Ok -- all done
Aside from removing the surrounding panels (detailed in previous posts), there are a few fiddly bits within the climate control unit itself; mainly, to remove the circuit board (optional), you need to remove the top two bulbs:
Apart from that, re-assembling the unit with the few extra wires added can be a little tricky too.
The great part about fitting LEDs instead of bulbs is that the original bulbs just happen to go through a 5mm hole -- i.e. no drilling because the LEDs are the same diameter!
Test fit with one LED in:
To ensure that light from the LEDs was better spread, I filed the ends flat as this very blurry photo sort-of depicts:
(LEDs tend to focus on a point rather than spreading light in all directions; this is why I filed them down a little.)
Bench-Test:
Quick (but blurry) shot of the small circuit board I made up:
I ended up using 680 ohm resistors.
Final test before re-fitting the unit to the car:
The reason why it's blue is because to make it look white in the first place, Nissan used blue paint to filter the orange-ish light from the original bulbs. Should I remove this blue paint, it will now be white; but I reckon blue looks cool
And, the finished product (very enlightening!)
So, if you wish to do this yourself, you need:
- 4x 5mm LEDs in the colour of your choice
- 4x Resistors to suit (680 ohm suited the LEDs I had; but you will always need to use Ohm's law to determine the correct resistance needed for your LEDs)
- 1x small circuit board (not really needed; you could solder the resistors in-line with the wire, and heat-shrink it up)
- A few lengths of light-duty hook-up wire (no you can't use the 4 guage left over from your stereo install )
- Heatshrink (you could go without, but I'd recommend it)
- Usual electronics stuff (soldering iron, solder, wire cutters, haemostats, etc.
- Timewise, it was about 3 hours between taking the unit out and putting it back in.
As per any guide, if you stuff it up, it isn't my fault
Enjoy!
- Mortz