LED Mod Thread

[Sparky]

Sort of both, on the underside of the hood, shining downward into the bay.

I also want to put two rows in the bed, one on each side, to light it up at night.

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

Did you read through my post earlier.

For the Door handle lights O want them powered through the perimeter lighting circuit only. I went through the wiring diagram, couldn't find anything there.

Any suggestions are appreciated

 

[Sparky]

I did, but I don't know the answer to that part, so I only answered what I did know.

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

I did, but I don't know the answer to that part, so I only answered what I did know.

No problem mate

 

[Blckshdw]

The perimeter lighting isn't 1 easy to tap signal. It's multiple commands from the BCM telling different lights when to turn on, at the same time. That's why everyone taps into the dome lights. That's the closest scenario.

For underhood lightning, I went with a tilt switch and a relay. That way the LEDs would come on when the hood was at a certain height. At the time I was under there frequently, and was always leaving the hood unlatched.

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

Hi everyone. Working on a top secret project right now! But I need some help on how to wire the LEDs on a bread board. Is it one resistor per led wired together in the end to one wire? Or am I missing something here?

Thanks

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

Well I did wire them all up as below



And only four of them light up



@Blckshdw any suggestions

Update: I reverse the polarity and six bulbs light up now, and when I change it again the four bulbs light up

 

[Sparky]

That means you have 6 wired in reverse. Flip 'em.

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

That means you have 6 wired in reverse. Flip 'em.

As in just switch the legs? I.e Wire the resistor on the other leg right. I knew LEDs had polarity but both legs on this were the same size

 

[Sparky]

It isn't the leg the resistor is on that matters so much, but the direction positive to negative on the LED itself. So what I'd do is leave the resistors where they are, and reverse just the LEDs themselves.

Oh, and insulate the wires around there, all it would take is the bare stuff to get bent and short something to cause one (or more) to not light up

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

It isn't the leg the resistor is on that matters so much, but the direction positive to negative on the LED itself. So what I'd do is leave the resistors where they are, and reverse just the LEDs themselves.

Oh, and insulate the wires around there, all it would take is the bare stuff to get bent and short something to cause one (or more) to not light up

Right. I meant the same thing. Just didn't word it right .

Well for the first LED mod I guess it went quite well. Will reveal where it goes when I'm done with it

 

[Mounce]

New front turns in the TB. 2835 chips, I'm starting to prefer them over 5630's. This is my third set of bulbs (one SB, one 194 for the corners which have been in since I got the new headlights, and now these) that I've gotten with those chips and I'm liking them.

New on right, year old 5630's on left.

I'm standing more in the path of the new one than the old but you get the point. Next pic is standing in same spot with both of the new bulbs in.

 

[dmanns67]

New front turns in the TB. 2835 chips, I'm starting to prefer them over 5630's. This is my third set of bulbs (one SB, one 194 for the corners which have been in since I got the new headlights, and now these) that I've gotten with those chips and I'm liking them.

New on right, year old 5630's on left.

I'm standing more in the path of the new one than the old but you get the point. Next pic is standing in same spot with both of the new bulbs in.

I am quite amazed at how bright the 2835s are compared to the 5630s. I guess being a smaller chip you can fit more onto the bulb and in turn, produces more lumens. Huge difference though

 

[Mounce]

Not so much that, I think the chips are actually brighter.

33 5630's vs 39 2835's. Not as if there's dozens more, just a few more.

 

[Grimor]

Well, the Low on one of my JW Speaker headlights has died. Maybe 400 miles installed, less than an hour of run time. Their support/warranty is crap. I should of just went with the knock offs. Never even took em off road.

 

[Blckshdw]

Well, the Low on one of my JW Speaker headlights has died. Maybe 400 miles installed, less than an hour of run time. Their support/warranty is crap. I should of just went with the knock offs. Never even took em off road.

I would be mad as hell!! Any idea which component has failed? Hopefully it's something like a bad solder joint and something became disconnected that you could somewhat easily fix.

 

[Grimor]

I would be mad as hell!! Any idea which component has failed? Hopefully it's something like a bad solder joint and something became disconnected that you could somewhat easily fix.

it's internal, and the unit is pretty well sealed. Have to decide if I want to just run em as highs only or try to bust em open and try to fix. The highs ardent super great. the lows were nice with a sharp cutoff and was nice to drive in traffic without blinding the guy in front of me with the stock lights being higher. Can't do anything for a while, recovering from surgery now.

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

Well my first Led Mod is finished. As promised here it is :

I took a piece of bread board. Cut it to the dimensions of the side view mirror then signal lens. And went on to add leds to the bottom of the board. I didn't realize until I tried it out the first time that it isn't going to look good due to two reasons:

1. Blue Leds in an Amber Lens

2. They will all be pointing downwards

I still went with it had a hiccup when six of the Leds were the other way around, changed them pit it all together. Went to test on my car with the bare wires and I turned the left turn signal and no light on the IC either. Thanks to the teachings of GMTNation I knew not to panic and knew I'd blown a fuse. Didn't have any spare fuses' but luckily my dads Yukon has a few spares. Grabbed a 10 Amp fuse to replace no. 38 in the rear fuse box. Added an extra connector to the bread board and wired it all up. I am going to take it out again and start working ok version 2.0 soon



Also figured out how to remove the reading lamp housing so hoping to get the foot well lighting done soon as well

 

[jsheahawk]

The bug has truly bitten you, K.

 

[Blckshdw]

@$ Khalid ! 9130, this goes back to what we were talking about before with the length of the LED legs. If you want to have them shine outwards, rather than downwards, you'd need to have them up off the board a little bit, so you can bend the legs and "lay them down on their sides".

I know you didn't trim everything on the backside of the board, so maybe you can make adjustments, get a little bit of slack for your LEDs and tweak them a bit?

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

@$ Khalid ! 9130, this goes back to what we were talking about before with the length of the LED legs. If you want to have them shine outwards, rather than downwards, you'd need to have them up off the board a little bit, so you can bend the legs and "lay them down on their sides".

I know you didn't trim everything on the backside of the board, so maybe you can make adjustments, get a little bit of slack for your LEDs and tweak them a bit?

Yeah. I also realized after I tore it all apart that I could've placed it the other way around. However I am waiting till the next weekend to get some white leds. Then I'll give the side view mirror lens another go

Well I started my second Led Mod. Got the reading lamp housing off. Cut two pieces of bread boards. Nine Leds on each. Finished with one of them so far. Pictures are below:



Hope to get them done by tonight

 

[Blckshdw]

So much unused space!!

If you listen close enough, you can hear the boards telling you "More LEDs please! More is better!"

Looks like you're off to a great start. Great potential, your LED mod bug has.

 

[DAlastDON]

To diffuse the light from the LED, without diffusing paper, and make the hot spots on the lens less noticeable. Could a file or sandpaper be used to scuff the tip of the LED?

With some planning, using the copper side of the bread board for soldering, you could fit alot more LED's. The board you are using looks like horizontal row are all connected. Utilize the copper rows and use one for +12v on anode side of the LED. Use the next row for the cathode and to join it with the series resistor to goto another row that has your ground. The resistors and LEDs will be on the same side but i doubt they will be visible through the lens. If they are then just tape the LEDs off and paint the board and resistors.

@$ Khalid ! 9130
@Blckshdw LED Whore

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

So much unused space!!

If you listen close enough, you can hear the boards telling you "More LEDs please! More is better!"

Looks like you're off to a great start. Great potential, your LED mod bug has.

I am humbled. I put few Leds intentionally So that I could get two boards to replace the front two reading lamps. Then get more and do the rest. But as always with Led mods, took it to the car to test. Blew another fuse

To diffuse the light from the LED, without diffusing paper, and make the hot spots on the lens less noticeable. Could a file or sandpaper be used to scuff the tip of the LED?

With some planning, using the copper side of the bread board for soldering, you could fit alot more LED's. The board you are using looks like horizontal row are all connected. Utilize the copper rows and use one for +12v on anode side of the LED. Use the next row for the cathode and to join it with the series resistor to goto another row that has your ground. The resistors and LEDs will be on the same side but i doubt they will be visible through the lens. If they are then just tape the LEDs off and paint the board and resistors.

@$ Khalid ! 9130
@Blckshdw LED Whore

I am going to have to read though that a couple if times to get what you're trying to say

 

[stickypoop]

using the copper side of the bread board for soldering

I think he'll find it much easier to solder as well, since he'll be able to do a proper through-hole joint

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

Ok I went through the fuse box diagrams. Can't find the fuse for the interior lights. Anyone which one it is? I'm done with both boards for the lights. Can't install them until I get the fuse replaced

 

[Blckshdw]

Can't find the fuse for the interior lights. Anyone which one it is?

It's either TBC3 or TBC4. Can't remember off hand, I always get them confused, so I pull one and see which one cuts off the lights.

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

It's either TBC3 or TBC4. Can't remember off hand, I always get them confused, so I pull one and see which one cuts off the lights.

Thanks a bunch. Now to go buy a pack of fuses so that I may keep on Leding

 

[Blckshdw]

You may want to press the dome light override button on the headlight switch module before messing with your lights. I remember popping a few fuses myself when I used to swap those out. Then after you get everything plugged in, hit it again to turn the lights back on.

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

Well I have been quite inactive recently due to problems with my internet connection. Anyho today I got myself one meter of white Led Strip.

Aaaaaa.... I'll let the pictures speak for themselves

Sorry pics are not uploading will try again later but in a nutshell I put them in the side view mirror turn signals. Turned out really good. Stay tuned

 

[Blckshdw]

Finally did some dabbling with some new LEDs. Got these from Amazon, with the intention of using them in the steering wheel buttons, since room is quite limited.

Partsam 10x Bright Blue T4.7 3-SMD 3014 Led Light

The size is just right, for the DIC buttons, there's a hole in the PCB and the bulbs are rear mounted. The legs are at the perfect width to insert through the hole for soldering, and sit nearly flush on the front side of the board.

The radio control buttons are top mounted, so they are mounted like most of the other circuit board mods.

The blue rubber contact pads will need to be modded, as they have a built in cover for the filament bulbs. Xacto knife made quick work of those on the radio buttons. Just follow the inside of the rectangle that's molded in. For the DIC buttons, a little more pain staking, with more trial and error until the pad would sit fairly flush.

Here's a test pic at 7V, they are very bright

Got them installed, and you can see they are much brighter than the 5mm flat tops and 470 ohm resistors in the cluster. Also one of my speedo LEDs is starting to fail, but don't mind that

One problem I did run into, is that you can't be heavy handed with the soldering iron. In one case, I may have been using the wrong tip, but one of the legs just wouldn't solder to the pad like the others. So I held the iron in place a little bit longer than normal. The leg stuck to the pad, but the other end desoldered from the LED's PCB! I was able to get it back on, but I don't know how secure, so I didn't use that one.

I am seriously considering buying more, and dumping the rest of the Ebay specials in the EXT, as there are a few that have died and need to be replaced.

 

[Capote]

Finally did some dabbling with some new LEDs. Got these from Amazon, with the intention of using them in the steering wheel buttons, since room is quite limited.

Partsam 10x Bright Blue T4.7 3-SMD 3014 Led Light

The size is just right, for the DIC buttons, there's a hole in the PCB and the bulbs are rear mounted. The legs are at the perfect width to insert through the hole for soldering, and sit nearly flush on the front side of the board.

The radio control buttons are top mounted, so they are mounted like most of the other circuit board mods.

The blue rubber contact pads will need to be modded, as they have a built in cover for the filament bulbs. Xacto knife made quick work of those on the radio buttons. Just follow the inside of the rectangle that's molded in. For the DIC buttons, a little more pain staking, with more trial and error until the pad would sit fairly flush.

Here's a test pic at 7V, they are very bright

Got them installed, and you can see they are much brighter than the 5mm flat tops and 470 ohm resistors in the cluster. Also one of my speedo LEDs is starting to fail, but don't mind that

One problem I did run into, is that you can't be heavy handed with the soldering iron. In one case, I may have been using the wrong tip, but one of the legs just wouldn't solder to the pad like the others. So I held the iron in place a little bit longer than normal. The leg stuck to the pad, but the other end desoldered from the LED's PCB! I was able to get it back on, but I don't know how secure, so I didn't use that one.

I am seriously considering buying more, and dumping the rest of the Ebay specials in the EXT, as there are a few that have died and need to be replaced.

Digging those lil LED's man. It's been a minute since I've had to needed to solder anything. I miss it lol. Too bad I live even farther away now or else i'd come by and see the rig.

 

[richphotos]

Nice, Those are the same I was looking at for replacing the instrument cluster ect with, since they have the resistor already wired on the PCB.

Good to know they work and are apparently extremely bright.

 

[Blckshdw]

Digging those lil LED's man. It's been a minute since I've had to needed to solder anything. I miss it lol. Too bad I live even farther away now or else i'd come by and see the rig.

Although I've only had them for a few hours, I am impressed with them. We'll see how they are with longevity. I think this will be my go-to recommendation for noobs wanting to do LED mods but not knowing enough (or being too lazy) to work out the resistor calculations.

Nice, Those are the same I was looking at for replacing the instrument cluster ect with, since they have the resistor already wired on the PCB.

Good to know they work and are apparently extremely bright.

I think @AzTruckGuy used them in his cluster recently I think if I went with these in my cluster, I'd probably have to hit the dimmer knob a bit. At least with the steering wheel, it's further outside of my line of sight.

 

[richphotos]

I wonder how other colors would be in terms of brightness. The lady really wants purple in the cluster/buttons so I wonder how that will stack up.I guess we will find out at some point here.

I do really like the idea of the resistor already being built into the board, if they could just have one LED chip on there instead of 3.

 

[Blckshdw]

I think someone went with the UV LEDs before. Obviously it's not gonna be as bright as most other colors. I think red and UV are the ones with the least amount of usable light. But as bright as these are, that might not be an issue.

 

[AzTruckGuy]

Yup I used those in my cluster, I have them full on no dimming the light, I just like the bright color so much, finishing the turn signal lights today since I received my colored film to cover the analog green light in the mileage & P/R/D indictors.

I plan on ordering more doing the whole inside, well as much as I can. Been searching the board and I cant seem to get, how leds some switches take?

Headlight switch 3
4x4 switch 3
rear wiper 3
manual ac/heater unit ?
Overheard console 3?
Drivers power windows unit?
Passenger power window unit?
Rear drivers power window unit?
Rear passenger power window unit?

 

[Blckshdw]

I plan on ordering more doing the whole inside, well as much as I can. Been searching the board and I cant seem to get, how leds some switches take?

Page 1 is a good place to start. For the door switches, you want 1 LED per button.

 

[AzTruckGuy]

Page 1 is a good place to start. For the door switches, you want 1 LED per button.

So 10 for the door switches I see myself buying 30 leds to do whats left over for the other switches.
I bought plug and ply leds for the interior bulbs and they look good





I am going to have to take off the blue leds around the license plate since its against the law, the trailblazer not running at the moment so I just wanted to see what they looked like


I will have 6 left over led bulbs 2 plug ins for interior door overhead/license plate

and these since I don't have a overhead console with lights


Anyway to use the above leds in other areas?

Did you ever figure out your led light set up on the front? I really like the look of this and would like to do this also, but don't want to redo it 6 months down the road. You put those on the outside of the housing right?

 

[Blckshdw]

So 10 for the door switches

It's been so long, I almost forgot a little reminder... If you looked at the polarity assignment pics for the front door modules, you'll notice the driver's side has only 2 stock lights, and the passenger side has only 1. There's a clear acrylic diffuser plate with a hole in it, which the bulb sits in, that distributes the light to the buttons. Since LEDs don't emit light from the sides, it won't work, which is why you need an LED per button. You will have to get creative with how you get the LEDs in place, and held in place. Some have used electrical tape, others hot glue. I kept the acrylic plate, drilled holes slightly larger than the 5mm LED to fit it through. It's not an easy mod for a beginner, so I'd recommend doing that one last.

and these since I don't have a overhead console with lights

Anyway to use the above leds in other areas?

Only the cargo light uses festoon bulbs, if you wanted to use those elsewhere, you'd have to add a socket. You could maybe buy 4 festoon sockets, mount them under the dash, and under the front seats, then wire them up as footwell lighting maybe? That would also allow you to tilt the LEDs to aim the focus of light where you wanted it too.

Did you ever figure out your led light set up on the front? I really like the look of this and would like to do this also, but don't want to redo it 6 months down the road. You put those on the outside of the housing right?

There was nothing wrong with the setup, the quality of the product used was the issue. I did that mod over 6 years ago, so I'm sure any side firing LED strips being sold today are better quality than the ones from back then. And yes, those were stuck to the outside of the headlight with double sided mounting tape.