Hello again and welcome to another part of the ongoing 'Purple Project'.

Today I will be showing you how to recolor your center dash switches. This includes your power window switches.

Once you have the switch assembly out of the center console, we can begin.

These are my switches after removing them from the dash trim.



I'll show you how to disassemble the simple switch and dummy switch first. They are the same except there are no active electronics in the dummy switch. Just a blank circuit board.

Pry off from both sides, the rocker portion of the switch. Then unscrew the two small screws on the back. I recommend a #1 precision Phillips screwdriver.

Inside there is a circuit board with pins going out through the plug side of the back. You may need to push these pins back through the plug housing to release them.

On the circuit board of the switch (Tow alarm disable in this case) there is a single red, indicator LED and a switch with a clear lens, green LED in it. We want that switch!



The switch is soldered to the small circuit board in four places. I've marked them with green arrows in the top of this picture. You will need to de-solder these points and remove the switch.

Once removed, on the bottom of the switch, there are two 'weld' points, marked with green arrows in the middle of the picture. These will need to be ground off or drilled out. I drilled them out with a hobby drill bit I had. use a hand hobby drill, Moto-tools are just not very easy to control this small.

Once those are drilled out far enough, you can pop out the LED from the switch. I've disassembled the whole switch so you can see it here.



Once you have the old LED out you can replace it with the color of your choice. The LED size is 3mm. I used Super Bright UV Purple.

Next I went on to tackle the power window switches. These are a different animal, but easier in one respect. You do not have to de-solder a switch and then drill out the LED! YAY!

Once the switch is apart, you can simply de-solder the LED. But wait! That's not a regular LED lens!?!?!? WTF? Oh, crap it's an inverted lens. Designed to put light out of the sides instead of a beam in front.

Break out the Dremel and turn my own LED to the same shape lens. Worked pretty good.



Next two things to tackle are disassembly of the center section with the hazard switch.

Remove the six Phillips screws on the back and pull off the front housing. Then remove the hazard switch and springs. (You can leave the springs on the lower housing like in the picture, I just took them out of my way to work)



You will have to de-solder seven points. I've marked them with green arrows. Once the board is de-soldered from the pins, you can remove it and proceed to change the LEDs in the two small switches.



Last I did the heated seat switches. Once again, these are the same type of switches that are just soldered to the board. It's getting to them that I'll show you here.

Start by removing the four small, greenish (on mine anyway) colored screws. Two at each end that secure the casing together.

Then you must carefully pry out the electrical runners. Be careful to release the tabs and not bend them backwards. (I did on one, but was able to bend it back without breaking it.)

Next, there are two lock tabs in the center channel holding the two halves together, release these and remove the front shell half.



Now you can tilt out the two end circuit boards and de-solder the two switches on each. Just change out the LEDs and solder the switches back in and re-assemble.



Oh yeah... RESULTS! The first picture is a bit blue due to my camera not being able to see UV. So, I made a slight adjustment on the second one to reflect closer to real life.

 

Reserved ...

 

My jaw just hit the floor.........can't wait to see the finished product!

 

Wow, you are seriously determined to change the switch colors!
Interested to see what it looks like after.

 

Result images are up... enjoy!

 

Extremely impressive, great work.

 

The window switches are an issue! How did you separate the black casing from the gray? I think I can manage after I get that problem solved! I would hate to break it. Thanks in advance for your help!

James

 

Nice work!

 

Good job!
Like it!

 

James,

I actually have to replace one of the power window switch LEDs that I had changed. It has gone out. I will also be trying a technique for better reflecting the UV as the plastic diffuser seems to absorb the UV a bit and the color came out a little blue compared to the others.

As to how to disassemble the power window switches. It's been a while. I did have a picture of the switch and will include here with a little help.



Remove the top of the switch as described for all the others. Then there are two gray tabs on each side that must be released to remove the black section of plastic. (Circled in the picture.) Next you must use a flat head screwdriver or similar to pry on either side of the board where the pins that go through the gray plastic are, it will walk out but does take some effort.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks for responding. I used two small flatheads and stuck one in each side and it came apart easily. Thanks for the help and my problem has been solved!

James

 

No extra charge. Please post pictures of your completed conversion.

 

Actually, there was no conversion. I needed to change the switch bodies because one of the mounting tabs had broken off. This saved me from having to buy another switch. I noticed that you did not change the bulbs in the heater control unit. Any tips on doing this? I am replacing my stock unit with a Mercedes unit and don't want to have it looking odd with the white ligts. Any help is appreciated.

 

I am currently working on a solution as I could not find any LED bulbs that would fit and light up the lenses properly. Hopefully I'll get to it later this week.

When I do, I'll post the procedure and results.

 

MMZ, thanks for the informative write up! It looks great!

That said, you have dissuaded me from doing this project haha. I recently did a dash light LED swap on my 99 Wrangler, which made a world of difference (i.e. I can actually see the gauges a night now). Because of the simple build of the Jeep, all of you have to do it literally undo 8 torx screws and pull out the entire gauge assembly - super easy. This on the other hand, looks highly involved. I will just stick with my green gauges and buttons for the time being.

 

You are a patient man....nothing but respect here...I would never have the time or the will power to take that project on....nice write up...

 

Thanks to all. I have not had the motivation as of late to tackle the LED replacement in the power window switch, nor the change to the climate controls. Maybe next week or some time before the new year.

Still recovering from the radiation treatments...

 

Thought of doing the green gear shift light? Guess manuals are the lucky one's

 

Very nice. Amazing, the ideas people come up with to make improvements or just change things for their taste. Really cool, great job and idea, thanks timelord