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]

if you just do the 3x backlight then the indicators will remain green. each indicator is just an led. it's pretty easy to desolder the old ones and solder in new ones. it's nice to have a friend with pliers around for de-soldering things. red will be just as easy as blue, purple is the only hard color.

and remember, when doing *anything* with leds, if at first it doesn't light, turn it around and try again.

however, that rule is impractical for solder operations. so take a look at the +/- position of each led (inside the lens, the part that hangs over is the cathode or minus side). draw a quick diagram of the +/- orientation of the original leds, and then solder in the new ones the same way around.

[6strngs]

if you just do the 3x backlight then the indicators will remain green. each indicator is just an led. it's pretty easy to desolder the old ones and solder in new ones. it's nice to have a friend with pliers around for de-soldering things. red will be just as easy as blue, purple is the only hard color.

and remember, when doing *anything* with leds, if at first it doesn't light, turn it around and try again.

however, that rule is impractical for solder operations. so take a look at the +/- position of each led (inside the lens, the part that hangs over is the cathode or minus side). draw a quick diagram of the +/- orientation of the original leds, and then solder in the new ones the same way around.

I'm sorry, I was backwards, I thought that those 10mm neo-wedge bulbs you were talking about were for the indicators and the 74's for the backlight... after looking over your how-to a little more, I realize that the indicators are just 3mm LED's and that backlights are the 74's, but the neo-wedge bulbs *may* fit.

so let's see if I've got this straight:

For the climate control I need: 8 3mm LED's, 3 #74's OR 3 10mm neo-wedge bulbs (for the #74's, do you think the triple LED one would look better or the same as the single?)

For the gauges: nothing, those reverse glow gauges are painted to light up the same color no matter what color light is behind them. But, could do three 194's for the needles. (I've changed my mind about changing the color of the fuel light and cruise control light and all that... sounds like too much work for lights that are barely ever on...)

For the ring around the key hole: 1 #74

For the little light inside the window roll-down switch: 1 3mm(?) LED (2500-3500MCD-ish (?) would that be dim enough to not be blinding/annoying like the 5000MCD?)

so my parts list is something like:
4 #74's
3 #194's
9 3mm LED's
3 10mm neo-wedge LED's

correct? (I'll get the neo wedge bulbs to see if they fit, or maybe I'll just get one, then if it fits get two more.)