I think the dash lights are waaaayyy to dim - I though I had a bulb out or something. This is a great thread - I might have to do this........Once you work out all the gotchas ;-)

 

Thats awsome metal, I'm thinking of doing that when i get to that part of the car, I starting at the back and working my way forward, dont know what Im gonna do with the dash area yet.

 

i hope dat dun blind u when u drive....god its hard enough when i drive wid my tv on at night...

 

I was wondering, when you did your climate control, what size Led bulb did you use? And from the instructions you gave in that thread, I take it there is minimal or no soldering involved? Thanks for any help you can provide in advanced.

 

can you reupload the pics please! you the bomb!!

 

-yeah please??? I want to do this (ordered LEDs and everything) and this would help so much. I can tell it's an awesome write-up, even without pics!

 

Lemme see if I still have them...

 

awesome! thanks metalmaxima. you're the best.

 

LOL, I never finished it. I will tonight. Updating the rest of the steps

 

HOW-TO completed, pics updated

 

haha, aaaannndd.... 3 years and 3 months later, its finished!! This is awesome, thanks for the time!

 

This thread just may get popular! (again)

Metal... I know its been three years but I hope you can still answer questions on it...

Does it get too hot? Dont the SMT's get pretty warm?

Were there any plugs on the back of the cluster that you did not plug back up? (since you have your own lights)

When testing, you connect it to the car battery?

When you used goop to mount the boards, you paste it right on the original board with electrical tape all over it?

 

I dont get it ether, I enjoy being able to see out of my front window at night.

 

Nope. The advantage of LEDs is that they DON'T get hot. If an LED is getting warm, it means one thing: over exceeding the amperage rating is occuring and will result in a quick thermal death...hence the TO220 regulators.

None.

Yes. The voltage regulators require a full load to get the energy across.

Ah, no, good question. Just around a good portion of the circumference.

 

The pics are not 100% accurate in that the lighting is a bit overaggerated...a Sony DSC is not exactly "professional" equipment. Moreover, nothing a single resistor on the primary connection cannot dim down.

 

-what kind of resistor would I need to put on the primary connection to dim it slightly?

 

Thanks! That is sweet work you did. Kudos buddy!

 

Awesome work... but wayyy to bright for my liking. Like staring at the sun.....

 

Hey Metal Maxima I just had a question and I didn't wanna PM you cuz it might help out others who were wondering... anyway, how did you do the LEDs behind the odo display as shown here?

 

OK, now this one was a 3x3 array (IIRC) of PLCC-2 style LEDs with a 270-ohm resistor attached to each of the negative leads on the series.

As far as your other question goes, I would get a few 1-W resistors (330-ohm, 560-ohm, 1.1k-ohm, and 2.2k-ohm, etc.) and test away until the idea brightness is achieved. Your alternative to provide a dimmable cluster would be to add a PWM to change as desired.

I have the original boards for sale if you want them...$40 and they're yours.

 

-alright, thanks for the info.. umm... we'll see if I want those boards... I'll let you know if I do, but i have a bunch of LEDs coming in the next couple days and kind of have a similar idea for doing this that I wanna test out. Thanks!

 

Hey, Metal Maxima, I just have one more question. When you did the needle LEDs, like in this pic, did you tape the back of the PCB or what? Will it hurt the magnets/motors/whatever controls the needles to have the metal from the LEDs/resistors touching the copper here? Thanks for your help...

 

-Hey Metal, I don't get how to hook up the voltage regulators. (the ground part)
Do I hook the ground coming from the LEDs to the ground lead on the voltage regulator? or do I ground the middle lead on the voltage regulator AND ground the ground from the LEDs? I'd guess I'm doing the latter? but why does the voltage regulator need to be grounded? i thought it was just regulating input voltage...
-Also, how do you clear the 5.5 gen needles? I plan on doing white faces with blue needles, but I want maximum blue needle light up! hehe. What should I do to maximize the light diffusion from the blue needle LEDs into the needles?

 

good job thats next on my to do list.

 

i know this thread is fairly talked about already just wanted to say congrats, i think our 5th gen gauges really have no bam factor to them and seems you turned a negative into a positive if i had the rocks to do this mod, i would def do it myself.
Great job..

 

This looks amaaaaazing. I am waiting for my T5 74 BLUE 3 CHIPs SMD BLUE LED LIGHT BULB to do my cluster. Can't I just take the original bulbs from the cluster out and place the LEDs in without a resistor? They do fit perfectly and I was told they are just plug and play.
Any information would be helpful

 

There's a whole 50 page thread on this.

 

But to answer your question, yes they are plug and play because you are buying premade bulbs and not just the single LEDs like the OP.