Thursday, November 17, 2011

Blue LED Map Lights

Parts: (2) 4410 Blue LED Bulbs
Tools: Nylon Coated Pry Tool, Flatblade Screwdriver (if you are careful)
Time: 10 Minutes
Cost: About $10
Difficulty: Easy

Next up for the Mopar 10 was a set of Blue LED Map Lights to match the Blue LED Trunk Light and improve the aesthetics of the lacklasuter, stock lighting.  This one is very apparent any time you are out after hours and will always spark comments.  I tend to do the passenger side first on everything, just in the event that I screw something up it won't be as big of a deal had it of been on the driver's side...good practice for many things.

Instead of talking about how the blue interior lights are a custom-staple of mine, how about I just show you why I switch? 

Stock Map Lights (Interior Lights)
Photobucket

Photobucket

In order to make the swap, you need access to the stock bulb. This is accomplished by carefully prying the lens itself:

Photobucket

Now, remove the heat-shield (which also blocked a good bit of light):
Photobucket

Carefully keep the parts on your dash, and in-order, just in case:
Photobucket

Now, remove the factory bulb, be careful as they burn hot:
Photobucket

Now, get your new LED lights ready:
Photobucket

Plug it in place of the factory bulb and check out the difference:
Photobucket

Now that you know it works and the chipset is down, reinstall the lens (don't reinstall the heatshield, it will block the light and the LEDs burn much cooler than the factory bulbs):
Photobucket

Assuming you like what you see, repeat the process for the driver's side bulb. You're end result will look something like this:
Photobucket

The interior will now light-up in the LED glow of your choice:
Photobucket

This is another very simple modification that won't break the bank. I know a lot of people complain about not being able to read at night. In my opinion you can read just as well as with the stock lighting. Let's be honest, past about head-level you don't see squat anyway...if you ever drop your keyfob in the floor board you know what I am talking about. If your cell phone doesn't have a charge you have a heck of a time finding it!

I can read print just the same and in all honesty, I can't think of many situations where I would need high visibility of an actual paper product in the car at night. The LED lighting is plenty bright to review receipts, count out cash, or read an address you penned down.

This is a pretty dramatic change over stock and will easily set your car apart from the pack. I do want to point out that even if you get right in and shut the door to remove these bulbs, they can still be hot...quite a bit more so than the trunk light. Keep that in mind and this is a cakewalk. I simply bagged the factory heat-shield and bulbs-up for the event that I ever want to revert back to stock. The bulbs ran me just under $5 each and aside from taking extra time to not break the tabs on the lens this was as easy as it gets!

The Mopar 10 is now sporting Blue LED accent lights to really set it off at night!

No comments:

Post a Comment