Possibly my favorite mod yet!

[BrianDye]

Ive been wanting to convert my interior to LED for a while now (And some of the exterior LOL), and finally got around to ordering thr 194 type SMD LED bulbs (x12), (for the gauges, ac controls, etc), (x2) 36 LED reverse bulbs, and (x2) H3 12 LED bulbs for my foglights, in which ALL have not shown up yet, after 3 weeks now. Im gettin a little pissed about that, but anyways, I wanted to do something cooler than just ordering LED dome light bulbs, which I will probably do in the future, just to actually still have functioning dome lights lol. (I took out all 3 of my dome light bulbs)

Anywho, I was at AutoZone with about 45$ of store credit, so I picked these white LED strips up, 2 per pack, and I got 2 packages. Theyre 12" I believe, and I thought they'd be perfect interior lights.

I finally got around tonight to wiring them up, I only got 3 in so far, but theyre friggin awesome! I knew they would look good and be bright but damn was I underestimating.

My expo's got a moonroof, so I only have the 2 domelights, one in the cargo area, and one in the overhead console. I wired the front 2 into those, and stuck them like on the moonroof "seal." I also took the bulbs out; and I put one in the rear, right by the hatch right on the headliner, and then im gonna put the 4th one light right above the backseat so its even.

Just with the 3 in there, its so bright, and so much nicer on the eyes!

Pics: (Flash)

(No Flash)

Rear wasnt in yet

The wires go right in the middle, they fit fine, no drilling or trimming the overhead console

With the rear: (Wires are still hanging, I didnt finish it, ill finish when I put the 4th one in tomorrow)

All lights in the garage off besides ONE flourescent on my workbench

 

[davidhicks16]

Looks good, I would do something along those lines if i had a headliner.

 

[BrianDye]

Looks good, I would do something along those lines if i had a headliner.

Haha, what happened to it?

 

[Anime]

LED strips are the replacement for neon tubes, apparently.

Looks nice with the lights on from outside, although blue in the pics.


The sub box is pretty conspicuous...

 

[BrianDye]

Yea i didn't care for neons really, but they're not blue although they donkinda look it in the pics...

 

[mustangexplorer]

i like that idea, i might have to copy that...or at least something similar,did you wire them into the door and the dimmer switch or just another toggle swich, cuz i wanna run them so when i open the door or turn them on with the dimmer swich they come on, would you know where i could tap in so i could do that?

 

[BrianDye]

Thanks man it's even cooler in real life lol but yea just pop your overhead console off, and splice them into the overhead dome lights, it comes on with open doors/dimmer switch/ and even the button on the console (anything that makes the dome lights come on)

 

[KevinZwick]

autozone also sells an LED product that has an end to fit into the bulb socket thing in the dome light. I would buy one and splice into that and put it into the socket instead of splicing into factory wires. But thats just because i hate cutting factory wires.

 

[BrianDye]

Yea I mentioned those little things, and how theyre 18-30 dollars, or something like that, it was a very easy splice, way worth saving the 20$ haha.

I got my SMD LEDs today finally, along with my new platinum battery terminals from DB.

Got them in, and wow I was even happier than my new LED strips, my gauges/ac controls are blue now! It looks so much better!

Tons of pics
No lights on besides domes

Stock bulbs

After: (Pics make them look the same, but I assure you its a night and day diff.)

Gauges before:

Stock and LED comparison

The LEDs are a tad longer, same diameter, but didnt have ANY fitment problems besides the battery, and oil gauge, it was a little to long, but I just pushed it in harder and it fit.

I was very weary about the output being "patchy" or something, but its honestly not, as you can tell in the pics, the only thing is that the "20" on the speedo is a little brighter than everything else

Gauge/Temp LED Conversion: 22$ shipped from eBay

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

looks good brian u must sure like the color blue

 

[Gus Gorilla]

Mind sharing where you found those direct replacements for IC and HVAC lighting? I've got a few out in each and if they're getting changed, they're getting changed once. Hope there's something besides blue though.

 

[explorerguy89]

sweeet modss

 

[Bill Kemp]

Mind sharing where you found those direct replacements for IC and HVAC lighting? I've got a few out in each and if they're getting changed, they're getting changed once. Hope there's something besides blue though.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=240166

See how this helps......

 

[BrianDye]

Gus- I got them on eBay, the thing about it though, theyre WHITE LEDs!

I have no clue at all why its blue, but I assure you, they were white LEDs.

Just ebay search "194 SMD LED) and get the ones that have FIVE (5) Leds, theres ones that have like 6, 7, 8, 9, make sure you get the FIVE Led bulbs, otherwise they will not fit.

 

[BrianDye]

Got some new LED reverse lights in the mail today finally, heres a pic for now, I gotta take the gf tanning, so ill post the rest of the pics when I get back lol

 

[Stic-o]

Nice I never thought of using the LED lights in the first post as interior lights. I have them for rock lights

 

[BrianDye]

Yea, I got the idea one day when I seen a car with white neons under it haha.

Heres more pics:
I believe theres 36 LEDs in it, there are LEDs facing sideways too, to give it more of a "full" output I guess you could say

Comparison to my previous APC bulbs

APC (Blue bulb) on the left side, LED on the right side

Both LEDs

I paid I think 4$ for these things SHIPPED!

Lets see if they last Haha, Ill post back tonight and tell you how well the light output is when I come home

 

[explorerguy89]

sweet O.O

 

[BrianDye]

So pissed!

So today, got my last pair of LEDs in the mail (for now).

They are the H3 LEDs that I ordered for my fogs.


Sylvania's site said "Fog/Driving Light: H3-55watt"
So I ordered an H3 bulb.

Nope. No go, doesnt fit. It would work with the off road style lights, like the ones in my grille, they fit in there perfectly.

I was so mad, but then again kinda happy, because I found a cheap pair of HIDs to go with instead, I dont care that theyre cheap, because theyre just my fogs lol. (I think theyre 40$ shipped, yea lol) I havent ordered them yet, because I still gotta send 2 MO's out to Blee, and another member whos making me LEDs for my visors.

Heres what they look like

Im gonna sell them, im going to add them to my for sale thread right now, im sure someone could use 'em.

 

[Nixthebomb]

planing on replacing a few more interior lights with LED, dome and HVAC, how many were in the HVAC assembly?