Does anyone know what it's called the light that shines down on your gear shifter at night when you have your lights on? The light comes from the ceiling thru those two holes, and there is a light that shines down which is blue in color. Can't seem to find it in the manual, or online. Anyone know how to change it? Thx

 

it's called ambient lighting.

if i recall correctly, it's soldered LEDs

 

Ahhh, ok thanks. Any idea how to change it?

 

Solder

 

either by unsoldering(or is it desoldering?) them and soldering a new LED in place....

or

buying the whole over head console.

the unsoldering and soldering of bulbs would be the cheaper option

unless you can find the over head console thingy at a junk yard for like 10-20bucks

 

Ok I see. Makes sense...Thx

 

Since it appears you have an 08, the 07/08 model years also have ambient footwell lighting. In your case it's blue same as the overhead light, Type S models are red.

 

since it appears you have an 08, the 07/08 model years only came in one silver color called ASM and not SSM.

 

Yea, I saw a thread on all the different color codes. Whatever...Thought I remember it saying silver was SSM. Corrected

 

I wasnt giving you so much of a hard as I was just mimicking Jame's response above mine.

 

 

The supposed touted advantage of LEDs is that they last a long time. Life expectancy was considered so long that people used to say they last a "lifetime". That's rarely mentioned nowadays, I guess people have started to realize they are not as bulletproof as once thought.

Blue/White LEDs are a more recent invention in the last 10yrs. You didn't see them around the 80s. In my observation these are the colors that always die out quickly. Some of the old school red and green LEDs in our electronics from the 80s STILL work. Some LEDs (like in appliances etc.) are on 24/7 without a problem. I understand those applications are in a stable environment while a car is subjected to vibration, voltage and temperature changes, that's one factor.

Yet these Blue/white ones always die? Why is this? I am assuming the answer is cheap Chinese manufacturing in the last 10 yrs. Any other reason?

 

Heat is what kills LEDs. If it doesn't dissipate its heat properly, it will surely die. Otherwise they will indeed last what seems like a "lifetime". Usually the cheaper it is (when comparing to similar LEDs), the less work was put in towards heat dissipation, the amount of phosphor coating, and build quality.

 

Good points, but am I the only one that notices the blue and white ones are problematic?

 

Never heard of or had an oem LED burn out. The overhead or footwell ones. You may be the only one ;-)

 

My OEM ones are fine. I don't have regular bulbs on my car (except my dash lights, I didn't go that far.) but everything else is LED. I have strips in the front signals, vanities, glovebox, trunk, puddle lights, etc. etc. you name it, lol. Many of them have had quite a few annoying issues with them over the years.

I was one of those people that bought the "Tec-Toyz" interior LED set that supposedly has a "lifetime warranty". Yeah right, as "lifetime" as the company is. His crap LEDs lasted only a year. The seller dipped, no one has heard of him again.

The newer SMD and CREE LEDs are definitely more dependable but the traditional ones are iffy. Newer stuff is brighter and seems nice. I know most of the problem is that "they just don't make em like they used to".

But the OP is not the only one to lose the blue LEDs near the maplights. So I wonder if the traditional reds and greens last longer in people's experience. Everything on my car is white or blue, so that's why I don't know the difference. Spec-wise they aren't listed to have any difference.

 

Well the OP didnt say anything about his bulbs burning out. It sounds like to me he is just curious about possibly changing the colors out on them. We are talking about OEM bulbs not cheapo aftermarket stuff so as far as that goes I dont recall seeing anyone making posts about those burning out.

 

I like the red much more than any other colour. It's easier on my eyes.

 

Footwell has leds? lol 4yrs with the car and i've never noticed. I gotta recheck!

 

Yea there have been a couple of cases of this happening mentioned in past threads. I remembering researching the topic because I was looking to make the lights slightly brighter. Once I realized they're soldered in to the board I said no thanks.

 

Haha you never noticed your shoes glowing blue?

 

Nahhh bro lol never! I know i want my side door metal plate to light up "Acura" when i open the doors but never footwell.

 

Oh you mean the door sill

 

For what it's worth I converted my whole house to LEDs which are obviously white. I have 3 sets of LED/LiIon light sets for my mountain bike which range from 400 lumens which gets me the occasional brights flashed at me from cars to my new 3,600 Lumen set that I use only for downhill runs at night time. These you can truly do 50+mph in the dark and not come close to outrunning the lights. I used them once on the street and the cop that stopped me told me he would arrest me if he ever saw me with those lights on the street again lol.

Back to the bike lights, the higher output lights make some serious heat. I honestly don't know how the LEDs survive in those conditions. Even my 600 lumen light which I use as a flashlight some times will nearly burn my hand, it needs to be on a bike and moving to cool correctly and who knows how hot the actual led gets. I've had no trouble with the higher powered stuff and these are mounted to my handlebars so they see way more or at least more intense shock and vibration than anything in a car will see. I use a good brand of light and I believe the actual bulbs are Cree.

In the house I've had one failure. It was on a fan in a 4 light fixture that has stray voltage getting in from somewhere. These are non dimmable LEDs and when I turn the wall switch off the LEDs stay barely glowing. I have to pull the chain to the light fixture to shut them off all the way. I believe this is why I lost one of them , leaving a non dimmable led dimmed overnight a few times. My friend uses the same ones in his fan because it was killing the incandescents once a month from the vibration. So far 6 months on the LEDs and they're doing fine.

Other than the one bulb that was probably my fault, they have been problem free for 3 years. I've stuck with the big names and now Cree. I think the stuff offered for car use is pure Chinese junk. If I had any faith in the car LEDs I would have ordered a bunch of them a long time ago but the quality is crap. I would pay the money if someone made a good kit.

 

The 04-06s don't have them in the footwell, only the 07+. Many of us have modded this though, like me.

 

I think that's the main factor. My car has been totally LED for the last 7yrs. and I've had some kind of problem or another in more than 50% of the LEDs. The only good thing I can say is the prices for all this have come down. Back then I bought what was considered relatively "good quality" no EBay stuff. For example backup LEDs that were $25/pair. Well guess what? Those got screwed so I put in $3 ones from EBay that are brighter and no problems with them for 2yrs. Go figure. They're all crap, might as well spend less. I would also gladly pay $25/pair again for REAL quality. Yea those 5w LEDs and Crees do run hot, hence why they have a heat sink. I have had really better luck with the SMT type LEDs, they definitely handle better vibration. I know anything near my trunk gets abuse from the subs in the trunk.

This is the exact reason I didn't venture to the total dash transformation like some of our gutsy friends have. It was something I really wanted to do back in the day but didn't pursue it because I would never want to have to take everything apart more than once for the lifetime of the car.

But as it is, the damn OEM mini Acura filament bulbs burnout anyways in nearly every car, so you can't win. A couple years ago I replaced 5 OEM bulbs in the steering wheel/dash. Now 4 are out in other places, including one in the radio that is nearly impossible to get to. Yes, life is annoying as a perfectionist.

So ya, I'm realizing it would be a toss up between them and I should have just pursued it back when I had had the vigor to all those extensive mods. Nowadays I'm like....meh... feel like an old man, lol. Don't know how much longer I'll keep the TL. Whatever time I get nowadays maintenance of this and that has my hands full.