Page 1 of 2

front interior light bulb

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 2:21 pm
by Kuan
Can someone tell me what light bulb I need for the front interior. The overhead one between passenger and driver is missing. and it would be helpful at night.

Thanks.

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 11:50 pm
by Breadman
i got mine at canadian tire, don't remember what kind they were. they were about 8 bucks for two. cylinder shaped.
hope that helps
paul

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:14 am
by Kuan
Thanks Paul.

Guess I will just pick some up and see if they fit.

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:56 am
by Mystery Machine
Hi Kuan,

Nearly all of the interior lights in the L300 are the festoon/dome type. These are all 31mm long. :wink:

The following bulbs are all 31mm dome/festoon types:

:arrow: The four in the front roof light (2 x door lights & 2 x map lights)
:arrow: The one in each door panel (behind red lens)
:arrow: The one in the rear boot light
:arrow: The one on the step light

You can get LED bulbs easily from eBay. You can find them under 31mm Festoon (HERE) or 31mm Dome (HERE) I would personally recommend the white ones because they give a much more useable colour. The blue ones look cool, but make everything a funny colour and I find it off-putting when trying to look for something when everything is tinted blue! :shock: :?

Hope that helps?

Regards,

Bruce.

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:59 am
by Mystery Machine
P.S. By using LED bulbs, you are able to leave the doors open a LOT longer without risking the battery going flat :twisted:

Useful when camping/BBQ'ing etc....but make sure you turn off the crystal lamp if the sliding door is open.... :shock:

Regards,

Bruce.

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:33 am
by Kuan
Bruce,

Great info and thanks for the links. Thanks a lot. Your van is an inspiration!

Kuan

Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:00 pm
by Green1
MM: You mention the LED bulbs, and I'm guessing you are using those, any advice on which ones to get? the seem to come in 4,6, and 9 LED models, obviously the more LEDs the brighter (or so it seems) however is 4 "too dim"? how about 6? ideas?

While I'm at it... I should also ask if you happen to know what the LED replacments for the rest of the bulbs would be as I want to replace every bulb I can with LED...

Re: front interior light bulb

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 11:47 am
by JMK
Time to order some of the 31mm festoon lights noted above. I bought some LEDs for my city lights and some strips from an eBay seller in Australia and the service was good and did not get ripped off on the shipping:
http://stores.ebay.com.au/BioLiving-Bea ... 2BI%252BSS

Has anyone go any other eBay sellers that they can recommend? WHen I click on Bruce's link above I get 69 items from a number of sellers, hard to choose...

I echo, Green1's sentiment, it would be great to have a list of all the LED's that can be used as replacements in the Delica. I used some T10 194 Wedge Inverted white LED's for my signal lights. Image

I'm wondering about the "cornering" light, and the tail lights. Is there an LED that works for them? Is it legal to replace them with LED's?

Re: front interior light bulb

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 12:26 pm
by Green1
some T10 194 Wedge Inverted white LED's for my signal lights.
I've been looking for something for the signals, were these in the side signal lights? or which ones exactly? and how do they look?
I'm wondering about the "cornering" light, and the tail lights. Is there an LED that works for them?
There are LEDs for everything, finding the right one, now THAT's the challenge!
Is it legal to replace them with LED's?
technically... no. most LED bulbs state on the package "for offroad use only" or some such thing, I have never heard of a DOT approved replacement bulb, you need the full assembly to do it legally (and we will never see that here)

That said, as long as it looks right, and puts out enough light (and at the right angles) nobody will bother you about it.

Re: front interior light bulb

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 12:51 pm
by JMK
I bought 4 of the 2 T10 194 168 Wedge Inverted 5-Chip LED Car Bulb White as noted in the link above from the Australian site. It arrived faster than a US order, and he only charges $3.00 for shipping and adds the rest in for almost nothing, so it's a lot better than the eBay Pirates in the USA that charge $9.00 shipping for each item.

I used 2 of them in the flashing side signal light, and the other 2 are in the city light sockets as my DRL's. Again not legal but they work.

I also got some of the green LED strips from the same seller and placed them recessed behind the surrounding headliner plastic trim in the rear cabin so the diffused light shines up onto the headliner at night, looks pretty good.

Re: front interior light bulb

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:28 pm
by Green1
my concern with the side signal light was that LEDs are quite directional, and that light counts on the bulb being at an odd angle... but if it works well I may try it.

Re: front interior light bulb

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:45 pm
by JMK
Maybe I should check it tonight and see from all angles if it is still visible. I assume it should be 180 degrees visibility when flashing.

In fact I'm going to go pull it in a few minutes anyway as one of my custom (ill)fitted headlight relay sockets got damaged so I had to jury rig it on the side of the highway a few weeks ago, and I have to go fix it properly now. I don't think a picture will do much good but I could at least show it with the bulb in place.

Re: front interior light bulb

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:50 pm
by Green1
more important than night time is how it looks during the day when it's brighter out... especially if you compare it to a stock one (either the other side of the same Delica, or another Delica)

Re: front interior light bulb

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 2:07 pm
by JMK
Absolutely, that makes perfect sense, dumb of me not to think of that. I just went and grabbed a picture. Now if I can find the old bulb and put it back in while I've got the module out it will be a good comparison. Off to hunt for the old bulb now.

Re: front interior light bulb

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 2:55 pm
by JMK
I found a 168 bulb and tried them against the LED while looking at a 45 degree angle with the sun directly on the vehicle. In fact the angle does not matter, the inverted LED has the same degree of visibility as the incandescent bulb. They both looked about the same, couldn't really get a picture as I couldn't remember how to set up the digital camera to close the aperature more while decreasing the shutter speed so it wouldn't be overexposed and still catch the flashing light.

I though that the bulbs that were in there originally were 194's. Not sure how they compare to a 168, but I should be able to find the 194's. While I'm working on the van they may show up.