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Good luck with this post! No one ever responded to mines and another members posts!
From what I have heard, the dome lights are integrated into the roof panel. So basically you have to take off the whole thing to get it off, which I feel is a flaw because to change one stupid light bulb by yourself, you now have to go to the dealership to charge you an arm and leg to fix!!!
Lots of threads about this on the IS forum, as they come with incandescent interior lighting, so people are regularly swapping them out for LEDs. I don't think you'll find much of that going on here, as the map and dome lights on the GS are LED.
My 2016 the dome lights are integrated into the ceiling/roof. The middle bulbs have an orange tinge when it is on, as the side lights are white LEDS. so the middle light is questionable if they are LEDS!
They changed the rear overhead lights starting in 16 and on. Much different than 13-15, though I thought they were all still LED. I'll snap some pics of my 15 to show the difference.
Wow, your rear interior lighting is totally different than mines! Mines is in the middle for the rear. The front interior lighting is the same as mines, but I am unable to access those light bulbs! Are you able to? TIA
Wow, your rear interior lighting is totally different than mines! Mines is in the middle for the rear. The front interior lighting is the same as mines, but I am unable to access those light bulbs! Are you able to? TIA
his is the pre-refresh. I too wonder why they moved the lights from the handles to a middle position. you should be able to pry the cover off
Figured I'd reply to this topic than make a new one.
Replaced the warm white LEDs of the rear dome light for two 31mm festoons. It goes better with the replaced door lights (also 31mm festoons). Although honestly, I'm still on the fence as the warm white wasn't too bad, just too dim. This ended up being more a "I wonder if it can be done" sort of thing.
I left the two individual LEDs as is because of how they are angled. A 194 might have soldered in but honestly didn't want to have an exposed 194 visible.
To take off the rear dome light, there are four metal tabs. I found it easier to go from behind the dome light (facing front of car) and stick a flat trim tool in there. The rear metal tabs are aligned with the two individual LEDs. Once you see on tab, pull it down (it has a little lip you can rest the trim tool on). Loosen both rear tabs and you'll be able to pull down the light. Unclip it.
There's four Philips screws to undo. To start separating, you'll need two small flat heads. I can go more into detail if needed, but you basically have to start at one of the short sides, and work against the inside and outside clips.
Once you separate the dome light, you'll have two pieces. One is mainly the lenses and light refractor, and the other is the circuit board. Now would be a good time to get any bugs from out of the dome light.
To get the circuit board separated, you'll have to pop off the two dome light buttons. Then just unclip the board from the enclosure.
The board. It drives the LEDs via resistors, and seems to drive the four main LEDs as a pair of two.
The way I ended up doing it, I removed the four main LEDs and their zener diodes from the board (circled in red). I shorted the resistors circled in magenta.
If anyone is interested, the pinout of the connector seems to be:
ILLB (pin 5): Positive of the individual dome light button illumination.
E (pin 4): Negative of the button illumination. Also the negative of the two individual LEDs.
CTY (pin 3): Negative of the four main LEDsB (pin 2): Positive of the four main LEDs. Also, positive of the two individual LEDs.
Pin 1 in empty
Scope the diode (marked in red) to find positive and CTY pin (marked in black) for negative. Granted, most festoons these days have built in rectifiers so polarity won't matter with those. I put some thermal pads under the festoon heatsinks to help transfer some of the heat to the cooper in the board. Note, in the picture I shorted the resistors as shown, but it'd look cleaner to just short them across the same resistor.
What I ended up doing was separating the white pyramid light diffuser, and just using the frosted part. I stuck that part with double sided tape on the side (sorry no picture of that).
Then I put it all back together and went to test. I put a light meter on the center rear seat and below were the outputs. To clarify, closed door means if you have the turn-on-dome-with -door setting ON, the lights will stay on for a few seconds at a dim setting. Then they fade away to full off.
OEM bulbs
Closed door - 0 lux (visible but too dim for the meter to pick up)
Open door - 2.5 lux
Full brightness (pushing dome ON button) - 8.4 lux
Festoons
Closed door - 2.4 lux
Open door - 39.0 lux
Full brightness - 119 lux
01-13-19, 09:26 PM
