good start!
only problem I had when I tried the direct swap like this is that the OEM bulbs emit light in all directions, where as the LED's emit primarily from the top. This is why I choose to drill out the clear piece and direct the light right into it.
you can already see from this picture that the dial on the right is picking up significantly more light in the rippled area vs the LED side
Well you be the judge, it appears bluer in the picture than it really is but luminosity is there but not quite even. But remember I only changed the bulb on the far left. Might do the rest tomorrow or return it to its original bulb. The one on the top is from the car and the one on the bottom is from my workbench.
better than I expected to be honest. swapping the center two as well will give a better look. I wouldnt do the right side however or your heat marker will turn purple
Like I wrote before it is bluer in the picture than in reality so I might give it a try. LED color is called xenon white. It does have a tint of blue but not that much. I think there is some blue in the overlay to filter the yellow from the incandescent light.
Okay here is the result, but for some reason the picture doesn't seem to give full respectability. This turn out actually very nice, not as blue as picture portrayes it and not as blotchy either. In reality all the fan speed numbers are pretty uniformally lit. I might intall this in the Cobalt tomorrow if it's the same unit. Then I'll take a picture in the car where there is no incident light leaking in the picture.
I'm going to order some 5mm diffused 12Volt LEDs in xenon white to see if it makes a big difference. I should have taken more pictures, but I got so caught up I forgot. Actually the board looks no different once done. 4 LEDs instead of the 4 bulbs.
I just got my blue LEDs in the mail and I'm still not quite sure how I'm supposed to add one on the left. I would like to do it so as to give a more uniform illuminating effect, but don't really feel comfortable drilling through the circuit board. Coby, how would you add a 5th LED to the board? Superglue doesn't seem very conventional, but I could be wrong.
if you aim the LED's parallel into the plastic rings, they will shoot the light around the ring rather than straight up past the rings...if that makes sense.
Cool. No I've never even seen those before. I usually deal more with basic 3 or 5mm LED's or circuit board LED's. Those look absolutely perfect for the HVAC though!
The one pictured is 5mm.
You can get these surface mount also, just haven't found them in 12volts yet.
I was read back a few post and I realized I forgot to mention that I added reflective tape to reduce unwanted bounce light from the LEDs. It helps a little but not much.
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