Steering Wheel LED Swap, almost complete

[99 Expy]

Hey guys, I've been working on converting my steering wheel lights to blue LED. I've got it all assembled, but still have a few problems. I'll start by showing how to do the parts of the steps, and maybe someone can correct me to figure out my problem.
1. Disconnect battery.
2. There are 2 round plugs on each side of the steering wheel that have to be removed.

3. Remove the 2 bolts that are under the caps. They take an 8mm socket with extension.
4. The air bag/horn will then pull out and unplug the harnesses.
5. There are 5 zip ties that hold the wires for the cruise control buttons to the steering wheel that will need to be cut.
6. Unplug and remove the buttons. They slide straight out.

When I started, I put an extra 680 ohm resistor in the circuit on this wire.

This picture shows which wire I put the resistor in. I put it outside of the switch box so that the panel will sit back in the box later. It also shows where I attached my wires. This is the on/off switch.

This is the set accel/coast/resume button. Here is how I wired this switch. I soldered both of the positive leads together, and the negs together. I then connected a wire from the positive leads to the blue wire with black stripe.


When I got it wired up, all of the lights will turn on. The top right button has a hot stop, but I think with an extra resistor, I can dim it down.


It works fine with the lights on, and I am not to concerned about it. What I have to figure out, is that when I turn the key to ON, the right side turns on even with the lights on, but all of them are off when the key is OFF. Also, if I push the ON button for the cruise control, the right side lights up again. Again, I'm not terribly concerned about these since the lights are not on when the truck is off, but something I would like to figure out so that everything works perfectly. I will just have to do some more playing with it to get it right, but if someone has a wiring diagram it would be very helpful. I will get better pictures up when I get the task finished.

 

[99 Expy]

Hey guys, I finally got some free time, so I'm going to try to figure out my problem with the steering wheel lights, hopefully it won't take to long, but I'll get it eventually and keep you all updated.

 

[panda24619]

all right cool! that looks good. i might do mine all red. thats what im thinking. match the outside. but the resister dimmed the leds? should i have to do if i do all mine red? and how bright is your rear red window switch?

 

[Thermo]

99Expy, LEDs work on a slightly different principle than a standard lamp. An LED will emit a constant amount of light unless you either get the current way down (in the 0.5 to 2 milliamp range, then as you lower the current, the light will get dimmer, but this also varies based on each LED, so, getting this right can be a real pain in the butt) or you pulse the light on and off at more than 30 times a second (prevents the LED from appearing to flash) and then you control the brightness by regulating the amount of on and off time (the more off time compared to on time, the dimmer the LED will appear).

I do a lot with LEDs. I have made a custom set of LED tail lights for my Expedition (had red LEDs for the tail lights and running lights and then they would turn off when I applied the turn signal which was yellow). If you need any more info, let me know.

The other option that you have is that LEDs are rated in MCDs (millicandela). If the LEDs are too bright, then you go to a lower MCD rated LED. Unfortunately, this requires some trial and error to find the brightness that you will like. But, at the same time, with our trucks, the dimmer switch is a pulsing style dimmer, so, if you make all of your dash lights the LEDs of a similar MCD rated LED, you can use the dimmer switch to dim the LEDs since it will be turning the LEDs on/off for you at the necessary rate. No extra wiring for individual LEDs would be required.

If you have more questions, just ask.

 

[GAINMOB]

thermo...where you located now cuz i'd love to help YOU do mine...lol!!!

 

[Thermo]

Ross, I am about 2.5 hours north of you in a small town called "California, MD". Yes, the town name is California. Pretty much I am an hour south of DC on the tip of the MD penninsula.

If you need help, let me know. Granted, you will need to be a little bit patient. I'm on travel and won't be back in town until about Memorial weekend.

As for preparations for this, find out what MCD LEDs you currently have installed and then get the next few steps down. This is going to be somewhat of a trial and error thing as you are trying to set the brightness based on trying to match up to other lights unless you have other ideas in mind. Let me know what you are wanting to do and then we will go from there. I know a few other tricks that I am sure we can implement to make things exactly what you want.

 

[GAINMOB]

GREEN!!! i'm interested in greening everything out...i've notice that most of the buttons already light up...not all...such as the window lock/unlock and the driver window up/down button and the door lock/unlock...they arent lit...so increase lighting and install lighting...

As for preparations for this, find out what MCD LEDs you currently have installed

how do i go about doing this? actually take out a bulb?

 

[GAINMOB]

As for preparations for this, find out what MCD LEDs you currently have installed and then get the next few steps down.

how do i go about doing this? actually take out the bulb? or just look in manual?

 

[Thermo]

Ross, when you bought the LEDs that you currently have, the packaging should have stated the MCD rating of the LEDs. Without that information, there is no cheap way to get a good measurement of the MCD rating. Unfortunately, there is no numbers written on an LED stating what the MCD rating is or that can be related back to the MCD rating.

 

[stevehill76]

did you ever fix the issue with the key and the lights

99 EXPY thanks for this post it got me started in the right direction however I wanted to inform you that I noticed you seriesed in your resistor in the blue/black wire not the blue/red wire. The blue red wire is the illumination controll wire. This may be the problem you are having.