[Ironsides]

I ordered the LEDs months ago, but I finally got around to swapping them out last week. I chose White to replace the original Green, and Blue to replace the original Amber.













Total time, including taking the pieces out of the truck and disassembling them, was about 6 hours. I did everything except the head unit, I want to replace the stock unit with a 430 before I mod it. If you want to do the work yourself, the LED sizes are PLCC-2 and Mini PLCC-2, and you'll need about 25 of each size in White and 5 of each size in Blue. But you'll need some soldering skills to pull this off, this is the size of what you have to work on



The small box in the middle is one of the LEDs. It's about 3mm x 1.5mm.

 

[silverstreak88]

Thats sweet, I work on electronics for a living and I'm always looking for something new to do to my 07. Do they have different colors besides the ones you put in? I have been needing to get some for my dual climate control, the ones behind the sliders for the temp went out and I've been wanting to replace them.

 

[Ironsides]

Thats sweet, I work on electronics for a living and I'm always looking for something new to do to my 07. Do they have different colors besides the ones you put in? I have been needing to get some for my dual climate control, the ones behind the sliders for the temp went out and I've been wanting to replace them.

I don't know what was used in the '07s, but if you can open the parts up and determine the size of the LEDs that are used, you can search on mouser.com, they have lots of different colors. That's where I got the LEDs I used, they cost about $20 for the whole interior.

 

[NMBowtie]

Looks Awesome! I would love to do this to mine, I don't understand why they used 2 different shades of green plus the whitish/blue in the cluster instead of just matching them all to start with. I just don't think I have the detail soldering skills to pull it off without screwing stuff up.

 

[Stump3r]

:rep: I've done some fine soldering like that before and it takes a skill I don't have That really looks good.

 

[moparornocar72]

That is very cool! Reps to you sir!

 

[BigH0ss]

Been debating on doing this. Looks good bud! How would you rate the difficulty on this?

 

[Ironsides]

Been debating on doing this. Looks good bud! How would you rate the difficulty on this?

I didn't find it too difficult, just time consuming. But I design and build prototype robotics for a living, so I'm pretty skilled with soldering. If you have a good iron, and some SMT experience, it's really not that bad. The most tedious part is that on some of the boards, the window controls and HVAC controls specifically, you have to desolder larger components just to get them out of the way to reach the LEDs, and then solder them back in place when you're finished.

If you have a good iron, and some patience, you should be fine.

 

[BigH0ss]

^^^ oh ok sounds pretty basic. I'm pretty good w wiring up electronics on vehicles. I know how to solder as well. Prob something I won't mess with but i do like the mod idea. I was working on a strobe mod but the board is a mess and need to get new hardware to make it work...still havnt got around to it lol

 

[SS4Luck]

Damn you beat me too it!!!

Ive been working on this exact thing for a few months now. I have blue HVAC and center consol lights and have been trying to work on the headlight switch and window switches and just havent been able to perfect it yet.


Looks awesome man!

 

[moparornocar72]

You want to do mine next? Haha u could make this ur side job! Blue sure would look good in my truck!

 

[ktl19]

Is there a way to change the color of the needles for the gauges? Since I am color blind the red is really hard for me to see at night and have been wanting to change them to something else.

 

[SS4Luck]

Is there a way to change the color of the needles for the gauges? Since I am color blind the red is really hard for me to see at night and have been wanting to change them to something else.

Ive never paid attention to the needles on our trucks exactly, but i changed the ones in my camaro before and it has more to do with the color of the plastic the needle is made out of than anything else really

 

[llsht14]

does everyone have lights on their steering wheel buttons, mine dont light up, are they broke or does my 11 sport just not have that option

 

[P-Rez]

Hi, Iornsides, I have seen a setup on how to do this and I do basic soldering for my job, occasionally, but I have done it for 4 years.

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110698

The steps from this guide seem pretty simple of a process I know it takes patience and a stady arm as well.

As far as all that your replacing you said I'd need about 25 ea for PLCC-2 and mini, accordingly.

Is it really that simple, most of my soldering is done with wiring and this seems to be fairly simple.

I want to get Orange led's and I looked at the http://www.mouser.com/ site you posted but looking at all the numbers of the lights I felt like a deer in the headlights XD

Is there anything more specific to look for in the lights?

 

[Ironsides]

Hi, Iornsides, I have seen a setup on how to do this and I do basic soldering for my job, occasionally, but I have done it for 4 years.

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110698

The steps from this guide seem pretty simple of a process I know it takes patience and a stady arm as well.

As far as all that your replacing you said I'd need about 25 ea for PLCC-2 and mini, accordingly.

Is it really that simple, most of my soldering is done with wiring and this seems to be fairly simple.

I want to get Orange led's and I looked at the http://www.mouser.com/ site you posted but looking at all the numbers of the lights I felt like a deer in the headlights XD

Is there anything more specific to look for in the lights?

That tutorial is pretty good. He tins both contacts after he removes the stock LED, I didn't do that. I tinned one contact, soldered the LED to that side, and then soldered it into the other side. It's quicker, because you only solder each side once, and it puts less stress on the LED. He uses a chisel tip, which is the way to go for these LEDs.

Obviously you'll want to pay attention to the cathodes of the stock LEDs, and make sure the new LEDs are facing the same way.

You'll want 25 of each size in your primary color, and then 5 of each size in a secondary color, for HVAC and Mirror indicators. Take a look at my pictures, I used blue as a secondary color.

I wouldn't attempt this without a good, temperature-controlled soldering iron. You don't want to burn up the LEDs, or the boards. You'll also need some good de-soldering braid, to remove some of the components that prevent you from accessing the LEDs. The HVAC controls are pretty terrible for that. Expect to spend at least 2 hours on the HVAC controls alone.

As for the LEDs, you want to get the same brand for each color, otherwise the colors might not match exactly. These looked okay, but without knowing the exact current specs of the stock LEDs, you're taking a gamble like I did.

PLCC-2

Mini PLCC

Start with the front passenger controls. It's only 3 LEDs, if I remember correctly, it disassembles easily, and you won't have to desolder anything to access them. It's the easiest board in the whole interior, so if you can't handle that, you'll know pretty quick, and you can stop before things get too bad. If it's not a problem, do the HVAC controls next. It's the worst board, and if you can finish it without any problems, the rest of the interior is a cakewalk.

 

[P-Rez]

all it is is the ac, door controls, 4wd, lighting knob, and hazards etc. Did you do anything with the gauges? or was that second pic for the steering controls?

 

[Ironsides]

all it is is the ac, door controls, 4wd, lighting knob, and hazards etc. Did you do anything with the gauges? or was that second pic for the steering controls?

I didn't do anything with the gauges, I was matching everything else to them. That picture is just for the EVIC controls.

I did the homelink buttons as well, and I plan to do the head unit when I get a 430. I was going to do my current head unit, a 130, but the display is a green LCD, I'd have no way of changing that, so I didn't bother.

I didn't do the rear window sliding button yet, that's a T1 through-hole LED. The led is actually blue, but has a cover on it so that the buttons are lit up green. I need to pick up a white LED to replace the one that's there. It's the only T1 LED in the interior, so if you want to change it, you'll only need 1.

 

[P-Rez]

Yeah i dont have the rear window in my truck, but still good info to know.

Ill definately be ordering those lights and a finer solder tip and give it a go one of these weekends!

 

[Code Blue]

I wish I could do this... I want to but I do not trust myself on something like this. Sad to say I can't even trust myself. LOL