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2009+ - DIY guide - changing the color of the accent lights!

('09-'13) 
30K views 57 replies 19 participants last post by  mbritton1 
#1 · (Edited)
I bought a 2010 Paprika Red Subaru Forester. I am also a electronics modder.

I love how the radio and A/C controls are all red, but the dang accent lights are blue. I find they clash, so I went about changing the Blue LEDs to Red.
The following is a guide on how you can do the same to whatever color you want.

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So the first mod involves ripping out the map light assembly and changing the PLCC LED in there to red.
I also changed the resistor to boost the LED brightness.

Edit: I have added some part numbers that should work for this mod. Please note I haven't tested these.
But at 13.5V the LED should run at 100mA using the resistor below.

LED: Digikey part number 475-3122-1-ND
Resistor: Digikey Part Number RHM680ICT-ND

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The next LED is a small LED that lights up the cubby hole in front of the shifter.





The build quality on this car is simply amazing. The accent LED sits in its own custom connector housing with a resistor and even a reverse protection diode. Not only that the LED isn't even soldered in place. It is welded!
I had to take a dremel with a carbide bit to remove the old LED.

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I replaced the blue LED with a super-bright 3mm Red LED.
I did the same for the rear-cup holder accent LED which used an identical connector.

Edit:
Here is a super bright RED led and resistor that should work for this mod:
516-3540-ND - Red 3mm LED
CF-12JT820RCT-ND - 820ohm resistor

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My camera can't capture the effect properly. These are the best I could capture.
The effect in real life is perfect however, none of the lights are distracting, but they are all now useful in helping to see around the car at night without needing the map lights.
 
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#9 ·
Yes, awesome and exactly what I'm looking for MY10. What spec red led do I need if I'm not changing resistor...I want same brightness as stock, but RED. :)

I am not sure as I haven't taken them apart to see what type of lighting they use.

If they used colored LEDs and white filters your in luck, just change the LEDs.
If they used all white LEDs and colored filters built into the labels then you have to re-make the labels in the color you want, which can be hard unless you know a label making company that will do a one-off label.
Yes, I'd like to make my guages red too...that blue/white is annoying. Looks like it's the plastic that is colored but I'm not sure.
 
#7 ·
I am not sure as I haven't taken them apart to see what type of lighting they use.

If they used colored LEDs and white filters your in luck, just change the LEDs.
If they used all white LEDs and colored filters built into the labels then you have to re-make the labels in the color you want, which can be hard unless you know a label making company that will do a one-off label.
 
#10 ·
The purpose of the resistor is to eat up the voltage not consumed by the LED while at the same time limiting the current through the LED to its specified value, which is normally about 20 milliamps. Different color LEDs consume different amounts of voltage, so you might have to change the resistor to maintain a constant current if you change color. Though nothing in this sort of application is particularly critical, and a few milliamps one way or another probably won't amount to any significant difference. And after all is said and done with the math, and the limited number of standard resistor values is taken into consideration, only two values remain.
Red, yellow, orange, green: 620 Ohms

Blue, white: 510 Ohms​

Wattage computes to about 1/4 Watt in all cases, though prudence would suggest using 1/2 Watt resistors.

If you wish to delve into a few more of the technical details, check out my LED Tutorial thread.
 
#11 ·
Thanks I'll check out your tutorial. Sounds like the ohms you listed are the required for the specific color leds? If yes, then the blue and white leds require a bit more juice to maintain same brightness as the red, orange, yellow and green leds? As I remember it is always ok to use higher wattage resistor (assuming there is physical room for it) because that adds safety margin to keep resistor from burning out.
 
#13 ·
The voltage drop across a LED (or any diode) is fixed by the physical properties of the material it's made of. Ohm's Law doesn't count, except in numbers so tiny as to be irrelevant. White and blue LEDs have a higher voltage drop than the others, so there's less voltage left over for the resistor to have to handle. So to maintain the same current, the resistor has to be of proportionately lower resistance, since I = V/R.

There's quite a bit of variability in the way that LEDs are constructed and behave, so there's no guarantee that putting the same current through two quite different ones will produce the same exact brightness. Good enough is normally good enough.

Yes, there's no drawback to using a higher wattage resistor than called for, except for size (and maybe cost or availability if things get really big). I tend to double what the math calls for, but even that is probably overkill.

I've got tutorials on other electrical subjects as well, all available through a sticky in the Lighting and Electrical Forum.
 
#17 ·
Posted in a thread this links to. Many thanks for the info, I took the easy way out and just ordered the red led assy for the cubby. The picture of the bulb holder was priceless though.

Looking at it, how difficult was taking apart the rear seat cup holder assy?
 
#20 ·
Just did the cup holder. Only thing that faked me out was the holder coming out w/o the clips. Nothing was broken, just the clips stayed attached to the swing arm.

Getting a pretty consistent look of red interior lights now, especially since they added my boost gauge, which is also red. Getting there.

Thanks again for the info & picture, saved me a lot of guessing.
 
#25 ·
Sorry, looking at this "guide", I see only:

"So the first mod involves ripping out the map light assembly and changing the PLCC LED in there to red.
I also changed the resistor to boost the LED brightness."

That doesn't help me because I'm an electronics noob. I'm looking for more detailed instructions, if possible. I mean, for the sunglasses holder, you have a picture of the circuit board. Ok, now what? Desolder and resolder?

I'm sure this makes sense to a lot of electronically inclined members, but for those who are not, I need more help.
 
#27 ·
See this thread on basic electronics, specifically LEDs:
http://www.subaruforester.org/vbull...meters-snippets-electrical-information-74253/

The reason I didn't specify the value of resistor is that is depends on the specifications of the LED you use. The resistor is a 1210 or 1212 size. (That is the physical size spec, not resistor value.)

See here for an LED resistor calculator:
LED calculator for single LEDs

See here to learn to solder an surface mounted component:
SMT Soldering Tutorial
Soldering Tutorial
 
#30 ·
I have updated the first page with LED and resistor values that will work for this modification. Note that if you change the LED color then the resistor would also have to change to match the voltage of the LED. I have not actually tested the parts below, I just have selected the brightest LEDs that Digikey.com had that are compatible and then calculated the corresponding resistor based on 13.5V and 75% of the max current of the LED.

For the map-light LED:
LED: Digikey part number, 475-2852-1-ND
Resistor: Digikey Part Number, 541-120VCT-ND

For the front cubby holder and rear cup holder these parts should work:
LED: Digikey Part Number, 754-1589-ND
Resistor: Digikey Part Number, CF12JT820RCT-ND
 
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