Thread: Full kit - Interior leds

I bought it a couple of weeks ago. They have arrived and I expect to fit them this week. I plan to take nightime pics of the interior before and after.

They might not work in your car as it's only for the 1996 - 2001 models.

Seeing as I have a '96, I'll take them off your hands. You can bring them today when you collect your battery .

Curses! Mine's a '95! I'll bring them along.

Dont put led`s in the dash. Trust me I know and am the biggest fan of LEd`s for most applications. The worst case is in the message centre, it will become blotchy and most probably the leds will start flashing after a week or so. Old school bulbs only in the dash.

Done - mostly.

Don't forget, if the LEDs don't illuminate, try fitting them the other way around as they are polarity conscious. There is nothing on them to indicate which pin/connector is positive and which is negative.

The kit has 20 LEDs, only 19 are required:



The error-free LEDs are slightly wider than the park bulb holder but they fit. I still had an occasional bulb failure message. I haven't yet fitted the no. plate lamps which are also error-free as I don't have a number plate on the tailgate (it's on the rear bar).

Three of my puddle lamps are falling apart (as I found when I removed the lens of one of them) so only one has been done. See pics below.

The reading lamps above the rear doors are not wedge base bulbs, they are Ba9s bayonet, so the supplied LEDs do not fit.

The map lights in the front roof light assembly are only 3 watt and are relatively small so the filament is focussed through the lens to a point where one would hold a map. The LEDs are much bigger so the light doesn't go through the lens very well. (Edit: Pics are in a following post).

The festoons are brilliant (no pun intended!).

Sorry that some of the pics didn't come out very well so they haven't been uploaded. Where I show comparison pics, I have used the same camera settings for ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. I forgot and left white balance on auto. The first photos I took (not reproduced here), were done the night before when I was shooting hand-held. I found I couldn't hold the camera very well as I cannot lift my right arm to the shutter button (recent rotator cuff surgery). Last night I set up the tripod.

Today I decided to paint the interior of a footwell lamp fitting with silver paint. The lamp fittings are black rubber and the LEDs throw a lot of light to the side so it doesn't get thrown out through the lens. I'll add some pics of the LEDs soon. I'll take some more pics of the footwell tonight (Edit: Pics are in a following post).

Puddle lights:





Footwell (passenger side).





Rear centre footwell after LED fitted. If you are wondering, that's a CB radio speaker you can see in the pic.



General rear interior shot (after LEDs fitted). The before pic didn't work out.



Park lights (one done):

The LEDs:

Top: Error-free type, wedge base
Middle: non-error free, wedge base
Bottom: Festoon




Now, I think I'll try modifying this LED I bought from Jaycar to suit the front map lights. My thoughts are to file a flat on the end at, say, 45 deg (or angle to be determined) and to polish it so that it reflects the light down through the map light lens. It may not work because of reflections back from the other side of the casing..

Here is the glovebox - sorry I don't have a before shot. It is very bright in there!



Footwell, first with standard lampholder and second with silvered lampholder:





Centre lamp fitting - note how the standard bulb matches the lens whereas the LED doesn't. The incandescent bulb puts the light right into one's lap. The LED puts it over the HEVAC and Gearshift.









This Jaycar LED is no good as it stands, either. The light beam isn't where one wants it.

I like it when an idea works....

I ground down the end of the Jaycar LED thus:





I polished the end as best as I could then gave it a coat of clear enamel to make it shiny and thus a better reflector.

Fitted, it looks like this:



A lot of the light from the LED is reflected off the angled surface and directed through the lens of the light fitting. Unfortunately. my angles are off so the direction of the beam is wrong. Tomorrow I'll play with that to see if I can improve it. What I also intend trying is painting the angled surface with silver paint after coating it with clear. I still want the surface to reflect as much light as possible in itself and hopefully the silver will add a bit more.

An easier way may be to just glue an LED to the lens and hard wire it to the PC board. One could then get the angle just right.