Acura Legend Forum banner

Interior Bulb Upgrade - Finally found bulbs!

14K views 111 replies 24 participants last post by  brood  
#1 ·
For all of you that are interested in upgrading your interior lighting I finally found bulbs that work. I tried LED's but didn't like the blueish tint at all and all of the "Xenon" bulbs I found (like Raybig) were rated at least 10W and $9 each. Can't do 10W since I didn't want to roast my harness and melt the lenses and the price was rediculous.

I found this site http://autolumination.com and ordered 7 31mm 3022 festoon bulbs and 2 74's for my dome, map, door and footwell lights. Installed them last night and they are exactly what I was looking for - very bright, white light and they're only 5W! (OEM spec). The glass on these bulbs is blue but when on they are definately white - almost a halogen type of light like you see on the newer cars.

So, if you want a nice lighting upgrade for around $12 I recommend these.

Next on the list is maybe doing the 74's in the dash (heater/ac vent buttons, etc.) They have multiple colors available. I'm thinking of playing around with red/amber for the buttons.
 
#2 ·
95G2_lastofthegreatones said:
Next on the list is maybe doing the 74's in the dash (heater/ac vent buttons, etc.) They have multiple colors available. I'm thinking of playing around with red/amber for the buttons.
Man, your´re great !!! That´s exactly what I have searched for. There´s no way to get these nice spec and colored LED´s (like the "194 Incandescent Bulbs", "906", "212", "3022" or "74") here in Germany. I´m gonna to replace all the damn bulbs through the LED´s, esp these of the gauge cluster and the A/C cluster and the power window switches. I have nice pics of each original bulb, so maybe it´s possible to say me, what´s the best is to replace for? Gimme a call and I can upload the pics for a better compare, or? What do you think? -Mike
 
#4 ·
The small wedge bulbs used in your dash, footwell courtesy lights, door panel switches, etc. are 74's. The dome, map, door panel courtesy lights and trunk are all 3022 festoon bulbs (bullet). If you order replacement festoon bulbs make sure you get the 31mm - anything longer will not fit into the bases.
Check out the link in my previous post - they have pics of the bulbs.
 
#8 ·
The 31mm Xenon festoon bulbs are $1.49 each. I bought 7 plus two 74's for my footwell courtesy lights. You may have been looking at the LED price. Go to http://autolumination.com/festoon.htm and scroll down almost to the bottom of the page and you'll see them. Again, I tried the LED's but did not like them at all. They aren't nearly as bright as these "Xenon" bulbs and have a very blue color. I was after a brighter and whiter light. These bulbs are great - 5W and compared to the dull yellow of the OEM bulbs its like night and day, so to speak.
 
#9 ·
For the doors I know there is another festoon bulb that is slightly bigger that will fit, I bought lights from superbrightleds, but the festoon bulbs I bought only fit the door panel courtesy lights, not the rear ceiling lights (for a sedan anyways). So I too was on the lookout for festoons that aren't overwattage for the back, I'm leaving the leds in the doors, they are a really bright blue and look good, but for my ceiling lights since I want them for searching for stuff, I will be buynig white lights...so you say the blue festoons from that place, actually are white and not blue? maybe there is a brighter white then?
 
#10 ·
95g2-- u got pics of your new interior lights?? id love to see them-- if you change out the a/c bulbs and so forth, is there a way to change the color of the auto a/c digits and the digi clock?? what about putting a colored film over the display??
 
#11 ·
Anybody know what bulbs a g1 would take. I tried searching slyvania but for the dome they list the bulb as "DE3423" What the heck kinda bulb is that?
 
#12 ·
legendary - to answer the question about the a\c and clock, I know that with the accords it was only a new light bulb that needed to be put in place, however the key to this was that it illuminated the background, whereas ours illimunates the numbers. On my practice a\c I ripped open the clock too but did not see anything that really looked like a replaceable bulb. I will probably try to check it out a little more thoroughly, and see what other ideas I an come up with, but film seems like it might be an ok idea, however I'm equating it to the condom covers for bulbs, which the problem with those is if the light is too bright it shines right through, so the film would have to be very dark, and at night the clock would be dim, and during the day who knows what it might be like...I am going to look for some info from other people who have our type of clocks.

88- I think that is just a festoon bulb but slightly bigger? I think 3423 was the other bulb type for g2 festoons, take out the bulb and just see what it looks like, I think it is just a festoon bulb also known as a bullet bulb, if that is not the case (although I feel fairly confident in that info) try cross referencing the bulb good luck
 
#14 ·
also, you said u got 7 of the 3022s and 2 of the 74s-- where do they go?? i thought there were 4 map light bulbs(2 front and 2 back), 4 door, 2 footwells and 2 dome( 1 front and 1 rear)-- am i wrong?? i have a 93 ls sedan.. how many and which do i need to get to replace all those and the ones in the trunk and hood??
 
#16 ·
yeah my bullet bulbs that I can think of, I have 4 door, 3 map, 1 trunk, 1 glove box, I didn't even know about the hood one, and I haven't checked the footwell one yet, as I am probably just getting an led bar to go there...

I haven't messed around with the door controls yet, although I know there is at least one member who has, but in my honest opinion the a\c lights are as straightforward as any car can get, there are 4 total bulbs to replace and it is just plug and play, doesn't get much easier, the hardest part is replacing the stock LEDs and even that is pretty easy since you just swap one led for the other, if you are even thinking of doing the leds, if you want just the graphics it's plug and play. I thought this project would be super hard, it is actually really easy, but maybe there is something I haven't encountered yet?
 
#17 ·
I have a coupe, so you guys that have sedans may have differnent bulbs. The way mine break down is as follows; (2) door panels, (3) front dome (dome + 2 maps), (2) rear domes all of them the same size 3022 festoon, and (2) 74 wedge bulbs for the driver/pass footwell courtesy. I forgot my trunk which is also a 3022 and I need to order another 31mm bulb for that. I'm using one of my LED experiment bulbs in there now. I haven't done my glove box or any of the dash or door panel switches yet. I belive they are 74 wedge bulbs too.

Some of you guys may like the LED's and the ones I tried are larger in diameter than these Xenons. They will fit but not perfectly (you can get them in the socket but not seated all the way. It does hold though). It didn't matter for me since I did not like the LED look at all - too blue and not nearly bright enough. Keep in mind that with LED's the light disbursement is going only going to be about 30 degrees, so they are kind of focused which for me was another part of the problem.

These "Xenon" bulbs are great as I've mentioned. They are about four times a bright as the dull yellow OEM bulbs with a much whiter light and they are rated at 5w. Its a nice and inexpensive upgrade. When I put the new bulbs in my rear dome I did a side by side since there are two and there is a HUGE difference.
 
#20 ·
PIAA makes a hell of a LED wedge bulb, and they come in all blue, all white, or white and blue. I had the white and blue ones in my corner lamps for 6 months before I was finally pulled over by a cop that was just looking for trouble. Since I still dont have clear corners, I swapped the blue and white with the pure white that was in the blinker and vice versa. Now the amber hides the blue and the front part is a nice shade of LED white with a hint of blue. You cant even tell unless you walk up on it really, and I thought that because of the blue and amber I would have a green tint to the lights, but there is no green present. While I'm on it, who else is in FL that has clear corners? Every place I go says that they havent arrived from overseas, and that the next shipment will be who knows when. I'd order them online, but I have no credit card, and I dont know when I'll get one again as they're trouble. I thank all in advance for the help I'm looking for, and if I have helped anyone in making the decision to pick up those PIAA LED's then its all good.
 
#21 · (Edited)
hey legendary how did your break down go....I have it like this so far

9 festoons - 4 door panels, 3 rear domes, 1 trunk, 1 glove box

4 168\194 bulbs - 4 fornt domes

8 - 74 bulbs - 1 shifter display (auto), 1 ignition ring, 1 cigarette ring, 1 ashtray, 4 a\c display (no climate control)

oh and I think the footwells are type 74, and also aren't the gauges or gauge cluster, I know one is a 1.4 watt bulb but aren't there 74's in the region? I didn't even check cause I am putting led lights bars to light my floor instead, and I haven't gotten to the gauges stage. I am just wondering why our numbers are so off...mine is an L, if your is an LS that might be why, my brother has an LS but he lives in santa cruz, so I can't check out his car...although it ought to be similar

EDIT: also
10 LEDs - 8 LEDs for my a\c unit, 1 for cruise control, 1 for rear defroster

Since we are all on the topic, I guess I should throw this in the mix, so we can tackle it together, the singular buttons like cruise control and just the little button lights, are all lit up by these tiny bulbs (they are the ones mikeD labeled "for all switches" on the left ) http://www.acura-legend.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31019&highlight=gauge+lights

The link says the window switches are 74 bulbs by the way so there are even more 74 bulbs to consider...

I pulled some of these, and they all have different numbers I have one saying 2, one saying 4, one saying 8, so I don't know what kind of bulb or how I could replace these to make them a different color, because without them our projects will seem incomplete. The only idea I got is tinitng them some way, but they are already kind of dim, so tint would just make thatworse...has anyone else done these?
 
#25 ·
Well I figured I would jump on the wagon too
This is what I ordered:
Item Options: Color:
Size: 31mm
Item Number: Xenon
Quantity: 8
Total: $11.92 USD

Item Name: Incandescent
Item Options: Color:
Color: Super White
Item Number: #74
Quantity: 4
Total: $3.96 USD

Cart Subtotal: $15.88 USD
Shipping: $2.50 USD
Sales Tax: $0.00 USD
Cart Total: $18.38 USD
95G2_, does this sound right? I ordered a couple extra 74's just in case.