Want LED bulb - climate control

I checked Greg's thread and did not see it (could of missed it of course...). I noticed several climate control units seem warped from the heat of the lamps. Has anyone switched the two climate control lights to LED and knows they work?

 

I haven't gotten to that yet. I haven't had a reason to pull the dash out but if/when I do, I'm going to dig into that. I think they should be pretty easy to source.

I think something like this might work but I have not tried them. I doubt it will not work for the glove box since I think it is reverse, center ground, power to the edge.

https://www.amazon.com/2pcs-5-SMD-Light-bulbs-64113/dp/B006RMMN3M

 

Thanks Greg - I thought that was the case. I've got my dash apart (yea...) so I'm looking to replace the bulbs. Those have bad reviews so I went with these. I'll report back when they go in.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077TKVY2...&pd_rd_r=27257cfe-cb15-11e8-bad0-51e994ee02c6

 

Here is the update: Bulbs came in yesterday (boy that was quick!) and I tested them in an old unit and in the car. The old unit is with an old cover (OEM) and in the car has a repro cover I bought years ago. A little background, both covers work the same however the OEM passes just a bit more light. But back to the bulbs. These appear well made and pushed into the socket easily. The LED body is all metal. As you can see in the pic the LED is much brighter and whiter. In the car I noticed several issue which I think had more to do with my wiring than the bulbs. For example my potentiometer in the headlamp switch is likely dirty so the transition in dimming was not smooth. The LEDs will dim. BUT they cut off at 7 volts. So the filament lights work down to 2 or 3 volts and the LEDs will not. Also the color difference between the speedo/tach/cluster lights and the climate control is very apparent. And my dash is apart and I was using a battery and test leads to supply voltage through the harness , so again it is a bit squirrely. I think everything will work better on the alternator. Its nice to see the controls though! We'll see how I like it when everything is back together and the car is running.

 

Nice. Are you going to replace the instrument panel lights for the tach, speedo and gauges? That's my next job. I suspect the tach uses the same bulbs as the climate control if memory serves me.

 

Not planning to, hence my concern about the difference in appearance. They are a bi***ch to get to unless you pull the whole dash out. George has a great instruction on his site on how to do it, if you are so inclined!
http://www.buickperformanceclub.com/cluster.htm

 

Oh, I've had the cluster out many times in the last 38 years. Even swapped the bezel when someone pushed the lighter in, it hung and melted a lot of the area around it. Also chasing ground issues in the dash over the years. I even polished the lens to get them looking better.

 

So I finally got to replace the bulbs in the climate control - what a difference! These are the "warm white" bulbs:

I took that in "dim" light, not really dark so it doesn't show up as well as the 6000K bright white below:
but color difference is obvious!

I used: https://www.amazon.com/WeiXuan-6411...+(Warm+white)&qid=1560905031&s=gateway&sr=8-1

 

Nice little upgrade, leds unless they are designed to be dimmable will cut out and stop working at a certain voltage, just a side effect of them

 

I was going to ask how they worked with dimming. Looks good. I believe the tach and the climate control use the same type of bulbs.

 

They dim fine, when I can't see the incandescents they are still on. I did try another brand but they would cut out as you said. Don't know what brand they were, sorry.

 

Your top picture looks like what I would like, what bulbs did you use?

 

I am curious what a light yellow LED (if they even make that) would look like ... maybe closer to the incandescent bulb? Appreciate the info.

 

I used: https://www.amazon.com/WeiXuan-6411...+(Warm+white)&qid=1560905031&s=gateway&sr=8-1

 

That's a great option. I'm thinking I can take a blown bulb, remove the glass envelope and solder in these to the base to see which colors work best.