Lights Out On Temp Control

[lisak421]

Have no clue on this one guys................is it a bulb or a fuse, is it soldered to a board and can I repair?

 

Only the driver side control and the 2 C/D buttons above it are out. Any ideas?

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Lisa

[asilverblazer]

Just the bulbs, and if you are good with a soldering iron you can fix it. Rplacement bulbs are available at Radio Shack I would take them in to find the exact replacement. Place the tip of the soldering iron on the bulbs wire lead, to melt the old solder off. Put the new bulb in and place the irons tip again on the bulbs lead. it will melt new solder down around the leads. I find that my third and fourth hands come in rather handy to hold the board, bulb, iron and solder all at once. that is what makes it hard for me.

[lisak421]

Thanks Asilver........today the light was working on the temp control, but not the 2 cd buttons. Go figure, thanks for the help on this. I'll see what happens and if they bulbs stay out then I'll take care of it.

 

Have a good night.

 

Lisa

[99silveradoz71]

Lisa, good to see a post from you again. It seems like it had been a bit.

[j.roffel]

I'm in the process (waiting on shipping) of swapping all those little lightbulbs with superbright white LEDS. 30 Bucks US for 100 LEDs and the resistors for 12 volt circuits and you can replace every bulb in the dash/stereo/hvac/Passenger airbag light/whatever.

[sirjeffro]

Hey j.roffel......

Would you be willing to share the brand/number and source of the led's and resistors? Half of the speedometer face on my '03 1500HD has gone dim....not out, just dimmer than the 0-65 side. Of course my daughter says it's because I use the higher side too much... Also some lights around the headlights and 4x4 area are out.

Thanks,

Jeff

[asilverblazer]

Some of those lights around the head light and 4wd switch are impossible to replace. I tried.

[GatorFan]

I did my HVAC control in Blue LEDs and although it was a PITA, it still looks pretty good . Make sure if you ever do the swap (factory bulbs to LEDs), get the right resistor. To little resistor and it will blind you too much and you can barely notice! Oh yeah, if you're not good with the solder, find someone who is or you're in for a long process

 

Hope this helps.

[lisak421]

Gatorfan-anyway you can take a pic and post? I'd love to see it. You're giving me something to think about.... I don't know if I would have the patience for the soldering though.

 

J-would like more info please and let us know how hard/easy this was. (Before and After Pics would be awesome )

 

Hey 99silveroz71...yes, it has been a while since I posted, but I'm alway reading and looking. Things just got a little crazy around here and have been really busy. Glad to see your reply.... .

 

As of right now I only have the 2 buttons for the cd not working..............maybe a few more bumps and they'll be on.

 

Thanks for the replies, love all the info I can get.

 

Lisa

[GatorFan]

I am having trouble adding a pic to this $#@% thread . For now, you can view a pic of my HVAC in Blue LEDs along with my cluster with Blue LEDs (check out link in below sig). As soon as I get this pic thing sorted out I will add one here.

 

Tell J to PM me with any questions.

 

Sorry about not having a pic to add here. I'm working on it.

[GatorFan]

OK, finally figured out what went wrong . Here are a few pics of my HVAC and Instrument Cluster in Blue LEDs. The HVAC controller is a little darker blue than my cluster but I still think it turned out well.

 

The install of the LEDs in the HVAC was a little tedious but not too difficult. The hardest thing was figuring out which lead was positive and negative on the LED bulb as well as the circuit board of the HVAC. After that all you have to do is solder both positive and negative leads (LED and resistor) to the spot where the factory bulb was located. The soldering took almost 2 hours (total time) because you have to do it for every bulb. I have heard the 2003 and later trucks are a lot easier. Regardless, I think they came out great.

 

Have J PM me if there are anymore questions.

 

There are also a couple of pics of my circuit board with the resistors showing as I completed the project (they are on My Truck Pics link below).

 

I hope this helps.

 

Here is a pic of the Instrument Cluster in Blue...

 

 

Here is a pic of the HVAC controller in Blue...

 

[lisak421]

Wow Gator, those are awesome pics! I went to your webpage, nice.

 

I think the led's look really nice................what a difference! That was a very cool idea.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post the pics, I see what you mean and it really makes a difference. This may have to be a winter project.

 

Thanks again for sharing, have a good night.

[j.roffel]

Sorry I didnt reply sooner,

 

I'm still waiting on the LED's, I'm guessing standard airmail from china isnt that fast... But I already installed a couple LEDs I took out of a flashlight, but after alot of experimenting and getting angry at the calculator I gave up on finding the right resistor on my own. I did however get the LEDs to work for a minute, really nice and bright, until I dimmed them to off and they blew and wouldnt turn on again. The lights are in series, so you only need one led per series (I believe there are two in a series). I would recommend someone whos good at soldering to help you, and if you can solder, youll still find it alot easier with an extra set of hands. I'll update when the lights come in and I've installed them, as for now I have no idea whats going on in the center console at night... haha good thing I know my truck!

 

These are the LEDs, apparently they own a factory... --> http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIt...DME:X:RTQ:CA:11

[lisak421]

JROFFEL: Any luck with the lights?

 

I'm losing more, I called the dealer.............best guesstimate $700 +. My on/off button on the stereo is now dark....they said they would have to send it out. I'm going to go cry now......................