Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior Dome light to LED conversion *install guide*

This is in install guide that converts the dome light into LEDs. Jeff (celimangts17) and I did this in about 1 hour working time. We wanted to change the dome light into LEDs for two basic reasons:
1. LEDs are brighter
2. LEDs last a lot longer than ordinary light bulbs--no one should ever have to replace these for the entire life of the car.

Tools Required:
-LEDs
-Sautering gun (or you can choose to tap into the wires using electrical taps..but sautering is much easier and also more reliable)
-wire cutters (or scissors)
-wire strippers
-Drill and metal drill bit
-liquid nail (or you can use a hot glue gun--or any other suitable adhesive)
-phillips screwdriver

We used Redline High Intensity white LEDs for this install guide. you can purchase these for $4.99 (3-pack) at your local Pep Boys store. you can also choose to buy another color other than white if you wish. They also sold purple, red, green, and blue for $5.99 (3-pack). you can see what the package looks like in this picture.

Since we didn't have a sauter gun, we went out and bought one for $19.99 at Auto Zone that included sauter and some paste (we didn't use the paste).

you can see what these products look like (along with an outlet tester that we didnt use) in this picture:

Step One:

on the dome light cover (this is for a celica with a sunroof--as the celicas without sunroofs have a different dome light setup), use a phillips head screwdiver on the single screw that can be found on the backside of the cover. after you remove this screw, you will need to unclip the cover from the roof. we were able to do this by hand by pulling down gently on one end (it's not clipped in very strongly) but you can also use a flathead screwdriver if you want.

once this is done, you will notice another single screw holding the main assembly in place (it's located near the center). use the phillips to unscrew this as well. after you remove that screw, the assembly should fall down a few inches to reveal an electrical clip--unclip it. the assmebly should be totally unattached now and you can take it out of the car to a work area.

this is what the assebly looks like once you remove the dome light cover:

this is the opposite side of the assembly once you remove it. you can see the electrical clip to the right.

also notice the black and white wires that run to terminals in the top left corner. the black terminal is what we will sauter the ground wires to and the white terminal is what we will sauter the power wires to at a later time.

Step Two:

pick a drill bit that matches up with the width of the LEDs. better to use too-small bit than a too-large bit because you don't want the hole to be too large that the LEDs can fall through easily. Since we were using 3 LEDs we had to drill 3 holes into the metal plate that is located where the dome light bulb would normall sit. (you can see in the following pics that our first hole was too big..so we had to drill an additional hole). if the bit your using is a little too small..wiggle it around in a circular pattern while you are drilling to widen out the hole. do this in small increments and keep test-fitting the LEDs if you have to.

once the holes are drilled, run the wires from the LEDs through the face side of the assembly so that the wires are sticking out the backside and the LEDs are mounted on the face-side.

this is a picture of how the LEDs should look after you have done this--with the 'light side' showing on the assemblies face side.

Step Three:

you should have a lot of excess wire coming out the backside of the assembly. use some scissors or wire cutters to get rid of most of it. make sure leave enough wire so that each one can reach the terminals.

Step Four:

use a hot glue gun or some liquid nail (or a suitable alternative) to keep the LEds in place. (we used liquid nail but we would have preferred to use a hot glue gun for ease of use). wait about 5-10 minutes for this to dry.

Step Five:

separate the ground wires (black) from the power wires (red) by pulling them gently apart. once this is done, use the wire strippers so that about 1/2" of bare wire is showing on each wire. then, twist the tips of all 3 power wires together and do the same to the tips of all 3 ground wires.

Step Six:

use the sauter gun to sauter the red power wires to where the assemblie's white wire attaches to its terminal. now sauter the black ground wires to where the assemblie's black wire attaches to its terminal.

Step 7:

once the wires are securely sautered. take the assembly back to the car and plug the wire clip back in. flip the assembly switch to 'on' and if done correctly all the LEDs should light up.

screw the assembly back on and then clip the cover back on and screw it on as well. you are finished.

you can now post, thanks everyone for holding their comments.

any questions, tips, or suggestions are definately welcomed. one question that someone raised earlier was that his LEDs kept blowing because his LEDs were rated at 3 volts and the dome light assembly wiring is rated at 12 volts. in this case, a fuse would be needed.

however, the LEDs we used work fine with 12 volt loads. you can even attach them directly to your battery if you want to run other accent lights.

peek a boo, i see you

really nice, how is the brightness compared to a normal bulb?

it's much brighter, billy. i havn't had a chance to see it in the dark yet...but while still bright outside the light could still be reflected off of your hand at about 8-10 inches away from the assembly, with the cover on.

what he said

very nice..

looks great!

Great job Caleb & Jeff (celimangts17) i think i'll have to do this real soon.. looks easy enough and cheap to do thanks for taking the time to make a guide hopefully it'll be brighter at night vs stock bulbs..

One could probably add more LED's too .. I bet and have it aim towards other directions just to get even more light coming from the dome assembly hmmm..


take some night pics Caleb ..in the mean time I'll have to pick up some of these tommorrow

wow congrats! thanks for the wirte up, i think that i needed at least three for it not to blow up cause the voltage gets distibuted to each evenly. each LED takes 3.7v but in your setup each LED is getting about 4 volts. I'll probably do this later but have the leds on the outside of the clear cover since it dims the lights a bit.

kim, for his setup, each LED is getting 12v
his LED's are the type that need 12v source to light it, they aren't normal LEDs

For those who blew the leds, use a resistor. The resistor steps down the voltage so they won't be overloaded. A 220 ohm resistor run in line with the leds will corect that issue.

BTW, Nice job Caleb! Can't wait to see it at night.

looks good, babe...get some night pics

oh yeah you're right. sorry my mistake.

Damn those are super LEDs

you should do this kim!

you can also use your stock light bulb in conjuction with the led's--if you want to. i tried it and it works just fine

i personally prefer just the LED's..and i'll get some night pics soon

are those wired in without a resistor?

^^ yes. there is no resistor..the LEDs can take the 12 volts easily...they were made to wire directly in to the battery, which we didn't do--but you could if you wanted to.

yeah i have those same leds from best buy and have them hooked directly to the battery and in the headlight housing, they are on all the time since they dont drain enough power to hurt antyhing so its cool when the cars just parked there it has blue eyes

^^ that's cool and you're right that it doesn't drain a lot of battery power at all so leaving them on won't do anything unless you let your car sit there for a couple weeks or so...but you can always add a switch for about $4 and it's pretty easy to do. if you're interested, i'll tell you how to do it.

Looks nice, yeah, those LED's won't drain the battery at all unless it sits there over the winter, and having a gel battery could eliminate that as well.

Loooks good man, I might have to change my dome light, the bulb is dulling a bit.

where was the original bulb located? you unscrewed it right?

cool...


easier and brighter way would be to buy 4, 3.7v LED's from radio shack and just wire them in series.

if you can call it screwed..yeah. its more of pushed & in twisted.

you can still use the bulbs in conjuction with the led's though if you want..it still works (i tried it)