Climate Control (yet again, I know) Options

[Kasper]

I've finally decided to change the lights in my CC unit, so I get on here and remember seeing posts about this in the past. It seems now that I can't really find anything useful on this topic anymore. All I can find is people saying, " No it's not #74 led, it might be 10mm, but I'm not sure if that will work." So what am I supposed to do? I don't want to buy led's if no one knows whether they'll work or not. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Zimluura]

hehe, i'm the one that's always saying i'm not sure if the 10mm ones will work. and in work, i mean fit the cc-unit's sockets perfectly. i have a spare toyota bulb and a 10mm led and they look the same. but i haven't had cause to remove my cc-unit again to make sure, maybe when the weather gets more moderate. when i did my cc-unit the 10mm leds were't available.

moving on - the only possible prefabricated led that will fit the cc-unit's back-lighting is the 10mm. when i did mine i inserted num74 led electronics into a bored out toyota bulb-base. other people have soldered leds and resistors onto their cc-unit's circuit-board. and others have used color filters with the original bulbs (first removing the green condoms) to get the color they want.

when next i take out my cc-unit i'll give the 10mm led a shot to see if it fits perfectly, and if so see if it lights up things as well as the hack-job num74 leds i have in there now. but in any case i think the next thing i'll try is to put smt-tower num194 leds into the toyota bases i have. that could make it light up really bright.

i have a big (like 1mb) html guide i wrote to the cc-unit mod that i can send you if you like, just pm me your email address. for a month i was taking it out and disassembling it so much that i wanted to write down all my notes in case i needed to do it later.

good luck

[Kasper]

That would be great actually. I've been wanting to do this for awhile now, but never got myself to actually look into it. I remembered reading how some people just replaced their current bulbs, so that's what I was looking for now. But all I found was topics on wiring a new circuit board in the cc-unit, which I would prefer not to do. Anyways I'm sending my email to you for that guide thing. Thanks

[Jlacker3]

I had this problem too. I finally just bought a replacement bulb from my local Toyota dealership. It was 12 bucks I think. All 3 of my CC bulbs I colored in red permanent marker...which I did with everything else besides my gauge cluster which I found 94 red bulbs at Autozone. I love how my CC turned out, and I know everyone asks for pics, but I tried to take pics and the outcome sucked b/c my camera does. It just wouldn't do justice to put them on here. Hope that helps!

[Kasper]

hehe, i'm the one that's always saying i'm not sure if the 10mm ones will work. and in work, i mean fit the cc-unit's sockets perfectly. i have a spare toyota bulb and a 10mm led and they look the same. but i haven't had cause to remove my cc-unit again to make sure, maybe when the weather gets more moderate. when i did my cc-unit the 10mm leds were't available.

moving on - the only possible prefabricated led that will fit the cc-unit's back-lighting is the 10mm. when i did mine i inserted num74 led electronics into a bored out toyota bulb-base. other people have soldered leds and resistors onto their cc-unit's circuit-board. and others have used color filters with the original bulbs (first removing the green condoms) to get the color they want.

when next i take out my cc-unit i'll give the 10mm led a shot to see if it fits perfectly, and if so see if it lights up things as well as the hack-job num74 leds i have in there now. but in any case i think the next thing i'll try is to put smt-tower num194 leds into the toyota bases i have. that could make it light up really bright.

i have a big (like 1mb) html guide i wrote to the cc-unit mod that i can send you if you like, just pm me your email address. for a month i was taking it out and disassembling it so much that i wanted to write down all my notes in case i needed to do it later.

good luck

Well I'm gonna be ordering a bunch of led's cause I'm gonna try to do all these lighting things at once, so maybe I'll just order the 10mm and see if they work. If they don't, maybe I could sell them on 6gc? Who knows. I had a question about the very end of your file. You say that the "194 bulb(or led array) at each socket, with the 5-led matrix bulb would be very nice."
Do you mean those would fit right in for the back-light, as opposed to the "custom" #74's? Basically I need to decide which ones to use for back-lighting: "hack-job" 74's, 194 matrix, or the 10mm.

[Zimluura]

no the 194led would not fit right in. might not fit at all, but it would likely look really nice if you figured out how to get it set right (could solder it in, but i don't have too much luck with structural soldering).

the 10mm leds have a twist lock base just like the toyota bulbs (that cost 12 bucks a pop). you can get a twist lock base for your 194 bulbs, but it will be much to big to fit the small holes in the cc-unit. was thinking at one time i might be able to bore the holes out and still have enough of a contact to use a twist lock base, but the 194led might be too tall as well.

it's cool that you're trying a bunch of experiments. iirc there are 3 plugs to the cc-unit, one to the circuit board, one to the fan, and one to the rear window defrost. for me it worked well to have the circuit board plugged in while doing experiments. just, be careful not to bridge any terminals with screwdrivers or whatnot (a buddy slipped and did that with a voltmeter on mine so i had to repair a burnt pcb trace, which was quite tedious).

[Kasper]

the 10mm leds have a twist lock base just like the toyota bulbs (that cost 12 bucks a pop).

So do you think the 10mm with a twist lock base would work? Or would I be better off only getting the led and trying to put it in the toyota base?

[Zimluura]

what i know fits is a num74 led inserted into a modified toyota base. i really think the 10mm one will fit. and if it doesn't (might be too tall) a file will fix it quickly.

but this is what will fit, not really what will work.

lots of people say my num74 led in a toyota base is too dim. and i did make sure one of my bulbs was bent off center (to send its light into the plastic prism that would light the top buttons)

the num194 matrix led would certainly light things up better. but i'm pretty sure it won't fit. all the bulbs use 12v, and all three sockets are 12v. so there are lots of possibilities.

if i was going to try something out of the norm i'd do the 194 smt tower led and transplant it into a toyota base. but i have no idea what pitfalls there are in that operation. i might break the led's electronics apart just disassembling it. or it could be too tall. or it's multiple directions might be all the wrong directions for hitting those plastic prisms.

sorry i can't give you any definite answers on this.
one thing i can say is that: *if* the 10mm led works, it's a cheaper source of bulb bases that the dealership.

[Kasper]

Alright, well because I'm getting antsy for some new lighting in my car, I'm just gonna order some 10mm. Then I'll keep whoever reads this posted about when I get them, and if they fit/work. If they don't work for whatever reason, which I'm hoping that they DO work, then maybe I'll sell them to someone who might want them.