[shailoche]

The story is that I wanted to try led replacement bulbs for my stock cluster. The problem is that LED bulbs are polarized. One "terminal" is a positive the other is ground. This is not true for the stock bulbs. You can install a stock twist on bulb in either direction and it will work. The LED must be installed in a specific manner otherwise they will not work.

Also, the backing of the cluster does not have an indicator showing what side is positive and which is negative. So, if you don't have this information you will likely have to put the bulbs in twice....or more to get them right.

I am trying to help save you guys some time while replacing the lights in your Del Sol.

There are a total of 16 T1.5 twist on bulbs in a Del Sol Si Cluster. You can change all of them or only the ones that back light the instrument cluster. I only replaced those that light the cluster not the warning lights. I tried replacing the SRS warning light, E-Brake light, oil, battery, and CEL but their color was not right so I took them out and left them stock.

I got the direct fit LED twist on bulbs from superbrightled.com
They twist on just like the stock bulb and the resistors are wired into the socket so there is no soldering required. Also, the LED bulbs have a polarity indicator dot on the side of the bulb. That indicates the positive side of the bulb.

In this picture you can see that the stock bulb is on the left. It has no polarity dot. The LED is on the right and it has a white polarity dot.

This picture shows the installation of the bulbs and shows what side the white polarity dot is facing. The red text and the x is on the side of the bulb that has the polarity dot.


In the end the mod worked out well. The lighting is better than stock and is a nice soothing white color. I will be adding LED strip lighting but I wanted to try these bulbs out to see how they work.

 

[Ninju]

WOW!! nice work man!thanks for your help,i will try it soon.can you post some pics with the new lighting in action?

 

[shailoche]

I will try to get some nighttime pictures of my interior lights. The LED replacements look good...they were wide angle and so there isn't much of the "hot spot" effect on my cluster. The only odd thing is that the "red-line" appears orange under the light of the white LED.

No biggie though. I remedied that by putting some red see-through vinyl film behind the red-line zone under the cluster.

 

[Ninju]

i think i will love the orange color! yeah night shots will be very nice!in the future can you show me how to remove the cluster?

 

[mattliston]

UPDATE THIS THREAD NOW!!!

 

[shailoche]

Updates coming....

Here is some information that I have added.

Also, DO NOT USE LED's for your CHECK ENGINE LIGHT, OIL PRESSURE LIGHT, OR CRUISE CONTROL LIGHT.

The reason being is that those circuits have some constant electricity flowing through them. When you install the LED there is always some power going to it and as such it lights up. So, if you use LEDs in those spots it will appear that you have a CEL or your cruise control is on or that you are loosing oil pressure. In reality everything is OK but the lights are just being fed enough power to stay lit. Once replaced with standard light bulbs the warning lights go out and work like they should.

 

[shailoche]

Okay so here is some new information. As I was installing the stock LED replacements I found that superbrightled.com had a new product which offers 360 degree illumination from the LED. The standard replacement only has 120 degrees. That is why there are "hot spots" when you use LEDs to replace standard filament bulbs.

They don't sell the 360 degree bulb with the socket for our cluster. So, you have to remove the stock socket from the cluster and then remove the filament bulb from the socket and then install the LED bulb in the socket.

Here are some photos:

 

[shailoche]

I also have some pictures of the entire cluster polarity. I took them with my other camera so I haven't loaded them on to my computer yet. When I do I will update this thread to show you all which direction the polarity dot has to face in order for the LED to work.

It is also really helpful to have a portable 12v battery and two short pieces of 16gauge wire in order to test the polarity of each bulb. When you make your bulbs by removing the standard bulb from the socket and then put in the LED you have to use the battery to figure out which side of the bulb is the positive side. That way you can just put the bulb into the cluster without trouble.

Also, I did replace the bulbs inside my climate control system too. Those are the bulbs behind the center stack just above your radio. With the 360 LED that thing lights up really nicely. All you have to do is simply take the stack apart and replace the #74 mini-wedge bulbs with LEDs.

In the following pictures you will see the center stack taken out of the car. In order to get it out you have to remove the radio, unscrew a bitch of a phillips head screw inside where the radio sits, then you remove the climate control helper cable, and then the climate control unit comes right out. Even if you try really really really hard it will take you a good hour to get the climate control unit out.



I let this thread die since nobody seemed too interested. So, if you want to have more info about this MOD then post here letting me know.

 

[shailoche]

What you end up doing is taking the #74 min-wedge LED bulb and placing it into the sockets at the end of the red wiring. Once you fit them in you will have to hook the climate control unit back up to your car and turning the lights on in order to check that you have the bulbs in with the polarity correctly set.

If not then you simply flip the LED over and reinstall it the opposite of the direction you had it before.

 

[shailoche]

BIG TIME PHOTO UPDATE

FINALLY...this is the latest update with nighttime photos of my interior lights. There are several pictures here: a closeup one of the entire cluster, one of the center A/C console, and a picture of all them in one frame.

The pictures were taken with the dimmer dialed up to 100% brightness. There was no flash used. The interior dome light was not on. The headlights were not on. The light that you see is coming from the LEDs and nothing else.

I replaced every bulb in my cluster with the new 360 degree high power white LED's...except the following: oil warning, cruise control, CEL, and SRS.

I also replaced all of my center stack bulbs with the same 360 degree high power white LED's.

In the proceeding posts I have outlined how to do the installation and how to modify your existing sockets with the high power 360 LEDs...it took me a total of 6-8 hours for the cluster and center stack. That included all of the removal, upgrade, and installation.

I do know that I have a little dark spot around the 100mph mark on the speedometer. For some reason the stock cluster lights don't reach that far and so any replacement/upgrade isn't likely to change that one spot unless I drill a hole or place a strip LED. I didn't want to do that and so I have left it alone.

I have seen some other installations where strip LEDs have been used to light the entire cluster. Mine does not utilize that method. Mine is sort of a unique method that doesn't rewire or modify the cluster. All it requires is time, patience, and a little mechanical knowledge.

With this install I was going for a sleek, well lit, bright, and clean look. I also wanted to keep it stock and use the stock sockets. I was successful in doing that, and as I have stated this modification required no cutting, re-wiring, splicing, gluing, taping, drilling...and so on.

Please feel free to give me your comments and questions.

Other than the 100mph mark dimness....what do you guys think about the overall effect?

 

[mattliston]

whats up with the dimness around 100mph? style of the LED(wide or narrow) or is something not working for you?

EDIT i read after I posted. looks good for no mods, just bulb switching.

any thoughts of using a brighter LED there, or would it make it too bright in that spot?

 

[shailoche]

whats up with the dimness around 100mph? style of the LED(wide or narrow) or is something not working for you?

EDIT i read after I posted. looks good for no mods, just bulb switching.

any thoughts of using a brighter LED there, or would it make it too bright in that spot?

I used the brightest LEDs that I could find. It didn't matter whether it was a 120 degree or 360 degree bulb...they all light the area the same.

I tried twisting the bulb different directions but after a ton of fiddling I discovered that the stock cluster has a plastic support that sits between the bulb socket and the cluster surface. As such, the light can't get all the way down there. I am thinking about "cutting" that support slightly...but I really wanted to show what was possible without modifying anything but the bulbs themselves.

What do you think about the overall effect?
What do you think about the amount of light there is compared to the stock arrangement?

 

[mattliston]

I think it looks good, id rock it. needs the needles painted red or orange, and it installed in my dash :ninja

 

[shailoche]

I think it looks good, id rock it. needs the needles painted red or orange, and it installed in my dash :ninja

I am thinking about removing the needles and painting them red or green. I am also going to remove the gauge panels and paint the redline area too. I am working on a solution for the 100mph dark spot too. I think if I cut the interior of the cluster support I can get the light to reach down into that corner. Over all though it came out really well and it wasn't that hard to do.

The biggest thing about this mod is that it is simple and requires little or no electrical wiring skills. All you have to be able to do is replace the bulbs...or build your own bulbs out of the stock sockets and the aftermarket LED wedge bulbs.
You could also use those bulbs to replace the lighting in the automatic transmission cluster too.:clappy

 

[Ninju]

FINALLY...this is the latest update with nighttime photos of my interior lights. There are several pictures here: a closeup one of the entire cluster, one of the center A/C console, and a picture of all them in one frame.

The pictures were taken with the dimmer dialed up to 100% brightness. There was no flash used. The interior dome light was not on. The headlights were not on. The light that you see is coming from the LEDs and nothing else.

I replaced every bulb in my cluster with the new 360 degree high power white LED's...except the following: oil warning, cruise control, CEL, and SRS.

I also replaced all of my center stack bulbs with the same 360 degree high power white LED's.

In the proceeding posts I have outlined how to do the installation and how to modify your existing sockets with the high power 360 LEDs...it took me a total of 6-8 hours for the cluster and center stack. That included all of the removal, upgrade, and installation.

I do know that I have a little dark spot around the 100mph mark on the speedometer. For some reason the stock cluster lights don't reach that far and so any replacement/upgrade isn't likely to change that one spot unless I drill a hole or place a strip LED. I didn't want to do that and so I have left it alone.

I have seen some other installations where strip LEDs have been used to light the entire cluster. Mine does not utilize that method. Mine is sort of a unique method that doesn't rewire or modify the cluster. All it requires is time, patience, and a little mechanical knowledge.

With this install I was going for a sleek, well lit, bright, and clean look. I also wanted to keep it stock and use the stock sockets. I was successful in doing that, and as I have stated this modification required no cutting, re-wiring, splicing, gluing, taping, drilling...and so on.

Please feel free to give me your comments and questions.

Other than the 100mph mark dimness....what do you guys think about the overall effect?

wow!!thats really cool!i want to do mine too!can i buy those kind of bulbs in ebay?

 

[shailoche]

wow!!thats really cool!i want to do mine too!can i buy those kind of bulbs in ebay?

I don't think you can get them on Ebay...although I haven't looked very hard. I purchased mine from SUPER BRIGHT LEDS home for a reasonable $3.25 per bulb. So, it wasn't to bad. But they are the only ones that I have seen that offer the high output 360 degree bulb.

 

[spoonsol]

I MUST do this to my sol. is there anyway you can give a direct link to the specific blubs?

 

[mattliston]

just look for 360 or 120 degree LED bulbs. look for super bright ones.

LED bulbs are generally lower light output as they use much less power, so that only leaves the special bright ones :tu

 

[shailoche]

I MUST do this to my sol. is there anyway you can give a direct link to the specific blubs?

Okay,

The bulbs you want to buy are on this page:
Product Listing - CAR

You'll have to scroll through the listings since that website doesn't allow direct linking to an EXACT bulb...

What you want to look for are the bulbs that say they are:
74-xHP3 Wedge Base LED bulb
3 High Power SMD LEDs with wide beam angle radially mounted - 15 lumen
Small Wedge Base LED bulb (74 type) 3/16 inch wide base, 3/4 inch overall length
Select LED Color
$ 3.49

Then just choose your color.

I used the "cool white" version of those bulbs on this project.
Good luck!

:bomb

 

[Kabooki]

I need to do that on the SiR. They are really dim and I still havnt found where the dimmer switch is on this car