A/C control LED swap

One thing, The A/C controls I only put one LED in the top part of each bulb replacement. So the way it looks is not the way it should look with 2 LEDs per bulb slot. When I do the rest of my interior in blue LED ill change those out and show you the new pics....now with that said...here we go....
1) Take out the A/C controls by first removing the dash part (you will have to put the gear shifter in first to be able to remove it.
2) There's 2 screws (I forget the size) to remove and then 4 clips to undo, then the A/C box comes out.
3)Pull out the knobs on the front side, then take out the 2 screws(forget what size) holding the box that controls the fan speed on the back.
4)On the back of the box, unscrew the 4 screws and the box comes apart (go easy on it, it WILL come apart...patience my friends)
5)Ok, bear with me as I try to explain this part....
On the back of the A/C controls, that circuit board pulls out, you have to push the clips that hold it in and GENTLY nudge it out. It's tedious work, just do it little by little. Next you will see 4 bulbs on the front(white) side of the board, on the back side (green), unsolder those bulbs. BEFORE doing this, if you dont have a voltmeter, I strongly suggest getting one ($6 at any electronics store) so you can get the "+" and "-" of each of the bulb sockets. Make a mental note or mark it, it will save you ALOT of time because these 4 bulbs are connected in a series(which brings up a question I will ask at the end of this write up) and must be soldered in correctly or else none will light up.

On the other smaller circuit board, that part has 3 bulbs (at least on mine) that you can switch just like the 4 I mentioned above. Like I said, get a voltmeter and get the "+" and "-" sides to save time.
First you have to remove 2 small screws, and that little skinny board comes off.
One thing about the bulbs on the smaller board, make the distance from the top of the LED to the leads that you solder to the board very short, because the space in there is very small, I couldn't fit my LEDs with resistors in at first, so I had to go back and try to make em as short as possible.
http://home.earthlink.net/~lalito/ed...ACcontrols.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~lalito/ed...trolsafter.jpg
And there you have it! Good Luck! :cool:

Look good :thumb: .i'm sure you could come up with something.. might have to get some new ends and tie them into the existing and mout them to the back of the bezel if possible. I dont have any experience with the newer dashes.

for the hot spots, can you cover the led with some film, maybe some darker stuff, i don't know if that will discolor the result, just trying to throw out some ideas.

what about making a cone like tube and making the led sit back further from the ac plate, so that the led is not as close to the plate and has to travel thru the tube like a fiber optic cable would, don't know , just blabbing, but maybe that will spark a thought.

btw, thanks for posting all this stuff, i'm sure many will appreciate it and follow.

Thanks guys, I'm happy with the results, but I'm a perfectionist, I know it could look better
My question about the resistors is....
I know you use ohms law (V=IxR) to figure out the rating of the resistor for our trucks. Since on the A/C circuit board as well as the headlamp, etc. where you wire more than one LED in a series, how do you do the math for more than 2 LEDs?
If I'm confusing you, let me use an example....
My truck when its running puts out 14.4 volts to the appliances. The LEDs can only handle 3 or 4volts(something like that) So, in order to lower the voltage going into them, you use a resistor calculating the V=14.4 and the I=20mA or .02 amps....
14.4/.02=720ohms. Thats for one LED. If you have 2 LEDs, I would get you just half that. What about 3? I know I know, I'm a dummy when it comes to math.
Since electricity is evenly distributed throughout a series, in this case LED series, if you had a 12v source and 4 LEDs rated at 3volts each, you wouldn't need any resistor for obvious reasons (4LEDs x 3volts=12volts :duh: ) so it can handle the voltage...
so again my question is, how do you calculate the resistor needed using ohms law when the "I" or current is more than one LED? Would it be if each LED is .02, then 2 LEDs would be .04? 3 LEDs would be .06? I think that's correct, I'm no electrician, just hoping one would chime in and confirm

I am the math idiot, but if they get the same wattage, evenly. Wouldn't 12volts goto all 3, since they get even power? Like stereo installs, you wire 2 subs in parallel, they each get the same wattage (i.e. 1200 watt, pushing max is giving them both ~1200 watts). Wouldn't it be the same here? Or is the current cut down b/c there are more than 1?

Yea, i'm truely this math-stupid. No wonder i do web/comp work and i'm not an accountant.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Domeskilla@Apr 18 2003, 12:52 PM
I am the math idiot, but if they get the same wattage, evenly. Wouldn't 12volts goto all 3, since they get even power? Like stereo installs, you wire 2 subs in parallel, they each get the same wattage (i.e. 1200 watt, pushing max is giving them both ~1200 watts). Wouldn't it be the same here? Or is the current cut down b/c there are more than 1?

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wattage, voltage and current are totally different things. Voltage is spread out just like the current is spread throughout the series. I know this is true b/c one of my buddies has 4 LEDs in a series in his car, each can handle 3 volts, and he has a voltage regulator or something putting out 12 volts, he doesnt have a resistor b/c it doesnt need it, they are running at max and are the brightest they can be without ruining them.

Yea, I knew they were different, just didn't know if they were a like in that sence. Thanks for the explaination. I learn something everyday. :smile:

I think Chingon tried filing down the LEDs to make the spread more but what we really need is a custom fiber optic i think...

I have some clear plastic sheets... I wonder if we could fab something up....

Space will be a big issue.....

Where do I send my a/c controls so you can do mine? j/k



Looks good!