Taking the car for a spin tonight, I noticed a few bulbs inside were no longer functioning (shifter light, fan/temp controls, & ash tray). After a bit of reading, the amount of work going into replacing some of these will basically get me within easy access to every bulb in the dash. If I am going in deep, why not just replace everything, and replace it with something not likely to burn out any time soon?

A bit more digging and research, and it looks like it will cost me about $25 to replace every bulb in interior (dash, console, instrument cluster, map lights, dome lights, courtesy lights, shifter light, ash tray, and cigarette lighter). I have some LEDs left over from the conversion of my VWs I'll do some test fits with to make sure, but I do have a question or two for anyone that has done the LED converison.

Does the dimmer switch for the dash lights still work, or does it become just an ornament on the dash? Also, does the flasher relay get pissy when you convert the indicators in the cluster?

Thanks all!


-------------------------
96 Accord EX 4dr

 

dimmer switch will still work.. make sure you either get 12 volt LEDs or 3.6 volt LEDs with 470 rated resistors... the 12 volt LED ones are more expensive but well worth it.. to hook up the resistors to the LED to make it handle the 12 volts just takes up too much space.. stock are 3mm 12volt LEDs.. i suggest getting the same voltage and size to fit the holder

 

I'm going LED all over. There are some nifty ones here: http://www.superbrightleds.com/

As far as the relay is concerned, you shouldn't have any issues unless you replace the actual turn signal bulb.

StevePhy

 

Thanks guys!

Superbrightleds.com is where I was planning to purchase from as they have given me good service before. I have some T1.5 LEDs from themalready, which appear to have the same bulb holder as the stock Honda. I'm going to test fit one today. Hopefully it's good so I don't *need* to solder anywhere but the climate control.

Here is my list of bits:
Sunroof - T1.5 $1.79
Cruise - T1.5 $1.79
Dimmer - T1.5 $1.79
Climate Control - RL5-B2545 (x8) $.72
Defroster - T1.5 $1.79
Dash blinkers - WLED-B (x2) ? $1.49ea
Shifter - 74 - $1.19
Ash Tray - 74 - $1.19
Lighter - 74 - $1.19
Door - 3022 (x2) - $1.89
Dome - 3022 - $1.89
Map - 3022 - $1.89
Trunk - 3022 (4led) - $1.89

 

Okay, time for a rethink. I took too white T1.5s I had left over and attacked the sunroof and cruise control panel. To my dismay, the original bulb holders were MUCH smaller than the T1.5 bulb holders. Looking over on Superbrightleds.com, even the smallest twist locks they offer are too big. Instead of being defeated, I got a little creative. First, I removed the 74 LED bulb from the LED holder. Then I unbent the leads for the LED that wrapped around the wedge shaped plastic. Next, I removed all the wedge plastic from around the bulb, exposing the built in resistors. This gave me enough lead length to feed the LED w/resistors into the original bulb holder and then wrap the leads around the edge of the holder like the original bulb. And the verdict? It worked perfectly and the color was just what I was hoping for. For good measure, I took apart the whole sunroof/cruise panel and cleaned out a good amount of filth that had built up.

Looking over the parts list, I think I will change the T1.5s to straight 74s. While I'll still have to trim the plastic, I won't have to worry about damaging the original holder by trying to solder resistors inline.

 

Just thought I would show off my work. Kinda...crappy pic in the dark, but you can see the original color (dash gauges) and the new color (cruise and sun rood buttons)