Dash Light Color Conversion w/ pics!

[Danfzzl]

id suggest spending an extra dollar or two and get a few high quality LED's.

+1 There aren't many options for the T5 bulbs but I know T10 bulbs have quite a variety of quality. The ones I got seem to hold up pretty well, but always order an extra one or two just in case.[/quote

I got my T5's off of SuperbrightLEDs.com and they have worked great so far... as the website's name suggests, they are super freakin bright lol

[Emsanon]

Well, the #194's that was installed started to fail. They didn't last too long. The T5's are working great though! Right now, I'm trying out a color change that my friend and I installed to see how it looks. I kind of like it. It matches my yellow Baja better. It's a red/yellow combination. There's some T5 blues in there still. I might switch them out to match the current color switch though since it's really growing on me. The more I look at it, the more I like it.

[Thacrudd]

Dude that's awesome! I'm lovin the color combo.

[childs_br]

what color are those? I like them,I put in the blue ones but 2 are bad already so i had to order more

[Emsanon]

Yeah, mine went bad too so I guess I ended up getting a bad batch but, it was from Ebay so who knows? The yellow/red are actually just regular bulbs I ended up buying from Schucks for an experiment and not LED's. I have two white and two reds. The colored plastic makes the white look yellow so it worked out quite nicely.
I tried out some regular blue bulbs but it ended up back look like it's original green again. Blue LED's make it look blue, blue regular bulbs makes it look green. Funny. Now, I just have to figure out what to do with the smaller blue LED's since I don't think the blue matches with the new yellow/red color scheme.

[GealTaibhse]

Sorry to bring back a dead thread guys, but I bought my Baja this month so I just got here

Can anyone give me a list of what LED's to buy from superbrightleds.com to do this conversion? They don't use the T3, T4, etc system for their bulbs (Neo3, 4, 5) and there are at least ten different types of #194 sized bulbs with different light angles, number of LED's, high/regular intensity, etc. I really don't want to buy a bunch of different types and experiment because I've got the interior apart right now and want to convert my lighting as a one-shot deal before I reassemble everything.

I want to do the switch bank on the left of the steering column, cluster (including warning lights which will be purple), HVAC, ignition ring, and cigarette lighter ring.

Any help would be appreciated!

[steven765]

heh I ended up buying the all to see what works best, I posted pics over on nasioc.

- Dash I just did 4 of the WLED Miniature Wedge Base bulbs with High Power SMD LEDs in blue
- For the LCD's in the dash I used 74-xHP3 it gives a nice even blue, the normal xp isn't wide enough to cover the surface and you get green at the edeges. Also they don't fit!! I also used 1 each in the lighter and ash tray light so order 4.
- HVAC, use 3 of the NEO 4 bulbs
- Cargo, Cruise, Fog, and Sport switches Order neo 3. However they won't fit, You have to unwrap them, carefully break the led free and pull it out with wires attached, then insert it into your bulb base and wrap the wires. It's best if you take the switch apart too and angle the led towards the front a bit.

-Seat heater switches , same deal. Order 2 neo 3's. Subaru used some sort of weird rubber bulb holder, have to carefully unwrap and then install your light in here. No bending required though.

-Hazard, almost the same as the seat heaters, same holder anyway, EXCEPT I used a white bulb (everythign else is blue). The switch is somewhat tricky to take apart, all 4 screws must come out. Oh and disconnecting and reconnecting the wire... hahah have fun!!

- Door 'Auto' window switch: I can't for the life of me figure out how to get that apart. I have the assembly removed, but thought it was going to snap if i pulled harder trying to get it apart, so I left it green.

- You may want to get a 74-xhp and see if it would fit in your high beam indicator so it's the same blue, but i'm being picky

-Note if you do this, then the dimmer wont' go as low, which can be problematic for night driving. I'm looking to add a resistor in the spring, I'll post that up when I do. 5 degrees is a bit cold here in new hampshire to mess with the car.

Oh right order at least 3-4 extra of the neo 3's for doing the switches, You' ll likely break a few. However I found I was albo to do quick fixes with a soldering iron if the wire seperates at the base.

[steven765]

The craftsman 5 piece micro tool set is your friend!!!! 19.99 and it's prolly on sale. You really need it for doing the switches. All in all, with the knowledge I just gave you, it should only take an evening, and some patience.

[GealTaibhse]

Thanks a lot for that steven, got them ordered tonight and will hopefully take delivery right about the same time my dash panels finish curing with their new satin black paint.

I actually bought that tool set a couple years ago when I got my Impreza, but can't remember for the life of me why I needed it. Oh well, tools are never a bad thing to have. At least now I've got a use for it!

[PenguinSub]

The craftsman 5 piece micro tool set is your friend!!!! 19.99 and it's prolly on sale. You really need it for doing the switches. All in all, with the knowledge I just gave you, it should only take an evening, and some patience.

What's in the tool set?

[BlueRu]

For any one reading this thread and wanting to simply replace a bulb, the stock incandescent bulb is NOT a #74 - It's #2721. An incandescent #74 is too wide. It spreads the socket so that it won't fit back into the instrument cluster.

Aside from that, your instructions on getting there were great. Thanks!
R

[GealTaibhse]

Finally got around to tearing everything down last night and it looks AWESOME! Thanks to Steve, Steven, and everyone else who posted hints and suggestions for how to do this.

One thing I can add is that when removing the superbrightleds.com NEO3's from their holders to transfer to the stock bulb holder, carefully squeeze around the holder with a small set of needle nose pliers to break the glue holding the LED assembly in place. I lost one LED figuring this technique out but after that it worked like a charm.

Now I've just gotta get my exhaust mounted and light bar finished up..

[jm2unbound06]

Does anyone here have any info on what the angle of the bulb should be? I've tried numerous kinds (120', 90', etc..) as well as numerous bulbs with different amounts of LED's (3,4, & 6) and none of them seem to provide a nice even bright blue light. This is only a problem for the larger 9mm (#74) bulbs...any info would be greatly appreciated!

[Emsanon]

Mine didn't really provide an even light either for some reason. I'm going to try it again later with a different type just to play with it.

[jm2unbound06]

The other day one of my climate control bulbs went out

I was wondering if anyone could give me simple instructions on how to get to the back of those controls? I've pretty much converted all the lights to LED's other than those. Any info would be greatly appreciated!