elbeee964

Golly, Gregg, I picked mine up at Radio Shack last year. (They didn't seem to be all that uncommon.)

Right on the package they said, "12V, blah-blah mA". Found them in the small item pull-out drawers in the store's hobbyist/geeks-only area.

Frankly, just finding the optimum replacement color, white - not red - was the biggest problem.
They were out of whites at the time.
I finally grabbed 3 reds, soldered them in, and all's been fine.
(But I still wish they'd had the selection of whites as they had reds...)

user 783003

Fry's only had red when I bought them too. Installed them, but bought white later. Will be installing white soon.

Computamedic

I did mine several years ago when I saw the article on John's web site. I tried white LEDs first but it was like beacon shining out from the console. I changed them to red and it was much better. I found the red transparent facing on the console was completely overpowered by the light of the white LEDs and the resultant light was VERY white. The red LEDs toned it down sufficiently to make it match with everything else.

I, too, didn't have any trouble getting 12 volt LEDs (from Maplins in the UK) and needed no series resistors - and they've been there for at least 3 years now.

Regards

Dave

Harry Apps

As Dave said, red LEDs are better for this - they match the red filter built into the housing and give better, warmer red lighting. I also used Maplins and it cost c 85p for three. Make sure that the centre led is reversed before soldering to match the printed circuit board polarity.

boxsey911

I plan to replace my blown console lights with LEDs this weekend. However, John's DIY on Porsche964.co.uk is not available at the moment. So, can anyone offer any pointers on soldering in the LEDs? Particularly, how I make sure I get the polarity correct (as Harry mentions above)?

Also, I found the LEDs available HERE ....should I get the 'HE red' or 'red SB'?

Computamedic

Steve,

The polarity issue is just a matter of making sure you reverse the centre LED. The PCB layout (as you can see from the diagram) just happens to be that way.



The choice on Superbright (SB) or High Efficiency (HE) is up to you. The SB are MUCH brighter and I'd be inclined to use those - but, to be perfectly honest, if you make a mistake it's not going to break the bank!!

I assume John has finally let the porsche964.co.uk domain lapse. I have most of the site captured so if anyone is desperate I can probably dig it out.

Regards

Dave

boxsey911

Brilliant Dave! That pic helps a lot

boxsey911

Successfully managed to install some LEDs in the console today. Thank you to those who posted on this thread.

For those like me that are new to soldering in LEDs, the best tip I can give is that the long leg of the LED is the positive side. With this in mind I marked the positive side with red pen before cutting them to size.

New LEDs shining bright on the board:



A centre console that now lights up

stinkydog

This is kind of off-topic, but my little sticker (with the hazard triangle, key, and exclamation point) came loose and doesn't have enough adhesive to stick back down properly. Any ideas on a cheap remedy that won't make a big mess? I was thinking maybe a dab of rubber cement?