a write up on how i did it.

with the help from Ryan (aka MustangP51) write ups on how to convert you dome light to LED http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2031734#post2031734

Cruise Control button LED http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=214264

Headlight/Wiper/Defrost/Fog LED http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=199305

as well as John Griggs’s Ford Ranger LED write ups http://www.cardomain.com/ride/296394

i figured i have some time to kill, and would do one of my own

first off, these are from a 98 Sport. the switches are the same as a 4 door, except the drivers master control switch, but it should be the same.

first, remove the switch assembly from the door.

next, separate the top part of the switch from the bottom, by prying the tabs away from the body

when you get it separated, you will see two springs inside of it. do not lose them, they are used to make the power for the lights, and you will need to reuse them. also, there is no designated side for them, so it will not matter which side you put them back in later.

once they are apart, set the body aside. you will not need it, until you are ready to put everything back together.
now, you will need to pry the rocker off. you can use a small screw driver for this. you may need to wiggle it a little bit, but it will come off.

set them aside as well

now you can start to gut the switch. what you will want to do is, remove the factory resister, bulbs, and most of the metal contact stripping.

i used 5mm LED's in the switches. you will need to drill the holes for the size of LED's that you use. if you look on the switch, there is a small valley where the old lights sat. drill a pilot hole there. that is the center of the old light, and it can be used so everything will line up when you put your LEDs in.

also, what i it did was de-fuse the LEDs by sanding the dome off.

if you notice, i did leave a small metal strip in the switch. this comes into contact with the springs for power, for the lights. i reused both sides. there is a positive and negative side, how ever. this is important, because, if you mix them up, you lights will not work. positive is on the side of the switch that two plastic tabs, negative on the side with one. now place your LEDs into the switch with the positive side of the LED (or longer lead) on the same side of the switch that is positive.

EDIT: if your truck is a 95-97, please read post 9. thanks RickOTR for posting that information!

next, put the white part of the rocker back in. now, bend the leads, following the perimeter of the switch. make sure you stay to the inside, or when you go to put it together, i may not want to snap into place. there should be enough of the leads for them to touch each other. solider them into place with the resister touching the metal strip. sorry for the blurry pictures, my camera is a POS!

and do the same for the other side

now you can snap the bottom of the switch back together with the top and test them. if you have a battery to do this with, it is much easier then having to plug them back into the truck. just make sure you have your polarity correct.

once you know everything works, push the rocker back on, and your done.

once i got the hang of it, it took me about 20 mins to do each switch. some of you are wondering what resister did i use? as far as i know, it is a 470 ohm resistor. the switch that i made here is not one of the ones that i have in my truck (they are blue, these are white ones that i had left over from making my dome lights), but i have had the ones in there for over a year, and have had no problems.

now that you know how to do the door switches, your conversation is now complete. hope this helps all of you out!

 

[energie]

and now my interior gauge/door/ac/ etc lights dont come on. any ideas? what fuse would this be? what a ****ty ####ing mod this is turning out to be.

AND to top it all off, now it doesnt start. great.

 

[Mirge]

I like it... might do this myself when it isn't freezing out... even in the garage it's too cold lol.

 

[energie]

better change your post because the positive side is NOT the side with the two tabs.. just like the stock button its on the other side.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

better change your post because the positive side is NOT the side with the two tabs.. just like the stock button its on the other side.

if you look, it was changed.

 

[Nixthebomb]

are the switches like the instrument panel and have that green film, or do they shine whatever light you put through them?

 

[vroomzoomboom]

they will shine what ever color you put under them.

 

[desitdt]

just fyi the positive side is on the side with the one tab...just went and did all my switches, just to find out they are all wired backwards. Might want to change the post.

 

[interscope8]

Hey, I tested doing this with my 2001 Sport Trac and have run into an issue. Im using the same size LEDs as stock, and just soldered them directly into the old spots. And when I hook the switches up to harness again they dont light up! Do I need to remove the resistor even though they are the same size as the old LEDs?

 

[vroomzoomboom]

start by making sure your polarity is correct. if it is, then try putting in the resistor that the l.e.d. came with, as well as a new l.e.d. if that doesnt work, you have a problem elsewhere.

 

[interscope8]

start by making sure your polarity is correct. if it is, then try putting in the resistor that the l.e.d. came with, as well as a new l.e.d. if that doesnt work, you have a problem elsewhere.

I got it all working ok! Guess I had a couple bum LEDs that weren't working correctly!

Messed up the Driver window switches tho. Gotta wait to buy a new board to proceed

 

[dersch6221992]

Great stuff! Thanks for inspiring me to do this! I just did my 2 front doors. Driver's side on a 4 door eX is easier to do because its a cluster of switches instead of individual ones. (see picture below(sorry about quality, I didn't set up macro on my camera)) and pictures of the finished product. I got my LEDs from ebay, $4.40 free shipping from somewhere in asia, hong cong, I believe. For the cluster, I didn't bother replacing the resistors, wasn't sure what ohm to use, but they work fine so far.

 

[justinj360]

Great stuff! Thanks for inspiring me to do this! I just did my 2 front doors. Driver's side on a 4 door eX is easier to do because its a cluster of switches instead of individual ones. (see picture below(sorry about quality, I didn't set up macro on my camera)) and pictures of the finished product. I got my LEDs from ebay, $4.40 free shipping from somewhere in asia, hong cong, I believe. For the cluster, I didn't bother replacing the resistors, wasn't sure what ohm to use, but they work fine so far.

Did you have any kind of problems with the master switch when you did this?

 

[justinj360]

Hey I ran into some trouble with converting the master switch to LEDs and I could really use some help. I soldered in the LEDs just like B3hr3n did and I can only get the "auto" light to stay lit out of all the 8 LEDs. I can get some of the others to light up momentarily when I put a lot of pressure on a certain area of the switch but I don't understand why because all my solders have a good connection from what I can tell and the 2 springs inside also have a good connection and are making contact where they should be. Anything you have about this issue would really help me out. Thanks!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

recheck everything. if you have power when you push down, you have a bad contact someplace

 

[brantm21]

I thought I'd share my main switch pictures for anyone who wants them. When I did my first switches(the other doors) I used new resistors. But when I did this main switch I left the factory ones in and just installed my LEDs. I don't know if the factory ones will last but I guess we'll see. Definitely worth doing. I hope this helps. Any questions just ask! And thanks to vroomzoomboom for the write up!

LEDs are from SuperBrightLeds
and are RL5-R5015: 5mm Red LED

Separate the switch

This is the bronze that you don't want your solder connections to touch

I took a small screw driver and pried the small white lever out which will pull the switch apart

Do that for all of them and it should look like this

Drill pilot holes the old led holes. I didn't remove the green leds, I let the drill do the work.

Now insert the new LEDs. On my 98 XLT(not sure if there all the same) The positive is on the right side of the switch as pictured for the right side. And on the left side the positive runs on the left side.

I soldered in the first LED.

Here you can see that the longer side of the LED is on the left side as I mentioned earlier.

Here are all of the LEDs soldered in. Excuse my soldering I'm not a pro by any means lol

I took this picture in the day. Sorry. But they are brighter and better in person.

 

[Scarface303]

Any one willing to make me some I will pay for them money order or PayPal .

 

[239]

they will shine what ever color you put under them.

Do the rear switches light up also? My front switches light up but not the rear, so I'm wondering if the rear is just burnt out. If I wanted the rear to light up, could I just replace them with front passenger switches that I pull from other X's?

 

[vroomzoomboom]

i dont have a 4 door, but i have made rear switches for some people here

 

[239]

i dont have a 4 door, but i have made rear switches for some people here

Ok. I Swapped out my front switches a year ago since mine had water damage, so I guess the rears are just burned out since they're the originals. That's what happens when you run your parking lights in the day and all the interior lights are constantly on

 

[239]

i dont have a 4 door, but i have made rear switches for some people here

Well I found out something very interesting today, I pulled some switches from an Eddie Bauer at the local junkyard and they illuminate just fine when I bench test them, but it seems that my 2000 XLT doesn't have the pins for the lights in the window switch harness. It's not too much of a problem as I can just wire it myself. I just found it strange when my truck already has wiring and fuses in place for a bunch of other features that weren't included from the factory.