Interior LED Lighting?

I'm kinda stuck on two lights:

Dome light - how is it removed - I pry it, but it doesn't want to budge, and I don't want to break it...

Map lights - I can pull the plastic from the overhead off (in front near window) - but what then?

TIA!

 

Get a plastic pry bar set from an auto store or Harbor Freight is where I got mine for $5.99.

It is much easier when you locate the plastic fasteners and pry at that point. But it is easy to do with your hands also. Just be sure to only supply enough force to pop the fasteners loose and not bend the housing which will crack the lens, and start at the front/glass side and work back.

I had no problem the first time getting mine off. In fact the fasteners came loose from the cover instead of the socket. Not sure how, but I didnt break anything. I use a plastic pry bar now and it is easier.

 

Thanks to all - I was able to get the dome off, and when I put the cover on, the switch is broken (???) It's never as easy as it should be...

 

Last night I swapped out the Philips BlueVision 5w5 bulbes I had in the license plate and parking locations. For the Parking lights I tried both the 5 led and 9 led versions from superbrightleds and to my surprise the 5 led version was significanlty brighter. Although to my eye both appeared to be the same color, the 9 led version is spec'd at a higher color temp. Both look a bit blue compared to the LED low beams which I think looks better than the BlueVision bulbs which, although whiter than stock were still more yellow than the LED low beams.

For the parking lights I tried these off eBay:




The above lights work very well and are a very nice cool white (more white than the BlueVision, but not blue. They are a *very* tight fit though. I actually ended up filing them down a bit just to get them installed.



I'm still waiting on an order for some blue SMD led's for the doors to match the illuminated sill plates. And for the interior map/convenience lights I think I'll build up something based on the new CREE XPG. It's a single SMD puts out around 370 lumens depending on how it's driven and has a nice wide illumination angle which I think would be a great match for most of the remaining interior lights.

 

Man, this place is AWESOME! Thanks for the read (long, but good...)


I can't wait to redo my interior lights. I have ordered the exterior ones, so hopefully that won't take too long.

 

Was curious if anyone can tell me what type of LED bulb this is in the attached pictures? I pulled this bulb from the glove box, and these are the same type of bulbs for the footwell lighting in the Prius IV and V. I was looking to change them out to white LEDs to match the rest of the white LEDs I used for the interior. They are currently an amber-ish orange. I am hoping there is someone out there who would know...
The only identifiable markings on the housing are PBT B4 on the back of the unit and FG34A on the top. The bottom of the unit has two prongs on the inside for the plug from wire (for a lack of a better term)
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Thanks ANTIFLASH for all the information. I just wanted to confirm which units you used for the rear and front turn signals. Also whether you thought their brightness was adiqute or not? I noticed there seems to be about three choices for the 7440 series. One being a super bright that looked interesting. Would that be overkill?

Thanks again,
Peter

 

Interresting thread indeed but how do you adress thermal relief?

The way I see it all these replacement "bulbs" are installed in lights and fixture that were not designed for LEDs. Unlike regular bulbs, LED need a good thermal relief in order to remain relatively cool (if they are too hot to touch you are likely exceeding their specs, making them inefficient and shortening their lifespan).

Has anyone conducted some tests with a thermal probe in order to find out what kind of temperature your LED reach in steady state?

You would be surprised how hot a low power device can get if there is very little thermal path to it's environnement.

 

typo

 

I forgot that there there was more than one lighting thread and made my last post, including some pictures to this one. The Cree SMD's are very small and easily mounted in the map, dome, and cargo, areas. I think the result ended up really cool. (pun intended) However, they are probably not for everyone. Even a single SMD is incredibly bright, substantially brighter than the stock or BlueVision bulbs and they are also more blue with a lower CRI.

 

I went hard core in switching my trunk light to LED. The new light is on a tether so you can pull it out and light things up in front or outside. I did it on a gen II, but the Gen. III looks about the same.

 

So I was a bit irked that even after changing out all the interior lights to LEDs, those footwell and glovebox lights still have that amberish glow. In my endless search to replace these LED units (see post #91), I finally found, ordered, and installed the white bulbs, so now the interior is complete with full white LEDs. Once again my world can be at peace... j/k
Attached are picts of the footwell. They were taken with different cameras, so the quality of picts will not be the same.

 

Great!! I am also trying to replace those LEDs for the glove box and the foot well!
Where did you found them? Can you post the link?

 

Nieveser: For the footwell lights and glovebox light, you need to order from parts.com. The parts are based on a 2006 Lexus IS250. The part number is 81080-22040. They are approximately $11/piece.