ag9111 wrote:kwyjibo wrote:its spreading like a plague... a good plague!
any questions just ask, can post up mine if ya like
Ok
What are the dash lights? T5? I assume you have used LEDS ,What sort do you have to get? the 16V ones? and were are they available from? How do you remove the dash to get at the lights?
What about the diff lock swithches etc. What sort of lights do tthey use? and are they easy to disassemble?
Suppose you dont know about the steering wheel control indication?
Any thing else you could add would be good
oh prolly should have checked back in here... sorry for the delay lol
ok my center console looks like this at the moment(changing occasionally)
In this spot there are 4 led's, mine are currently in order of green - purple - blue - white
mind you all these photos i took today in very sunny weather... under a carport, so the colors are normally brighter and look a bit different but u get the idea
as always remember to click photo for full size
Q1 - yep the dash lights which include the center aircon controls + key ignition ring light + lower center console light(under cig tray) + glovebox are all T5 style wedge bulbs, and all have the same tiny light bulb which has a blue rubber sock over them to give them a whiter light (without them they have the colour temperature of a burning candle). By wedge it just means it literally wedges into the socket, unlike a bayonet light... they are very very small, here is a pic of a few that i have + the plug they fit into
Q2 - I buy mine off ebay, basically if the picture looks anything like those ones then you'll be safe they are all 12V... some of them only work one way(polarity) you can tell this by the pins on the rear of the bulb only bend out on one side, which means they can only make contact in one way... so just spin it around. There are a couple different types of wedge led's as u can see, plenty of colors as well...
the other style of led's just have different light spreads, u can see from the pic that the ones with the flat surface mounted led is what's called smd(i find these to be the brightest and they have an even 180 degree spread) where as the other one has 3 separate forks which u can bend to point in each direction.
Q3 - how to remove/replace the lights? thats where the fun is at my friend! basically there is 2 ways to change these bulbs, bu depending on which ones you want to change you may have to use both methods... the 'easiest' way (providing u don't drop it
) is to change the 2 outer bulbs is the pull off the plastic surround from the top screen part of the dash(with firm hands just pull it directly toward the rear of the cab, it is held in with 5 little clips) once its off you should see something like this
as u can see i have removed 2 small parts of the plastic(which nobody will EVER see) and right in that spot are those little black sockets that are in the previous photo, they just twist out and come with the bulb and all, then you can change it over no worries.... i use a pair of hobby needle nose pliers to change them over, they are extremely handy (especially for the other method u will see)
BUT be extremely careful, playing with tiny electrics means if u have butter fingers like me and drop the black plug... it may take a while to find where that little bastard fell to......
damn that killed a couple of hours getting that one...
The other way to do it, and probably the safer(but much more time consuming) way is to pull off the knobs from the front and change the bulbs with the little hobby pliers, which is very much trial and error... you might get it within a few minutes or it may take u an hour... but if u do drop a bulb it just falls 1cm lower and u can pick it up and try again... the smd led's(with the flat surface) that i use in 2/4 of the plugs can be bent and also made directional as u will see if u try this so just point it slightly in the direction u want it to for a better spread
I know nothing about the difflock switches sorry.. but i will know soon enough, may update this later if thats the case.
Also not sure wht u mean about steering wheel indication?
for those that are also curious, the ignition ring light is sorta easy, but u gotta pull everything off the streering column to get to it... here's one i prepared earlier
(cause i aint goin outside now to do it again)
this seems to be the only pic i took of the operation... but u can see the small black plastic enclosure above the ring? the T5 wedge plug enters from that side, so just twist it and pull the whole plug out then change the bulb... i used an smd led here too, but angled the led almost 90 degrees so it shines downward to the ring... looks like this after
and for those that also want to change the bulb below the cig lighter.... too bad i aint gonna pull it apart now for a photo its too damned hot outside
but you need to remove the middle section of the console to access it, this includes removing the head unit(there is a guide somewhere someone did for this i'm sure) same situation, i put in a smd le and turned the focus downward, photo
The glovebox light is not any easier to get to... had to remove the black plastic cover inside the dash but above the glovebox opening, have a good look where the light is and you'll get the idea... this one was fantastic as now it lights up the whole thing! took this photo a few mins ago in broad daylight under carport
As for led choice in which one to get, consider how bright you want it to be... the smd ones are brighter because it may look like 1 single led but its actually got 3 little diodes on the surface, where as others only have 2 or even 1, here is a pic to demonstrate
so u can see the red one for example has 6 little led's, each with 1 diode, where the white ones have 3 diodes on each, u can just see the little dots(these are T10 bulbs btw, for roof - doors - numberplate - indicator etc). the fluro green one has 2 i believe, then the other ones that have the clear plastic or resin covering it i think only have 1 diode so they are not very bright... but the led is protected from heat this way so as to allow them to be use in the park lights of our trucks, if you use the brighter ones in the left of the pic they would soon burn out and fail eventually and look like the burnt one
i'll post a few more photos cause i took the trouble to upoad them to imageshack already
ok uh any more questions or did i answer them all???? any criticism of my grammar or post in general??
anybody think i'm good enough to be a hand model?