Interior Lighting

[originalcyn]

I got my leds today, so I swapped out a few things, the map lights, dome light, door/courtesy lights, and the lighting for the license plate.

Most of the bulbs were replaced with the same led module. The door/courtesy lights use a smaller festoon bulb than the map light and dome light, but the new led still fit, though it was pretty tight.

The original bulbs are festoon style incandescent. You can see the size difference in this picture. The dome and map light bulb is on the left and the courtesy lights bulb is on the right.



The replacement modules were either red or white.










Map Light:



Dome Light





License Plate Light:

This area uses a wedge shaped bulb.







I ordered everything from superbrightleds.com. Here's the parts list:

License Plate: http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo ... tower/910/

Courtesy Lights & Dome Light: http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo ... stoon/238/

Note, this is the same module as the map light, just a different color.

[Someperson]

how much did this run you?

[originalcyn]

More than it should have. like, 60 bucks shipped. The festoon bulbs are like 7 dollars a piece.

[Someperson]

about what i figured

[DD50]

Similar bulbs to what I used. I kept all the lights white for me since red isn't practical for my needs. Either way red looks cool!

[originalcyn]

Thanks DD. I thought it looked a little tacky during the day, but at night it looked much better. I can't really catch how it looks too well with a cell phone, but here's an attempt.

[DD50]

I put green for my door lights. I always get questions about the door lights and complaints about the bright interior lights. People are used to the dim yellowish ones vs bright blueish white. It just looks so much cooler. You going to change out the turn signals, brake lights, and reverse lights? I did for mine and never looked back. One of the best decisions I made for mine I think

[originalcyn]

Nah, probably not. I read a lot of vrg3's posts about optics and what not, and they make sense. The covers for any light that is a signal is intended for an incandescent bulb. leds may not be as viewable at all angles as the intended bulb. Brighter is nice, but not at the cost of viewable angle.

That being said, there are some nice incandescent bulbs that apparently put out a lot of light, so i might go looking for those. Having super bright reverse lights would be nice at night since my tint is kind of too dark.

[DD50]

Nah, probably not. I read a lot of vrg3's posts about optics and what not, and they make sense. The covers for any light that is a signal is intended for an incandescent bulb. leds may not be as viewable at all angles as the intended bulb. Brighter is nice, but not at the cost of viewable angle.

That being said, there are some nice incandescent bulbs that apparently put out a lot of light, so i might go looking for those. Having super bright reverse lights would be nice at night since my tint is kind of too dark.

Yeah I was told the same thing. The viewable angle is debatable that's for sure. All of my friends who have ridden behind me, night or day have said they're bright even from the sides. I like to stand out in my car. Those bulbs seem to do the trick. I will admit having 55 watt HIDs without projectors was an asshole move. lol They kept burning out so I got rid of them

[originalcyn]

Haha, yeah. I had hids too for a while. They weren't super offensive to oncoming traffic personally, but i always had a problem with one of them not coming on. Plus i drive with my head lights on all the time, so it just wasn't worth it. I do miss how much "brighter" they made things though. Often times i have trouble telling whether or not my head lights are on.

[DD50]

Haha, yeah. I had hids too for a while. They weren't super offensive to oncoming traffic personally, but i always had a problem with one of them not coming on. Plus i drive with my head lights on all the time, so it just wasn't worth it. I do miss how much "brighter" they made things though. Often times i have trouble telling whether or not my head lights are on.

That sees like a typical problem with a lot of first gen Legacy drivers. I see a lot driving with the lights on. I've forgotten due to the automatic off headlights. Yeah my HIDs were unreliable which is why I got rid of them. Changing to brighter backlighting does help remind people if you can see it lit a little

[pooh]

I got a question for you...I was going to change all my bulbs to LEDS on my 93. So are you saying not to do LEDS in the taillights and what is HIDs I am new here but going to fix this one up

[originalcyn]

At very least I would not change the brake lights and marker lights, or anything in the headlights. As referenced earlier in the thread, member vrg3 wrote some very compelling posts about why it was a bad idea. He's a really respected member, so i trust his input on the subject, even if i don't exactly understand it.

[Danny-G]

@ pooh
If you're dead set on LEDs for the tail lights and such, make sure the LED bulbs are 360 degree beam. That should keep the optics of the lights happy. Definatly get LEDs for your license plate, its a great mod. Also, if you can solder, you can convert your gauge cluster to LED as well.

[originalcyn]

Oh, Danny, you should post the link to your gauge cluster.

[SILINC3R]

@ pooh
If you're dead set on LEDs for the tail lights and such, make sure the LED bulbs are 360 degree beam. That should keep the optics of the lights happy. Definatly get LEDs for your license plate, its a great mod. Also, if you can solder, you can convert your gauge cluster to LED as well.

I didn't have to solder for mine Danny.

[originalcyn]

Yeah, that's a good point as well, the dash bulbs can all be changed out with leds. I guess it depends on what you want to do. Danny's rope led was probably cheaper, and maybe brighter, but requires effort and risk of ruining something.

[Danny-G]

The only reason I used the strips was to avoid getting any "hot spots" across the gauges.

[pooh]

i thought about running a strip of lights all the way along the LEGACY midddle taillight. I want this car to be unique.. cool, but not goofy