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HVAC lights

question........
i was at radioshack yesterday and i wanted to buy a cpl of led's but backed out becuz of this question:
does the volts on the led have to meet
the batt volts (i.e. led~5v / batt~12v)
the radio shack ppl said that the led would not work on a 12v batt.
pls advise because i really want to put these blue led's under my dash, inside my dash and in the dome...........

thanks!
 
reddired said:
question........
i was at radioshack yesterday and i wanted to buy a cpl of led's but backed out becuz of this question:
does the volts on the led have to meet
the batt volts (i.e. led~5v / batt~12v)
the radio shack ppl said that the led would not work on a 12v batt.
pls advise because i really want to put these blue led's under my dash, inside my dash and in the dome...........

thanks!
Click to expand...

You will need a resistor
 
clock bulb is a bulb/socket assembly, ford part number e5ry-13466-ba. if you want color to it search the forums and it's been posted where to buy the colored sleeves that go over the bulb. i usually just find the sleeves at junkyards, mitsu uses orange, toyo and ford use green and honda often uses blue. don't know of anyone that uses red but i'm sure someone does.
 
does autozone or advanced have those condoms cause i just got the dash apart to fix the switch and my leds havent come yet cause they mailed to the wrong address and the dimmer switch can be changed with just a led condom
 
I thought they were #194s... if so, the #74s will still work, but you'll have to bend the contact 'legs' on the LED base out sideways and make sure the contacts inside the socket aren't touching.

Good way to hold them in there is hot glue (or even some Duco Cement... just make sure it works before you do that!).

And for the guy asking about the Radioshack LEDs... Here's a resistor calculator so you don't overdrive the LEDs: Luxeon Resistor Calculator

You just gotta figure out the LEDs draw, which Radioshack should have listed on the packaging. Put it in the calculator (Use ~14.2V for source voltage) and mosey on over to the resistor section and pick up a pack. ...Or do like I try and wire up enough LEDs in series that you don't need any resistors. Just have to make sure the forward voltage of all the LEDs added up is at least more than 14.5V. If you wire them up for exactly 12V, you'll burn them out in short order due to the car normally charging the battery at around 14.2V.

HOWEVER... Radioshack is damn (!!) expensive for what you get. Sure, it's an easy stop, but it's way more expensive than just going online to a place like SuperBrightLEDs.com and picking some up. Way better selection too.
 
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I wish I could find red LED bulbs with bases in 660nm wavelength. All the superbrightled stuff is like 620-630...too orangish!
 
well i got them all installed. the hvac looked awesome....until i did the guage cluster. now nothing lights up except my pillar gauges if that matters and the signal lights when used. the warning lights and everything work. the only ones that dont are the ones i replaced. i folded them like strikr said too.the dimmer switch worked while i had the hvac working then when i got to the cluster it stopped working also. do these work on a circuit or something. the floor well lighting still works and all fuses that i could relate to lighting are fine. i also switched the headlight switch bulb. i did that before the cluster but after the hvac so i couldve been there where i messed something up. someone help
 
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