Has anyone experimented with changing the color of the knobs? I ran across this tutorial, let me know if it seems accurate. I am especially interested in changing the color of the air conditioner knob LED's

Rotary Knobs

Zach

it looks good, although our set up may differ from those instructions........on our hvac knobs there is a transparent film inside the knobs which is what puts out the colors, so the film would need to be pulled outta there i think........others will comment more on this, i havent tampered with them, YET lol.......

Alright, I figured out how to replace the Fog Light LED. I have a 1998 Olds Cutlass, not quite an Alero, but I think the foglight assembly along with alot of the rest of the car is the same. Here are the pics!

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

There are the steps for the little Fog Light LED. Most of the LEDs in Oldsmobiles are green, there is usually no film. Good thing for us! ;)

Zach

well i know for sure there is film behind the hvac controls because its been noted several times on this site....the other things u mentioned im not too sure about......

and this is an alero site so when u asked the question i assume im looking at the same thing u r when it comes to the question u asked, if u have a different car u gotta let us know.....

actually most the bulbs have blue condoms but look green because of the yellowing in the bulb.

Well, I did note it was on a cutlass. The cars are nearly exactly the same, at least in 1998.

hmm, so you're saying the 98 cutlass and 98 alero are nearly exactly the same?

I put blue led's in my hvac controls and the nobs glow blue with no problem.

I did this with my last car. But I have yet to even play around with ANYTHING in my new car. Heres a picture of my last car's. Took me about 6 hours to do all the doors. A lot of soldering and trial and error went into it. But I got A LOT of compliments on it when it was done.

That looks real nice, did you have to use resistors on the LEDs or not? I am thinking that I need a resistor on the fog light switch. I fried two LEDs without the resistor.

Zach

our alero fog light switch may be just like that, i don't think he was talking about the hvac knobs at all?? right?

No, I didn't need resistors. But, you should probably check first without one to see if it burns the led up. If it does, then throw a 12v resistor on there and it should work fine.

Ok, I just got a PM asking me how to do that. So, instead of getting like 50 and having to retype that 50 times, I'll just post it on here.

I've tried to explain it before, but without pics and with different cars, its completely different. But, basically I took the door panel off, got the window controls out, and took them apart so I could get to the LED's. Then I cut off the original orange ones and bent the blue LED's wires to where they needed to be, and soldered them in. I didn't need resistors but I would say that you should check first just by touching the positive end to the negative end and see if it blows up the LED. If it does, then throw a 12v resistor on it. When I was finished with all of them I plugged it in just to make sure they all worked, and then put everything back together. Hope this helps.

Eric

** Forgot to mention. You can pick up 100 3mm LED's with 100 12v resistors on ebay for like $20. **

hmm, so you're saying the 98 cutlass and 98 alero are nearly exactly the same? [/b][/quote]
:lol:





wonder if he realizes alero wasnt produced in 98.

Okay, 1999

Cutlass interior (Not mine)

hmm, so you're saying the 98 cutlass and 98 alero are nearly exactly the same? [/b][/quote]
Aleros didn't exist in 98, but the Cutlass was on the N-Body platform in 98. :)

yeah they are very similar in many ways

Ok i'll throw my words in here since I've already done these mods. The fog light switch led is a 12V led. You will either need a 12V led to replace it or use a resistor, I would suggest a surface mount resitor on the led switch as there is really no room for a tradtional resistor.
On the door switches there is one regular 12V fillament type bulb in each assembly, but none in the rear door switches. I relplace the bulbs with led and cut a trace on the board for hte resistor. The window switches on the driver side unfortunatly are to dim becasue there is only 1 led to light all 4 switches. I will be redoing the window switches soon with anled in each switch. All LED's you install in the alero will need resistors or use a 12V LED.

Yup, found that one out. I didn't think a 12v LED existed. It blew the 3v LED's I used because of to much voltage. I put a resistor on to test and bingo. I looked at the board and didnt see a resistor, so I figured the wire must of been very low voltage, I was wrong. :)

Also, quick tip. Dont try to change the LEDs in the power window switches, I busted the thing trying to get it apart.

I've had mine apart 4 times already with no problems

After I took out the wire, and popped it out of the bezel it was enclosed in a little black box with some clips. I popped it out of the clips and pulled. It didn't budge. So I pulled again and it broke off a little piece that allowed the switch to pivot. :/

soooooooooooooo. this gets us where?
to change the led's in the rotory controls i will just remove the white backing plate behing the controls and replace them with 12v led's? then remove the rubber on the nobs to get them transparent?