Quote:
Originally posted by skbest11
WoW great work pious~
i really want to change the bulbs too, but the asiankidd is charging too much...
anyway.. can u teach me how to do the A/C unit one, or do u have write-up?
thanx...
-SK-
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Do pictures count? Check out the link in my sig "my photo album" under LED Retrofit or go to:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4292086987.
I haven't done a writeup cause nobody really showed too much interest before. I've got Helm manual pages scanned in so you can take the AC out. As for the LED lights, it just depends. There is no one right way. Some have put LEDs right behind the buttons the way the green lights are set up, but that seemed too radical for my taste. If you fire the LEDs into (and mount them there with solder) the OEM light holes it will be slightly brighter than stock if you go with the LEDs I've recommended (I tested 4, but only 2 will be bright enough. If you want to WOW your friends and have crazy luminescence then you'll need to put the lights individually behind each button. See above posts for more details. It depends on where you want to make your statement; if the buttons are too bright it will be distracting and it wont match the intensity of the other button (on the left of steering wheel) which are limited in how they can be fitted. I haven't found a way to disassemble the cruise buttons etc. safely enough to fire the LED forward, so it won't match. I can recommend products for anyone wanting to try this, but check out the pictures first (some are poor quality, but I don't have a digi cam).
Quote:
Originally posted by TCB007
anyways, for the authority on interior light swapping.. I think you all should check out this guy on the acuraTL forum.
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Thankyou for the recommendation and the compliments from both of you.
Update RE: acuraTL forum I highly suggest looking through those threads. They are very informative and can give you new ideas. The problems encountered with the TL's instrumentation can be somewhat disregarded in this application though. NATE was very motivated to do the radio as I was, but our cars do not present the same challenge as far as directly replacing the head unit with one that has a blue display (their factory speaker require replacement). Also, our A/C unit doesn't have an LCD screen to retro-fit, and our has an acrylic diffuser to disperse the light into the button window. My view on this is that with some research, the diffuser can be used to cut down on the amount of LED's required to illuminate the buttons. Putting LEDs behind each button will make it bright, but the output would be too bright for some people to live with over time IMHO. Mine are fine (except the window switch), but I didn't want an extreme look. NATE had problems with finding a retailer for LEDs (no longer a problem), but he gave me some ideas about using different types of resisters and fitting the LEDs into the bulb screw-in bases. I opted for soldering the units directly onto the copper contacts. This allowed me to place them further into the sockets and manipulate the angle as needed for experimentation. I'd say that overall a prelude project would be much easier than a TL project. They recommended 1/8 size or chip style resistors whereas I used HUGE 1/4 size ones. Using smaller ones will allow you to work them into the curcuit board or into the twisty bulb bases. I like that idea. Another good idea I came across from one of thier Electrical Engineers is that 3 LEDs mounted in series would work without a resistor on a 12V platform. That rock for the gauge pod as is cuts down on the connections/wires/ and bulk wired into the gauge assembly.
Thanks again and keep the ideas/links comming
Linear Mode
