Interior LED lights upgrade with pictures.

Post by **LanHarjochee** » 04 May 2012, 02:53

Will feel the room a new look after the upgrade is particularly bright at night, particularly the warm, quick as a newly renovated house!This money is worth it!

Post by **Volvofan94** » 27 Apr 2013, 10:37

Hi All,

I did this conversion on my 850 turbo. I have to say the interior looks much nicer than it did with the old incandescent bulbs. Nice write up Red Arrow!

But I did a different thing for the rear lights. First of all, I purchased similar lights to the ones Red Arrow used. As we know the polarity on those needs to be reversed in order for the LEDs to light up. However, I really didn't want to modify the factory light housings to do it. Instead I swapped the wire leads inside the metal light bulb base. It actually works and I'm very happy with the outcome.

Here's how I did it:
1. The SMD bulb is able to be removed from it's base. I used my soldering iron to melt the solder on the (+) point (bottom point) of the bulb. Once it's melted, the bulb was able to be removed easily from its base. Now you can see the leads.

2. Once the bulb was removed, you'll notice two wires. The positive wire is the longer one that goes all the way to the lower part of the bulb. This wire will need to be bent up so it can touch the metal side. The negative wire, will need to be extended so it can go down to the bottom part of the base.

: The positive wire will need to be bent up like the copper wire is in the picture. Trim to length.

3. Now for the tricky part; extending the negative wire to the the bottom point. I found a solid small gauge wire I wasn't using and stripped the insulation off of it. Taking my soldering iron and a steady hand, I soldered the extension wire to the negative wire.

4. When you're happy with the result, the bulb can be reinserted into its base. Melt the solder on the bottom of the bulb just enough so the newly extended (-) wire can stick through. Push the bulb back into the base. Fill in with additional solder and trim excess wire length as needed.

5. Insert the bulb into the factory housing and install the unit in your car. Looks nice, huh?

Post by **erikv11** » 27 Apr 2013, 12:35

If like me you are not so adept with a soldering iron, here is a trusted seller who is offering a complete set for the interior in your mailbox for $25. All seven bulbs (2 footwell, 4 map/grab handle, 1 trunk/cargo). I ordered last week so I haven't seen them in person, but looks like a god product.

http://volvospeed.com/vs_forum/topic/16 ... ts-850x70/

Completely plug and play, just swap the LED bulbs in for the incandescent ones currently in your car.

filipe martinho · Post by **filipe martinho** » 29 Apr 2013, 16:02

I am from Portugal and need to how to contact this seller to buy this complete set of plug and play leds bulbs

Post by **erikv11** » 29 Apr 2013, 16:09

Filipe: click the link in my previous post.

I have installed the LEDs now, they are great.

blkdrgn18 · Post by **blkdrgn18** » 24 Jul 2015, 23:17

I am still trying to figure out how exactly you re-wired it sadly

Post by **MrAl** » 26 Jul 2015, 04:05

Hi,

Some of the lights you might be able to replace with your own little Nichia white LED, 5mm. Others might take a slightly higher powered one.

But if someone can point me to the right LED bulb's that were used for this, i can find out how to modify one to work in reverse polarity without the need for rewiring the car itself in any way. If you can get the case open (various approaches) you can swap internal wiring.
One way would be to use a Dremel with saw blade with ground off teeth, which cuts through plastic nicely. After the mod, epoxy back together.

mschmelzer91 · Post by **mschmelzer91** » 18 Aug 2015, 22:08

I have noticed there are a lot of new LED bulbs out there designed to replace interior lights. I have found some that indicate they are "non polarity." Would this solve the problem of having to re wire? just a thought.

On another note, has anyone attempted to replace their headlights/fogs with LED bulbs on their 850? I'm tempted but it seems like a hit or miss. I'm talking stock assemblies running 9006 LED bulbs. I've seen several on eBay and amazon

mschmelzer91 · Post by **mschmelzer91** » 18 Aug 2015, 22:09

I have noticed there are a lot of new LED bulbs out there designed to replace interior lights. New as in since this thread was originally started. I have found some that indicate they are "non polarity." Would this solve the problem of having to re wire? just a thought.

On another note, has anyone attempted to replace their headlights/fogs with LED bulbs on their 850? I'm tempted but it seems like a hit or miss. I'm talking stock assemblies running 9006 LED bulbs. I've seen several on eBay and amazon

Liggywuh · Post by **Liggywuh** » 29 Aug 2015, 23:22

mschmelzer91 wrote:I have noticed there are a lot of new LED bulbs out there designed to replace interior lights. New as in since this thread was originally started. I have found some that indicate they are "non polarity." Would this solve the problem of having to re wire? just a thought.

On another note, has anyone attempted to replace their headlights/fogs with LED bulbs on their 850? I'm tempted but it seems like a hit or miss. I'm talking stock assemblies running 9006 LED bulbs. I've seen several on eBay and amazon

Non polarity LED should work, if they really are non polarity.

I have personally soldered in blue LEDs into all buttons, including the window controls, the control panel where the rear view mirror sits, the radio etc and put extra (white) courtesy lights in front and rear footwells and swapped glove box to LED, as well as all 5 roof lights. I used the same method as the original poster for the rear lights, although I rebuild the wiring, not the fitting (stupid choice at the time).

The polarity is normally not a problem as you get a fitting that fits in the bulb socket (T10, festoon or the other one I forgot the name of) and you can swap the connectors over to suit what you need. The only ones that are polarity sensitive (when it comes to lighting, as in a "normal" LED will not work) is the glovebox and the rear interior lights. All the other ones are plug and play.

I have also swapped the foglights over to LED on my 99 V70, on that they are H1 fittings. I haven't seen an 850 fitting, but I was forced to cut off the metal bit that sticks out inside the V70 fitting (that stops the light going upwards) because the LED light was too long. So I got 2 new ones from the scrap yard, and swap the entire interior assembly over for MOT (besiktning here in Sweden), to make sure the car gets through.

All LEDs I got were from the 4 lettered auction site (you probably know where I mean), for the interior white ones I use the COB LED, 24 in front, 18 in back, 48 in boot area. The other ones for example in glove box was a 9 SMD 5050 or 1210, can't remember.

The blue ones I got 12V LEDs in blue from England, they work great, very bright at full brightness and are able to be dimmed. Soldered right in, and no resistor on its leg, so can be cut to very small dimensions without having to worry about blowing up the LED or the resistor falling off.

Hope that post was *slightly* helpful!

Interior LED lights upgrade with pictures.

Re: Interior LED lights upgrade with pictures.