micosan

The interior overhead lights in the car are too dim for me. I wanted to determine what I would need to replace these lights with brighter lights. I disassembled the rear overhead interior light. I did not replace the LED’s. Perhaps the following pictures will be useful to someone.

Tools: Trim tools, precision flat head screw driver, small screw driver, square head screw bit size 0mm.



Pry on the left and right sides where the metal clips are to remove trim from headliner. Use one hand to support the headliner as you pry the trim with the other hand. Note the arrow at the top left corner of the trim piece. This arrow should point to the front of the car when installing or make sure the shape of the trim matches the impression left in the head liner when installing.



The trim attaches to the light casing at area circled in red





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rikkus256

Is it just me? I don' see any pictures... =/

MadMax96

Yup - pics not working.

micosan

Note how the wire is routed around the light casing so you’ll know how to re-install it. The trim piece only attaches to the light casing one way.



Unsnap casing lid from the two tabs.



Casing lid open.



To remove LED you will need use square head screw bit size (0mm) to remove LED support holders and then unsolder the LED from the circuit board. It is best to leave the circuit board in the casing when removing these square head screws. The right and left circuit board is held in the casing by prongs at the top and bottom of the picture and by a side tab located on the right and left sides of the casing.



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micosan

The LED side of the circuit board.






Refractive Lens in light casing

acdapast

do you know what leds it uses? i want to replace the leds to a different color, thanks.

wetgravity

dude, if I had half the time on my hands as you had to post those pics and do this procedure, I could afford much better than a Lexus ES...just saying....thanks for the info though?

micosan

I sorry I don’t have any details about the LED. It was dumb of me not to get more details. I abandon any attempts to replace the LED once I saw I would need to unsolder the LED. I was also unsure of what limits the circuit board would place on the LED if any.

unknown2

Why don't you get the 2010 lights??? I think it's easier and brighter than the LEDs... Just a thought..

micosan

I think the led's are surface mount diodes, sometime refered as SMT or SMD. My guess is they are L 3mm, W 3mm, H 1mm and the candle power is about 500 mCd (milli Candle). Attached is an image of a SMD.

acdapast

so... can they be replaced?

micosan

My guess is yes. The led’s are soldered on to the printed circuit board (PCB). I’ve been looking at buying some brighter led’s from Ebay. The led’s are rated as high as 20,000 milicandles. At this time I’m not sure how much current the PCB will supply to the led’s and how much heat the plastic modules containing the PCB will tolerate without damage. Attached is a PDF document containing my interpretation of the PCB schematic which may be incorrect, but it’s my best guess.

acdapast

great explanation, do you know the part number for the LED though? i have no clue where to look for them. (For example the door courtesy bulb part number is 194). On the other hand, do you have any idea on how to swap the License Plate LED's too? It would be nice if it is a bit brighter.

thanks

ibobby

I too feel that the interior lighting is very dim.

jkutti2000

the interior lightning. rear seats suck big time.. what were they thinking.. rest of the car is near perfect.(apart from the sound system- if you dont have ML sound)