00 Civic HX dome light

[Xist]

I usually keep my overhead light off, only turning it on when I specifically need it, but I am forgetful, and my battery died at least once recently when I left the dome light on long enough. Obviously, I need to not do that, and if I am leaving my car parked for a while, double-check. The battery was already over two years old and when I pushed my car to O'Reilly, the lady said they always die within two years in Arizona. Now I have a shiny new Costco battery with a three-year warranty.

However, I thought that if I replaced my dome light with an LED, if I happened to leave the light on, it would be less problematic.

I did not have any idea how difficult this would be for me, but years ago a friend said that Murphy's Law needed to be renamed in my honor. Several times, I had people tell me that they always enjoyed talking to me, because they made me feel better about their own lives.

Oh...

This is what Amazon told me to purchase:


This is what Honda specifies:


Can anyone tell me what size that is? I just see 5v12W. Also, do you just pull hard to remove the bulb? I have played with it, but did not want to damage anything.

I looked at superbrightleds.com and put in my car and which bulb I wanted to replace and it showed me this and two dozen others with multiple that would not shine in any usable directions:


Is a single LED as bright as my stock bulb?

Thank you very much for any assistance you may provide! Please enjoy your day!

[Baltothewolf]

It's a 194 wedge bulb. You can buy a pack of 20 on amazon for 16$ from seller SUCOOL.

[California98Civic]

From my garage page, here is the list I have been developing/editing for our gen civics:

OEM Light bulbs
Headlight: 9003
Parking Light: 3496
Front Turn Signal: 3496
Rear Turn Signal: 7440
Tail Light: 7443
Break Light: 7443
High Mount break light: 7440
License: 168
Back Up light: 7440
Front Sidemarker: 3496
Rear Sidemarker: 7443
Dome Light: 168
Gauge lights: 194
Indicator lights: 74

EDIT: GO LOOK AT THE SUPERBRIGHTLEDS.COM SITE'S "BULB IDENTIFIER" ... YOU'LL GET LOTS OF DETAILS FOR SPECS AND IF THE PRICES ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH YOU CAN BUY SOMEWHERE ELSE.

[Xist]

Thanks guys!

The one that I showed from SuperBrightLEDs is a 194, so at least they are correct unlike Amazon! It says "This bulb is oversize, please see dimensions below." I cannot find any dimensions, just this comparison:

I think these are the ones that you mentioned, Balto, Sucool by AXLed


Small chip, much less output?

Is there anything unusual about pulling the bulb?

Thanks!

[markweatherill]

What I've used is household G4 bulb LED replacements that are disc shaped. There is room for them inside the interior light lens, the wires are easily attached to the copper tracks* inside the light fitting, and they are certainly bright enough.

*once you figure out which track is which


...you could also wire a beeper to sound when the interior light is on and the ignition / accessory position is off.

[Xist]

California, are all of the gauge lights #194? According to http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ght-32301.html, one is, and four are #74s. That thread was actually posted on SuperBrightLEDs and reposted without credit, but I did not find the original thread.

Before and after:

It looks like I just have plenty of spare dome lights.

[California98Civic]

I have always found dash light bulb info a little confusing and elusive. There is contradictory stuff online and searching the factory manuals has not yielded simple answers. BUT... in the factory service manual, which I was just checking again to try and respond to your question, there are two wattage types listed in the gauge cluster: there are several 1.4w bulbs (indicator lights) and several 3.4w bulbs ("gauge" lights). So I would imagine these are different numbers. The dome light and license plate is listed with a third wattage (5w). I have to assume that they might have different numbers, but the FSM does not say. It only lists the wattage. I have seen 194, 168, and 74 listed online. I thought 194 was correct. That said, just now reading again online, it seems the main difference between 194/168 is wattage, not fitment. The 194s appear to be what the FSM calls 3.4 watt and the 168 appear to be the 5 watt.

I would bet it looks like this: 74 is 1.4 watt and smaller, 194 is 3.4w, and 168 is 5w and the same fitment as 168. I see a Sylvania bulb on Autozone listed as a "194" and rated about 3.7 watts and a "74" that is 1.4 watts.

Does that make better sense?

If that's true, then I might have slightly misdirected you, by suggesting 194 when 168 was what you needed. But in reality, since we're going for LED anyway, these numbers are moot if the 194/168 fitment is the same. I am going to edit my above post and my garage page now.

[Baltothewolf]

4 Of the bulbs in the civic cluster are 194 wedge, and the rest are T5 (which i believe is a #74). I only know this because I did a color swap on my cluster from the normal white to blue on my 1997 HX when I had it. I even changed the blinkers to a blue bulb and it worked.

To reiterate.
4 x 194 wedge bulbs.
rest are T5 or #74.

Please do not ask additional questions. I won't answer.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Baltothewolf

Please do not ask additional questions. I won't answer.

Why not?

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by Xist

Why not?

I was joking :P. There really isn't anything else though. All the bulbs have been listed at this point, no?