Color?

[lsbaseball25]

I just bought a 2004 Elantra, and it was recently in a wreck, so I'm currently working on her. The car on the outside is black with pitch black windows and I was wondering what color I should go with for the interior (light wise). I was thinking blue since I've had a car with blue lights and interior and know what it looks like, but any suggestions are more than welcome. it would also help a lot if anyone has pictueres of the lights they have on their interior

[hyunelan2]

Most people do blue, but I have seen a couple people here do red. IMO, the red is a little hard to see, but others probably think blue is blinding. I think red looks nice with a blacked out car. Check out some cars in the garage and there should be a couple of pics in there of people's interior lights.

[lsbaseball25]

Do you personally have interior lighting?

[joph09]

I got blue leds for my switches and hvac but ended up looking turqoise but I like blue or red on black cars.
I would think red is easier on the eyes at night because red doesn't allow your eyes to lose its "adjusted night vision"

[hyunelan2]

I would think red is easier on the eyes at night because red doesn't allow your eyes to lose its "adjusted night vision"


Yes. That's why Hyundai was using the Pea-Green lighting for so long. Supposedly, it is the best color for gauges to be to not screw with adjusted night vision, but still be visible (as red can be hard to see in some conditions).


I have all blue lighting. Blue reverse-indiglo gauges, blue LEDs in all the window switches, blue LEDs in the HVAC, blue matrix LEDs in my autometer gauges, the ashtray, and the gear indicator.

[Pete03GLS]

my entire interior is getting slowly worked over to red, my speed gauges are finished, i shud have some pics of that in my garage or something, and i still need to figure out if i want ilanpro to do my hvac red, which i probably will since i ****ed up my oem bulbs, and im too much of an idiot to figure out how to fit the leds i have into it :/ lol

hey hyunelan2, are those matrix led bulbs any good? are you happy with the light spreading out evenly and stuff?? cuz right now i have some flat head leds, which kinda give me some hot spots, i was lookin at those matrix ones b4 but for some reason decided not to get them. what do you think? should i give them a go?

[hyunelan2]

The matrix bulbs are WAY better than the flat and inverted cone head bulbs. The multiple bulbs shine light out in more directions, similar to how an incandescent bulb would.

As far as hotspots in the cluster, that's not always just the lightbulbs fault. The back of the gauge faces have some areas where there are "dots" of paint that dim the light so it shines evenly. When you change the color of the bulbs from the green, sometimes the penetrating color has more or less effect on the green gauge face, leaving the appearance of hotspots. The best way around it is to just throw more light through it. The matrix bulbs should do that. I don't use them in my cluster though, they are in my other areas, the gauge faces are powered by an overlay.

[Pete03GLS]

oh yeah thats true. if u have stock gauge bulbs back there, i suggest u switch them out with blue leds as well, or w/e color u like, becuase then the lil milage display will glow that color as well, just like mine is red, thanx to the red back lighting.

anyways, i might buy a couple of those matrix bulbs then n give em a go. question, what kind of bulbs go in the shifter area? and i assume u hav an A/T, cuz manuals dont hav bulbs there.

[hyunelan2]

It's the same larger bulb as everything else, 194 I think.

[Pete03GLS]

sweet, i have extra 194's that will do the job fine then. thanx :)

[lsbaseball25]

well you guys have done a lot more than answer my question. Thanks for helping a newbie out lol. I'll have to post some before and after pictures after I redo the front end of my car and put some lighting in.

[Pete03GLS]

idk if this is gonna matter for u or not, but the bulbs, in the rectangular side markers, in the bumper on both sides, are also 194 bulbs, i just swapped my regular bulbs with some wide angle red LED's. looks redder, darker, and in my opinion alot better than it did b4, ill try to get pics later.

i just swapped the gear shifter bulb as well, in the center console, with another wide angle RED LED bulb. looks awesome. was easy to do.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/ricochetx16/car%20stuff/1212071313.jpg

disregard the hotspots, its my cameras fault. it looks uniform with the naked eye.

so yeah, i suggest red.
black and red is an awesome combo.

[lsbaseball25]

yeah that looks nice. So where do you get these, just the auto parts store?

[jobzombi]

One thing you might consider that most people tend to overlook at, leds use resistors. The window switches have 3mm green leds, which need a much larger resistor, 1000ohms I believe, and the 5mm blue leds I got need 435 ohm resistor, so if I change the led without changing the resistor, it will be diimmer than I would like it to, that is why some say they look turquoise. I made sure to change mine correctly and they have a really nice blue color. As for the HVAC, If I am adding more than one 5mm blue led, I won't be needing one 435 ohm resistor since the current will be divided X way. Use: Ohm max needed = (volt battery - volt led)/(amp led).

[Pete03GLS]

i have no idea what u just said... but i hope that the red leds i put in my windows switches do the job correctly... mine r 5mm... is that good or bad???

[Munky]

I have a lot of blue interior lighting. It's not a black car, but it gives you an idea. Check out my member profile.

http://www.elantraxd.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24937

[Pete03GLS]

am i gonna have to add resistors for my RED 5mm window switch LED's???? and if i will, where does one get the appropriate kind of resistor???

heres the link to the EXACT led's i bought
http://superbrightleds.com/specs/R12120_specs.htm

what do u suggest i do???

[jobzombi]

You would be needing a 96-100 ohm resistor. Trust me it is needed, as the oem resistor is like 1000 ohms, according to my color code reading skills. so using the led alone would make it too dim. My recommendation, go for 100 ohm as you wont find a 96 ohm one. Like I said :

(voltage of battery - voltage of led)/(current of led x number of leds in parallel)

In you case:

(12V - 2V)/(.1Amp)=100 ohms

You can use that equation if you choose to do your hvac unit.

[Pete03GLS]

so where would i buy 100ohm resistors... and how in the world would i mount them in my window switches???? doesnt look like it would fit in there... O.o

[hyunelan2]

yeah that looks nice. So where do you get these, just the auto parts store?

a good source for led bulb replacements is www.autolumination.com

[jobzombi]

oh and you can also do the clock as well, but that takes a lot more skills. I did it and got was it a pain.

radio shack sells 5 for like $.99. There is already a resistor in the control box for the window switch, just look at the positive end of the green led, it is the side that the internal parts in the glass is thinner or the one with the longer leg in new leds. The resistor that you need to replace is connected to it. It is the only resistor so don't worry once you open it up you will see it. I do advice you though, the switch for the front passanger and the rear seats are two piece, the part the hold the led and resistor is hovering over the actual switch mechanism once you take it apart, I suggest you desolder the two point that hold that part to the main piece, as the leads for the leds and resistors are below it and they are hard to reach without taking it off. you can get a desoldering wire or tool from radio shack as well.

[jobzombi]

http://www.elantraxd.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=7141&stc=1&d=1200010484

[Pete03GLS]

is that what all of the window switches look like?? or is that a passenger switch? r the drivers side ones diff???

looks like im gonna b makin a trip to radioshack to get some tools! :D

[jobzombi]

drivers is different, the leds are different too I believe they are smt resistors, and they are tougher to take off

[jobzombi]

The same thing as before, just a bit more difficult, follow the + side of the led and it will lead you to the resistor, before you start desoldering, find all 4 and make sure they have the same 3, or 4, digit code on them, they all should be the same number. Also near the plug where the harness plugs into, there are 2 of the resistors there, I used my dremel tool to saw of a bit of the units black cover otherwise the resistors won't fit there. One thing I also did to help me, I used the soldering tool to melt off some of the harness plugs side walls to give me more room near the resistors, just don't melt too far in as it will seep in and then the harness won't be able to plug all the way in.

http://www.elantraxd.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=7142&stc=1&d=1200011947

[jobzombi]

And trust me all the work makes it look better. I did it without them and I did not like them and then I took them off again and swapped the resistors. It did make a diffeerence for me, before they were like turquoise and then they were bluer, I used a slightly larger resistor though that made it bluer but not too blue, this help the leds live longer.

[Pete03GLS]

i see. but from my understanding... blue leds and red leds have different light frequencies and react differently to the yellowish tint of the window buttons. isnt that why yours were different shade of blue?? isnt that how leds in the gauges work too?? my red shows up perfectly fine, but when ppl tried blue they came out different shades..

regardless, i will go to radio shack and pick up a soldering tool, and a couple 100ohm resistors.

thanx for all the info :D

[jobzombi]

Also you might want to check out ebay for other items, like the 74 or 194 size leds for the gauge cluster and the lighter and ashtray light. I used the seller warden_jp2002, he makes really good quality ones right out of japan. It takes a bit longer to get but compared to autolumination, they work great and cost me 35 bucks to upgarde the whole gauge cluster to leds, they last longer and are brighter, I got 13 white and 5 blue 74s, the turn signals I will make blue as well, so that adds two more to the typical 3. As for the clock, it is tough but I used seller phenoptix with there size 0603 smt blue leds. When you take it apart, if you do, there is also a thin green plastic film under the clock screen but in front of the leds lights, I took that out and I put a thin layer of scotch tape, the frosted kind not the transparent one, and then cut it to size. I was anal about it so first I left it without anything and I put it together and you could see the 10 hot spots behind the digital clock, I took it apart again and I added just one layer of tape and it is gone. And make sure it is frosted, not clear, clear won't do anything, it will jsut go right through as the tape is paper thin.

Oh and an ebay store sells the leds in packs of 10 or 25 and they come with free resistors. take a look at them.

[jobzombi]

Regarding to the clock, I put that piece of tape and it worked well but it was color that I did not like and did not match my headunit or HVAC. I looked all over and found a plastic bag I was able to use the exact color I wanted, it was from a bag of disposable Gillette blades. You can put anything you want under it so it does not matter. Below is the pic,
http://www.elantraxd.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=7155&stc=1&d=1200334564

[2002 GLS]

looks good, like VW colour blue.

[Pete03GLS]

yeah... i dont think i can do much to change the clock color on my 03 gls... apperantly ours r difficult and not worth the hassle, to bother with.

[jobzombi]

Thanks for the props it took me like a week and a half. I took it apart and then I saw what I needed and ordered them online. It is not that hard, just time consuming, you heat the contacts, desolder it, put the new one heat the contact again and solder it back. You just need lots of patience. I used the desoldering wire, but they also have some sort of tool that you can just suck in the flowing solder. might be easier this way.

[KeWLKaT]

yeah... i dont think i can do much to change the clock color on my 03 gls... apperantly ours r difficult and not worth the hassle, to bother with.

WTF are you talking about? It's the opposite. The XDs are the easiest.

[Cypher]

^beat me to it.

[Pete03GLS]

ohhh...i thought ilanpro said that to change the color on the XD clock ud have to get a diffuser or something, maybe i mis understood or something.

[KeWLKaT]

Nope, haha.

He's speaking of the XD2 that have SMT's.

[Pete03GLS]

oh awesome. guess im gonna go ahead and mess with my clock too then!
SWEET!

[jobzombi]

If you had 3 hands it would help a lot, I used my girls! You hold the smt with like a tweezer or something, the gun and she once I heated the contacts, she introduced them to some solder. Took me like 30 mins though because I was being anal about how straight they were. The hard part is getting them out as the solder is under the smt, that is where the contacts are at, so it is hard to fully desolder it. Just don't try prying at it as you may rip the thin contacts off and then you are f!@#ed. One its off, what color you choose is open to imagination, you can just get a white led and put like any color plastic in front or just go for a red or blue led. I used blue led plus that piece of plastic I was able to find.

This is what I got from EBAY: 10 ULTRA BRIGHT BLUE 0603 SMD LEDs SMT LED 110mcd from phenoptix. Like said before they have an arrow for the direction of energy flow. All you need is 10 so that was just right, just make sure not to lose any as they are very small.