fbi012 Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Hi. It was mentioned in an earlier post that JDMs have red LEDs for the storage area above the dash. Now, I’m not sure if Europe and Australia have red LED's too, but I need someone to give me part numbers or bulb type and how to install so I can change mine, for both storage areas. I’m not sure why the hell they put yellow LEDs in the first place. Please let me know if you know anything or have comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest *Jedimaster* Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 LED's are pretty easy- just go to Radio Shack and grab the color you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbi012 Posted December 23, 2004 Author Share Posted December 23, 2004 LED's are pretty easy- just go to Radio Shack and grab the color you want. ok so there are no differnt types? Also, do you know if I have to take out the whole AC cover to replace it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccorry Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 There are different brightnesses.... but other than that...they are basically the same... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest *Jedimaster* Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Just pull it out of the dash- there's a clip holding it onto the cubby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbi012 Posted December 23, 2004 Author Share Posted December 23, 2004 ok guys I need some help. I took out the one where the manual is but I think the led cannot be removed, can anyone help me? here are pics of the chip. http://img53.exs.cx/img53/3278/picture0017aq.jpg http://img53.exs.cx/img53/4411/picture0022xw.jpg http://img53.exs.cx/img53/9748/picture0034ek.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbi012 Posted December 23, 2004 Author Share Posted December 23, 2004 ok I just went to RadioShack and all they have is 5mm LEDs, which are abit bigger than what is there. Does anyone know the discription of the LED? There's nothing about it in the manual! I need to know how many MCD and volts I should get.. Thanks guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deer Killer Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 ok guys I need some help. I took out the one where the manual is but I think the led cannot be removed, can anyone help me? here are pics of the chip. Uh, you should learn to solder before attemping something like this... It sure is removable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustinw Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 There are different voltages and brightness of LEDs. I'd measure the voltage at the light when it's on so at least you can get the proper part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbi012 Posted December 23, 2004 Author Share Posted December 23, 2004 ok forget about the storage area, its just too much work for now, plus I have no tools to do it. Do you think the small storage's easier to install? I tried taking it out but I had no clue how to do it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonovUrbizniz Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 There are also gel caps that you can put over the stock ones to change the color of the light... it'll dim it a little but it doesn't require soldering nor is it permenant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAP Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 Gel caps will not change the color of an LED. LEDs are monochromatic light sources, so there are no "other colors" that can be filtered out. If you want a different color, you must get a different LED. The voltage on an LED is not really important (except when selecting the current limiting resistor), it is the current that is important. Usually LEDs run at 20 mA. but some times this can be too bright. A good place to get LEDs is digikey.com (they will have a larger selection than Radio Shack) LED stands for light emmitting DIODE. that diode bit is important since the led will only work if the polarity is correct. It is usually safe to plug them in backwards, they just won't light up that way. Most LEDs have a forward voltage somewhere between 0.7 and 2 V, but be carefull, blue & white LEDs may go as high as 4V (White LEDs are usually made using a blue LED and a phosphor that floresses yellow in blue light.) To set the current in an LED you need a current limiting resistor. The forward voltage on a diode is nearly independant of the current flowing through the diode, so if you hook a diode directly to the power supply, you will blow the diode. Putting a resistor in series with the diode will limit the current. For example: You wish to put a 20 mA current through a green LED with a 1.4V forward voltage, and your power supply is 12V. Starting with ohms law: V=IR (voltage equals current times resistance) we need to calculate R that will set the current to 20 mA. Since the resistor is in series with the diode, the diode will reduce the voltage on the resistor by its forward voltage drop, so V in our equation is 12 - 1.4 or 10.6V Since we now know V=10.6V and I=0.02A we can calculate R. R=V/I = 10.6/.02=530 ohms There is one more detail we need to worry about, power disapation in the resistor. Power in watts is voltage times current P=V*I or using ohms law again P=(V^2)/R or P=(I^2) *R So the power we will be disapating in the resistor is 0.02*0.02*530 = 0.212 W Resistors commonly come in 1/8 watt, 1/4 watt, 1/2 watt, and 1 watt sizes. .212 w is between 1/8 and 1/4 watts, so we need a 1/4 watt or larger resistor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbi012 Posted December 25, 2004 Author Share Posted December 25, 2004 Thats great information DAP, I'm abit confued about where should I connect the resistor? The chip is pretty small. btw, are you an electrical engineer ? thnx for the reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAP Posted December 26, 2004 Share Posted December 26, 2004 The resistor is in series with the LED, so the electricity must go through 1st the resistor, then the LED. There should already be a resistor built into the mount for the LED. I took that thing out and looked at it once, If I remember correctly, it was a through hole resistor. I think it was one of the old style with the value marked in a color code. 0 Black 1 Brown 2 red 3 orange 4 yellow 5 green 6 blue 7 violet 8 grey 9 white 10% silver 5% gold 20% No tolerence color Color 1 1st digit (x) color 2 2nd digit (y) color 3 multiplier (z) color 4 tolerence (W) So resistance is: (X*10 + y) * 10^Z So red red brown gold would be 220 ohms +- 5% The answer to your second question is yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plaz Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 I did the switch today using a 5mm blue LED from RadioShack (part #276-316). It looks much better than the yellow, IMHO. The 5mm LED is slightly larger than the stock one, but it fits just fine (snug) in the sleeve for it. The resistor already on the little board is 910 ohm. Power coming from the plug is 12V. The original LED circuit was drawing about 11mA. All I had to do was desolder the original LED and solder in the new one (observing correct polarity, of course). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbi012 Posted January 6, 2005 Author Share Posted January 6, 2005 hey plaz, thanks for the info, I tried looking for the part number you provided but couldnt, I guess they dont have it here in Canada. If you could check the link below and let me know which one fits my needs best (red not blue) I'd be very thankful. http://www.radioshack.ca/estore/SearchResults.aspx?language=en-CA&keywords=5mm+led&pagenum=0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plaz Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 For red, I'd probably go with part number 276-309 since it offers the most light out of the ones listed in the link and would work well with the existing circuit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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