New LED Interior Lights Overhaul
03-27-09, 08:44 AM
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New LED Interior Lights Overhaul
It's my first time sharing! 
Gathering all the info from this awesome forum, I was able to do a complete LED conversion on most of the lights in my car. Originally, it started with a parking light that went out, and 1 of the 8 bulbs in the instrument cluster was out, thus dimming, out the lower left quadrant where the temp gauge and the 1k rpm was. I was also bored with the standard white lights, and decided to go with colors.
Replaced parking lights in front (next to the low beams), dome, 2x map lights (I did white LEDs here), door panel lights, light beneath steering wheel, glove box light, 8 instrument cluster lights.
From my experience, I maybe should have NOT gone with blue in the instrument cluster. It's my daily driver, and the blue spectrum is kinda hard to see in daylight. There is also noticable spotting, even if you get the 100 degree wide angel LEDs. It looks really cool at night however, just not too bright in the daytime. Or maybe replace the ones in here with multi bulb SMT leds which are brighter.
Also, if you're replacing the map lights (the ones next to the dome light, with the buttons to activate), you should get LEDs that face down, and not straight up. I bought a wide 90 degree (there's also 120 degrees) but the led was shooting upwards, and upon installation, the light directs not downwards into the cabin, where you would like. The bulbs here is BA9s. They do have LEDs that shoot many directions and that would be a better choice here.
Gathering all the info from this awesome forum, I was able to do a complete LED conversion on most of the lights in my car. Originally, it started with a parking light that went out, and 1 of the 8 bulbs in the instrument cluster was out, thus dimming, out the lower left quadrant where the temp gauge and the 1k rpm was. I was also bored with the standard white lights, and decided to go with colors.
Replaced parking lights in front (next to the low beams), dome, 2x map lights (I did white LEDs here), door panel lights, light beneath steering wheel, glove box light, 8 instrument cluster lights.
From my experience, I maybe should have NOT gone with blue in the instrument cluster. It's my daily driver, and the blue spectrum is kinda hard to see in daylight. There is also noticable spotting, even if you get the 100 degree wide angel LEDs. It looks really cool at night however, just not too bright in the daytime. Or maybe replace the ones in here with multi bulb SMT leds which are brighter.
Also, if you're replacing the map lights (the ones next to the dome light, with the buttons to activate), you should get LEDs that face down, and not straight up. I bought a wide 90 degree (there's also 120 degrees) but the led was shooting upwards, and upon installation, the light directs not downwards into the cabin, where you would like. The bulbs here is BA9s. They do have LEDs that shoot many directions and that would be a better choice here.
Last edited by evilninja; 03-27-09 at 11:50 AM.
03-27-09, 09:14 AM
#2
Keeper of the light
iTrader: (17)
Ahhh yes, "The 4 points of light" as I like to call them 
Can't override the laws of physics. 
Screw in solutions no worky.
How bright are the foot well lights? I'm going to be doing some work in my IS300 which does not have footwell lights at all and I'll be adding some. I'm trying to get an idea of the reflectivity of the carpeting. I have planned to mount 6 led's across the bottom of the dash similar to puddle lights.
Can't override the laws of physics. Screw in solutions no worky. How bright are the foot well lights? I'm going to be doing some work in my IS300 which does not have footwell lights at all and I'll be adding some. I'm trying to get an idea of the reflectivity of the carpeting. I have planned to mount 6 led's across the bottom of the dash similar to puddle lights.
03-27-09, 09:32 AM
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The footwell lights I put in were 6 led blues for each door, with all 6 shooting down. Concerning reflectivity, my interior is black, so it absorbs the light, and also with blue, it's a dark color, so it's really not the color of choice if you wanted the brightest clearest color. I just chose blue for effect, and wanted something different. With the blue footwell lights, in the day time, it's hard to even seen the color at all. I imagine with super white, in the day time, that area might just be brighter?
To give you an idea of the brightness, the lights in the pic were shot in complete darkness on a tripod, with shutter speed of 3.5.
Underneath my steering wheel, I put 1 blue SMT led. It's super bright. I guess if you wanted color and bright, you could go with 6 SMT blue leds for dramatic overkill
To give you an idea of the brightness, the lights in the pic were shot in complete darkness on a tripod, with shutter speed of 3.5.
Underneath my steering wheel, I put 1 blue SMT led. It's super bright. I guess if you wanted color and bright, you could go with 6 SMT blue leds for dramatic overkill
Ahhh yes, "The 4 points of light" as I like to call them Can't override the laws of physics. Screw in solutions no worky.
How bright are the foot well lights? I'm going to be doing some work in my IS300 which does not have footwell lights at all and I'll be adding some. I'm trying to get an idea of the reflectivity of the carpeting. I have planned to mount 6 led's across the bottom of the dash similar to puddle lights.
Can't override the laws of physics. Screw in solutions no worky. How bright are the foot well lights? I'm going to be doing some work in my IS300 which does not have footwell lights at all and I'll be adding some. I'm trying to get an idea of the reflectivity of the carpeting. I have planned to mount 6 led's across the bottom of the dash similar to puddle lights.
03-27-09, 10:09 AM
#4
Keeper of the light
iTrader: (17)
My interior is black as well, that's why i was curious about your light reflectivity. You can bounce off the fibers of black carpet, just not as well as other colors obviously.
03-27-09, 11:22 AM
#7
Lexus Test Driver
i also replaced my interior lights with LEDS..aren't the map lights 57's? thats what they look like..i also need to get my parking lights..now go red as the same color of my car...or white like my HIDS...hmm
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03-27-09, 11:38 AM
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I have 6k HIDs also, and just thought the super white 6 LED color was the way to go because I didn't know how the cross stream of parking light color would interfere with the HIDs. I wouldn't think too much since HIDs would me much brighter. Would it add a red hue to the HIDs if red was used for the parking light? That would look kinda cool albeit a little distracting.
03-27-09, 01:28 PM
#10
Lexus Test Driver
I have 6k HIDs also, and just thought the super white 6 LED color was the way to go because I didn't know how the cross stream of parking light color would interfere with the HIDs. I wouldn't think too much since HIDs would me much brighter. Would it add a red hue to the HIDs if red was used for the parking light? That would look kinda cool albeit a little distracting.
03-27-09, 03:46 PM
#12
Lexus Test Driver
