How to: Replacing A/C Control Panel LEDs

[ZapWizard]

If a moderator could please move this into the how-to forum, thanks.


Replacing the A/C Control lights

on a 2003 Mazda Protégé LX

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/12-Complete.jpg http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/13-Nightshot.jpg

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/1-Controls.jpg

This modification will get rid of the mix of green and orange that your current control status LEDs
(The A/C, Fresh-Return, and Defrost LEDs)

I choose to use red, rather then blue, as red lights will not deminish your night vision while driving.

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Tools needed:

Philips screwdriver
Small flathead screwdriver.
Needle nose, or similar pliers
Low power (15-watt) soldering iron

4 Bright LEDs of the color you choose.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/glovebox.jpg

First remove the glove box.

Open it, push in the sides at the top, gently lower it, the pull towards the driver side, and down to release.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/Glovebox-Off.jpg

Look inside and towards the drivers seat.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/cable1.jpg

Locate the temperature control cable and disconnect it.

Gently push the tab in and pull the cable off the white control arm.

The push down on the black metal holder, and pull the cable surround out.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/Drivers-side.jpg

Next move the drivers side, and locate the vent control cable.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/cable2.jpg

Repeat the same steps to disconnect the vent control cable.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/Pulling-Panel.jpg

Next you need to pull the center panel out.

This is done by pushing the vents down, and pulling with both hands.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/Connectors.jpg

With the center panel hanging out, disconnect the hazard signal button,

and the two connectors at the rear of the A/C control assembly.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/assembly.jpg

You can now remove the entire center panel.

Be careful to note how the control cables come out, so that you can put back in the correct way.

Once removed unscrew the A/C control assembly from the front panel.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/Faceplate.jpg

With the panel removed, carefully pull the three control knobs off.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/Faceplate-Knobs.jpg

You should now have no knobs on the front.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/Faceplate-removed.jpg

Pull the front faceplate off by pulling up on the two holding tabs on each side.

You will see a circuit board behind the faceplate, don't pull on it.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/cable.jpg

We need to get under the other black plastic cover.

But first you need to remove the temperature control cable.

Do this by spreading the center tabs on the white holder, while pulling on the black cable surround.

Do not try to pry the cable out, or pull up in any way!

http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/Cable-Pull.jpg

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/cable-up.jpg

Once the black surround is out you can tilt the cable up, and out of the control arm.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/air/Circuit-Cover.jpg

You can then unscrew the circuit cover and remove it.

There are two push tabs towards the front holding it in place.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/1-screws.jpg

There are two screws on the bottom PCB (Printed Circuit Board), they don't need to be removed.

(They hold the connector onto the PCB)

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/2-screws.jpg

There are two screws on the front PCB, you can removed these, and remove both PCBs together.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/3-pcb.jpg

Once the PCB is removed you can take it inside for soldering.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/4-leds.jpg

Note that the LEDs used are flattened.

If you are ordering new LEDs you can order bright, flat LEDs.

Or if you are like me, you can modify normal 5mm LEDs.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/5-leds.jpg

Only the top two of the four LEDs needs to be flattened.

(The A/C and Defrost LEDs)

You flatten them by sanding each side of the LED.

I flattened them until they fit freely into the button holes.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/6-led.jpg

You should now be ready to replace the old LEDs on the PCB

Note the Diode symbol near the LED, this shows which way to install the LED.

Most LEDs come with one short leg, this is the negative side, or the side that the symbol is pointing.

You can also often tell by looking into the LED, the larger metal piece inside the LED is usually the ground.

(The superbright red LEDs I used were the exception)

The only way to be sure is to try installing them, and if they don't work, removing and reversing their direction.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/7-Replaced.jpg

Use a low power (15-20 watt) soldering iron and remove and replace each LED.

You do this by gently pulling up on the LED while heating the solder on the PCB.

Soldering in a new LED requires careful heating and pushing in the LED into the existing solder.

-OR- you can remove the old solder with de-soldering wick, and apply fresh solder to the new LEDs.

I used a high power iron, and ended up damaging some of the traces on the PCB, and had to repair them with wire.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/8-Testing.jpg

Once all the LEDs have been changed over you can connect the PCB to the car and test it.

Make sure and connect the fan-speed control switch also, or the A/C won't function.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/9-Installed.jpg

You can then install the PCB back into the white control assembly.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/10-Testing.jpg

Note that I also replaced the green backlights with RED 10mm 12volt LEDs, and I also

added a blue frosted LED to the corner to light up the cold side of the control panel.

I have no guide on these though, as they are a little rigged.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/11-Testing.jpg

You can then install the front cover and knobs, and re-test the unit.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/12-Complete.jpg

Then put everything back together in reverse order.

By using super-bright LEDs the indicators are day-light visible, and very sharp looking.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/13-Nightshot.jpg

http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/14-below.jpg

http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/15-side.jpg

The night shot shows the great look of the Red control panel.

By adding a blue LED to the corner I was able to keep the blue side of the control panel even, and good looking.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/16-above.jpg

This is my first step towards a completely red control panel.

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http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/17-radio.jpg

Next hopefully will be the radio backlights.

[Dexter]

nice. i have a similar write up written on my website, but i stopped at replacing the lights.

[redwagon02]

very in-depth. seems like a lot of trouble to change the color of the lights, but looks like it's almost worth doing it. Thank You.

[pro00]

Thankyou(bow) (first)

[ZapWizard]

Can I get a bump to move this into the How-To forum, thanks.

[MisterT]

Bump :p Very good tutorial MR. SMITH(thumb)

[kid prodigy]

How did you change the other lights into green ?? (Gauges and Audio)

[Dexter]

How did you change the other lights into green ?? (Gauges and Audio)
DX/LX come stock green.

[kid prodigy]

Oh.. I have a '03 MP5 and its red so it matches everything else pretty well, but i want everything blue so thats why im asking.

[mrpopnfresh]

The radio is easy, it's just a bunch of bright orange condoms on the leds. They are also designed so you just take them out and replace them. The gauge cluster is trickey though. They too have condoms on them, but the dial overlays have that bright orange color on them too. I took off the condoms on the head unit and they came out yellowish (the normal bulb color). I figured I'd go ahead and try the Gauge cluster too, since no one has done it yet. All it did was fade the red color to more of an orange color. The only way to actually change the colors of the Guage cluster and the Light dimmer/fog light switches to replace the faces. It sucks.

[ZapWizard]

Where can I get new light condoms?

Cause google ain't coming up with helpful stuff.
(At least not for car modding)

[mrpopnfresh]

Where can I get new light condoms?

Cause google ain't coming up with helpful stuff.
(At least not for car modding)
I have no clue, maybe a specialty store like Fry's or Radio Shack.

[ZapWizard]

I re-did this mod today.

Before I used two 10mm LEDs.
But I wanted it even brighter, so I added 12 more LEDs in different arrangements to get an even, and brighter look.

The third to last, and last image has been updated, the Red is much deeper, and brighter.

[Pheonix]

i like how you added the blue on the cold side of the nob, i cannot see any color at night from the red leds, i may just snake an led in to light that side up

[ZapWizard]

i like how you added the blue on the cold side of the nob, i cannot see any color at night from the red leds, i may just snake an led in to light that side up
Look at the left side of this image:

http://www.zapwizard.com/Car/aclights/10-Testing.jpg

There is a blue defused LED that lights up the blue side.
It's just hot-glued in

[SpicyMchaggis]

thanks for you write-up..i just swapped my a/c controls and radio..came in handy..still a pain the ass..ahaha. thanks again.

[sandman]

Zap - did you need to use resistors to tone down the current at all?

If anyone needs an insanely cheap hookup for LEDS - www.lsdiodes.com (http://www.lsdiodes.com) is great. I ordered from them when I was ricing out my Xbox - fast service - no problems and bar none the cheapest place I've seen for Blue LEDS.

Looks like I'll be ordering from them again!! :)

[ZapWizard]

Zap - did you need to use resistors to tone down the current at all?

If anyone needs an insanely cheap hookup for LEDS - www.lsdiodes.com (http://www.lsdiodes.com/) is great. I ordered from them when I was ricing out my Xbox - fast service - no problems and bar none the cheapest place I've seen for Blue LEDS.

Looks like I'll be ordering from them again!! :)
I didn't change the resistors, I figured that the original LEDs had to be at least less then 20mA.

I also get my LEDs from www.lsdiodes.com (http://www.lsdiodes.com) ,I have ordered over 200 from them so far with zero problems.

[Minus]

damn man thats awesome. if you go to nopi let me know, i will pay you to change mine. i want mine white instead of orange

[snooky]

i would love to be able to do this but as simple as it seems i'd prob fuck my hole car up, i melted my headlight plub because I put an H7 bulb that was too big! but thanks for showin me how its done.

[Minus]

uh say what now? you fucked up your head light by putting the wrong bulbs in it? if thats what your saying, then damn son

[snooky]

uh say what now? you fucked up your head light by putting the wrong bulbs in it? if thats what your saying, then damn son

hahahaha... i no i put the wrong bulbs in, they were too big and the bottoms didnt match the plug

[HarmlessJohnny5]

Where can I get new light condoms?

Cause google ain't coming up with helpful stuff.
(At least not for car modding)


I went to autozone and got the "bulb sleevs", they have some pretty small ones that will probabbly work. I made the interior lights blue and light blue with the sleeves and bulb caps (some trimming of the soft plastic "condom" was all that was required). Of course there is hardly any actual illumination left, just a blue glow LOL.

[Bijou-MP5]

nice job!!!

[nictlg7]

You should just swap interiors with an MSP owner. I did the opposite of you. I didn't like a red interior (I am a cool color guy, warm colors don't work for me). I have blue illumination on my radio, my gauges have been replaced with blue El-glo custom (one-of-a-kind) gauges, my A-pillar has 3 C2 gauge illuminated in blue El-glo, and under my radio, I will be installing a bracket with a mechanical boost gauge that matches my main gauges, as well as my Profec B Spec II which has a blue face. One of my first mods...my HKS TT, even has a blue illuminated face. Thanks for the right up, btw...I am going to eliminate the remaining red illumination with this new modification. I want my entire interior to match. I will post pics if anyone is interested in what it would look like. But yeah...if you would have swapped with someone like me who didn't like the red, it would probably have been easier for you. (blah)

Sorry to bring it up after the fact...;)

[Dexter]

hey zap, do you know if closing the circuit via those switch(es) equal to pressing the A/C switch?

[ZapWizard]

hey zap, do you know if closing the circuit via those switch(es) equal to pressing the A/C switch?
I didn't trace it that far, but since the A/C button is a Push-On-Push-Off button most likely it is wired to the same end connection, but not directly to the switch it's self or the A/C Light would turn on.

[Dexter]

yeah, i tried tracing it with my multimeter an could never really figure out how the hell it was wired up...but as long as that switch turns on the A/C compressor, I am good.

[blynd_spy]

well i tried to connect one of the led strings pieces to the existing backlight leds i installed. apparantly it was to much of a load cause it fried two of the wires on the top board. put in jumpers to fix them and everything is fine but still only has the two leds for the backlighting. So Zap, or anyone for that matter, can you help me out on snaking the led on the side? it is possible to run two leds in a circuit to reach both sides?

From the install pics it looks like you just connected the extra led to the left two prongs under the screw, is this all that is needed or do i need resistors?

[ZapWizard]

Are you talking about the blue LED?
You still need a resistor for the LED.

[blynd_spy]

yeah im trying to snake an led on the side. Just use a 220 ohm res?

[ZapWizard]

yeah im trying to snake an led on the side. Just use a 220 ohm res?

220 should be about right.
I will be modding my wife's car with blue LEDs and I may redo the guide with more detail on the general backlighting then.

[blynd_spy]

cool, thanjs for the help


another quick question, in the attached pic I circled the two wires i fried and ran jumpers...would this in any way contribute to my heater not producing heat? Havent troubleshot the problem yet, but pretty sure its not the flap.

[Protege52003]

If you do this, this would be a good time to fix the AC problem being on when you have the defrost mode on.....kill two birds with one stone.

http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55382

good write up.......

[Dexter]

cool, thanjs for the help


another quick question, in the attached pic I circled the two wires i fried and ran jumpers...would this in any way contribute to my heater not producing heat? Havent troubleshot the problem yet, but pretty sure its not the flap.

that board has nothing to do with controlling the heat. it must be the manually driven part.

[blynd_spy]

thats kinda what i figured..just wanted to make sure before i tear things apart. The control arm for the heat seems to be functioning properly...what else could be keeping the heat from coming through..fans are definitely fine btw.

[Dark Wanderer]

Were Did you take the 2 10mm 12 volt Leds?

[xnager23]

cool, thanjs for the help


another quick question, in the attached pic I circled the two wires i fried and ran jumpers...would this in any way contribute to my heater not producing heat? Havent troubleshot the problem yet, but pretty sure its not the flap.

You are probably not getting any heat because u might not have installed the cables (from the unit to the air ducts) correctly. For the temperature control cable, when u clip it back into position make sure you use the clip that is on the duct unit. My clip fell off and i either have full heat or no heat (have to change it manually). Mazda has the clip for $2.50 (Canadian Dollar)

[blynd_spy]

thanks, but yeah i fixed that the same night. Clip wasnt on the plastic piece and didnt feal like posting my stupidity.

Sure would have been a cold winter of 2005, thats for sure..

[red99pro]

when i try to remove my center panel thingie, it seems to be held on by the ac knobs at the bottom, and they seem to be screwed on the back of it, and the space is very tight to get a screwdriver behind it. ill post pix if i have to. im trying to paint the center panel.

[blynd_spy]

you just need to disconnect the harness, there are two of them. Also need to disconnect the cables that connect to the flap controls on each side and two metal clips that hold them in place. Then the radio bezel will come out with the AC controls attached, then you can remove the AC controls easily and paint away

[syrpro5]

Note: If Backlight goes out on your protege5 (mine is 2003.5) the backlights are not LED's. They are a replacement bulb that fits into a push and twist socket. You must remove the bulb and bring it into a car parts store. It should be a 2721 instrument/courtesy bulb. 12V.

Total time without running to find the bulb: about 1.5 hours to take apart and put back together the console.

Have fun with the cables!!

[90210brandon]

I wish all How-to's were this in-depth.

Zap is a king.

[xDJ DUBx]

4 yr old post. lol.

I'm scared to do this.