Led dash lights

AzTruckGuy

AzTruckGuy

Member
Dec 1, 2015
501
scottsdale, az
So while I ordering all the fluids for the Trailblazer I picked up these LED dash lights https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XPCY4V6/?tag=gmtnation-20

I did not get any stepper motors just the led lights

been looking at this video
to get a clearer picture of what is involved in just replacing the lights only. The leds that I got do not have resistors, will that be an issue? That guy seems to solder his LEDS to all 4 spots per light, wondering if that really has to be done? I know I would have to test the Leds for positive and negative and the video shows how to do that.

So has anything changed since the LED mode thread was created 5 years ago? I have read some of the thread and its very long, I am wondering if there are plug and go bulbs now? for the inside lights, upper console lights or does everything have to soldered to the circuit boards still?
 
:confused: Our platform has been out of production for quite a few years now, not gonna find any changes from OEM unless your mod bug makes them. The only modules that have twist lock bulbs that I remember, are the front door modules (not condusive to single LED replacement due to the clear acrylic diffuser inside made for filament bulbs) and the rear HVAC module. Everything else is soldered in place to a circuit board.

When you desolder the cluster bulbs, you'll notice only 2 of the contacts are soldered, not all 4. Those LEDs do have resistors, soldered to the back of the mini PCB. I looked at getting them for some mods myself. :twocents:
 
Blckshdw said:
:confused: Our platform has been out of production for quite a few years now, not gonna find any changes from OEM unless your mod bug makes them. The only modules that have twist lock bulbs that I remember, are the front door modules (not condusive to single LED replacement due to the clear acrylic diffuser inside made for filament bulbs) and the rear HVAC module. Everything else is soldered in place to a circuit board.

When you desolder the cluster bulbs, you'll notice only 2 of the contacts are soldered, not all 4. Those LEDs do have resistors, soldered to the back of the mini PCB. I looked at getting them for some mods myself. :twocents:
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I meant items like this? or is it just crap? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NB8TLNA/?tag=gmtnation-20

Thanks for the tip, I will use it when I work on the dash over the weekend
 
AzTruckGuy said:
I meant items like this? or is it just crap?
Click to expand...
There's really nothing to "plug into" for a plug n play bulb. Our bulbs in the speedo are connected via solder joints not sockets. I know Fords have the socket style in their clusters but we aren't so lucky.

If you are unwilling to do the tedious soldering work, what you can do is get an LED strip from eBay and line the border of the cluster behind the facia with it. I've seen it done before and guys just utilize one of the contacts for the OEM bulbs. Easy and bright.

No matter what, you'll have to break out the soldering gun, unfortunately.
 
AzTruckGuy said:
I meant items like this? or is it just crap? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NB8TLNA/?tag=gmtnation-20

Thanks for the tip, I will use it when I work on the dash over the weekend
Click to expand...

The interior lights can be replaced with LEDs, all plug and play. The license plate lights, reverse lights, mirror turn signals, vanity lights, and front side marker lights are all LED plug and play as well.

The front main turn signals and rear turn signals are plug and play for LEDs, but you will need a resistor spliced in to prevent hyper flash.

Honestly, its cheaper to buy the LED base number that you need separately versus buying a "kit".
 
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SnowBlazer said:
There's really nothing to "plug into" for a plug n play bulb. Our bulbs in the speedo are connected via solder joints not sockets. I know Fords have the socket style in their clusters but we aren't so lucky.

If you are unwilling to do the tedious soldering work, what you can do is get an LED strip from eBay and line the border of the cluster behind the facia with it. I've seen it done before and guys just utilize one of the contacts for the OEM bulbs. Easy and bright.

No matter what, you'll have to break out the soldering gun, unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Who said I was unwilling? I'm doing my dash for leds and that's why I am asking questions on them....

dmanns67 said:
The interior lights can be replaced with LEDs, all plug and play. The license plate lights, reverse lights, mirror turn signals, vanity lights, and front side marker lights are all LED plug and play as well.

The front main turn signals and rear turn signals are plug and play for LEDs, but you will need a resistor spliced in to prevent hyper flash.

Honestly, its cheaper to buy the LED base number that you need separately versus buying a "kit".
Click to expand...

Thanks I am just looking to do the interior lights not go crazy with all the mods just simple plug and play will work for me
 
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AzTruckGuy said:
Thanks I am just looking to do the interior lights not go crazy with all the mods just simple plug and play will work for me
Click to expand...

Trust me, once you do the interior light LED conversion, it will not be long until you want all of the exterior lights changed out for LEDs. Splicing in a 6ohm 50w resistor into the turn signals is pretty simple. If you can handle doing a LED conversion on the cluster, everything else is a piece of cake :yes:
 
AzTruckGuy said:
So has anything changed since the LED mode thread was created 5 years ago?
Click to expand...

For the cluster mod check out some of the posts by midnightrider and mrphoenix in that thread. Those guys inspired me to take mine apart again and make it better. If I had to do it all again I would have used the smd led strips that snowblazer mentioned from the start.
 
So for some reason I lost my pictures that I had when I changed my cluster lights to LED. I wanted mine blue so I just went on to ebay and found 12v led lights that way I didn't need any resistors to hook up with it. I think it was these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/25x12v-Clus...evy-/291156951936?vxp=mtr&hash=item43ca4e8380 I initially bought bright blue LEDs and resistors, but decided to go with these. the light output is good but I do notice some parts of the cluster are more lit up at night and others are darker. You can see all the cluster and its bright enough where it doesn't hurt my eyes driving at night. I don't even notice the difference unless I try to look for it. Maybe an LED strip would have been better? The worst part was getting the polarity right with the LEDs. I think if I remember right, most of them were the same maybe except for two or three, so all you have to do is find out the one and go from there. I would then hook it up and find the ones that are bad and de-solder them and fix it. I would recommend changing stepper motor too, I didn't do mine but they are right there.
 
I didn't change out my stepper motors and it was easy checking the polarity of the leds I got, I am now in LED mode I want to do everything that lights up now, the bug has me. Some areas may seem lighter than others, don't care it looks better. I also ended up taking off the plastic glass around the dash, it was scratched up in places

Leds.jpg
 
AzTruckGuy said:
I didn't change out my stepper motors and it was easy checking the polarity of the leds I got, I am now in LED mode I want to do everything that lights up now, the bug has me. Some areas may seem lighter than others, don't care it looks better. I also ended up taking off the plastic glass around the dash, it was scratched up in places

View attachment 77861
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If you ever decide to change the LEDs in the future, do two LED strips instead, no hot spots at all.
 
AzTruckGuy said:
Not mine it was glued on, so I had to break it off. I made sure to take off all the plastic glass around the edge of the dash, when you put the dash cover back on, it conceals the edges.
Click to expand...
Hmm, strange I've never seen one glued on.
 
Capote said:
If you ever decide to change the LEDs in the future, do two LED strips instead, no hot spots at all.
Click to expand...

I dont mind hot spots they don't bother me it looks 100% better now but I have 2 Led left over and I was going to do the turn signals but I wanted to ask to see if they are the same way to change them out too? Also I hate the green analog parking indicators and mileage read outs, how would one change that out to a led?

IMG_2074.JPG
 
AzTruckGuy said:
I dont mind hot spots they don't bother me it looks 100% better now but I have 2 Led left over and I was going to do the turn signals but I wanted to ask to see if they are the same way to change them out too? Also I hate the green analog parking indicators and mileage read outs, how would one change that out to a led?

View attachment 77869
Click to expand...
Yeah it'd change out in the same fashion as you did the other LED's.
There's not a way to change the analog readout unfortunately.
 
Capote said:
Hmm, strange I've never seen one glued on.
Click to expand...

I was cleaning the plastic glass and I didn't notice any bolts on mine, it was glued on to the dash board. So I said to hell with this plastic crap and tore it apart ha ha

Capote said:
Yeah it'd change out in the same fashion as you did the other LED's.
There's not a way to change the analog readout unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Thanks I will do that tomorrow, oh man that damn ugly green analog just ruins the vibe of the blue leds
 
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AzTruckGuy said:
Thanks I will do that tomorrow, oh man that damn ugly green analog just ruins the vibe of the blue leds
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No problem, yeah it's too bad
 
redline customs said:
^^^ I hate it too, but imma be changing mine to green so I think it would be pretty close.
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Old pic, 6300 miles old lol. It's a lot more vivid than this, my phone couldn't capture the Green's actual color.
IMG_20150913_211255.jpg
 
There are very small bulbs for the green analog parts, but those parts look complicated to even touch, I'm surprised no board member has figured it out. Theres some great peeps on the board

Capote said:
Old pic, 6300 miles old lol. It's a lot more vivid than this, my phone couldn't capture the Green's actual color.
View attachment 77870
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That green looks great bit again the green analog ruins the vibe, it just reminds of a old 80s vehicle :mad:
 
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Wow lol. Green bulbs and the analogs blue. Blue bulbs and the analogs green. No way to win on this. Honestly I would probably just disconnect this or move it so it can be seen, just not right there in the middle of everything
 
Disconnect the analog DIC...? It's part of the board.
 
redline customs said:
That sucks. I thought they were removable? I've seen a car at a show that had the odo in the overhead console. Figured it could be done to any car
Click to expand...
Was it a vehicle that had like old school odometers that had cables? My 84 Cutlass is like that.
 
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AzTruckGuy said:
I dont mind hot spots they don't bother me it looks 100% better now but I have 2 Led left over and I was going to do the turn signals but I wanted to ask to see if they are the same way to change them out too? Also I hate the green analog parking indicators and mileage read outs, how would one change that out to a led?

View attachment 77869
Click to expand...

The only way to change the color is to use a magenta filter. It will make it blue but it will also mke it dimmer in the day. I tried it with the radio and didn't like how dim it was during the day.
 
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