AU light polarities all different ! . !

[XR6-VCT-2000]

i though i'de just mention this after doing led mods to alot of the interior recently .

For starters , the tech threads on here and aufalcon are great and a good example to follow when doing led mods , but be sure to check the polaritys of all the bulb hole holders contacts in your car before you just place your led's back in . I found that in my car alot of the polaritys on the electric window switches were opposite to the documents , and also the very top centre dash light was opposite to the forums too . I also noticed that on my car that the rear courtesy lights are wired opposite to standard to. Gee gotta love that multimeter , worth its weight in gold ! ..lol

Imo i think in general , because the polarity doesnt really matter with normal globes , that Ford just wires up the interior lighting wires whichever way , as it doesnt effect the globes , it only effects led's ! .

[HLC]

my rear reading lamps are opposite polarity to what LED's do... i figured that out by trial and error. dont need a multi meter. LED's only work one way so soon ill get some large LED globes and swap the wires around in the globe holder.

[XR6-VCT-2000]

You can make ya own led globes for the rear courtesy lights pretty easy ;) , i showed an example how to make them in the '2 min light mod' thread . I made a set for mine , only took about 5 mins each to make, easy to make too . cheers

[HLC]

Originally Posted by XR6-VCT-2000

You can make ya own led globes for the rear courtesy lights pretty easy ;) , i showed an example how to make them in the '2 min light mod' thread . I made a set for mine , only took about 5 mins each to make, easy to make too . cheers

yeah i saw... but im too lazy : ill just buy a premade set and switch the wires

[XR6-VCT-2000]

Originally Posted by HLC

yeah i saw... but im too lazy : ill just buy a premade set and switch the wires

Yeah lazyness gets the better of me sometimes too ..lol , easier to buy things sometimes if you couldn't be bothered making them ..haha :

Oh by the way , do they make them led bulbs in coloured bulbs ? , i made my roof light and rear courtesy lights with blue led's , is there a wide range of colours and mcd as normal led's in the pre-made globe led's ?

[XR6-VCT-2000]

OK , after checking my dash lights again i realised my top centre globe wasnt working ( needed resoldering , bad contact ) , so in that being , the tech forum on doing the led dash lights - the polaritys were spot on according to my XR6 AU II series dash ;) .. but the other elec window switch lights etc are different for sure ;) .

I also just replaced the 2 small globes behind the DTE lcd with led's , i used 1000 mcd white 3mm 3.2v 30ma led's and a 360 ohm resistor on each, and mounted them in the original green plastic globe mounts with the resistor attatched to the rear of the green plastic socket , works great . the polarity of those sockets ( on my dash anyway ) were .... looking at the back of the cluster ... the right hand side of the contacts on both light holes were the + contact .

[chief]

This could be the reason HLC is having trouble swith the LED mod in the illuniated window switched.

[HLC]

Originally Posted by chief

This could be the reason HLC is having trouble swith the LED mod in the illuniated window switched.

checked that... swapped it around. destroyed the original LED, put a new one in. and now it wont work at all. i believe the button unit itself is SCREWED. but i dont wanna pay $19 for a new one.

[XR6-VCT-2000]

I noticed when doing the elec window conversions that when placing the led with the rubber base back onto the pins, it was important to tuck the + wire leading from the led from under the rubber base leading to the resistor off to the side , so there was no chance of that tucked off to the side + wire from the led before the resistor cutting accross the top of the 12v pins protruding slightly aboue the rubber base once it was mounted , it was close ! - if that toutches across it will jump the resistor and pump a full 12-13.8v into the led and obviouslly blow it .

Also make sure its not tucked too far off to the side, or the wiring will catch on 1 of those plastic white legs that hang off the actual plastic buttons/switches ( the part/button you clip back on after you have done the conversion ).

I sorta jamed the possitive wire into the side of the rubber base leading to the resistor , keep it clear of the top of the base where the pins protrude slightlly .

Might help ya problems , gl . ;) .

[HLC]

Originally Posted by XR6-VCT-2000

I noticed when doing the elec window conversions that when placing the led with the rubber base back onto the pins, it was important to tuck the + wire leading from the led from under the rubber base leading to the resistor off to the side , so there was no chance of that tucked off to the side + wire from the led before the resistor cutting accross the top of the 12v pins protruding slightly aboue the rubber base once it was mounted , it was close ! - if that toutches across it will jump the resistor and pump a full 12-13.8v into the led and obviouslly blow it .

Also make sure its not tucked too far off to the side, or the wiring will catch on 1 of those plastic white legs that hang off the actual plastic buttons/switches ( the part/button you clip back on after you have done the conversion ).

I sorta jamed the possitive wire into the side of the rubber base leading to the resistor , keep it clear of the top of the base where the pins protrude slightlly .

Might help ya problems , gl . ;) .

trust me. i've been over it a thousand times. thats why i made a whole knew LED globe unit so to speak. i also put the button in a different location in the car, and its the button which is broken. not the LED's or the wiring.

[XR6-VCT-2000]

no worries mate , just things to look out for when putting them back in as you probably noticed anyway , handy maybe for anyone who hasn't done it yet but maybe looking at doing it soon . ;)

[Yum-Yum]

G'day mate, just going over the doco russell did for the window conversion, in it he states that...

Originally posted by russellw

"Drivers Door:
Front Windows: Back Terminal is Positive
Rear Windows: Front Terminal is Positive - All other Doors: Front Terminal is Positive"

so from what you've wrote, your terminals were opposite, yes?
So with my ride being a series III XR, what are the chances of my window terminals being the same as yours? or is this one of those luck of the draw things again lol I don't have a multimeter and don't want to blow a LED, they're blardy hard to get a hold of here.

[XR6-VCT-2000]

Originally Posted by Yum-Yum

G'day mate, just going over the doco russell did for the window conversion, in it he states that...


so from what you've wrote, your terminals were opposite, yes?
So with my ride being a series III XR, what are the chances of my window terminals being the same as yours? or is this one of those luck of the draw things again lol I don't have a multimeter and don't want to blow a LED, they're blardy hard to get a hold of here.

I have a series II auIIxr6, in my car it seems only a few of the window polaritys have been different to the document so far , but was no stress, was a very helpfull document. From memory 2 of my front drivers switches were different and my front passengers door , the rears were ok.

I think it might be a test it thing , an easy way to test it if you dont have a multimeter , and dont want to blow led or globes..eg..

A CHEAP DIY 12v polarity tester ...................

get a spare low wattage 12v bulb / an actual globe / not an led ..
(even use the original rear courtesy globe if you like, its a 12v 5watt globe) this will be your test globe.... now usually with a globe it doesn't matter which way you wire it as there is no specific (+) and (-) to make them work , allthough by standards the base tip is usually considered the (+) contact.
So if we were to use the bulb as is , it would light up no matter which way you connect it to the (+) and (-) contacts in the electric window switches...... doesn't help us much .... but !

...easy fix ...

buy 2 cheap ZENER DIODES , minimum 12v rated, around 5watt ( worth a couple of cents each !). Pretty much any of the 1N**** series zener diodes in the rating above or over will do fine.
The diodes only allows current to pass 1 way , it will drop the voltage to the globe by around 0.6 volts , but this doesn't matter , it will just be a tadd dimmer than usual.

The diode has like an arrow printed on it pointing towards a straight line printed on it too, solder the wire from the diode to the base pin of the globe , with the arrow pointing towards the wire thats soldered to the globe base/tip (arrow pointing at the globe). Now solder the other diode to the side of the light globe/bulb, with the arrow pointing away from the globe. (pointing the opposite way to the other diode).

Use the end of the 2 diode wires as test prongs.
We've basically just turned a normal globe into a heavy duty LED , and the diodes stop the current flowing if the globe is connected the wrong way.
even though , being a globe it could handle the reverse voltage np .....anyway...

The way it works is ...Remove the electric window button covers and plug the loom for it back in, turn the ignition on , dont forget that the windows won't power anymore after about 30 seconds unless the car is running !.
Use the unsoldred wire ends (coming off the diodes that are attatched to the 12 globe) for connecting to/toutching the 2 contact points for the globes inside the electric window switches.

Toutch the contacts/terminals with both wires , the wire/diode connected to the base of the globe is now the (+) ...(like on an led) , and the wire/diode connected to the side of the globe is the (-) (like on an led).

Use this globe as like an led for testing , except it you connect it the wrong way it wont burn out, and the globe won't light up ..

cheers

[Yum-Yum]

Well I went by the document and turns out all the polarities on my car were the same as those in Russells doco LOL I got so bored last night I just ripped into it and lucky for me everything turned out sweet as, I also got one of the 6LED Festoons from Dork Smiff a few days back and got rid of the permanant marker jobby I did, which was starting to give off a green light and replaced it WOOHOOO!!! very very noice, now just gotta get into the courtesy lights now lol they look sooooo out of place pmsl

[XR6-VCT-2000]

Did they have the 6led Festoons in blue ? , last time i looked a while back they only made them with the bright white leds , which is why i ended up making my own blue festoon . cheers

[Yum-Yum]

Originally Posted by XR6-VCT-2000

Did they have the 6led Festoons in blue ? , last time i looked a while back they only made them with the bright white leds , which is why i ended up making my own blue festoon . cheers

Yeah mate, they had the 6 & 4 High Intensity Blue Leds along with the Bright White Jobbies but I found these on the Oz site


http://dseau.resultspage.com/search....0&I1.y=0&I1=Go

[XR6-VCT-2000]

hey thats not bad , that works out cheaper than buying 3 blue leds ..lol

i just used 1 single large blue led in mine , worked fine . All though i have been wanting to make like a plate to fit in there with XR6 written on it in led's , so when the light is on you would be able to see XR6 lit up under the clear case sorta.