DIY Car Upgrades: Interior Lights
Our next topic on DIY car upgrades is about the interior lights. Even with the introduction of the LED automotive light bulbs, halogen bulbs are still very popular with car manufacturers because of the cost factor. This is another DIY upgrade for your car that is affordable and relatively simple to do.
Typically, you have the dome light, interior door light (Also works as courtesy light), map light, and the trunk light. Some cars may have other interior lights, but the bulbs that are used in it are the same types. The name for these bulbs is wedge bulb or festoon (Cylinder shaped bulbs). You may run into some confusion with the size designation for the interior lights. For example, if you have H4 low beam headlight, the same size designation is also called 9003 or HB4. However, in the interior bulbs, one size designation could have several different names or fit different sizes. Take size 194 for example. Normally, 194 or T10 would be used for the cars. However, it can also be fitted into 168, W5W, 12961, 2825, 17177, 158, 161, 168, 168A, 168NA, 175, 194, 194NA, 2821, 2825, 2827, 2886X, 3652, 558 and more. One of the reasons for different size designations is the wattage differences. For example, 168 bulb has higher wattage than 194, but they both have same socket size. Another reason is that these bulbs are not used exclusively for cars only and that they are widely used for different applications. Finally, different regions just use different size designations. Â
In any case, the upgrades for the car's interior lights are obviously going from the standard incandescent halogen light to LED bulbs. The installation is a lot simpler than other auto lights. We recommend that you get one of those plastic trim/panel remover tools. You can use the flat head screwdriver, but one miss and you'll end up scar-facing the panel. The plastic trim/panel tools are not expensive and worth the money. You take the plastic trim tool, whichever fits close to the width of the light panel, and gently slide into the side and pop open the panel. With festoon, simply slide in both sides, similar to putting a cylinder-shaped fuse. Since the wedge bulb is small, you may find it hard to pull out the old bulb. One of the tricks is to take scotch tape and wrap around the old bulb, sort of making a grip, and gently wiggle back and forth and the bulb should eventually pull out easily.
There are many choices in LED wedge and festoon bulbs, but at HIDCONCEPT.COM, we have four different choices you can make.
1) Philips DE3022 (30mm), 6418(38mm) and 212-2(45mm)
Philips bulbs are known for their superior quality control, and these three festoons are extremely popular with our customers. These festoon bulbs are definitely "whiter" than the halogen bulbs, but because of the diffuser capsule, the light output is much "softer" than the crisp LED chips.
2) Blesk 31mm, 37mm, and 41mm
One of HIDCONCEPT.COM's first introduction of LED festoon bulbs. Compare to Philips, the light output is by 50% higher and one added bonus is that it has built-in Canbus (Error canceller) chips. In some cases, LED bulbs can trigger the error message. With Blesk, you don't have to worry about that issue.
3) DAMA mini 31mm and 39mm
Our latest LED festoon bulbs. When Philips festoon bulbs have one or two LED chips, our DAMA mini 31mm has four and 39mm have six LED chips making DAMA mini the brightest LED festoon in the market.
4) 194/T10 Wedge LED bulbs
Typically used in, but not limited to, interior door and truck lights, we have various choices in this size. With similar functions as the festoon bulbs, the choices are Philips 194ULWX2 white LED bulb; Blesk T10 being the most compact; DAMA mini LED being the brightest.
Another line of LED bulbs we added this is the Japanese brand, LPF. Extremely popular for their off-road lighting parts, we brought in IPF T10 6500K 5 chip and 3D wedge LED bulbs. IPF is the most expensive because it is one of the few lighting bulbs that is made in Japan.
Since we ended this topic with 192/T10, we will discuss a little about other exterior car light upgrade in our next topic.
Typically, you have the dome light, interior door light (Also works as courtesy light), map light, and the trunk light. Some cars may have other interior lights, but the bulbs that are used in it are the same types. The name for these bulbs is wedge bulb or festoon (Cylinder shaped bulbs). You may run into some confusion with the size designation for the interior lights. For example, if you have H4 low beam headlight, the same size designation is also called 9003 or HB4. However, in the interior bulbs, one size designation could have several different names or fit different sizes. Take size 194 for example. Normally, 194 or T10 would be used for the cars. However, it can also be fitted into 168, W5W, 12961, 2825, 17177, 158, 161, 168, 168A, 168NA, 175, 194, 194NA, 2821, 2825, 2827, 2886X, 3652, 558 and more. One of the reasons for different size designations is the wattage differences. For example, 168 bulb has higher wattage than 194, but they both have same socket size. Another reason is that these bulbs are not used exclusively for cars only and that they are widely used for different applications. Finally, different regions just use different size designations. Â
In any case, the upgrades for the car's interior lights are obviously going from the standard incandescent halogen light to LED bulbs. The installation is a lot simpler than other auto lights. We recommend that you get one of those plastic trim/panel remover tools. You can use the flat head screwdriver, but one miss and you'll end up scar-facing the panel. The plastic trim/panel tools are not expensive and worth the money. You take the plastic trim tool, whichever fits close to the width of the light panel, and gently slide into the side and pop open the panel. With festoon, simply slide in both sides, similar to putting a cylinder-shaped fuse. Since the wedge bulb is small, you may find it hard to pull out the old bulb. One of the tricks is to take scotch tape and wrap around the old bulb, sort of making a grip, and gently wiggle back and forth and the bulb should eventually pull out easily.
There are many choices in LED wedge and festoon bulbs, but at HIDCONCEPT.COM, we have four different choices you can make.
1) Philips DE3022 (30mm), 6418(38mm) and 212-2(45mm)
Philips bulbs are known for their superior quality control, and these three festoons are extremely popular with our customers. These festoon bulbs are definitely "whiter" than the halogen bulbs, but because of the diffuser capsule, the light output is much "softer" than the crisp LED chips.
2) Blesk 31mm, 37mm, and 41mm
One of HIDCONCEPT.COM's first introduction of LED festoon bulbs. Compare to Philips, the light output is by 50% higher and one added bonus is that it has built-in Canbus (Error canceller) chips. In some cases, LED bulbs can trigger the error message. With Blesk, you don't have to worry about that issue.
3) DAMA mini 31mm and 39mm
Our latest LED festoon bulbs. When Philips festoon bulbs have one or two LED chips, our DAMA mini 31mm has four and 39mm have six LED chips making DAMA mini the brightest LED festoon in the market.
4) 194/T10 Wedge LED bulbs
Typically used in, but not limited to, interior door and truck lights, we have various choices in this size. With similar functions as the festoon bulbs, the choices are Philips 194ULWX2 white LED bulb; Blesk T10 being the most compact; DAMA mini LED being the brightest.
Another line of LED bulbs we added this is the Japanese brand, LPF. Extremely popular for their off-road lighting parts, we brought in IPF T10 6500K 5 chip and 3D wedge LED bulbs. IPF is the most expensive because it is one of the few lighting bulbs that is made in Japan.
Since we ended this topic with 192/T10, we will discuss a little about other exterior car light upgrade in our next topic.