So here is a little taste of something I've been working on. I did this as a proof of concept with a Camry stereo: The LEDs are so bright, though, that I almost couldn't get a decent picture of the LCD. I had wondered if this was possible when every day I hop in my pickup, turn on my lights and everything is white LEDs, (Dome Light, instrument cluster, ashtray, glove box, heater controls) except for the Toyota 11807 stereo that I pulled from an 07 Yaris. It's the same yellow/green glow as what this 16814 from an 01 Camry originally had. But not anymore! So the plan was to test out the LED swap on this and then do it on mine, so that way I didn't have to tear apart my dash and mess up my stereo if I failed. Because I wasn't sure if this would work, I took no pictures of the process, sorry guys. I'll have to do that when I do the one in my truck.
Because the stereo cost me $13.99 plus tax (and it says Toyota on it, don't know why, but i like the stock look for now) And because the LEDs cost me $1.70 for enough to do two stereos. And because sometimes i'm crazy like that. As I was doing this, my wife was like, "who even notices what color it is? " I did see a Scion stereo in one of the yards here that had a color change button on it, but i didn't have enough cash on me that day and i was in a hurry anyway.
I got them off of eBay for a couple bucks. They came directly from China. Hopefully they last. I should probably ride around with this one in my truck to be sure they do beforeI change my better stereo.
So my truck is an FJ cruiser now. I know this because every time I turn the key the stereo scrolls FJ CRUISER across the screen. I couldn't stand the orange buttons. So they're white now except the load button is red and the eject button is blue. I had tried to do the display, but couldn't get my hands on the right size LEDs, probably a good thing, though because I discovered after several hours of messing with it (and after I gave up on it, put it back together, installed it on the truck, and took this picture) that they are RGB LEDs and there is a semi-secret button sequence for changing the color. I say semi-secret because you have to read the FJ cruiser owner's manual to know how it's done, so naturally, even many FJ owners don't know how to do it. Now my dash just needs some more matte silver somewhere and I need LEDs in my new SR5 cluster to tie it all together. I was thinking of spray painting the bezel between the gauges and the clear plastic to make it a nice matte silver, but it looks like the clear part is kind of super glued on there and it started to crack, so I skipped it. Maybe I will look into some custom gauge faces.
So, I promised a write up. You will need your stereo of choice. The 16814 is a good candidate. It fits the dual DIN slot, it is fairly plentiful having been offered on the 99-01 Camry and the 98-02 Sienna, and as long as you can get past the crack prone gears on the cassette player, it's about as decent a stock stereo as anyone could ask for. It's a lot easier than the 11828 that I have pictures above. That one had smaller LEDs and a different setup for the display, which I shouldn't have touched anyway. You will need a small flat blade screwdriver. The thinner the better, this is for prying off the faceplate. You'll need the right size of smd LEDs. This will vary depending on your stereo. For the 16814 I needed 44 of the 1208 size. You likely need to open up your faceplate to find out. You also need a Phillips screwdriver, pliers, one soldering iron but two are better Now crack that puppy open.
The faceplate pulls straight off after prying up the tabs. You'll now need to remove the board. You may not have to pull the knobs at this point, but you will eventually. the screws you need to remove should all be in the white circles.
Now desolder the LEDs. this is easiest with two soldering irons but not impossible with one. Pay attention to the cathode side. It's marked usually with an arrow on the bottom or a marking of some kind. This photo is actually resoldering the new ones, but same idea.
You may need to hit the soldering pads with a bit of fresh solder, but that usually depends on how long it took to remove the old LEDs. Place your new LEDs with tweezers. Don't use your wife's, she'll probably slap you. The dollar store is great for this sort of thing. Notice the cathode side is marked on the board with the lines on either side of the solder pads. Touch both sides with your soldering iron and it should go right on pretty quickly.
Once you have all the exposed ones done in the board, you need to get behind that display. You'll notice some bent tabs on the back of the board. Use your pliers to pinch those back to flat.
Once they are flat you can gently push them out through the board. You'll need to desolder a couple of points on the back as well. Then it should pop right off with some gentle persuasion. Now repeat the process for the 18 LEDs underneath the display.
Reassembly is the opposite of disassembly. Check your work before putting the complete faceplate back together, though. You don't want to put it back together just to find something doesn't work because you soldered it backwards or it needs more solder on the pads or something. Pop just the board back in to the stereo and power it up. This one came out perfect: Now put it all together again and enjoy.
My DD is an 07 FJ and yes I did change the colors. I had one color for my presets and when my daughter rode with me she had a different color for here presets.
