Change reading/dome lights to LED?

License plate 5K flanks (will light up your plate + ground way beyond oem 194 bulb)
http://www.v-leds.com/Interior-LED-Bulbs/Dome-Map-LED/White-LED/V-LEDS-HID-5K-WHITE-4-p8825900.html
Front center console in 5K (and maps if you want them white vs. my red maps)
http://www.v-leds.com/Interior-LED-Bulbs/Dome-Map-LED/White-LED/V-LEDS-HID-5K-WHITE-4-p8761053.html
Same in 6K (ice white w blue hue)
http://www.v-leds.com/Interior-LED-Bulbs/Dome-Map-LED/White-LED/V-LEDS-6K-WHITE-4-M-SMT-p8187987.html
I put these in the backseat (but you could use above HighPower ones- but 2 together maybe too bright for backseat.
http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED-Bulbs/CornerSide-Marker-LED/White-LED/2-6K-WHITE-25-WATT-HIGH-p9595898.html
Vanity Mirrors (2 ea. mirror = 4 total)
http://www.v-leds.com/Interior-LED-Bulbs/Dome-Map-LED/White-LED/V-LEDS-5K-WHITE-2W-4-p8761206.html
Backup (pricey)
http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED-Bulbs/Turn-Signal-LED/White-LED/V-LEDS-PLATINUM-5K-HID-p9449833.html

You will love the output and color of these!

Ron C said:

Thanks a bunch. I may not do them all at once, but I'm sure I'll get them all done before the end of the year. I'm really digging the LED lights I have at home now (dimmable floods and spots) so I'm sure I'll like them in the car as well.

Click to expand...

Finished, kinda.

My second order of bulbs showed up today and I just finished installing them. This second set included the vanity bulbs, rear cargo, and license plate lamps (4 festoon bulbs and 3 194 Flank bulbs).

The rear cargo and license plate lamps were a breeze - pop out the existing fixture, remove the existing bulb, install the new flank bulb (pointing the right direction!) and reinstalling the fixture. The cargo area has a slot (toward the front of the car) in which you can insert a screwdriver to pop out the fixture. Pull it out and remove the bulb. Replace the bulb with the new bulb, with the flank lamps facing the lens. Mine didn't light up immediately, which was disconcerting, but when I shut the cargo door and re-opened it the lamp lit as expected (and WOW! it's a lot better).

The license plate lamps have tabs that are holding in a weather-tight fixture that holds the bulb. Pop out the fixture by inserting a screwdriver between the pressure tab and the body to remove the entire fixture. Twist the lamp holder out of the fixture to remove the housing from the bulb. I disconnected the wire and moved the fixture to a more comfortable location before turning the bulb holder, but that's not required. Once the bulb holder is out of the fixture, remove the existing bulb and insert the 194 Flank bulb with the lamps pointing away from the tab that holds the wire clip on the bulb holder. If you do this, then when you insert the bulb holder back into the fixture and turn it clockwise it will lock in place, both sealing the enclosure and putting the flank lights in the right orientation.

The vanity lights are also easy to replace - insert a screwdriver into the slot on the outward sides of both lights to pop off the cover. As previously noted, the bulbs look like glass car fuses. This time, things didn't quite work so easily. The vanity lights that TopSpeed used were no longer available from V-LEDs, so I ordered what they called the "Vanity LEDs". They look like the bulbs that were in the vanity lamps but instead of the glass bulb with filament they have 2 LEDs facing in the same direction. The good news is that the inboard ones on both vanity mirrors work fine, but the outboard ones don't at all. It's weird, too - I swapped them thinking that the LEDs were duds but it ended with the same situation: the inboard lamps light and the outboard lamps are unlit. Order of installation seemed to not matter (same behavior if I install the inboard first or the outboard first).

I'm debating about what the next step should be, given that the vanity bulbs TopSpeed recommended got the Super Hot Girlfriend Seal of Approval (SHGSoA?). Any other sources for the recommended bulbs? Any other thoughts?

Top_Speed1's info was very helpful for replacing my bulbs with LEDs. Unfortunately, his links to VLEDS are no longer current, so you can't just click to see exactly what he bought. However, you can find what you need based on the other details he posted. Searching by bulb number at http://www.vleds.com/shop-bulb-numbers.html is probably easiest.

http://www.sylvania.com/en-us/appli...bulbs.aspx?year=2013&qual=&model=2151&make=18 is Sylvania's bulb listing page ('11 and '12 are the same as '13, which is the newest they have). The biggest difference I found from what Top_Speed1 posted is that the vanity lights are listed as 7065 bulbs. I bought some LEDs advertised as the "3022" base, and those festoon contacts are much bigger than what is used in my 2014's vanity lights. I was able to cram them in there, but they definitely were not made to fit the contacts. From what I can tell, the 7065 is supposed to be the "fuse" style light, with smaller ends. I'm seeing the LED versions advertised on eBay as "T6 6641". http://www.vleds.com/5k-white-hi-power-3-chip-2-led-vanity-sun-visor-light-bulb.html is the current link to that style. I've seen them with 1, 2, or 3 5050 LEDs on each one. While visor lights always seem rather dim, these LED replacements are very bright - maybe too bright.

There are a few different bulb numbers listed for different positions. These incandescent parts have slightly different globe sizes or wattage ratings, but they all have the same base, so "194" or "T10" LEDs will work for all of them.

3x 194 (3.78W) for the dome lights. There's one up front between the map lights and two in the backseat area.
2x 2825 (5W) for the map lights.
2x 2825 (5W) for the license plate lights.
1x 175 (8.12W) for the cargo area light.

I've had good luck with JTECHnow LEDs for my bike and other things. You can get an 8-pack of 194 LEDs (5x5050 SMD LEDs on each unit) for under $8 shipped from the US that will cover all the lights mentioned above. The Pilot brand 194 LEDs that I saw at AutoZone for $13/pair looked identical to these, other than the color of the plastic base.

I found them to be too bright in the map lights, so I ordered a couple different styles in red to play with. The red is definitely more tolerable, though I'd prefer white (but slightly dimmer) light.

The right-angle flank LEDs (http://www.vleds.com/5k-4-hpf.html) that Top_Speed1 listed would probably work better for the plate lights and cargo area. They would direct all the light in one direction, rather than having half shining at the back of the housing. The only issue with cheaper ones is that if they're wired up opposite of the car's connector, it's not easy to just flip them over to get the right polarity (VLEDs' units are made to work either way).

The cheap 194 LEDs in the license plate lights have started flickering after a few months. It doesn't seem to be a contact problem between the bulbs and the sockets. I'm not sure if it's due to temperature, humidity, vibration, or something else. I've been meaning to do something with them for a while. A cop followed me all the way to the edge of town last night, so I finally tossed the OEM bulbs back in for now and have ordered the VLEDS flank LEDs to replace them.

I got a directional 7W Cree 3157 bulb from JTECHnow for the reverse light. I'm not sure if it's the lens, the directionality of the LED, or something else, but it seems a bit dimmer than stock. However, I didn't back up in the dark a whole lot, so it could just be my imagination. I might do some swapping once I get my camera installed (as that will make it easier to see how well-lit it is back there). The lens on the LED itself makes for a very focused, perfectly-circular, spotlight-style beam, as opposed to a generic unidirectional LED bulb.

I haven't done anything with the turn signals (7444NA) yet. My original goal was mainly to get rid of the yellow light from the incandescent bulbs (though the reliability and efficiency don't hurt anything either).

InvisiBill said:

The cheap 194 LEDs in the license plate lights have started flickering after a few months. It doesn't seem to be a contact problem between the bulbs and the sockets. I'm not sure if it's due to temperature, humidity, vibration, or something else. I've been meaning to do something with them for a while. A cop followed me all the way to the edge of town last night, so I finally tossed the OEM bulbs back in for now and have ordered the VLEDS flank LEDs to replace them.

Click to expand...

Wow, these work so much better! The JTechNow bulbs are quite bright. However, they're omnidirectional, with 1 LED facing out in each (4 around the sides and 1 on top). The VLEDs flanks have 4 LEDs on one side, facing only in that single direction. I think each LED is probably similar brightness, but with the omnidirectional bulbs, you only have 1 LED shining directly that way, and 4 others hopefully getting reflected that way by the housing.

Here are a couple shots into my hatch with the two bulbs. This is looking down into the hatch between the cargo net (bottom of the pics) and the "loincloth" (top of the pics). Keep in mind these are simple iPhone pics, not with a professional camera, so I can't force certain light settings or anything.

You can see a slightly lighter spot in the middle of the first pic, with the JTechNow omnidirectional bulb. I think it looks darker in the pic than when you're actually looking in the car. I'd say it's comparable to the stock bulb, perhaps a little less helpful around the edges due to the LED's directionality.



Compared to the omnidirectional bulb, the flank lights up the whole hatch area.



As someone who generally switches everything possible to LED, I was quite surprised at how bright the VLEDs flanks were. Like I said, the JTechNow omnidirectional ones were too bright in the map lights, but these are even brighter in the directional housings in the back of the car.

Each one cost more than a full set of generic omnidirectional LED bulbs, but for the hatch and license plate lights, they're amazing. As long as they hold up well, I'll be completely satisfied with these. They do have a 1 year warranty.