I finally got my pictures of the LEd's I put in my speedo on my homepage. It's on page 5. If there's enough interest I may be able to make these and sell them for a direct swap out.

 

That looks pretty good. Any write ups on how you did it/what you used?

 

yea write up would be nice

 

Hey thomasd cook, is your CF dash kit molded kit?

 

Sweet setup! They sell needles that would match those leds exactly.

 

Looks pretty tight my brotha man

 

Looks really good. Nice and bright

 

Please post the writeup

 

Nope. I have pics on my homepage of the extra pieces I'm trying to get rid of.

I'll see about a write-up but basically I purchased the LED's off of E-Bay with the resistors. Then cut down the LED and the resistor to about 1/8" and soldered the LED w/ resistor into the little bulb holder. the I just screwed in the bulb. If it didn't work then it meant it was upside down. I did however have an extra speedo to practice on, so I wouldn't end up fuking my original up. I practiced w/ a 12V battery and the speedo to make sure the LED's worked properly and everything was making the proper connection.
It would be nice if I could change the needles to a clear because the orange just kills the blue trying to come out. The needle brightness is the only thing I wish was brighter. I think if the needles could be clear then it would shine blue. If anyone knows a write-up on removing the needles please post.

 

those LEDs are sweet bro! Sounds like some work to get them in though but it looks tight. Plus, I'm partial b/c we have the same head unit.

 

Also the needles are brighter than the picture shows. I was hoping it would be a very bright blue. And the color is more even and not too spotted like the pic kind of shows.

 

And how much you are willing to sell it for us?

 

That looks great...if you can find a way to remedy the needle issue, maybe have them clear or whatever, I'd buy this from you in a heartbeat. Any idea on what you'd charge when all is said and done? Again, nice work!

 

I might be interested in this kit, if the price is right. Would this mean that you would pre-solder the resistors so it would pretty much be plug-and-play?

For your needles maybe you could use the ones from an I30. Mine are clear.

Do you have the LEDs in your needles right now?

 

i would def buy that from u. it looks sik!!

 

can we customize the colors we want

 

LINK to ebay where you bought these LED's?

 

yes please post the link, i would love to do this project, but i might make mine bright white, and also can you control the brightness or no?

-IgS

 

Very nice. i want super white LEDs on mine though.

 

Damn that looks outstanding. I would definitely be interested in buying the kit if you made one....perhaps in either blue, white, or red....

looks very nice!

 

To hook lights up you'll have to unscrew the factory one and screw the new one in the same way. Yes it is plug & play.
It If the needles were clear they would look so much brighter. It's just that the needles are orange and the light coming through is blue. They're visible but still the orange color. There are 4 bulbs that need to be changed to change the entire color of the background. These also illuminate the needles. The odometer window has it's seperate bulb. And I've been able to change the colors of other lights as well. I've got blue blinkers.
Can someone post the link to removing the needles. I have some clear and black needles that I'd like to swap. But so far I've practiced on old speedo and can pull them off but can't get them back on right. I've seen before where the odometer button is pressed so many times.

I can do any color as long as they make the LED. As for brightness I'll just get a lower mcd.
Price will be about $10 a bulb shipped. And I'll need the old socket once it's been taken out. This is a must!!! in order to keep the circle going. Let me know if interested.
I've got about 6 or 7 pics of the speedo at night. It's on page 5 of my homepage. Check them all out.

 

There's really no link to E-Bay just look for whatever color you want in a 5mm.

 

whats your price??

 

It's going to be $10 shipped and the return of the old holders. If I can't get the holders back I will have to charge a deposit. I'll see if the first couple of people return it. Hopefully I can depend of everyone to return them without having to take a deposit.

 

Did you check this ,its on Ebay:


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=43952

 

That's what i want my needles to look like.
No one has the how-to for removing the needles.

 

looking very nice...so you can still control the brightness of it, correct?

 

Is it possible to use Umnitza's DDE Lighting as rings behind the speedo and tach? To me this would be a better brighter and more uniform solution.

 

Did some quick researching.
http://www.virtual-hideout.net/revie...ez/index.shtml

http://www.truckaddons.com/catalog/s...eet_Glow05.htm

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ymbAEcm...ch=street+glow

These are just links to pics for examples. I haven't looked into cheapest pricing yet. I would also like to pick up a 2k2/2k3 speedo cluster and mod it before I crack my own. If someone here is familiar with making an inline dimmer, their input would be greatly appreciated.

 

i've got a spare 2k2 cluster...bought it for a project, but it never got used....it was the cluster that did create the 2k2 chrome rings for paradox systems, so it does have some honor under it's belt

hit me up with a price and we'll talk.

oh yeah, it's got 248k on the odometer...so it's go all of you beat.

 

Yes the dimmer does still work.
If anyone wants to try this themselves I definately recommend getting an extra speedo with the extra bulbs to practice on. it took me a # of hours to figure something out. Not to mention how many LED's I popped.
So far there is no real interest for these everyone's just curious.

 

The thread for recalibrating your needles is here:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....hreadid=127325

So, what size resistor did you use on your LEDs?

 

Do you know what the viewing angle & MCD are for the leds you've got?

The viewing angle for the doors and else where isn't that important, but in the cluster using 60 deg leds may give a more uniform blue in the speedo.

 

Not sure of the viewing angle but I cut the tops off. The luminescence is supposed to be 6000mcd.

 

PM me with your address and your full name .Ill be the first one to buy from you ,i want the super white 1100 mcd leds can you do it, if not i will change it my self to match my window and lock keys.

And about the old socket holder i will send it to you after i take my speedo apart.

 

You ask what size resistor you will use.It's all depend on the led you use.


Blue Pink Yellow

You need the following information for the LED. Voltage, current (mA).

Find the required current in milliamps (the blue stairstep) reading the scale to the left.

Once you've found the proper blue step you'll stay in that step, look to the bottom of the graph and next use the pink scale staying within the blue stairstep you found above. The lowest pink dot is 1V, the next is 1.5V, the third pink dot is 2V, etc, up to 6V. Count along the pink dots until you land on the dot that most closely matches your LED's required voltage. You count 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6.

When you've found the proper voltage (pink dot) on the proper step (blue step), look upwards to the yellow triangle. When you've found the proper yellow triangle, look to the right side of the graph and see the resistance in Ohms that you need.

You won't be able to find an exact match when you buy your resistor but just get as close as you can.

Example:
I have a wide angle, red LED from Radio Shack (Radio Shack 276-309). The numbers on the front tell me that this LED requires 1.7 volts, 20mA. That's all I need to know. (The other number, the 800mcd is the brightness of the LED and won't be required.) The 20mA is the first number I need. I'll use the blue scale and find that the 20mA step is the 4th step up from the bottom. I'll stay within this step and look down to the pink dots. The voltage required is 1.7 volts. The closest value on the graph is 1.5 volts so I count along from the first pink dot which is 1 volt. The second pink dot is 1.5 volts. Next I look straight up from that second pink dot until I get to the yellow triangle. Next I look to the right from my yellow triangle and read the resistor value I need. In this case it is between the 500 and the 600 Ohm, closer to the 500, so I estimate about 520 Ohms. I would look for a resistor, 1/4 watt value, about 520 Ohms. (The 1/4 watt value is just a small resistor, it doesn't matter whether you use 1/4 watt, 1/2 watt, etc. The LED doesn't care.)

Advanced use of the graph:
OK, I don't have a 520 Ohm resistor but I do have a 470 Ohm resistor. Can I use that?
I can also use the graph to read backwards and see what I'd be supplying to the LED with that 470 Ohm resistor. I find 470 Ohms on the scale on the right. I follow that level over to the corresponding yellow triangle (still within my 4th stairstep) and read straight down to the pink dot. I see that it corresponds to the 4th pink dot under my stairstep. Counting 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, I see that if I use the 470 Ohm resistor, I'll be supplying 2.5 volts to my LED. Well, this LED is rated at 1.7 volts. I can actually do that, LEDs are very tolerant, but it will produce a lot of heat and it won't last nearly as long. It'll produce more light, though. While I could actually use this resistor, I'm better off to find a resistor that's closer to the 520 Ohms I found above.

 

With that high of a mcd I bet those are 15deg leds could be 30 but it'd be nice to know for sure. That could be why you have some white coming through the tach and speedo. Here are some other options for different angles. I'll look around some more and see what I find.


custommaximaSE, I keep that page bookmarked as well
http://www.7volts.com/led_resistor.htm

 

Is the brightness correct 1,100? That's not too bright. But if that is correct I'll start looking for the LED's with that luminescence.

 

I must say that the color is pretty uniform the pics make it look kind of spotted. But in front of my face the colors are a solid blue. The only one that has a little discoloration is the blacklight in the Odometer window. It's just a little brighter in one spot. If people are insterested in getting these form me then I will get a little circle cutter attachment for a dremel to chop the top properly. I will then try and polish the head down so light dispersion will be even greater.

 

Maybe it's the camera, it's one pic hard to judge, but what I'm talking about is in the pic posted there are many areas in the cluster that are whiter than blue or a darker shade of blue. These are mainly in the gas, speedo, tach & temp gauges.

I'm not going to try and steal any of your thunder I'd just like to do this myself. I like to tinker and this is relatively inexpensive. I haven't done any of the leds in the car yet and I want to make sure I get something that matches all around when I buy the leds.
This is great info for me to go buy. Anything else you can post or pm on the job would be great. I'm going to do the climate control as well. If I get it done before you I'll forward what I learn to you. Also we need to figure out how to do the needles too.

Thanks,
Adam