LED's in HVAC knobs
 

Well I got bored and always wanted my HVAC knobs to light up bright white like the newer cars. So I used some white LED's that I had and put them inside the knobs of the HVAC controls. First I removed the HVAC out of the car and took it apart. I then figured how to place the LED's in the knobs and used my soldering iron to melt two channels on either side of the knobs center to lay the wires into.
[IMG]http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...-02-17_548.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...8-02-24_70.jpg[/IMG]
Ran the wires through the HVAC housing and out the back (the middle section cold/hot a small hole needs to be drilled to feed the wire through).
[IMG]http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...-02-47_117.jpg[/IMG]
Then soldered them together and put a resistor on the + wire. Tested it first with a 9V battery to make sure all worked well, and turned the knobs so the wires would not be to tight and have some movement when you use the knobs.
[IMG]http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...-10-50_236.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...-12-01_679.jpg[/IMG]
Put it all back into the car and wired it into the plug for the HVAC lights from the car so the knobs would turn on when the lights come on. Put the radio bezel back on and done. Here is the final pic in the car.
[IMG]http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...-56-44_400.jpg[/IMG]
Next I'm gonna put an LED in the headlight switch, but ran out of time tonight. It would have been much easier if I didn't have to solder the wiring to the LED's, but overall it was pretty simple.

Found what I'm doing tomorrow.

Nicely done. That looks good.

That looks awesome! I have to fix mine. it doesnt light up at all.....Wonder if this will work on the T/A's also...

looks awesome, good idea

nice work.

I don't get it? Mine have always lit up from the factory. I put red led's in my HVAC and now they light up red.

Nicely done will be doing this

I like

You've just completed a project I've had my mind on for 2 years! Great job!

That's badass, don't forget to post some pics of the headlight switch when you get done

Well the headlight switch knob ended up to be a little PITA. The knob does not have a clear plastic shell, so the line on the knob does not light up. My solution...I cut out the existing white line on the knob with a hobby knife (which took some time) then took some lexan I had and made a new piece to put in the opening in the knob so light would transfer through.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...-12-52_452.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...-13-31_326.jpg
The next is the same as before in OP, made an opening on the rear side of the knob for the wire, and made a hole in the housing for the wire to feed through.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...16-34-30_8.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...-33-12_880.jpg
Then put it all back together.
light off:
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...-26-02_955.jpg
and light on:
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/j...-26-31_646.jpg

Looks pretty snazzy! I need to do work on mine, for some reason when i did this a couple years ago it keeps shorting out so i need to check my wiring, been too busy to work on it though.