Red Interior LED Conversion - Diode Tutorial

After a long time of messing around, I finished this custom interior lights conversion, which even included soldering in new 3mm diodes to change their colors. Figured I'd make a thread as it's a longboi post. Enjoy.



Since studies have shown red is the least harsh color on the eyes at night, that's the color I chose, plus I just love the aesthetic. I put a natural white bulb under the middle temperature control knob for a bold look. There's lots of authoritative information on this forum regarding which bulbs to use, although I'd say in the end I still took everything out and reinstalled about 6 times before I got it right.

Problems I ran into include warning lights only running partial voltage (so gas, battery, and airbag warning would stay on all the time as LED and need to be halogen), hot/bright spot on speedometer, and just plain ole' some lights not fitting or needing to be turned a certain way to come on.

Here's how I helped with the LED speedometer bright spot by using gorilla tape and hot glue:


Foglight switch tiny LED:


3mm Diodes Installation


I switched out the diodes of my AC, recirculation, cargo light, 4 hi, and 4 lo indicators because 1) I didn't like the icky green and amber colors they were and 2) I had some dead ones. Now they're all white.

You can use any color you like, they're even available in pink if that boats your float. I'm not posting a link to the exact eBay product because it's a universal part.

Once the climate unit is out from the dash, getting deep inside only requires taking out a few more Phillips, there are two small ones that hold down the main circuit board cover. Your 20-year-old brittle plastic will likely crack and break in places, so have glue ready for repairs.
You can only bend the circuit board cover out of the way as shown! The clock has a row of pins that cannot be disconnected:

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Switching out the five little diodes doesn't take long after you get the hang of it. Make sure to take a side angle photo to note their polarity, because it would suck to do something so tedious only to do it wrong.

Simply heat up the solder on the bottom of the circuit board with your iron, and use needle nose pliers or tweezers to "pry" out one side of the LED prongs at a time.


To install the new ones, cut off the extra length to roughly the size of what came out, and spread the prongs very slightly until they line up with the board's holes.

The Internet was zero help in assisting with the right polarity---I found the best way is to match the little tiny angle bit inside the LED; just put your new one in the same way:


Installation is reverse of removal, stick in one prong, solder it in so the bulb doesn't move around, and insert the other prong. Be careful not to apply so much solder that you bridge the connection or it will short, but apply enough that off-roading won't result in dead bulbs. We are working with very tiny stuff here! After putting a diode in, if you're super worried it won't light, you can carefully take everything back to the truck and plug in the left climate plug to test.

Some of the bulbs dim depending if you have DRLs turned on, so don't worry, the result isn't too bright, but is rather a completely custom ride with lights tailored to you! Or lights that simply work, if you're boring and just restoring to stock.


Feel totally free to ask any questions you can't find the answers to.

 

Looks so evil, I like it!

 

Nice.

EDIT: You are correct in that even with all the info here, there is a learning trial. It took me about 4 go arounds to get mine proper and didn’t even do the extras you went through.

 

Wow looks great! I spent days years ago doing this same thing to my 96 GTI. Worth the effort

 

I’ve wanted all red dash lighting forever. Good work, looks killer.

 

This whole job looks wonderful! Did you also swap out the 3mm led on yhe door switch for red, or white?

I considered swapping my cargo light "on" diodes and others, but the yellow-ish light doesn't bug me that much. Maybe one day using this as a guide!

 

Thanks so much my dudes! Yes, the door window switch is red, but I accidentally reversed the polarity, haven't fixed it, and was too embarrassed to say so.

 

No reason to be embarrassed.
When I changed mine to cool white I had the polarity wrong too the first time. At least its on a much easier piece to get to.

I took the white plastuc backing, and the board out to the truck to test before putting everything back together.

 

Nice job indeed !

You may know this but an LED is simply a diode with 1 leg pos(+) and other leg neg(-). If you ever get froggy and what to revisit your work to change colors, simply put leg of diode(LED bulb) on the pos of a 9v battery and other leg on neg. If light comes on, you then know what leg is pos. If light doesn't come on, simply reverse the legs hooked to the battery to confirm.

desoldering braid/wick works wonders when working with small electronics/circuit boards such as this and can be had cheap at big box or auto parts stores. Too much heat with soldering iron on a circuit board will ruin your day !

 

Your gauge cluster looks awesome! What size bulbs did you use for that and your A/C unit? I've been doing research and can't pinpoint it down to what size because I've seen some people say T4, T5 and T10 LEDs.

 

Looks very good. Kind of Bimmer-esque with all the red...

 

Appreciate it. Both the gauges and climate controls use a mix of T10s and T5s. SuperBrightLEDs.com has a great bulb finder if you're not sure of how many of each to get.

 

That looks awesome, nice job! I’ve done all red on the other interior lights (map, dome, vanity, footwell, etc.) and think it looks pretty killer. I love the all red dash, but that looks like a pretty involved process. Nice job though!

 

what size neowedge was the fog light switch.. i still have to do that one on mine

 

NeoX 3mm from superbright leds.

 

Yeah, I thought about doing that, but I like to keep those overhead lights white because their job is to help you see the inside

 

You nailed it! The larger metal part seen with the angle is negative, and the smaller metal part is positive.

On old school LEDs, there is a flat side on the bottom of the LED that indicates (-) cathode, and on new LEDs, the longer of the two leads indicates (+) anode.

https://www.westfloridacomponents.c...w-to-tell-which-lead-is-positive-or-negative/

 

Awesome! Thank you! I just bought my first Tundra and I can't wait to start adding small things like this to it. The green gauge cluster is super old school but I'm digging the all red!

 

Most other colors are an upgrade for sure! I'm not sure why Toyota chose green.

 

LOL......

 

Camel toe panty? It may be time to clear cookies and cache. I'm not judging though

 

I’ve been trying to shake this thing for days. I actually clicked on it the other day thinking it was for Camel Toe masking, but no. Its actually designed to make it look like you have a Camel Toe.

 

You know you want to read the reviews now.

 

Did you post your review?

 

Not yet. Still waiting on delivery.

 

I guess if they sell padded push up bra then a padded camel panty would make things a party

 

This reminds me of a couple of contractors that were working across the street from my house. The lead guy was Retired Marine 20 years, but dressed like a woman. He had dyed blonde hair in pony tail and wore Spanx with a padded bra. On Fridays, instead of his usual C-cup padded bra he wore his Double D Cup.

It took me a while to figure things out, but once I did I’d tell Mz PHM its ‘Big Boob Friday’!

 

I had a tenant for a bit that was in transition. Ugly men make ugly woman and the fake padded boobs and wig cannot fix that