getting ready to do my climate control Options

[Zimluura]

i'm getting ready to do my climate control in blue leds.

i'm thinking that for *each* of the 3 special toyota bulbs in the unit i can maybe put in 3 leds in a series cluster with a resistor (so 9x 5mm leds providing backlighting and 9x 3mm leds for each active button indicator). does anyone know what voltage those special bulbs normally get. i'm sorta assuming 12v is safe (though my voltmet4er says my cig lighter is 14v).

at 12v my resistor calculations...
http://metku.net/index.html?sect=view&n=1&...dcalc/index_eng
...are telling me a 68ohm resistor for each cluster is the way to go.

i've got a little bit of experience with electronics. but mostly just replacing leds that are already in there. does this raise any red flags for anyone? does it sound like a good idea (to improve light dispersion)?

also i don't know much about power ratings, but i'm assuming that everything is fine if the power rating of the resistor is greater that what the led calculator says the circuit requires. can anyone tell me if this is an accurate assumption?

thanks in advance

[Zimluura]

whew, what a night. swapping the leds was easy, but i did that a week ago. getting the back-lighting close to correct was a total killer. we shorted out one of the lines because of a slip with a voltmeter. so then we repaired it, and fumbled around with thc3 leds and massive 1watt resistors, which didn't work well.

ended up using just one of the light sockets as solder pads, hooking up a 68ohm,0.25W resistor in series with 3x 5mm blue leds. and just aranged them the way the bulbs were. looks pretty good, all told. check my profile for a pic of the whole dash. the ac (and of course rear-window defrost) don't have illuminated labels.

i've become a master at getting the climate control unit out of the car. and i have tons of photos. thinking about trying to put together an html howto, just on getting it out of the car. 'cause after that the correct course of action varies with your preference.