Interior lights, which bulbs? Options

[6strngs]

ok, I changed my clock to blue today following the how-to and using a folder divider-tab thing! woot! but now I want to change the rest of my interior lights to blue now as well! for the gauge cluster, I'll be getting some reverse-glow gauges (probably these) and I'd like my mph to be blue, the kph to be red, the needles to be red, the milage and trip odometer blue, turn signal lights blue. as far as I know, all other cluster lights (brake, oil, airbag, battery, seatbelt, etc.) are red so they can stay the same, except the fuel light, so I'd like to make that red as well. (blue highbeam light can remain blue)

I want to make the light in the driver's side window switch blue.

I want to make the light around the ignition blue.

for my climate control, I'd like all the regular lights blue, and the lights that are in the little squares that light up when the button is pressed to be red.

I'd also like the light above the rear view mirror that comes on when the doors open to be blue.

ANYWAY!!!!!!!! My question is, what bulbs do I need? I know most are 194 and 74. But the thing I really would like to know, is how many of each to complete all this? also, I'd like to know the recommended brightness (for the bulbs that are available in different brightnesses) For the dome light, I'd like it to be just as bright as the stock light, so I dunno if I can do that with LED lights, or if I could find a regular light bulb in blue. For the ring around the ignition, I'd like to be as close to the stock brightness as possible, maybe a little brighter. For the window switch, I want it brighter than stock. In the celicatech how-to the guy used a 5000MCD so I think that's what I'll be going with. For climate control and gauges cluster, I dunno, I want them to be nice and bright but not annoying when driving at night, so probably pretty close to stock brightness.

now before you yell at me, yes, I did look in the sticky, but some of the links are dead, and some aren't really how-to's so much as "hey, look what I did." so I came up with as much info as I could. I mostly want to know how many of each bulb I'll need so I can order the correct amount.

This post has been edited by 6strngs: Oct 24, 2006 - 11:58 PM

[Zimluura]

drivers side window switch
flathead screwdriver w/ taped off head (so you don't scuff things) pry out the whole unit, unplug wiring harness, take it inside, disassemble it, and solder in a 3mm led (lsdiodes.com). it will probably have to be bent around so it's not facing directly out 'cause it'll likely be much brighter than the stock one. you could get a lower mcd led too. i know bright is what you want, but it was right there in my peripheral vision and crazy bright, so i bent it. best bet, install it, then tune it.

ignition ring
get a num74 led bulb fabrication (superlumination.com), you'll have to file down the sides a little bit, but then you're good. take off the plastic panel around your steering wheel (just pull but watch to unplug the dimmer wire which will tether it to the rest of the car). this is where i start to lose memory a little...then i think there's a screw or two around the ignition clear plastic, you take them off and get access to the bulb. you don't have to play with taking the actual ignition out.

climate control
this site has a good howto on getting into it. if that doesn't work for you, i have a really big one (1MB) that i can email you. after that you'll need a 3mm led for each button indicator (excepting the rear defrost which is an animal i haven't tackled yet). and you can do the backlight any number of ways. these might be neo-wedge bulbs which are on the same page of superlumination as the num74 ones. but no-one has ordered them to confirm. iirc the stock toyota bulb was listed as a 9.5mm and the neo wedge is listed as 10mm, and looks very similar. might be worth a try, if not you can certainly wire a num74 led fab into the twist base that the stock bulbs use. there are 3 bulb sockets on the cc-unit that are used for back-lighting, you can do that with 3 led fabrications. or you might try to use several separate led circuits, in which case you've got lots and lots of options for doing it.

dome light
this is a ba9s bulb, quite possibly more than one. i have a liftback w/ moonroof, i only have one. i've never found a good led fabrication that will cast light where i want it. leds are more directed that incandescent bulbs so it does no good to have 3/4 of the leds on the bulb facing into the housing.

here's a funny little story
i took a ba9s base (from a led fab i bought), stuck a circuit board in there and wired up 3x thc3 leds from lsdiodes and a resistor. all 3 leds were facing down. i did it in white, and when i showed it off it was crazy bright. the resistor however, was a .25 watt one, and couldn't handle the heat, so the light would go out, then come back on, then go out, then back on. ended up using lower powered leds (from the same place) and a .25watt, 68ohm resistor. this has worked pretty well. though doing this kinda thing is sorta iffy 'cause this socket's voltage is 12 on battery and up around 14 on alternator.