Kennedy

iTrader: (2)

In my studies of doing LED mods, I've made an interesting discovery that is probably old news to some, but hey...

What I've found is most of the dash illumination is NOT accomplished with LEDs. The illumination of the actual buttons that glow "red" "1,2, MEMO" on your door for example and probably the rest of the dash, is actually illuminated through tiny incadescent bulbs. You can see the bulb housings in the pic below (little brown circles below).
The little bulb housings are snap to extract, just twist em 90 degrees and they pop out.

What makes the buttons glow red on the TL-S are tiny little "bulb condoms", little red rubber covers that cover the bulbs, you can see them removed in the pic below as well.



This leads me to believe... For the TL-S "red interior" haters, all you'd have to do eliminate the red is dissassemble all thier dash buttons, and pull the red covers off all the illumination bulbs. It would be an afternoon of work, but wouldn't cost anything. The only other issue to contend with would be the gauge cluster (and I'd leave that alone), and the red clock, which could be left alone or replaced with a standard blue TL version for about $30.

Easy work guys. No solder gun required...

Spheno_3SXZERO

That would be nice, red sucks, shoulda left the blue alone...

Converted

I had mostly blue in my WRX, that I spent a lot of time changing stuff out... I actually prefer the red on the TL-S over the blue. It's MUCH easier on my eyes at night, and less boy racer looking. Especially the ambient lighting in the TL-S, it looks sweet.

triton3k

I actually love the red. All my previous cars had blue so a change was nice.

SmokeTL

I like the red too......looks funky!

llJrockll

iTrader: (2)

+ 1 for the red.

brettallica

Still a nice option, though, for those who wanted the sporty performance package that the TL-S provided but don't really prefer the red lights on the interior.

I've seen the TL-S interior lights and the base TL interior lights, and I kind of lean toward the base. Both are nice, but again it comes down to preference.

jptl04

iTrader: (1)

i also liked the blue lighting in my old TL. i was thinking of doing the interior light swap before i got my type-s. since owning my type-s the red has grown on me and i like it too much to change it.

i did my research on this as well, there are about 6 LEDS that need to be desoldered on the radio unit itself. the ambient light on the dome light also has soldered LEDS in it that would need to be changed. not to mention you will also need all blue rubber covers for all the incadescent bulbs which is what the base TL's have. and the info display/clock is more like $130. so there is alittle more work and money involved than you might think. but it can be done. i for one love the change from blue to red. it sets us apart from your base TL's.


just one LED


my type-s is on fire!

brettallica

Your S is on fire! Definitely no shortage of red in that cabin!

Kennedy

iTrader: (2)

Interesting JP...
I figured that the radio had a few leds soldered in there, and I forgot the overhead light, but that would be trivial to replace. The six red leds in the radio I believe are the ones that make the knobs glow.

To be clear though, the native illumination of all the buttons on the standard TL is WHITE, so you'd NOT need blue bulb condoms (I think that would be too much blue). If you executed this plan and removed all the red bulb condoms, the final output would be similar to the base TL:



The result is everywhere you see white, will be white on your TL-S... but everywhere you see blue in this picture, will be red (overhead ambient led, radio knobs, gauge cluster, and clock).

I'm not married to either, I like both, but I think the white/red mix would be a rather striking contrast.
I think it would be particularly cool to have one of you guys hit me up for a RED led memo button (and get rid of that green).

jptl04

iTrader: (1)

they pretty much all have the blue rubber covers on them i've taken apart the center console from my old TL the ac controls some steering wheel switches front dome light cover etc.. from when i did my navi conversion. and checked them they all have blue rubber covers like this.

this is a soldered incadescent bulb for one the homelink buttons on the roof dome light w/ a blue rubber cover. simply removing the red covers it will not produce the same light color of the base TL's. it would be more yellow than blue. the blue covers are needed to achive a matching color you will want.

rbf351

the lights do not light up white, they are a dim green color, and the way acura does it is by either using a blue cover on the bulb, or a bulb with a blue filter on whatever is being lit up.

ironviet

first off nice write up. always nice when someone spends time to do a nice write up.

looks like a nuclear reactor. i actually like the red on the tl-s though. but blue is still nice. orange and green are tacky though for instrument clusters.

Kennedy

iTrader: (2)

JP,
Thanks for the input. Good to have other nerds as detail oriented as I am.

Good scoop. This adds a step in making these PnP, glad this came out now.

I didn't have the stock TL memo module to compare (just the TL-S spare), i just assumed the stocker we're "raw bulbs".
So you're saying what I refer to as "white" is actually achieved with a blue bulb condom.
Cool, no sweat... you just have remove the three bulbs from your stock memo button and install them into the new housing. The modules are identical except for the bulb and button color.

So those folks that I'm hooking up, pay attention to this... You haveto remove the the three brown bulb cases and install them into the new housing.

Cary

The red lighting looks better than the blue in my opinion.

GeraldB

Blue. Thanks for the tip on the bulb condoms.

triggle

Do the replacement bulbs at the dealer come with the condoms ?

VelfarreClubber

Sorry to be off topic but what is that little square on the dash behind the gauge cluster area?


I think there is too much red, would be nice if there was some white like on the radio controls. and anyone know the part number for the red footwell lights? can it be installed in an 04?

juruki

iTrader: (2)

^^ Its a light sensor for the auto-headlights.

rbf351

for the most part they do, but some switches have the filters built into them, and no condom is needed

Kennedy

iTrader: (2)

JPTL's pics are of his aftermarket lighting, you don't have to add that much red. Sure you can add the OEM TL-S ambient footwell lighting, but it's about $80 for the led clusters and lower dash covers.

Just buy some cheap LED clusters and you'll be all set.

VelfarreClubber

Wow $80 bucks huh, thanks for the advice, what kind of led cluster do you recommend? Im new at this so I need to be educated on the wiring and such hopefully i can do it myself. is it possible you can take pics of what the type-s cluster looks like?

jptl04

iTrader: (1)

this is the little weak footwell bulb the type-s has



the hole were the white wires for the inverter are going through is where it just twists on. i cut the bulb off and connected the power wires to some 4" red cold cathodes.

i was working on a friends car, he has an 05 tl and it had the same lower dash covers as my 07 type-s. they had a hole for that bulb.

VelfarreClubber

Nice so no drilling needed = )

VelfarreClubber

Would it be part number #31? Click me