LED Update!

[mr2boost]

Well, I thought I would post this up in my never ending search to make the LED lighting of the interior dang near perfect. Not quite there, but it ought to help some folks though. Just note that I am working on a color scheme with my MR2. The outside is RED with Black accents & the interior is BLACK with Red accents. I went with White in the back lighting to keep it "modern" looking & Blue in the Climate Control Unit buttons for A/C & the in buttons for the air inlets (except defrost which is Red).

Okay, here is the complete list of LED's that I used for the interior upgrade.

ALL of the LED's I got are from superbrightleds.com they had extremely fast shipping to me. I got everything I ordered within 2 days of the order!

Instrument Cluster
1. Cool White/Warm White/Natural White LEDs for the IC = WLED-5x LED Wide Angle LED bulb (12 VDC 5-LED Type 194/168) $3.94 each (link Product Listing - CAR near the bottom when you scroll down)
A. I sanded them as seen in this pic... 044.JPG
The 4 LED lenses on the sides is all I sanded, I left the top lens as is. Be careful & don't hit the metal in the lenses!

2. For the small #74 screw type base bulbs in the Cluster for the Warning Lights (15 total for a 5 speed MR2) I got = T1.5x Instrument LED Bulb in White (White T1.5-W) (Product Listing - CAR) $1.79 each
You have to wiggle these bulbs in a little bit to get them in, but they look & work pretty good.


Climate Control Unit (Heat & A/C)
1. The 3mm LEDs in the button locations of the Climate Control unit are =
A. Blue 3mm LED total of 5 (RL3-B2030) (link Super Bright LEDs - LEDs scroll down just a little bit) $0.67 each
B. Red 3mm LED total of 3 (RL3-R5030) (link same for the blues just scroll a little further down the page) $0.60 each
C. For the 2 back light bulbs for the Climate Control are = NeoWedge bulbs in 4mm & white (NeoWedge series LED Lamp specs) 4mm NEO4-x at $1.29 each.
D. A/C Switch gets 1 NeoWedge 4mm in white for "A/C" back light of the A/C button & a Blue 3mm LED for the round "on" light on the button.

Power Window & Door Lock Control (Driver's side)
1. The 3mm LEDs are..
A. Red 3mm LED total of 2 (RL3-R5030) same as the red ones in the CC unit.
B. White 3mm LED total of 1 (RL3-W3030) $0.74 each. Same link for the other 3mm LED's from superbrightleds.com.

Here is the size of the resistors I used for the 3mm LED's..
For the Red 3mm LEDs = 22K
For the Blue 3mm LEDs = 27K
For the White 3mm LED’s = 22K

For the Red 3mm LED I will put in the lock cylinder in the driver’s door, I will use a 100 ohm resistor so it will be nice & bright! I have not put this in yet!

Hazard Switch
1. I used a NeoWedge 4mm in white (you can use red to make the red in the triangle a more brilliant red & it looks pretty good) same as the ones in the CC unit.

Honda S2000 Engine Start Button
1. Used 1 - 3mm NeoWedge bulb NEO3-x in White. Same link for the 4mm & same price.

Ignition Key Ring
1. I use 1 - 74x Wedge Base LED bulb in Red (Red-74R) Product Listing - CAR at $1.19 each. Bend the little metal legs out a little bit & it just plugs right in like the OEM bulb. This is the same bulb you would use in the ash trey if you wanted to do it.

OEM Clock
Red filter purchased from Lane (HalfSpec here on the board). Very easy install.

Note that the LED's in the Climate Control Unit for the buttons HAVE to be soldered in & a resistor used for each one if you change the colors like I did. The "on" light in the A/C button will have to be soldered in with a resistor too. I used Blue LEDs for the air inlet buttons & Red LEDs for the defrost air buttons, Red for the rear defrost button, & Red for the outside air button & Blue for inside air. The 3mm LEDs in the PDL/PW Control Unit have to be soldered in & the OEM resistors there can be removed & the new resistors soldered in just like the OEM ones, so it is pretty easy to upgrade.

The NeoWedge bulbs screw right in just like the OEM bulbs making them very easy to do.

The 5WLED bulbs in the instrument cluster pop in just like the OEM bulbs do, making them easy to do. BUT, you have to make sure the polarity is correct or they won't light up. So, if you push them in & turn on the parking lights & they don't light up, just turn them around in the base & they should come on then.

Here are some pics...
Instrument Cluster with Natural White 5WLED bulbs in 2 views (a little blurry)...
DSCN0126.JPG
DSCN0128.JPG

Back of Climate Control Unit showing resistors soldered on...
DSCN2019.JPG

Climate Control Unit with NeoWedge Bulbs in...
DSCN2058.JPG

PDL/PW Driver's Side Controls
DSCN2071.JPG

OEM Clock with RED Filter
DSCN2205.JPG

Enjoy... Daniel

[mr2boost]

Just as I thought, when I tried the NeoWedge HP bulbs they have much worse dim/hot spots than the regular NeoWedge bulbs. Even if I had not tried to make the regular NeoWedge bulb an inverted cone using my Dremel Tool, the regular bulb would be better.

I did not bother to take pics for it is just so much worse. It seems that the HP LED's seem to concentrate on power output & not light dispersion. So, for our uses the regular bulbs work best.

It seems to make the Climate Control unit perfect & totally eliminate the dim/hot spots you would need a series of LED's, extra LED bulbs placed, or just use OEM type bulbs that are painted and/or have a slip cover made to the color you want.
Nothing I want to do/try, at least for now.

The Regular Neowedge bulbs work pretty good & are EASY to place. The HP ones would probably be okay in the Hazard Switch, A/C button, & the S2000 start button. But, the regular are cheaper & work just fine in those applications.

Oh well, hope this helps some folks!

Daniel

[mattdouken]

I used 3mm red leds in my door controls with 22k resistors and soldered them in place but they keep burning up when i turn on the lights.

Do you know what watt and what percent tolerance the resistors are supposed to be?

[Cleanest Duece]

newb at mr2 lighting... i have a question, without resistor are the bulbs going to be blinking or wear out easily cause of the lower wattage?

[DCmr16]

without a resistor i believe the bulb will just flash once, and be toast.

[Nebraska]

Has anyone done a Mk1 like this?

[Ben]

Originally Posted by Cleanest Duece

newb at mr2 lighting... i have a question, without resistor are the bulbs going to be blinking or wear out easily cause of the lower wattage?

Without a resistor, they explode and smell really bad. I know this from experience

[328FTW]

Originally Posted by Nebraska

Has anyone done a Mk1 like this?

I went white

A little off topic but there is something else cool I did with my gauges it suits my car fine maybe not everything but looks cool on my car. Almost forgot I did it been like this for a couple years.





The needles on my car had half the backing paint coming off so I took it right off with my fingernail and then used poster paint to redo them blue.






And yeah you need a resistor I found all the lights are fed from one wire that does nothing else on mine so used straight LEDs on the cluster then calculated the resistor needed based on leaving one bulb in and having 6 or 7 LEDs in place drawing off the line and I was bang on.

[Kerry Phillips]

I used 3mm red leds in my door controls with 22k resistors and soldered them in place but they keep burning up when i turn on the lights.

Do you know what watt and what percent tolerance the resistors are supposed to be?[/QUOTE]



I can help, but first, 22k resistors? That is way way too much.


There is a very simple formula for this type of problem

(Vs -VL) / IL= Resistance needed

Vs is the supply voltage, VL is the voltage of the load (device), IL is the amount of current in ampres of the load(device) then the answer will be in ohms.



So here we go:

Vs in a runnig car is 13.8 volts
Voltage of a RED led is 1.7 (blue LED is 3.8 volt, and WHite are 4.0 volts)
LED's typically take 20ma or 0.02 ampres

VS "13.8" - VL "1.7" = 12.1 volts need to be dropped

12.1 volts divided by 0.02 = 605 ohms

Now for white leds:

13.8 - 4.0 =9.8 volts that need to be dropped. 9.8 divided by 0.02=490 ohms


Now lets focus on watts and tolerance:

Tolerance, far from critical and standard readily available resistors will be either 5 or 10 percent tolerance, this is really a non-issue. U will probably NOT be able to buy the EXACT resistance needed and will choose what is closest anyway.


Watts: Just a little more complicated.

Watts = Voltage X Amps

For our resistors we need to calculate the VOLTAGE DROP (which we already did) and multiply by the amperage of the load/device.


So lets return to our RED leds:

we dropped 12.1 volts, the red current is 20 ma or 0.02 amps

12.1(volts) X 0.02 (amps)= 0.242 watts I would recommend a half watt resistor

White LED

9.8 (volts) X 0.02(amps)=0.196 watts Altough below 0.250 (1/4 watt), I still recommend a half watt resistor.

Conclusion: tolerance is no biggie, stick with 1/2 watt resistors.

Feel free to contact me if U would like more help
Kerry
AG4YW

[mattdouken]

Thanks for that, But I already did it with 470 ohms 1/2 watt and everything came out fine..... Figure I was too high and did a little internet studying..

[Cleanest Duece]

hey led experts i have a question. would i be able to use an led like on from this website for the front turn signals?

V-LEDS TYPE 2 DUAL COLOR CHANGING 5K WHITE AMBER SWITCHBACK 60 M-SMT TURN SIGNAL BULBS 1157 2057

2 AMBER SMT 27 LED TURN SIGNAL LIGHT BULBS 1157 2057

[spookynick]

This thread might be a little old, but its the most complete list of leds required to do the interior that i have found.

Perhaps it is out dated? If so please let me know since these are the leds i am ordering lol.

All of the pictures point to a bad host name.
I found the gallery where the pictures are actually kept.

Album: Omori Install & LEDs

[redM]

should i use 2 of the 3022-x9 for dome lights? 3022 Festoon Bulbs Specifications

also, should i use 2 of the WLED-x-x for license plate lights? WLED-x (194 type) Wedge Base bulbs Specifications