I thought it was 39mm thats what i used.

 

The bulb references I've seen list all of the festoon bulbs in MINI as 36mm. However the bulb holder has simple spring metal contacts that should easily accomodate 39mm.

 

I'm going to do this in blue, along with retrofitting my tac, lcd and speedo with a blue backlight. However, I want to replace my map/reading lights with red so that I can feel like I'm in a naval control room and drive with my lights on w/o killing my night vision.

 

Inferno...

Red dome light
Blue Map lights

Do the footwells on GREEN

And you will be set for Christmas

No seriously that will be cool

 

No, all blue. It will go well with my instrument pannels and switches, once theyre done.

And are the map lights or the dome lights the ones that come on when the door opens?

 

The map lights are the ones that come on via manual switch. The dome light and foot well lighting come on when the door opens.

 

K. Good. Thats what I thought. I'm doing the mp lights in red and the dome light is blue.

 

I did not do the maplights but if I remember correctly others stated it was difficult to remove the maplights.

This an 02 MC
See how the maplights are "wedged" in there.





EDIT:


**See Post #161**

Link - Post #161


----------------------------------------------------

 

Hmm.. I have an 06. I'm not sure if that makes a difference though...

 

aren't blue lights that are visible through the windows illegal?? im not sure if the dome will be visible, but maybe watch out for that...

 

Ok I figured out how to get 'em out. I'm not sure if it matters between years. But here it is for an 02 MC


Remove 2 Screws:


Pull Lamp Assembly Down:


Turn Black ****(Holder)-- (One for each maplight):


Bulb and Holder pulls out:


And Bulb pulls straight out of the Holder(assembly):


Hope this helps. Its probably similar on later models.

 

That is true but I believe its if you are driving with them on. I might be wrong so don't quote me on it.

 

Yes, in every state that I'm aware of, RUNNING the car with colored lighting, especially red (other than in the rear) or especially blue is a ticketable offense. In most states, amber is leagal for side and front markers and red is the ONLY color that can show in the rear (other than white lighting above the rear license plate). This includes any exterior lighting (underbody kits, lamps, grille lighting) as well as any interior lighting clearly visable from outside the car. In other words, if you replace your dome AND map lights then be careful - you might get stopped while trying to read a map on a dark night.

What *I* did was hook all of my colored lighting up to the existing OEM cabin lighting. Since that lighting only turns on as a result of the doors opening (or manually turning on the cabin lights via the dome lamp switch - something I seldom do while the car is running), I never need worry.

I kept my map lights white, as these are lamps that, IMHO, need to provide pure, white light when you need it. Additionally, since the convertable does not have a dome light mounted in the roof between the front and rear seats, I added in a separate, white LED overhead lamp for reading/extra illumination:

 

Matt - please tell me more about what you ended up doing for the rear cabrio overhead light - what you mounted, how you attached it, etc...

Also - anyone know what the type number is for that map light bulb?

Thanks!

 

Map lights are 194's.

I used this lamp, which i got on eBay, but I hear that similar-looking units are avaiable here and there.



I meant for this to just be a temporary solution until I puzzled out a way to run permanent power leads from my fuse box to the top of the moving roof (it's held on with simple Velcro onto the roof support just AFT of the main roof brace), but because it works so well to light the back AND because it is small enough to fold into the roof without havng to be removed, I think I'll just use it as a permanent solution. It runs on a single AAA battery, and should lasts for months and months on that power cell.

HERE is my thread detailing the project and some other people's possible solutions...

 

To be clear to the above poster, the lights located in the assembly with the dome light are not techically, map lights. They are overhead lights. I refer to the map lights as those located on the front of the headliner near the sunroof controls.

To get at those you need to push the whole assembly forward, then pull the trailing edge down as it is weged in.

 

are led brighter than regular bulbs?

 

It depends. They can be. But you also can run numerous LEDs off of a single bulf socket because LEDs draw a much smaller current.

 

White LEDs are a bit more intense, mainly because they're more focused and directional. I've read fairly involved and dry papers that compared LED light to halogen and found that LEDs, on average, produce a comparable AMMOUNT of light, but also concluded that the light from a LED is much more directional and focused, making them ideal point lighting sources. Plus they draw very little power compared to the OEM lamps (the same circuit that runs a single OEM bulb can support a dozen or more LEDs with no issues) and generate no real heat. Plus there's no filliment to burn out.

That said, it's tough to compare colored LEDs with white - colored LEDs still seem more intense to me (likely because of the focusing effect noted above), however because the light has a narrower spectrum, you can't see as much, obviously. They're certainly more eye-catching, even the white ones, which have a hard, pure light and a bluish tint (compared to the very yellow incandescent light thrown by the OEM lamps.

And, as stated above, the ability to add in many LEDs to replace a single white OEM incandescent bulb is very appealing.

 

The short answer is no, if you mean directly replacing a regular bulb with an LED bulb, the result is usually less bright. See the notes on this page: http://superbrightleds.com/carbulb-notes.htm

It depends on the situation however. Brightness depends on the entire package of bulb, lamp housing, reflector, lens, power usage, etc. Consider tail lights. A tail light for standard incandescent bulbs is really very specialized in how its lenses and reflectors are designed. Notice how a "true" LED tail light from a car manufacturer has a completely different design. If you drop in a direct replacement LED bulbs into a standard tail light, they won't shine light into the reflectors and lenses the way they were designed for. Some bulbs will work better than others. The tower style LED bulbs are designed to similate the light pattern of an incandescent and will do a better job of shining light into reflectors.

 

Your answer was soo much better than mine...

 

So Much To Think About....

 

Got my V-LED flank bulbs today and installed in the footwells and puddle lights. They work GREAT! Nice, bright, diffused white light. Dim like OEM bulbs. I'm ecstatic that someone found these...

Now waiting to receive the LEDs for map and overhead lights, and festoon for license plate, and Oznium strips for rear footwells, and I'll be set!

 

I got my high intensity festoon bulbs - I forgot that the glove box had one - so I installed one there and ordered another to have a pair for my license plate. The one in the glovebox looks great. I also got one of these 5-way high intensity 194's:



Installed it as the cabrio dome light - OMG that thing is BRIGHT. It lights up the whole cabin like the inside of your refrigerator!!! But I love it - combined with the V-LED flank high intensity bulbs in the footwells, this looks GREAT in the cabrio - I'd take pix, but it's impossible for me to really convey what it looks like in a photo... It's a bit oversized, so I had to carefully drill out the hole a bit for fitment, but no worries.

I used some not-great white LED 194's I already had in the map lights for now, just ordered some new high intensity LEDs for there... then will be set. I got my short Oznium strips for the rear footwells, but won't have time to install those until this weekend (hopefully)...

 

I got my V-LED flanks today for my puddle lights - much better than the LED bulbs I was using before. They put out a nice concentrated spot of light.