Anyone swap out LED's in all the switches and accent lights?

[vjr021]

I saw an ad on eBay for some LED conversions... Some you send in, some you do yourself...

has anyone done this?

I want to swap all of my lit up switches to red, just wondering how hard it is and what bulbs I need to buy to do it right.

 

[NathanJax]

yeah it's been done. It's kinda a pain and it's really small solder points.

 

[ezdaar]

nope, in the 15 years these rides have been out, no one has done it. you will be the first! LOL!


YEa bud, ALOT of people have, there is a ton of write ups, videos and people to do it for avalible.

 

[vjr021]

nope, in the 15 years these rides have been out, no one has done it. you will be the first! LOL!


YEa bud, ALOT of people have, there is a ton of write ups, videos and people to do it for avalible.

I deserve that... haha.

Just wanted someone's opinion on if they would do it again after going through the motions...

 

[camaroz1985]

I did it to my silverado, probably won't do it to the Suburban, but after enough dash bulbs burn out and start to drive me crazy I might break down and do it again. The worst was the gauge cluster and the headlight switch. The rest were fairly easy.

 

[ezdaar]

Use led strips from amazon in the cluster, its far simpler to do.

 

[slogging]

There's plenty vids on youtube I just need to know what bulb sizes especially for the seat warming switches

 

[camaroz1985]

3mm leds in the door switches. IIRC they are already LED in there so you don't need resistors. I used 12V leds for the dash switches (again 3mm) and gauge cluster (5mm).

One other thing to note is the gauge cluster and some of the switches have a blue painted film on the back side, so if you put white leds in everything the colors won't match. If you use some other color it can usually overpower the painted color and make the difference not as apparent. If I do it again I will probably do either green or blue.

 

[ezdaar]

Why not use RGBW or plain RGB led's and strips.
Use a RF remote and you can control the color on the fly to all of your lights.

Use old Cat 5 cable and JST plugs. Rip out the wires and use it to connect all the various "modules" aka switches to 2 or even one RGBW LED control box.


Want green today? press green button. want red? etc...

Very simple to do.
-------
This setup allows for multiple zones. controlled viia one remote.
Zone one, doors.
Zone two, all dash.
Zone three, overhead lights.
Zone four, under body, under dash, under seats, etc..
RF RGBW controllers and remote
------

Single zone controllers.

RGB RF controller

better RF RGB controller.

heat shrink tubing

RGBW Led stip

RGB Led Strip

 

[Justinj360]

It's a pain in the ass with those little switches. It would be worth it to send them all in.

 

[dhulsey779]

I recently upgraded my cluster & A/C Digital control with the LED strip. As for the A/C unit, its all about how you place them inside the plastic housing, or you will have issues with all the buttons working properly if the strip is directly on the board.

 

[camaroz1985]

The AC control was easy to do with individual 12V leds. I'd like to see the led strip laid out in the gauge cluster.

 

[Rocket Man]

I started this on my '02 Denali by testing it out on some extra HVAC controls off Ebay. I gave up after awhile, too much of a hassle. The lights are mixed in series and parallel and you need to figure which are which, very tiny to solder, the LED's are polar which means you have to know which points on the circuit board are + and -, you need to add specific value of resistors on the LED's, etc. I had the boards hooked up to a power supply so I could test them indoors and it seemed as soon as I got 3 lights working the next one I soldered in would take another one out. Very frustrating. It would be worth it to send them out. The cluster was easy though, they just twisted in.

 

[slogging]

I got solder bulbs on my cluster though so I'm most definitely sending it in with my ac unit as well, just need a reputable place to send it any suggestions guys???

 

[dhulsey779]

Here is a pic of the LED strip installed in the cluster. Sorry I didn't get a full pic but is give you some what of diagram to follow.

 

[BU-Z71]

I recently upgraded my cluster & A/C Digital control with the LED strip. As for the A/C unit, its all about how you place them inside the plastic housing, or you will have issues with all the buttons working properly if the strip is directly on the board.

Where did you get that cluster? Looks great.
I'm looking to make some mods/upgrades on my '03Z71 -- got ~215 on it and I've decided to make upgrades vs buying a new one.

 

[dhulsey779]

It was my original cluster but just added a different gauge face & Cool White LED strips placed nicely inside the cluster.

 

[Bonestock]

I saw an ad on eBay for some LED conversions... Some you send in, some you do yourself...

has anyone done this?

I want to swap all of my lit up switches to red, just wondering how hard it is and what bulbs I need to buy to do it right.

That's freaking awesome. In fact that's the only thing I miss about my ol e46 BMW. The red gauges and red controls etc. Have a link for these? I'll buy them and give it a go.

 

[Bonestock]

Why not use RGBW or plain RGB led's and strips.
Use a RF remote and you can control the color on the fly to all of your lights.

Use old Cat 5 cable and JST plugs. Rip out the wires and use it to connect all the various "modules" aka switches to 2 or even one RGBW LED control box.


Want green today? press green button. want red? etc...

Very simple to do.
-------
This setup allows for multiple zones. controlled viia one remote.
Zone one, doors.
Zone two, all dash.
Zone three, overhead lights.
Zone four, under body, under dash, under seats, etc..
RF RGBW controllers and remote
------

Single zone controllers.

RGB RF controller

better RF RGB controller.

heat shrink tubing

RGBW Led stip

RGB Led Strip

This is a great idea too if you're in to this kind of stuff. I don't like blue or green or any crazy colors so just a straight swap is better for me.

 

[RachelJWalker]

I did mine my self and had a blast doing it