[badgx]

The earlier circuit boards were phase out by 06' and were replaced with the new ones. The principle of replacing the bulb is exactly the same, although in that you have more bulbs to work on :yup:

Just go easy with soldering and apply very little. Inspect each joint as you go and if you apply too much that it blobs over and crosses at posts, you simple remove excess solder and start again. See my photo illustration.

Basic level of soldering skills are required, TBH practice makes perfect and its really that easy :yup: You have 12 bulbs to practice on so I think you will become an expert in no time.

When done, reinspect every bulb and joins till you are satisfied. If you are satisfied with your soldering, you can apply only small amount of seal with hot glue gun at the base of the bulb to provide some insulation and support.

Take your time and most importantly, do not rush! good luck :fing02:

 

[badgx]

Just to confirm.

This is the type of LED panel I meant (See Photo). They are more than 1" square, very thin and give out lots of light. Are they likely to work or are they unsuitable ??

Jack

Jack, the panel leds will not work but I came up with an idea though :thinkerg:

It might be possible to get small led halo rings and mount them to the inside top cover of the Dual Zone Climate Control Unit and the wires will solder to the relevant points. This all depends on halo ring sizes being available plus will need to do away with the plastic optical light distributor as it will no longer be required.

This is where the led halo ring will sit on the inside top cover and it can be held in place with glue. I might try this next time if I have another opportunity, perhaps using something like 6K diamond white led halo rings. See photo for illustration of possible mount place.

 

[therealfleen]

The earlier circuit boards were phase out by 06' and were replaced with the new ones. The principle of replacing the bulb is exactly the same, although in that you have more bulbs to work on :yup:

Just go easy with soldering and apply very little. Inspect each joint as you go and if you apply too much that it blobs over and crosses at posts, you simple remove excess solder and start again. See my photo illustration.

Basic level of soldering skills are required, TBH practice makes perfect and its really that easy :yup: You have 12 bulbs to practice on so I think you will become an expert in no time.

When done, reinspect every bulb and joins till you are satisfied. If you are satisfied with your soldering, you can apply only small amount of seal with hot glue gun at the base of the bulb to provide some insulation and support.

Take your time and most importantly, do not rush! good luck :fing02:

Good points...I am waiting in the bulbs; I will let you know!


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[[email protected]]

Jack, the panel leds will not work but I came up with an idea though :thinkerg:

It might be possible to get small led halo rings and mount them to the inside top cover of the Dual Zone Climate Control Unit and the wires will solder to the relevant points. This all depends on halo ring sizes being available plus will need to do away with the plastic optical light distributor as it will no longer be required.

This is where the led halo ring will sit on the inside top cover and it can be held in place with glue. I might try this next time if I have another opportunity, perhaps using something like 6K diamond white led halo rings. See photo for illustration of possible mount place.

Would the dimmer work with led's?

 

[badgx]

LED'S not a problem. They are happy to work on dimmers, here some led on dimmers part of the same loom. They dim well :yup:

 

[therealfleen]

Jack, the panel leds will not work but I came up with an idea though :thinkerg:

It might be possible to get small led halo rings and mount them to the inside top cover of the Dual Zone Climate Control Unit and the wires will solder to the relevant points. This all depends on halo ring sizes being available plus will need to do away with the plastic optical light distributor as it will no longer be required.

This is where the led halo ring will sit on the inside top cover and it can be held in place with glue. I might try this next time if I have another opportunity, perhaps using something like 6K diamond white led halo rings. See photo for illustration of possible mount place.

Nice idea. Couldn't you solder the wires of one halo ring and "piggy-back" the rest of them?


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[badgx]

Could do better, connect all (+) ives for the led halos and feed a thin wire through an aperture or drill very small hole to the bottom Dual Zone Climate Control cover allowing the wires to exit and externally tap to the vehicles illumination wire, which dims. It will be safer than soldering directly onto the circuit board, I guess sort of like connecting a halo ring to a vehicles headlight housing but on that wires would connect for example to a side light.

Good idea, might try that next time :yup:

 

[therealfleen]

Could do better, connect all (+) ives for the led halos and feed a thin wire through an aperture or drill very small hole to the bottom Dual Zone Climate Control cover allowing the wires to exit and externally tap to the vehicles illumination wire, which dims. It will be safer than soldering directly onto the circuit board, I guess sort of like connecting a halo ring to a vehicles headlight housing but on that wires would connect for example to a side light.

Good idea, might try that next time :yup:

Hmmm. What would you do with the negative side...?I really like this idea...and, you are right, it does seem a bit easier than the soldering, etc.

Any hints on find this illumination wire?


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[therealfleen]

Jack, the panel leds will not work but I came up with an idea though :thinkerg:

It might be possible to get small led halo rings and mount them to the inside top cover of the Dual Zone Climate Control Unit and the wires will solder to the relevant points. This all depends on halo ring sizes being available plus will need to do away with the plastic optical light distributor as it will no longer be required.

This is where the led halo ring will sit on the inside top cover and it can be held in place with glue. I might try this next time if I have another opportunity, perhaps using something like 6K diamond white led halo rings. See photo for illustration of possible mount place.

....where did you find the ring halos?


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[badgx]

Hmmm. What would you do with the negative side...?I really like this idea...and, you are right, it does seem a bit easier than the soldering, etc.

Any hints on find this illumination wire?


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Yeh, do same with negative and feed out externally ready to connect.

ASSUMING the colour codes are the same as US spec (cannot say they are for sure???), its the white wire with orange stripe.

This is how you could can check - There are 3 wires that feed to the centre dash board clock, they are:

(+) battery
(-) negative
(+) illumination

Look at the colour code that connects to the clock (+) illumination. The clock terminals on ours is labelled, hopefully yours is too. Same colour wire also can be traced at the back of the Dual Zone Climate Control Unit, it runs from the same loom all tape together. Just tap into that wire or safer to connect to ignition if you like. Take care you don't knock out any of the electric though.

 

[therealfleen]

What about this one? Do you think the blue would match better than white halos?

Amazon.com: Amico 60mm Blue Car 18 SMD LED Angel Eye Halo Ring Light Bulb Headlight: Automotive




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[badgx]

What about this one? Do you think the blue would match better than white halos?

Amazon.com: Amico 60mm Blue Car 18 SMD LED Angel Eye Halo Ring Light Bulb Headlight: Automotive


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Excellent find :fing02:

A ring with more LED's packed closer together is better, reduces cold spots i.e. gaps between LED's.

Blue would look odd with the green dash, go with the white LED's if you like but that's my opinion though :yup:

Don't forget to take measurements to determine the correct ring size. Measure a gazillion times if need be, it looks like 2 of them out of the 4 will be slightly smaller in size.

Will be interesting to see this build come together, I've not seen it done before, so will be a first here!

 

[therealfleen]

Excellent find :fing02:

A ring with more LED's packed closer together is better, reduces cold spots i.e. gaps between LED's.

Blue would look odd with the green dash, go with the white LED's if you like but that's my opinion though :yup:

Don't forget to take measurements to determine the correct ring size. Measure a gazillion times if need be, it looks like 2 of them out of the 4 will be slightly smaller in size.

Will be interesting to see this build come together, I've not seen it done before, so will be a first here!

Thanks brother!


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[jackwalton]

Jack, the panel leds will not work but I came up with an idea though :thinkerg:

It might be possible to get small led halo rings and mount them to the inside top cover of the Dual Zone Climate Control Unit and the wires will solder to the relevant points. This all depends on halo ring sizes being available plus will need to do away with the plastic optical light distributor as it will no longer be required.

This is where the led halo ring will sit on the inside top cover and it can be held in place with glue. I might try this next time if I have another opportunity, perhaps using something like 6K diamond white led halo rings. See photo for illustration of possible mount place.

Looks a good idea to me.
As you know the advantage of LED' is that it should be a "Once only" replacement because LED's very rarely fail, whereas if you just replace with Bulbs again will require doing again in a few years.

Can you get Halo rings in Lots of different sizes then ?

Jack

 

[lee181]

hi just done this to mine its a bit fiddly but is realy easy also did the the heated seat switches at the same time looks mint now there all working

 

[sinc1ok]

Hi
Thanks for the advice - I tried fixing the lights on my unit but for some reason the replacement bulbs would not light up (I only tried replacing two of them and I think I may have damaged part of the circuit board so I gave it up as a bad experience!

Your article is very good but I had trouble soldering (I'm not that experienced at it) and can't figure out why an adequate solder would not allow conductivity for the bulb to light up.

Jay

 

[therealfleen]

Hi
Thanks for the advice - I tried fixing the lights on my unit but for some reason the replacement bulbs would not light up (I only tried replacing two of them and I think I may have damaged part of the circuit board so I gave it up as a bad experience!

Your article is very good but I had trouble soldering (I'm not that experienced at it) and can't figure out why an adequate solder would not allow conductivity for the bulb to light up.

Jay

Jay, make sure the solder joints aren't touching. It won't work if the joints are touching.


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[sinc1ok]

Thanks - I checked the joints and they aren't touching so I'm at a loss as to why this isn't working

 

[therealfleen]

hmmm. Maybe Badgx could weigh in on this one...he's the guru....


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[badgx]

OK dude, I have a question and its important. Did any part of your dual zone climate control illuminate before you attempted this repair or were they all already knock out ?

Test the bulb
De-solder and remove the replacement bulb from the circuit board for testing. When you removed the bulb get a 12 volt battery supply either AC or DC and connect across terminals to test to see if it illuminated. Polarity does not matter because the bulb is a filament type and will work in either direction. If the bulb illuminates then your bulb is OK.

Post back with an update..:yup:

Any chance you could post up a few photos of your circuit board and soldered joints?