Interior LED lights

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18 CX-5
Has anyone tried this on a CX-5?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

My set just arrived, but very hesitant to put them on. After placing the order I read about aftermarket LEDs (in general, not the above product) interfering with car's normal operation. Is this a valid concern? Is the interference, if at all, strong enough to confuse the normal op of my CX-5?

Any experience with the above LED products will be appreciated. thx.
 
Just follow the bulb replacement instructions from your owners manual and youll be fine. Havent heard any interfering issues with car's normal operation as its highly unlikely those LEDs would be able to do that. I used some plastic trim prying tools to prevent any scratches. The most diffecult part is removing the license plate light covers and the bulb inside. And the quality of those aftermarket interior LEDs is not that bad. I have one license plate LED started flickering after a year and the eBay seller sent me a new pair for free of charge!

BTW, the square-shaped LED cell of yours is an older version. The one I bought has a newer version rectangular-shaped LED cell.
 
Thanks yrwei52! That's reassuring. I chickened even before the Amazon guy showed up at our door. LOL!

Besides being rectangular and newer, does yours actually give out better light (whatever that means, perhaps whiter and/or brighter)?

Back to the set I've ordered, am I correct that:
1. the six square ones are for front & rear map lights (x4) and two vanity lights (x2)?
2. the pair is for license plates?
3. then by elimination one of the 3 identical ones (that look like a fuse) must be for luggage area?? but then according to the owner's manual luggage one should look the same as map or vanity lights. I'm lost :-(

There's no instructions, either printed or on the Amazon link.
 
Has anyone tried this on a CX-5?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

My set just arrived, but very hesitant to put them on. After placing the order I read about aftermarket LEDs (in general, not the above product) interfering with car's normal operation. Is this a valid concern? Is the interference, if at all, strong enough to confuse the normal op of my CX-5?

Any experience with the above LED products will be appreciated. thx.

Have a look at paging_drburgos post. They changed the bulbs and they are happy with it:

$19 and couldn't be happier
 
The ends will match up with the ones you remove. It's hard to screw this up. Follow directions in your manual.
 
Thanks Xeler8ing for the post! Meanwhile I realized my earlier mistake: two vanity mirror bulbs should be the two fuse-looking ones, with only 3 LED cellsinstead of 6 LED cells, as the mirrors don't need to be too bright. Then the two "square" ones are freed up for either the license plate or the luggage. Should be able to figure out after reading up more posts. Problem is this purchase was impulsive, should have done more research...
 
Thanks Xeler8ing for the post! Meanwhile I realized my earlier mistake: two vanity mirror bulbs should be the two fuse-looking ones, with only 3 LED cellsinstead of 6 LED cells, as the mirrors don't need to be too bright. Then the two "square" ones are freed up for either the license plate or the luggage. Should be able to figure out after reading up more posts. Problem is this purchase was impulsive, should have done more research...

No problem (thumb)

Ask for a refund on the incorrect bulbs
 
Sure. Doing that right now, zooming in 400% on the PDF manual. :)

Here ya go!

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Thanks Xeler8ing, I did read the manual, but things don't quite add up...

According to the manual:
- Pointed/cone-shaped ends: x7, as follows: Front & rear map lights (x4), vanity mirror lights (x2) and luggage compartment light (x1)
- Cylindrical: x2 (for license plate)

But the set I ordered:
- Pointed/cone-shaped ends with 6 LED cells: x6
- Flat end (looking like a fuse) with 3 LED cells: x2
- Cylindrical: x2

If I use the pointed end ones (with 6 cells) on the vanity mirrors, I'm short of one bulb (for luggage). So my plan is to use the two flat end ones for vanity, as 3 LED cells should be good enough. Then I have two pointed end freed up, more than enough for the luggage compartment, unless someone corrects me....
 
Lmao! How many Mazda owners does it take to change light bulbs?
 
Thanks Xeler8ing, I did read the manual, but things don't quite add up...

According to the manual:
- Pointed/cone-shaped ends: x7, as follows: Front & rear map lights (x4), vanity mirror lights (x2) and luggage compartment light (x1)
- Cylindrical: x2 (for license plate)

But the set I ordered:
- Pointed/cone-shaped ends with 6 LED cells: x6
- Flat end (looking like a fuse) with 3 LED cells: x2
- Cylindrical: x2

If I use the pointed end ones (with 6 cells) on the vanity mirrors, I'm short of one bulb (for luggage). So my plan is to use the two flat end ones for vanity, as 3 LED cells should be good enough. Then I have two pointed end freed up, more than enough for the luggage compartment, unless someone corrects me....
The link to Amazon shows 11 LEDs but you said you received only 10?

6 31mm Festoon LEDs are for map/dome lights and luggage compartment light. Youll have one extra for spare. Your bigger-than-usual 6-cell LED could be too big to fit in the bulb socket of the luggage compartment light. 3 (and you received only 2) 195-typed cylindrical LEDs are for lincense plate lights. They may be too bright with 5 LED cells depending on your taste. 2 fuse-typed LEDs are for vanity mirror lights and some people may not like 5000K+ white color temperature used for mirror, and I specifically ordered 3000K soft-white LEDs which looks much better when wife is using vanity mirror.
 
The link to Amazon shows 11 LEDs but you said you received only 10?

6 31mm Festoon LEDs are for map/dome lights and luggage compartment light. You’ll have one extra for spare. Your bigger-than-usual 6-cell LED could be too big to fit in the bulb socket of the luggage compartment light. 3 (and you received only 2) 195-typed cylindrical LEDs are for lincense plate lights. They may be too bright with 5 LED cells depending on your taste. 2 fuse-typed LEDs are for vanity mirror lights and some people may not like 5000K+ white color temperature used for mirror, and I specifically ordered 3000K soft-white LEDs which looks much better when wife is using vanity mirror.

Good catch! I have 3 cylindrical not 2. Your description is way more useful than the Amazon page, which has no mentioning of license plate at all (only in user reviews, not under product description!)

Making some progress:
- replaced all 4 map lights
- decided to skip vanity mirrors, as I can't remote the cover without causing scratches, but your warning about color temperature is timely too, so I'll likely skip
- luggage compartment schedule for tomorrow
- license plate: hmmm, if it's "difficult" for you, it's probably impossible for me. Too afraid to break the plastic at this point.

Thanks again, very useful info!
 
The license plate ones are a pain in the ass. Not because you made get break anything, just getting the plastic covers back in.
 
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The license plate ones are a pain in the ass. Not because you made get break anything, just getting the plastic covers back in.

Looks like a dealership visit is unavoidable, provided they don't mind customers bringing their own bulbs, and also not sure how labor for a 10-min job is billed.
 
Looks like a dealership visit is unavoidable, provided they don't mind customers bringing their own bulbs, and also not sure how labor for a 10-min job is billed.
Pipemajors post linked by Xeler8ing has excellent instruction on how to remove license plate light cover. Like 7eregrine said so far nobody has broken the cover, it just hard to remove especially for the first-timer. Dealer would charge at least 0.5 hours of labor ($60?), which is not worth it IMO. Invest a little money getting a set of plastic trim prying tool may be a better way to go.

Not like traditional incandescent light bulb, LED is polarized. Make sure the LED you just installed will light up before you put back the cover.

All CX-5 interior LED kit will fit 2016 MY. I use this https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned) from eBay because they use newer and brighter 5730 rectangular LED chips:
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I did install license plate LEDs from the kit. They look nice with white color and aren't brighter than original 5W bulbs. I also used two "spare" bulbs for reverse lights. They look much better with white color but the light outputs are not stronger than original 18W 921 bulbs.

I used this https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned) for vanity mirror on the sun visors for "warm glow" effect:
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Personally I'd like to find 29mm festoon LEDs to match the original bulb length but those are hard to find for cheap prices and it's more difficult to put in 4 or 6 LED cells for brighter light. With 31mm LEDs you have to bend some end and side clips a bit but it's doable and won't hurt anything. Also be aware the "prying tool" included in some Amazon or eBay kits is useless! It's too thick and sometimes you're better off by having two pries to pop open the light cover. I use this prying tool set from China with decent results:
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Ok, mystery solved. For the 2nd gen CX-5, the trick is to use a wide enough flat blade screwdriver - I used one with a 9/32" wide tip. Insert it into the slot on either side of the clear plastic housing and adjust the vertical angle until it's seated fully into the socket. Gently pry toward the center so that the blade expands the base away and it should let go.

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Notice the base has 2 retaining posts with a significant wedge-shaped key. I guess Mazda wanted to make sure they wouldn't fall off on their own.

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I took a comparison shot with the stock W5W bulb against a VLEDS 194 6K bulb which I believe is this one.

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I had retrofitted my 2015 with RED VLEDS 194 bulbs on the rear side marker and the small rear light on the cargo door and I'm sure these LEDs were a bit brighter and more saturated ruby red than the stock Mazda LED tail lights on the 2017. It may be that my license plate bulbs might be a bit too bright and overwhelm the factory red LED combo tail/stop lights. If so, then I may look at getting the longer life (and a bit dimmer) 194 bulbs from VLEDS.

IMPORTANT! When installing LED bulbs, be sure to TEST it before reassembling everything. If the bulb does not light, reinsert it the other way and it should work.


EDIT: I am clueless why my attachments aren't showing inline or my public album-linked photos don't show up. I used to be able to display .jpg attachments as a picture within the post...
 
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