"Keyless Entry" keypad bulb color change

ok, my first how to... Everyone said it couldn't be done, but I thought I would give it a shot.

Try this at your own risk.

Start off by removing the driver door pannel.
1. Remove 2 Phillips screws above door release handle
2. Pry out door release trim
3. Using a panel tool (or a flat screwdriver) pry around the bottom and sides of the door panel
4. Slide panel upward to remove.

Once the pannel is removed you will see this...
the back of keypad. It still attached to the driver door. There is a clip on the right side. Remove the clip


the speaker needs to be removed to gain access to the other end of the keypad. You need to disconnect the green plug.


the keypad, and the attached wires. The first piece of wire loom (closest to the keypad) must be removed.


back of the switch. The white stuff is silicone, and needs to be removed. Notice the 3 pins underneath the silicone. Those also have to be removed


in this picture the silicone is removed as well as the pins. Once the pins are removed the outer case can be slid off.


once the outer case is removed you are left with more silicone. I CAREFULLY peeled the silicone in one piece as the numbers are attached to all the silicone


once the silicone is lossened the numbers will slide off the casing. In this picture you see the number cover, and the green film over the fiber optic pannel DO NOT BEND OR CUT THE FIBER OPTICS it will damage it.


a view behind the green fiber optic pannel. The wires are fed through the case, to gain access to the circuit board you need to push the wires throught the case. This will push the board out


CAREFULLY peel the green film from the fiber optic pannel. This will allow the fiber optics to be what ever colour bulb you decide to use. Do not bend or cut the fiber optics. It will damage it, and not allow light to go through the pannel.


this is the back of the circuit board. The light bulb is soldered in the middle. The rest of the bulb is inside a housing which houses the fiber optics ends. Desolder the light bulb, and remove it and the housing from the circuit board.


once the light bulb is removed from the board it can be seperated from the housing. If you look close there are two clips on either side of the housing, sperate the two parts


solder on the LED bulb to the board. I used a blue 5mm wide angle bulb. The negative lead of the LED bulb gose to the yellow/black wire


I added a resitor for the LED on the yellow and black wire. The resistor must be put on the back side of the casing to allow the circuit board to be slide back into the casing


the fiber optics and light bulb housing are slid over the LED bulb and held into place with some hot glue (not pretty, but it does the trick)


reassembly begins. Don't forget to put the white frame behind the fiber optic pannel, I also added silicone to all the places silicone was removed and even to the top, bottoms and sides of the number covers (not on the actual number part it will block the light)



Drum roll please.... The Finished Product!! FYI... the lights only worked when it is plugged into the car. I tried testing it by putting 12 volts to the blue and yellow/black wire but it doesn't work.

Now thats sexy!!

 

[Super_Swamper_98]

Damn thats tight!

 

[TonysOrangeCapri]

Any way that anyone knows to make it come on when you unlock the doors with the transmitter? That would look really nice.

BTW, Im going to have to do this on my Mounty. The blue looks awesome, and from what I have read, mine should be the LED style, and I have some really small LED's that I could throw in there.

 

[CJExplorer]

I finished my mod last night, mine was the fiber optic version and was tricky to get apart. I bought a spare keypad to try it so incase i messed up i wasnt screwed. Instead of sealing it back with silicon, i used a hot glue gun and it worked awesome. Looks great too. Not that bright, but it lets me see the keypad in the dark Great writeup though, Thanks

 

[CJExplorer]

Well....I thought the hot glue worked awesome.....
That was until the glue got warm in the car and when my dad went to use the keypad, the keys slid in, im redoing it tonight with epoxy.

 

[CJExplorer]

Heres how mine turned out

 

[MC05XLS]

Crap

This makes me wish my 05 had a keypad.

Has anyone considered doing this with one of the retrofit wireless keypad?

I'd love to change all of dash and panel lights to white LEDs (except having red needles.) that'll be later.

This keypad mod is an absolutely awesome idea! Great job guys!

 

[Chris S]

Those look great, wish I had good enough vision to do that and the tools. The blue look would look great on my Blue ST.

 

[JMody]

This is an Awesome MOD.

I have an 04 Explorer XLT. Not sure what type of keypad I will find but I am definitely going to try this mod out with some red LED's.

 

[JMody]

So I looked at my Keypad and it is on the frame of the door, up on the side. I have no clue how to get it out either. It is only sheet metal on the other side. My guess is there has to be a way for it to come out towards you unlike the other models the come out the back. I dunno. If anyone has done it I would like to know how.

Thanks!

 

[tylerjames]

you guys are so lucky. I think the keypads are sick.
too bad none of the aus models have them standard.

 

[JMody]

I tell you what TylerJames,

They are great when you don't have a wireless keyfob to unlock your doors or anything. Just punch in your code and hit the 3/4 button again and it opens all your doors.

 

[desitdt]

i just took this out of my car to find out it is the kind w/o the silicone. All i have is 5mm LEDs. can i make this work somehow?

 

[99ex22]

look at post number 15 on the first page of this thread

 

[desitdt]

yea but i have to make the whole bigger to fit the 5mm LEDs. this would require drilling into the metal tracks around where the original leds were

 

[stingray71]

is it the black wire or the black and yellow wire as the original post suggests? I've blown my 5 mm led twice, with a 470 ohm resistor on the yellow/black.

 

[stingray71]

for those of you that dont have the led factory style you might need to put a resistor on the black wire that is located in the middle . I otherwise i would have led last for like 2 seconds before the juice killed it. just thought i might save some people some time and clarify.

is it the black wire or the black and yellow wire as the original post suggests? I've blown my 5 mm led twice, with a 470 ohm resistor on the yellow/black.

 

[FishinFord]

So in the 99 versions there are 5 leds? no fiber optics? And they have to be 3mm LED's? I cant wait to do this, but i always make sure my research is complete before starting a project.

-Kug

 

[Eagleisx]

My Keyless Pad is pretty worn,it still works though,think i will buy another from my favourite auto wrecker and change the light before i remove the other one. Another job well done by another crazy Canadian.LOL.

 

[PLT]

every other light on my keypad is illuminated. where can i buy a new unit to replace it instead of going through all of this?
thanks for the help

 

[spabula]

Are there better LEDs to use for the style that already has LEDs in it? Or is the 3mm filed down the only method? I cant figure out what the ones on there are called to see if i could just buy those same LEDs in a different color.