A/c Control Unit Bulbs

[Andy-R]

T5's do the dial controls temp, blowers, settings, T3's are for the clock, T4 is for the passenger seatbelt warning, also there is a T4(I think) for the hazards.

Hope this helps.

I have ordered some LED's from the e-bay item number Chris(Aztecbandit1) posted (thanks Chris) it only came to 5quid odd inc. postage so you may be better off getting the LED's as replacements and then you can change colour if you want.

When replacing the bulbs be VERY CAREFUL when opening the unit up, thats the best advice I can give ;)

[TigerFish]

These are the bulbs taken out, right to left T5, T4, T3.

Just to confirm, are you saying the eBay pic that Aztec posted is wrong with its labels for the different sizes? You only seem to agree on the T4 size??

[aztecbandit1]

A T3 uses a 3mm wide bulb a T4 uses a 4mm bulb a T5 uses a 5mm bulb a T10 uses a 10mm bulb and so on, its not that hard to work out really when you look at the bulbs/leds used in the holders??

[TigerFish]

A T3 uses a 3mm wide bulb a T4 uses a 4mm bulb a T5 uses a 5mm bulb a T10 uses a 10mm bulb and so on, its not that hard to work out really when you look at the bulbs/leds used in the holders??

Cheers. That confirms things, wouldn't want people ordering them arse about face only to end up with the wrong thing. I'm gonna try converting my GS to blue, as the headunit now illuminates on the blue side of things I think it will look better all blue. Anyone know what bulbs the Mk1 GS dash uses and how many?

[Andy-R]

My bulbs came and I'm not sure if the holders were wrong or I got mixed up with the sizes, as you can see form my pic of the bulbs out of the unit there 3 different sizes which suggests to me there as I said, but when the new bulbs came the T5 holders where bigger than the ones in the car so didn't fit into the holes, so now i'm wondering if it's really T4's not T5's or if the bulb holders are a bigger size, anyway all I did was very carefully bend the little metal connectors out of the bigger holder and pulled the bulb out and stuck it into the original holder. The T3's for the clock are right it's just the others i'm not to sure about now, also they aint very bright once there in the back of the unit, don't really know why maybe it just wasn't dark enough to appreciate them.

[Motsey]

My bulbs came and I'm not sure if the holders were wrong or I got mixed up with the sizes, as you can see form my pic of the bulbs out of the unit there 3 different sizes which suggests to me there as I said, but when the new bulbs came the T5 holders where bigger than the ones in the car so didn't fit into the holes, so now i'm wondering if it's really T4's not T5's or if the bulb holders are a bigger size, anyway all I did was very carefully bend the little metal connectors out of the bigger holder and pulled the bulb out and stuck it into the original holder. The T3's for the clock are right it's just the others i'm not to sure about now, also they aint very bright once there in the back of the unit, don't really know why maybe it just wasn't dark enough to appreciate them.

has anyone tried the blue bulbs off eBay? I was thinking of soldering smd's into the ac control but if this looks good then i will do this instead

[Andy-R]

My bulbs came and I'm not sure if the holders were wrong or I got mixed up with the sizes, as you can see form my pic of the bulbs out of the unit there 3 different sizes which suggests to me there as I said, but when the new bulbs came the T5 holders where bigger than the ones in the car so didn't fit into the holes, so now i'm wondering if it's really T4's not T5's or if the bulb holders are a bigger size, anyway all I did was very carefully bend the little metal connectors out of the bigger holder and pulled the bulb out and stuck it into the original holder. The T3's for the clock are right it's just the others i'm not to sure about now, also they aint very bright once there in the back of the unit, don't really know why maybe it just wasn't dark enough to appreciate them.

has anyone tried the blue bulbs off eBay? I was thinking of soldering smd's into the ac control but if this looks good then i will do this instead

The ones I have are off e-bay, i'll have to have a play with them and see if they can go any brighter, my a/c unit is knackered so that may be why there not so bright, should be getting new unit tomorrow so will let you know the results. Stav has done the soldering thing and his look very good, there are some recent pics on here somewhere just check out has recent posts and you should find them.

[Andy-R]

Got new a/c and no difference in the bulbs, my advice would be don't bother, try and get wide angled led's the ones off e-bay are directional so point forward and don't spread the light very well at all (thanks Chris for explaination) i'm taking mine out and will use them somewhere else if possible. The one tip I can offer if you just want to change the colour from orange is open the unit up CAREFULLY (can't stress this enough) take the bulbs out and take the orange hats off them then put em back in and it lights up yellow, not much diff but some.

What is really needed if not wide angled LED's is different coloured hats simple but effective I think this will be but where to get them I don't know.

[Motsey]

Got new a/c and no difference in the bulbs, my advice would be don't bother, try and get wide angled led's the ones off e-bay are directional so point forward and don't spread the light very well at all (thanks Chris for explaination) i'm taking mine out and will use them somewhere else if possible. The one tip I can offer if you just want to change the colour from orange is open the unit up CAREFULLY (can't stress this enough) take the bulbs out and take the orange hats off them then put em back in and it lights up yellow, not much diff but some.

What is really needed if not wide angled LED's is different coloured hats simple but effective I think this will be but where to get them I don't know.

i dont think the "hats" will do the job as you say the bulb under the "hats" is yellow so if a blue "hat" was put on it would be yellow shining thorough the blue and maybe come out a weird colour

[Andy-R]

Got new a/c and no difference in the bulbs, my advice would be don't bother, try and get wide angled led's the ones off e-bay are directional so point forward and don't spread the light very well at all (thanks Chris for explaination) i'm taking mine out and will use them somewhere else if possible. The one tip I can offer if you just want to change the colour from orange is open the unit up CAREFULLY (can't stress this enough) take the bulbs out and take the orange hats off them then put em back in and it lights up yellow, not much diff but some.

What is really needed if not wide angled LED's is different coloured hats simple but effective I think this will be but where to get them I don't know.

i dont think the "hats" will do the job as you say the bulb under the "hats" is yellow so if a blue "hat" was put on it would be yellow shining thorough the blue and maybe come out a weird colour

I think they shine white light tho and it just looks yellow through the controls so the hats could work and be a cheap alternative to LED's . The ideal answer is the wide angled LED's or normal bulbs that shine whatever colour you choose.

[redz_UK]

the best soloution i found was to solder some narrow angle leds angled to point along the light track..

well its worked ok for me and im happy enough with it..

there are some LEDS in the states that look like they do the job perfect.. its all listed on a us forum.. linky see part 2 for aircon..

[Andy-R]

the best soloution i found was to solder some narrow angle leds angled to point along the light track..

If it involves soldering i'll stick to orange or yellow i'm hopless at stuff like that, i'd rather wait to get the right bulbs, will have a look at the linky tho cheers.