Rep Power: 812

what would happen if i plug in hybrid heater controls into my EX civic, assuming the plugs fit? im not expecting everything to work like the auto cool stuff, i mainly just want the dash lights to come on.

 
Rep Power: 263

I've never tried this so I can't speak from experience but taking a quick look at the wiring diagrams I've got isn't looking too promising. If the hybrid has auto A/C the wiring seems to be completely different from the manual A/C circuit in your EX. It looks like one of the plugs would be the same size but the other wouldn't fit at all (referring to the heater control panel right next to the radio). If I may ask, is there something specific you're going for or just preferring the controls on the hybrid? I'm not saying you couldn't integrate the hybrid controls even with the auto feature but it wouldn't be plug and play. I'll send you the diagrams if you're interested.

 
Rep Power: 812

i was gonna do diy led light conversions for the dials and buttons and needed a way to plug them in to make sure they work. just the dash light

 
Rep Power: 263

It looks like power for the controls is in the harness that is a different size from the one in your vehicle. Also, illumination input/output doesn't line up.

03 Hybrid Auto A/C
20 Pin Harness
Ground Pin 20
Ignition Pin 10

22 Pin Harness
Illumination out Pin 22
Illumination in Pin 21


02 EX Manual A/C
14 Pin Harness
Ground Pin 13 (black)
Ignition Pin 14 (black/yellow)

22 Pin Harness
Illumination out Pin 11 (red)
Illumination in Pin 12 (red/black)


Things don't line up perfectly but a knowledgable fellow such as yourself should be able to rig something up. I hope this info somehow helps.

 
Rep Power: 812

well the big problem is finding polarity of terminals for the leds to work

 
Rep Power: 263

I see. Well, the bulbs take a positive signal from the red/black wire (pin 21) and send the signal back out the red wire (pin 22). So, if you put the cathode side of the diode towards the red wire you should be fine. I realize there is a gap between where the pin is at a plug and where the corresponding wires exist at the bulbs but it could be traced using continuity setting on a meter or through other means.

 
Rep Power: 812

if i knew the pinouts of the two dash pieces, then i could hook up just power and ground to the pins in the back right? and then see if the leds come on or not. do you have any pin diagrams by chance? i just need the heater control dials assembly and the recirc/ac/econ assembly.

 
Rep Power: 263

That's probably the best way to do it in theory. I attached all the documents I thought you would need. If you need something else just ask. Note: the Hybrid docs are for an 03 Civic, the others for an 02 EX.

The illumination documents will show you the illumination circuit for the vehicle and it also shows you the bulbs you intend to replace. The airconditioning documents show you the pin out for the heater controls and the wires that correspond to the illumination circuit. You'll have to piece the two together but it's pretty easy with both docs. I'm really looking forward to getting around to doing this mod in my car but it's not at the top of the list right now.

 
Rep Power: 812

thanks. i have the elec manual for regular civ but not hybrid. when i did my own led dash, i could just go plug them in to test and then reverse if necessary. lemme know if you need help with leds and ways to wire them, the big problem i had was doing the buttons cause they are not as easy to push after putting all that wire and stuff in there but it works. i also know a site that has a resistor calculator depending on the leds you want.

 
Rep Power: 263

I was just going to order the kits off of LEDautomotive.com, I was concerned I wouldn't be able to shave the LEDs properly to get a wide dispersion. Can I ask what you did about that? I would be interested in that resistor calculator site as well, especially if I bite the bullet and piece it all together myself.

 
Rep Power: 308

^^^ www.lsdiodes.com has some good information available.

 
Rep Power: 812

NO definately do not buy the kits. all they come with is the led, a tiny resistor, and you have to do all the solder work only to have a single led in place of the stock bulb. It will be super dim (worse than stock) due to where the bulbs are located and how they shine. you'll see when you open it. just buy the leds and diy. i know you can do it. all i did on mine to make the light less focused is take sandpaper and shave off the nose of the led. you can shave almost 1/2 the height of the led without hurning it. just dont touch the metal stuff in the middle. the top is all plastic. and to further disperse the light, i bought some see-through ink jet printer paper and cut out new filters using the stock colored ones as template. this works very well without dimming the light too much. chances are when youre all done you will have my problem where they are 10x brighter than the gauges. i was already done so all i did was add an extra resistor to the solid red wire going into each climate control piece. worked great and now they are just a tad bit more intense than gauge and deck. and they look very even and clean better than stock even and it doesnt wash out the color when some streetlamp shines on the dash.

get your leds from ebay, they are so cheap now i got a 50 pack of orange for i think $30. mine were 10,000 mcd which was still insanely bright when resistored for 16V power. better to be bright than dim tho... then its just a matter of setting up the leds. usually you cant hook more than 5-6 together in series before it uses up the available voltage. like for orange they each have 1.9 forward voltage, so once you get 6 of em thats about 12v and adding more after that will dim them all accordingly. so then you have to wire groups of leds in parallel so they all light up the same and bright. you can solder the circuit to the existing bulb socket terminals, you might have to switch em if they dont light up cause the + and - needs to be correct. i used epoxy to glue the leds to the housings. and i didnt use that plastic light guide piece at all since you really dont need it with a LED setup. the area with mirror/roof/etc i just took the bulbs out cause the colors werent matching. some buttons were darker and others not even orange cause they had filters painted on the back.