kbmaxima

iTrader: (11)

so after finally getting my hazard/defrost and climate control to look the way i like it, a bulb in my Bose blows out. MAN, i just can't win. Anyway, just wondering if I wire up everything the same way I did the auto climate control, or if it's a direct soldering on the Bose board with a resistor. thanks for the input.

Vlasic

iTrader: (13)

im pretty sure its a direct solder to the board. you may even have to use thoes flat LEDs with the built in resistors, thoes are pretty easy to work with. bust it open and take a look.

chillin014

iTrader: (67)

can you explain how exactly you change the LED of the bose?

Vlasic

iTrader: (13)

you basically just open up the head unit and then you gotta de-solder the stock ones and re-solder on new LEDs.. make sure you have resisted LEDs and you solder them on the right way. (+ to + and - to -)

kbmaxima

iTrader: (11)

clearly you don't have a 99 max though. There are all these nitty gritty differences with the 95-96 and the 97-99. the headunit i have has the bass/treble controls done electronically and not hte ***** and 6 buttons across the bottom. one more bump before i sleep

Vlasic

iTrader: (13)

it doesnt matter what year i own, hell i could own a damn geo and still know what to tell you. the principals of electronics are all the same. in something like a headunit, the bulbs are all connected directly to the circuit board. the bulbs will either be thoes very small square flat ones with built in resistors, or just a very small normal looking bulb. all you gotta do is remove the burnt out one and re-solder on a new one.

Igobuk

iTrader: (1)

In the Bose headunit are small round bulbs with little rubber condoms. They are soldered onto the circuit board. You will need to de-solder them and replace with 3mm LED's of your choice WITH resistors. Below is a reference pic of the stock bulbs vs. the LED conversion brightness.

kbmaxima

iTrader: (11)

thanks bro again for your help. you're always there when I'm fiddling with led's

overseaz

iTrader: (5)

Im doing my Bose radio soon too. I have a 95, but the concept is the same. The bulbs look identical to mine. So ill be around too. We can give eachother feedback.

Im trying to see if i can just find resisted LED's instead of having to wire the resisters myself as in the Auto climate control. And btw.. im wiring my Auto climate LED's direct to the board.

Dave

kbmaxima

iTrader: (11)

brave soul. I had so much trouble just getting to the bulbs on the 99 auto climate. I'll post pics as soon as the Bose is done. Probably Tuesday morning. The only thing IM questioning is knowing the polarity. Which side is pos/neg ? igobuk ? hehe

Igobuk

iTrader: (1)

Well, the way I found it is like this...

When you pop off the circuit board from the radio, you'll notice that on the back of it (the side with no bulbs) there is a connector. That connector is labeled, look very closely at it and you'll see words there. The two things you are looking for a ILL+ and ILL-, pretty obvious what these mean.

The thing is that the lables on the right of the connector refer to the pins on the left and the labels on the left refer to the pins on the right. Don't know why it's like this but it is.

Now that you have your pins (but if you really want to be sure, connect a 9V battery with some wires to those pins, with the correct polarity, and see if the face lights up like I have in the picture... I used a 12v DC power supply but the 9V should be enough for a test) you'll be able to see the pins go into the circuit board. Follow the strips within the circuit board to each bulb making sure not to go cross-eyed. On some bulbs, the right is + and the left is - but look closely because on others it inverts. Just follow the strip carefully and you'll be fine.

The hardest part by far is finding room for the resistors underneath the refractor lenses. If you'll notice, the refractor lense does not fully touch the circuit board, it kind of hovers over it resting on tiny plastic pin legs. There is enough room under the refractor lense to fit regular resistors flat under it. Then just bend the legs around to get to the LED's as needed. This way the resistors are on the face of the circuit board not the back of it.

After each LED you put in, place the refractor lenses back on and test for fit. After 4 or 5 LED's, put the face back together and test the buttons and see if they still feel normal, sometimes they end up bumping resistors.

Good luck, take your time, it's all worth it in the end. And while you have everything open, you can do the red cellophane mod and make your Bose have a white display.

kbmaxima

iTrader: (11)

ouch. thats the second time i've seen that pic and i still drool. It's so white. My auto climate control, no matter how much I tried, I get this greenish hue/dim white. I gave up and I figure as long as it lights up. Hopefully the Bose doesn't come out TOO white. (never thought i'd say that)

nismomax98

iTrader: (10)

I just did this mod over the weekend and i love it it was not that hard to do i have a 98 bose and i used a volt meter to check the positive and negative sides of the stock bulbs then i made 3mm w/ resistors, i did the resistors perpendicular to the led just be patient and take ur time u be ok