need some help from the electrical gurus...

[LoJac963]

So I started taking pieces apart to start my full interior LED conversion. All my main lamps are done but now I'm trying to remove and solder in LED's into everywhere else: door controls, seat controls (on driver door), and all the various lighted components on the dash from the headlight buttons to the radio, 4x4 buttons and climate control.

So here's what I've got, there's 3 differnet forms of lights in the H2 (2006 at least):

3mm LED bulbs I found to be 5mA and 2.8volt (so far these are in the driver door seat controls)

What I think to be 1208 SMD LED's at 5mA 2.9volt (these are in the driver door window buttons)

Regular filament bulbs roughly 4mm I've seen in the headlight controls on the dash and the steering wheel controls.

Here's the issues. replacing the 3mm LED's are no problem they are pretty standard. The SMD's I am having a hard time finding them in reverse mount which they need to be for the window controls as they are mounted and shine through the circuit board.

Also I don't know what issues I will run into just throwing LED's in the places where the regular filament bulbs are. I pulled an 11.25 volt reading from one of the regular bulbs meaning I would have to pick up completely different 3mm LED's rated at 12volt which are much more expensive and don't need a resistor. However I'm worried the 12volt LED's will shine a different color light compared to the lower wattage LED's.

I thought maybe figure out a resistor and use the same 3-4watt LED's throughout but trying to solder in resistors in addition to new LED's may be a hassle--that was before I found 3mm 12volt LED's online.

So what are your thoughts, opinions, advice??

Also now that I've been messing with stuff now my top 2 steering wheel controls will not light up. The buttons work fine but they won't light after removing and reinstalling them a few times-any ideas??

I don't know part of me thinks screw it and just put things back together and scrap the whole idea but the other part of me really wants to tackle this and have a completely unique interior and get rid of all the nasty yellow lighting. I do have some burned out areas in addition to the steering wheel buttons now.....

Let me know what you all think. Thanks in advance!

[fyr145]

LoJack963,

I have pondered about doing this very project but also fell victim to wondering if I could simply just replace each bulb with a 3mm or 4mm LED and it seemed to me that it wouldn't be that simple either.

I did look around YouTube under Hummer H2 LED replacements and found a bunch of guys from all over the world that have done them successfully but stop short of showing how they overcame the issues you described in your initial post.

Like you, I don't like the yellow lighting either. To that end, my thoughts were to just do a simplified version of what you were doing by just changing out the door lights, map lights, and interior cab bulbs and call it even.

Deciding to scrap or muddle through a project like this one you have here is more of a personal decision. Its nice to see the subtle "upgrades" to your interior but if its going to cause more heartache than the project itself is worth, then I would say stop where you are and enjoy what you have already accomplished. If on the other hand, you prefer to see things through to their ultimate completion, then its full-speed ahead.

I see your here in the north valley like I am. If you think I can be of any assistance, I wouldn't mind helping out on it. It would be a great way to meet other H2 owners and share issues. (just a thought).

fyr145

[SMITH23H2SUT]

Unless you plan on keeping your H2 forever, why would you go through all that trouble to make things complicated for the next owner? What happens when after all that customization, a bulb goes out for the next owner? He wouldn't be able to replace a door control or steering wheel control button, he'd be FCUKED!!! HUMMER's are extinct why would you not keep it as original as possible or at least make mods that could be reversed if need be.

[iwillnc]

Umm Smith let me tell you from personal experience from vehicles that use this very very cheap and shortlasting crap, such as my 80's GM S-blazer

At this point it is impossible to find a lot of parts, sure companies come out that are willing to supply a lot of stuff, but not all of it remains avaliable, for example, I can't get a new rear window actuator so the button on my dash is pointless, I also can't get a replacement passenger seatbelt setup, which internals fell apart (top belt doesn't stop when pulled hard, only bottom belt does anything, think head to dash)
Factory does NOT do everything correct, try and find a door panel for a 03-07 H2? Well go straight to the 07 search because you won't find anything under 03-06. And have fun with that $800 price.

And to make this all relate to this thread even more the, 4x4 controls, those light burn out very often and given probably 5 years you'll be hard pressed to find a new one, so doing the method mentioned above is your only option.

Modern vehicles are so disposable that there is going to be hell to pay on those of us that want to keep the vehicle for decades.
Improvision is your only friend.

[iwillnc]

Also a new owner would easily be able to replace the part, all the OP is doing is altering the light on the actual item, he isn't altering the wiring.

[LoJac963]

wow just saw these posts....

FYR we definitely should meet up sometime. I am far west valley in Surprise, where abouts are you?

As far as the customization I've already started it and will copy my posts from another forum here but to address the comment above. I do plan on keeping this truck for an eternity and like the others have said good luck in finding replacement parts.

The main reason I wanted to start this project is because I have multiple bulbs burned out. If I'm ripping thing apart why not customize it a little bit and get rid of the yellow lighting everywhere?

Anyways here is my post about the process so far. Granted I've done a lot to vehicles over the years but this is a first for me...

Ok gents here we go. LED's came in today....well now yesterday ugh. I've been working on this for probably about 7 hours so far.

Some issues here and there, definitely not as easy as I thought and may be in a little over my head with all this.

So here's some pics of whats done so far. The colors are much darker in person, dark blue and dark red.

Driver Door controls:



Passenger seat heater controls:



Steering wheel buttons:



Headlight, rear washer controls:



Now here is the circuit board from the radio. I didn't mind ripping it all apart because I needed to replace 2 buttons with white showing through that were there when I bought the truck:



As you can see there are a total of 17 bulbs including the 2 inside the dials on the left (which I have no clue how I will access those.) The LED's I'm using to replace the bulbs are rated for 12-14 volts so they should just be a direct replacement. However I now have 9 of the bulbs swapped to LED. On everything else I did one bulb at a time, for the radio I figured I'd do a row at a time since there are so many. Everything was going great until I hit the 9th bulb. Soldered in the LED and now that LED and 2 from the top row will not light. These circuit boards have contacts on both sides so the back and the contacts under each LED have to be resoldered which I've been doing. I just don't get it.

Now I don't know whether to scrap the idea and rush a bulk order of the old school bulbs and just change everything back or keep trying to figure this out.

Oh and now my two steering wheel controls on the top are doing crazy things to the radio-I don't know if its because the radio is torn apart or what so now that has me worried. I mean to potentially have to replace a full set of wheel controls and a radio we're talking a few hundred bucks....

God I wish the wife would talk me out of these projects from time to time lol......any thoughts at all? I can't recall seeing anyone venture this far into this type of project on any of the boards.

Also the pic of the radio board was before I started swapping the LED's in.

Just to make a point. I don't believe anyone on the 4 boards I follow has gone this far into an LED swap that I know of so yes there will be complications and issues are why these boards are around for fellow enthusiasts to help others. I appreciate the concerns Smith but we all customize our vehicles, some more than others.

[guruerror]

Dude...you got way further along that I thought you would. While I'm not a fan of the blue, your end products thus far look really good.

I wish I could offer assistance, guidance, or any kind of meaningful input to help you with the radio bit...but I can't. LOL...so I'll just say, "Good luck." And you're absolutely correct...this kinda sh!t is one of the main reasons why these forums exist.

[iwillnc]

That's extremely cool, but this begs the question, have you cut open a side marker lamp and replaced those bulbs and resealed the lamp?

[LoJac963]

I have not but I do know the side markers are just 2 SMD LED's so really it should be extremely easy to replace those if one was to go out.

[fyr145]

Originally Posted by LoJac963

wow just saw these posts....

FYR we definitely should meet up sometime. I am far west valley in Surprise, where abouts are you?

I'm in the far north valley by the Loop 101 & I-17 area.

Great job on the LED change out!!! This would be a project that I'd definitely be interested in looking into.

fyr145

[LoJac963]

thanks. I actually went back to crisp white on everything. The blue was just too overdone with all the buttons these things have. Odd part of it is the 4x4 and trailer/TC2 buttons have a blue lens in the button packs so even with the white LED's they have a tint of blue to them. Good thing is they match the escalade gauge face I put in perfectly-also threw white LED's on the cluster board since I had it apart.

I should copy my build thread from the other forum I'm a member of over here..

[fyr145]

Yes definately!!

I'd enjoy looking at how you did this project. I would need a list of the LED's needed and where you got them at.

Again, awesome job there.


(pick a time and date someday when you would like to meet at say a restaurant between the both of us and lets compare rigs. This could give us some more ideas on future projects as well.

better yet, maybe we should consider a Arizona H2 meeting somplace so we all can meet up and see all the other H2's in town !........you thoughts?)

[LoJac963]

oh ordering them is no big deal. Everything other than the door controls all use 12 volt LED's as stock everything has mini bulbs. For the doors all you need is 3.-4 volt LED's. Also I recommend diffused lenses for everything to scatter the light more.

We should meet up sometime. I work weekends so that limits me quite a bit since most people work opposite of me. I think an AZ H2 meet would be a good time. I only regularly see a couple other H2's out here in Surprise. A lot of H3's but no H2's.

[fyr145]

Yes! Meeting up someplace would be great. I'd like to hear how some of lights are done and which kinds of LED to get and from where. I would imagine that with some of the more challenging LEDs require a bit more skill than just switching out bulbs.

An Arizona H2 meet would be great! This site has a "local events" forum, we can post something there and see what happens, just need to give enough time so people can make arrangements to attend. Im trying to think of a common place around town that we could all meet up at......... someplace common that everyone in the valley here knows.

I have a varied work schedule as well. I work 2 days on straight then I have 4 days off. I'm sure we can find a time when were both off of work and can meet up soon.

[smileynialley]

How did you get access to the lights in the steering wheel? the one in the voule control has blown and i need to change it, is it a case of just prying the control off?

[LoJac963]

Originally Posted by smileynialley

How did you get access to the lights in the steering wheel? the one in the voule control has blown and i need to change it, is it a case of just prying the control off?

You just take a small screwdriver, slide it down the side of the switch pack and slowly work it out. It has a little retainer at the back that will eventually work free from the soft material of the wheel and it will slide forward.

Then you'll need something small to reach behind to release the connector from the harness and the button pack will come out. Getting the SOB plugged back in can be a hassle the first couple times but you'll get the hang of it.

I had all mine out multiple times during this project so its not too terrible.