Interior LED lights
- Thread starter mazdafollower
- Start date
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- 18 CX-5
Guess what, our posts crossed. Before I typed mine, yours wasn't there. Then I went to bed without seeing yours.
Great post indeed! Thank you Xeler8ing!
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- 18 CX-5
Thanks yrwei52 for attaching your past post, and the reminder about polarity. For the map lights I checked even before putting on the bulb itself (not just the lens) by letting the metal contacts touch. Guess I don't have this luxury with the luggage area, since the earliest moment to find out is when the unit is reconnected to the wire. Should be fine.
Your prying toolset is nice. The one I used (designed for cell phones) was broken last night when doing the Vanity mirror, before I gave up.
Owe PipeMajor a thank you too! Hope he's reading this.
Your prying toolset is nice. The one I used (designed for cell phones) was broken last night when doing the Vanity mirror, before I gave up.
Owe PipeMajor a thank you too! Hope he's reading this.
I used a prying tool designed to pop off watch backs. Worked fine. Done lights and the vanity mirrors were pretty easy.
The luggage compartment area is much easier to replace by putting the new LED module in by the thin edge then rotating it so the LEDs shine downwards.
I'm not bothered by the license plate lights.... Yet.
IskiE
The luggage compartment area is much easier to replace by putting the new LED module in by the thin edge then rotating it so the LEDs shine downwards.
I'm not bothered by the license plate lights.... Yet.
IskiE
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- 18 CX-5
Thanks for the tip! License plate one is (still) mission impossible to me, vanity mirror better but not without challenge (problem with my cell phone prying tool is that the plastic tip is too thin and weak, so it broke last night).
Given that one will be putting in quite some effort, might as well get better LEDs for the hardwork to be worthwhile. I'm thinking of returning my LEDs and get the kit recommended by yrwei52 (with improved LED chip which is attractive). Still thinking...
(thumb)
I ordered my interior and license plate LED's from Diode Dynamics. I used them before and I never had an LED fail me. The Amazon ones are less expensive but they are probably a lower quality and can and do burn out quickly. Not all LED's are made equal. Quality LED's cost more to make. As the saying goes, you get what you paid for.
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- 18 CX-5
Good info for future reference (when the Amazon bulbs die on me)! Since my last post, managed to replace the bulbs for vanity mirrors and luggage compartment. For the latter, as yrwei52 predicted, the Amazon bulb (31mm) is roughly 2-3mm longer than the OEM bulb, so I had to bend the metal clips outward a bit with my finger. Bingo!
Now the only one left is the license plate. Don't think I'll have courage to tackle this one any time soon...
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- 18 CX-5
Can't believe I did it! Took more than 5 mins to remove the first cover though, halting multiple times, each time convinced it was going to break, but then kept going again with an even stronger force, after reminding myself what 7eregrine and yrwei52 had said about noone had damaged these covers ever. PipeMajor's tips help too (on screwdriver size which I followed religiously, prying direction, etc.) Thanks Xeler8ing for forwarding his post!
Without all your help this project wouldn't be possible. Thank you! (I'm so confident now that I don't mind upgrading to better brands other than Amazon's one of these day. LOL!)
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- Plano, Texas, USA
Indeed!
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- 18 CX-5
By the way when replacing the vanity mirror bulbs there were two surprises (to me anyway).
1. Driver side lens is smooth but smoked, while passenger side has a rough surface (w/ diffraction grating) but clear.
2. Vanity light is automatically shut off when sun visor is raised above a certain angle (roughly 45 deg).
#1 is puzzling, not sure what the rationale is for using a different type. Hope it's not just me. (Production line ran out of parts?)
#2 is a pleasant surprise... Peace of mind even if one forgets to slide shut the mirror cover.
1. Driver side lens is smooth but smoked, while passenger side has a rough surface (w/ diffraction grating) but clear.
2. Vanity light is automatically shut off when sun visor is raised above a certain angle (roughly 45 deg).
#1 is puzzling, not sure what the rationale is for using a different type. Hope it's not just me. (Production line ran out of parts?)
#2 is a pleasant surprise... Peace of mind even if one forgets to slide shut the mirror cover.
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- 18 CX-5
My bad, it's in the owner's manual. "Surprise" because I didn't read it.
