PA is only a few miles away... Head on over!

 

i think i will have to dissagree with you on this one. when on back country roads its very nice to dim them to be less distracting on the eyes while looking for deer (which happen to be alot up here) or just to ease the eyes when having to drive all night

 

I have a quick question....is this the only colors that are availiable and what do the hyper whites look like? I have a stock deck and Navi so Im assuming I dont need the Climate control one but I want to do the hyper white but when checking out Nates page he stated the gauge cluster is bluish so how would that look going hyper white on the cruise, sun roof, etc and the guage cluster being blue? What I really want is the guage cluster being white like Mercedes. Is this possible?

 

The hyperwhite was used in my cluster. It has a bluish tint as can be seen in the pic compared to the odometer, which also has hyperwhite. This is due to the way the light filters through the gauge and there isnt anything you can do to make it pure white. In your situation its a judgment call whether to keep the yellowish color of the stock dash or to go with the cold white color of the hyperwhite LEDs. Even if you change out everything else to hyperwhite, your stock head's not going to match unless you open it up a replace all the bulbs with LEDs. For me, that would be relatively simple albeit time consuming task but i realize not everyone has the skill to do it. Otherwise you are going to end up with different colors all over the place.

 

i love this mod!!!! but i def dont wanna crack it myself.

 

Thanks for the advice. So what would I need to order to do everything in hyper white? I know Nate doesnt have some of the parts yet but you said you could advise. Do you think you can give me a break down on what bulbs I should buy for the window switches, radio need to do that too to make it match, etc. I really do want to get rid of the yellowish lights in the car. Also how do you think it would look with everything in hyper white?

 

im fucking jealous!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Aside from the 5mm wedge LEDs that fit right into the cluster and turn signals, everything else was done with 3mm LEDs, except for the clock (which wil require two 5mm LEDs mounted side by side to be as bright as the climate control display). You will need 910 ohm and 470 ohm resistors all of which Nate can supply. The LED breakdown is as follows:

* driver's door window switches - four 3mm LEDS
* driver's door memory seat switches
(assuming you have a 2002-2003 TL) - five 3mm LEDs
* driver's door mirror/heated mirror switches - two 3mm LEDs
* heated seat switches - six (3 for each one) 3mm LEDs
* sunroof, cruise/TCS and fog switches as Nate sells the kits
* dash cluster as Nate sells the kit PLUS one additional 3mm LED
(I've told Nate about this additional LED thats needed for all TL model years except '99)
* Shifter - one Wedge LED
* factory head unit - I am not sure how many LEDs are in there as I have a Pioneer Premier DEH940 in my dash instead.
* all other door window switches require one 3mm LED.

You said you have NAV so I won't go into the list of LEDs you otherwise need for the climate control.

I made many mods to Nate's kits so its hard to list them all off the top of my head. Here's what I recall - Use 910 ohms for all LEDs that are "ON" indicators and aim them stright into their sockets or they will be too bright. The Illimination for the switches requires the LED to be bent at a 90 degree angle and aimed towards the faces of the switches. The dirver's door memory switches will require that you disassemble the switch and tack 3 LEDs in place with dabs of hot glue as the switch uses one regular bulb and the LEDs are too directional to use just one in the bulb's place. The "1" will otherwise be superbright while the "MEMO" and "2" will barely be visible if you dont. The LEDs for the window switches need 910 Ohm resistors and a little black marker over the tops of the LEDs to mute them so they aren't too bright. Same thing goes for the heated mirror LED, only that LED also has to be ground on two sides turning the LED into a rectangle or it wont fit where the factory amber LED is (this will make sense when you take apart the mirror switch assembly and look at the shape of the amber LED. The turn signals require that you remove the greenish diffusers and substitute in frosty clear plastic that you cut yourself. I posted a pic of this in another thread but I'll find it and link it in here. The head unit's probably going to require 910 ohm resistors.... this is just a partial listing... its easier to do the mod than to describe how its done.

 

Here is the pic showing how I modded the greenish diffuser over the turn signal display. You have to do this step or the white LEDs will look greenish. If you remove the diffuser completely and dont substitute in a frosty clear replacement, the signals will be way to bright.

 

One more thing, I mentioned above that you have to do some modding to the memory seat switch module and put LEDs where there werent bulbs before. While I'd like to tell you step by step how to do this (and the other mods) it may be easier for me to do it for you. If you want to get the LEDs and resistors from Nate and mail then to me along with your switch, I will do the mod for you for $50. The switch is screwed to the back of the door handle assembly and you can remove it and put the assembly back on the car and drive around without the switch while its out being modded. Just let me know...

 

I just remembered one more thing. I added two 3mm LEDs mounted 180 degrees to each other and both aimed parallel to the speedo gauge at the top between 80 - 100 MPH indicators. I needed to do this because my radar display (mounted in the speedo guage) was blocking some of the light from reaching the top of the gauge. However, in looking at some other LED conversions that people have done I noticed this area is somewhat darker than the rest of the gauge even without the radar in the way. It has to do with the way the Wedge LEDs dont spread out enough light compared to the light bulbs you are replacing. For a perfectly even spread of illumination, I'd suggest going this route. You have to play around with the exact location to get it just right so a 12V DC power supply is a must so you can work out the details of the cluster on the workbench rather than trial and error in the car.

 

I have a 1999 Acura TL. Do you think that will make a difference in the number of LEDS I need as you stated? I appriciate all the help and feed back and Im actually begining to order some of these parts. Thanks again and Ill keep you posted. You will probably be hearing from me again for advise.

 

The only difference is you dont need the additional 3mm LED for the cluster, you dont need fog light LEDs (you dont have facotry fogs) and you dont need the memory seat LEDs ('99 TL doesnt have them).

 

what LED are you talking about?.

" dash cluster as Nate sells the kit PLUS one additional 3mm LED
(I've told Nate about this additional LED thats needed for all TL model years except '99)"

where does it get placed?.

 

When you take apart the instrument cluster, you will see one light bulb soldered to the circuit board by the right lower corner of the gear shift indicators. Unlike all the other instrument cluster bulbs this one cant simply be removed because its not held in place with a plastic socket mount.
Its probably because the '99 didnt have a 5 speed tranny, so there were less gear indicators to illuminate and the bulb placement worked. When they went with the 5 speed, they realized the existing bulbs would be able to light up these lower number indicators so rather than design a while new cluster, they just came up with this idea of soldering in bulb. If you dont replace it with an LED, the number 1 and 2 indicators will be all yellow looking from this bulb. I used to have pics of the conversion on the site (which included a shot of this) but I removed them a while ago. PM me your email address and I will send you a pic.

 

thx.
i really would like to see pics.
joseph.longo@global-terminal.com

 

You've got mail....

 

hey 2002 tl.

where did you get the 970 ohm resistors.
i am using the 470 resistors on the climate control
panel and they are too bright.

the 970 might just the right brightness...

 

hey can i see pics of these too?

ste_jai@hotmail.com, thanks in advance

 

I would like to see pics too....

Thanks
Tyzing@hotmail.com

 

Same here, some pics please so I can decide to buy and do this.

simplyjas@gmail.com

 

You can get the 910 ohm surface mount resistors from Nate at ledautomotive.com.

You definitely should use the 910 for the climate display. I told him that when I was doing my conversion.

Btw, get two 5mm LEDs from him to do the clock (open the clock cover and solder them directly to the circuit board from inside since you cant mount them both to the bulb holder) and you'll find it illuminates at the same brightness as the climate display. otherwise the clock will not be as bright because the lighting for the clock comes by way of a diffuser, while the illumination for the climate display is from directly behind.

 

 

ohhhhhh thats pretty

 

 

BEEEEEEAUTIFUL!

 

Thanks! This mod is the ONLY reason I havent sold my TL despite being on the third tranny at 89k miles. (btw, in the pic of the climate controls, the 'on' indicators are all blue even though they appear a mix of white and blue in the pic. It was just the way the photo came out.) You could do them in Red or White if you wanted to.

 

how did you double the led in the climate control lcd?.

 

I would deffinately think that this would void the extended warranty that we have on the TL... If that is the case, I am going no where near this mod.

 

??? The extended warranty covers the tanny only. How is this going to effect that?

 

I didnt double up the LEDs in the climate control display. I doubled them up for the clock. If you scroll up to the photo you will see the clock and climate display are of equal brightness (use 470ohm for the clock, and 910 ohm for the climate display). You'll have to solder them directly to the circuit board since you wont be able to shove two 5mm LEDs through the original light bulb socket hole. Only a few screws hold it together so its not a big deal to take it apart. And besides, you will want to get in there to be sure these LEDs are bent to a 90 degree angle so they fire directly towards the diffuser.

 

right..clock..i meant that.

did u run both LED's off 1 resistor?.

 

Yes actually I did. At the begining of the mod to the clock, I had cut one of the tracer lines to solder in a surface mount resistor and when I decided to try 2 LEDs, I just pigbacked the second one onto the leads of the first.

 

 

2002AcuraTL, can you repost all your pictures for this mod. I can host all the pictures if needed Tnx.

 

Same here, You need to repost your pics, they come up missing whenever the page is loaded. It'd be greatly appreciated. .. by the way, where can I find hyper-white LEDs to make the dash look more white than usual?

 

i'd like pics too quebectl@infoteck.qc.ca

and are there any hot spots with the kits sold on ledautomotive.com ? like the gauge kit, etc... the direct swap ones? i dont want hot spots... and is the blue like nice and bright, or is it dim and dark?

 

There really isn't a way to make your gauges look "more white". The hyper-white LEDs will make your gauges look more bluish even if you are using the hyper-white LEDs. It will be much brighter. Here is a link to what I am talking about. It includes a DIY.

http://www.ledautomotive.com/OrderIn...lusterInfo.asp

 

im interested in doing it a puer white myself, but LED automotive says stock has a green tint so white+green= blue..
but i remember seeing on acurainspired somone had a cluster that was extremely white and it looked amazing. anyone have input on this? can we remove that green tint or wahtever it is?

 

this conversion sucks.

you will lose the red needles.

the clock, the climate control, the radio, the odometer all come out different levels of blue.

you'll never solder the LEDS good enough that you will never have to take the car apart again to fix a cracked solder.

you have to do all the switches...and the bulb sockets are even smaller than the dash and climate control/radio sockets.

good luck.
i did this whole conversion....and i undid everything.

waste of time...IMO.