AC Panel Bulbs quick question
 

Does anybody know what size (or type) the AC Panel bulbs are?
I have already blown 15 $ for bulbs that are "almost the same", but don't fit.
The one in the car seem to be exactly 5 mm diameter while all the ones I can find are a hair bigger.
Please help....

(Naturally, I have searched quite a few times).

I've been trying to figure out the same thing

Like I said, I have already blown 10/15 bucks on bulbs that are about 0.2/0.3 mm larger in diameter. I was able to stick them in, but they push the sides out and the light bulb assembly doesn't fit in its hole any longer.

I measured their diameter and it should be 0.5 mm.
I have resorted to call Mazda tomorrow morning, they must have some to give me or some to order.

One thing I can tell you: they are not 37, 74 or 73. These are all a wee bit larger.

I'm glad you blew that money before I did. haha

grrr.... I will possibly let you know the size today, when I contact Mazda

For all of you interested, you won't believe this...
 

I called Mountain Mazda (Hamilton Mountain Mazda dealer). The parts guy was very helpful, however, he told me that -in spite of the fact that he has a part number- the light doesn't have a "north American" corresponding matchable light (eg 194, 74, 37, or whatever). He also told me that he checked and there are none available in North America! He told me he could order them for me and tomorrow he should be able to tell me when he'll be getting them.
Is this f u c k i n g possible?

If you have any suggestion, by all means, chime in, 'cause I'm extremely pissed.

I am almost 100% positive that its a T5 14v 1.4w bulb.

I wish you had been here earlier on... However, better late than never...
I'll see if I can find them tomorrow.
Thank you very much.

PS I looked at the size and it seems to be right about what I measured.
I'll see what I can do.

How about this:
 

I found out the same T5 bulb for Honda (part number: 35505-S30-003)
I'll see if these fit.
I'll let everyone know this afternoon.

I was thinking the same thing... Is it f u c k i n g possible that someone could be here for 3 whole years and still be simple enough to call their local dealership for parts?

If you need RX-7 parts, and you call your local dealership, one of two things will happen. One, they will have no clue what an RX-7 is and to save face they will say whatever you are looking for doesn't exist or has been discontinued. Two, they know what an RX-7 is and they think it's a fucking Ferrari. They will charge you 3-4x list price.

How you could be around for that long and not know this is beyond me. Anyway, what you want to do is call this guy:

Malloy Mazda , Ray Crowe is the parts manager, gives great prices to RX-7 owners, quick shipping:
(888) 533-3400 , (703) 490-8170 , fax: (703) 490-3864 , hmkparts@aol.com

He gets parts that other dealerships don't, he gets discounts that other dealerships don't, and he doesn't price gouge. He has an RX-7, all you have to do is call the number, ask for Ray, and describe the part you need to him. He'll know what you're talking about.

Thanks for the help... yeah, right
 

I did, if you read the post, they said they don't have them in the entire North America. Plus, since -and it is a proven fact- it is the same bulb that other manufacturers use in their cars, why would my first instinct be to run to Mazda to get a part I should be able to buy at Wal-Mart?

Neither of them happened. They don't have the part and they ordered without charging me Ferrari prices, however, they have no clue when/if they are going to get one, as a matter of fact -since you indirectly solicited the information- they asked me to call again tomorrow and MAYBE they will know what is going on with it

I am not sure what you mean with "this". If "this" is call Ray for whatever you need (or whatever you need that you cannot find), I will say this:
1) If I need a part and I can get it locally within a couple of days (which has always been the case so far), why would I call a guy in the US, pay custom duty shipping, loose 25% on the dollar exchange, pay sale taxes on it (just like I would in Canada) and then wait 2 weeks at best to get what I need?
2) Given the above, what is the logical thing to do is to go to a parts store and find the little light bulb. When that doesn't work, you call Mazda. If that doesn't work as well, then you call Ray. Unless, that is, you live in a place that makes it convenient for you to call Ray first. That, my friend, is not the case here.

Had I called Ray first, I'd still be waiting for the lights to come, instead, I have them in my coat pocket.

What is beyond me here, is that when people ask pretty simple and pretty clear questions, there are people who don't have an answer for the question but time to bitch about other people's problems, that feel that it is a good thing to make (not so) smart remarks instead of helping.
If I didn't need help, I would not be on this forum.
And if this forum is not meant to help, then this forum has no point in existing.

Take care,
Giovanni

Could not have said it better myself. This is like the "where did you mount your turbo timer" thread. Their is only about 2-3 people that answered the question and about 20 others who just said "don't use a turbo timer." Just answer the damn question!!

Wfiw
 

I got home and tried the "Honda" bulbs.
They work like a charm. I need to install the panel back in, so I haven't yet tried to put the lights on.
HOWEVER:
The T5 light bulbs I purchased are identical in dimensions to those that were in the car.
The ones in the car have the following stamped on them: 14 V 1.4 W.
The 33505-S30-003 Genuine Honda bulbs are T5 14V 1.4 W.
As far as I can tell, they are a perfect match in size, wattage and voltage to those I replaced.
FYI, I paid 4.16 CDN each plus taxes. Steep, but done nonetheless, without spending more than 20 $.
BTW, I returned the wrong bulbs, so in the end I only blew 4$ on the failed attempt.

you can get size #74 from superbrightleds.com, if you want leds of course. but dont get the ones that look like a circuit board...they dont work. ask me how i know. lol

how do you know? I was about to get those because they have an angle of 360 degrees

ok i am interested. apparently a couple of these bulbs went out in my car.


so you just went to your local Honda dealer and asked for part #33505-S30-003? is there any type of replacement bulb that we could get from wal-mart or an auto parts store?

they do work, i have them in my dash right now.

because i have 6 of them. hehe they are too wide at the base. but if you look at the picture, there isnt much there. only the terminals, 1 on each side. i'm going to try to shave them down to make them work. why would i go to all this trouble? because these are the only bulbs this size that i can find that have a 360 degree pattern.

:icon_tup: :)

The plastic clear LED's don't quite fit either. ask me how i know.

i had to squeeze the middle with pliers and they finally fit. No 360 angle though.

Yes, I did go to Honda and did that. I even told the parts guy why I was there.
As far as the replacement auto part, I don't know what to tell you.
I would imagine that, since there is a rack full of bulbs at Canadian Tire (local store), there must be a generic replacement for it. But I have no idea what that is.
The Mazda guy said that he only knows them by part number. The Honda guy said to me (when I asked) that it was a T5 bulb.
Interesting thing is, I purchased some LED lights at superbrightleds.com and they have a link to the Sylvania website for you to go and get the exact bulb type (number) you need for your specific car. If you go there and look for replacement bulbs for a 93 rx7, most light bulbs I can think of are there, but not those. So, I am not sure what you can make of this, but these are the facts.
FYI, on that LED site they have no T5 bulb that I could find to replace those...
I hope this helps

it would be VERY handy if we could find some LEDs that would be a good replacement for these bulbs.

i did some searching on google and verified that you're correct about that honda part# 35505-S30-003.

i am going to go by my local honda dealer tomorrow and see if i can get a few of these.

also, giovanni. do you know how many bulbs are in the A/C panel? i'd like to replace all of them

i found some T5 LED bulbs via google search, but i'm not sure if these would work. and the company is in australia...
http://www.ledshoponline.com/automot...rd_bulb.htm#T5

4 bulbs. just replaced mine last night.

Grrr...
 

Hi everyone.
As you know, I was replacing bulbs as a result of "extending" my EBC installation.
I replugged the instrument cluster back in place tonight and just put the lights on to test everything before I push it back in place and screw it down.

Well, well...
I might not have mentioned this to you, however, I purchased 194 LEDs to replace the main back lighting of the cluster.
Unfortunately, there is a bit of a problem with the result.
The cluster area closer to the lights is now yellow, while the areas that are further away from the lights are brighter amber, as well as the AC panel I replaced the lights of.

I guess the easiest way to resolve this is to simply buy 4 194 regular bulbs and to replace the LEDs I purchased.

Any other ideas?
I know that somebody has worked at the cluster and has placed some more smaller LEDs in other areas to make it more uniform, but this involves soldering things in and I am not too happy with that idea. The other problem with this is that this would make the cluster colour more uniform, however, it would remain different from the one of the AC panel....

Thanks for the suggestion, however, I have already gone through this thread.

One thing I need to understand is this: I read the hyperite gauge mod thread and it says there that it uses 3 #74 LEDs and 4 194s.
I was wondering which of the 74s in the back are for lighting purposes, in case I were to get another set of LEDs...
I think I'll stick with regular bulbs, I'll buy the replacement for the 194s and close it up.
With the brighter bulbs everything seems to be nicer and richer, so I think I'll just settle that way.
If I were to change some more bulbs to LEDs, I'll probably get the "yellowish" to be more uniform, but then I'll still have an amber AC Panel (unless I find T5 replacement LEDs....).

I found that only one of the 74's are used to light up the gauge cluster. Mine had a blue tab on it while all the others were black (or brown?). Hope that helps.

Yes, it does help, thank you.
I need to figure out if I really want to wait until next thursday before I get the LED...

...let's see...
 

OK, I found the hyperite gauge cluster mod and it appears that there are 2 light bulbs that are actually hooked up to a blue twist-on.
One I would imagine is the one you mentioned (#74) and it is located at the far right of the gauge cluster (looking at the back of it). The other is at the bottom and a bit on the left (again, looking at the back).
I also noticed that this last one is actually of a different size and I believe powers up the odometer.
I believe that If I change the #74 in the blue twist-on to a LED one, the cluster colour will be uniform.
The problem is, this means I'll have to wait quite a bit of time to get it, unless I can find one around here and pick it up.
The option of changing all the 194s back to new incandescent is still my favourite...

GIO....wow its funny because i am in the middle of doing the same.....

anyhow i hope this helps with the amber you are looking for as i am buying this type of #74

this is an email i sent to AutoIllumination.com .........



Hi Shawn

In the #74 bulbs, I would use the tripower leds.

There are a couple of reasons for this recommendation.

One is that they do spread the light out better than a single more focused led

The other reason is that our current stock of them leans orangey in color. I actually call it mango. I really like the color and it sounds like it may be just what you are looking for. The picture on the website is of earlier stock, the new ones lean more orange than these:

http://superlumination.com/images/au..._3led_a_wm.jpg

http://autolumination.com/74.htm

With the 74s, you want to keep your gauges dimmed to 80% brightness to ensure a longer life.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks!

Tracy

- Hide quoted text -



---- Shawn Tusim <intoxicatingdetails@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi
>
> I was wondering if you can help me out on gauge specific LED. I am looking
> to brighten up my older gauges but in research have found that LED create
> "hot spots". I read through your site but can not seem to come to a
> conclusion on what bulb to buy. In your descriptions you say pretty much the
> same for each type of bulb so its not easy to figure out what one is the
> best for even light distribution. I need a #74....so what one will give me
> the BEST even light without the hot spots??
>
> Also with my gauges, they have a amber (orange) glow. this is due to a film
> on the back of the gauges. If i just want to make the orange "brighter"
> should i go with a white LEDs or amber coloured ones? I wasnt sure if the
> hyper white colour would wash out the orange, or if the amber bulb might
> change the colour.
>
> thank you
>
> --
> Shawn Tusim
> Intoxicating Details Auto Spa
> http://www.IntoxicatingDetails.ca
> Info@IntoxicatingDetails.ca
> 905.512.1252


--
Thank You

Chris Bacon

i think those tripower LEDs would fix the hotspot problem...

I think this is going to be my last post in this matter, unless somebody needs some help and I can supply it.

Just as a side note, I didn't have a problem with the uniformity of the lighting, the LEDs I purchased from superbrightleds.com were absolutely fantastic. The only problem I had was that the only small light (74) that helps the backlighting, was a regular incandescent bulb. This caused the entire cluster to look light yellow, minus the area around the small incandescent bulb, which remained more on the amber side of the light spectrum.

I decided that I had stared at my messed up interior long enough to feel like I didn't want to wait any longer for any special order LED.
I also realized that even with the small LED to complete the lighting, I would have ended up with yellow backlighting in the instrument cluster (given that it would all have worked out) and amber lighting in the AC Panel.
I didn't know where/if I would find the LED replacement for a T5 bulb.

In the light of all this, I went to buy 4 194LL regular bulbs and I switched them with the 194 LEDs I had installed.

My instrument cluster and AC Panel look great, all lights are good and new, brighter than the old ones were, and my entire interior (minus the little trim panel between the door and the dash -tomorrow-) is back together, clean and looking pretty.

BTW, the re-installation of all the parts was 1000 times easier and faster than their removal. I was expecting for severe bitching and some pieces breaking... Instead, everything went in straight and painlessly.
I wish you all the same luck.

i was able to shave the lights down and they work perfectly now. used a dremel and badda bing...hehe

360 degree coverage and all is well:)

what lights are you referring to? Don't just say LED's...what type etc?