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VERY BAD NEWS EVERYONE! I just noticed today that the blue coated backlight bulbs have already started to fade. This sucks. Do not buy these!!
Okay, so here is my new plan, which will probably take me longer with the little free time I get these days.
I've decided to go with white LEDs for the backlight. I don't want eyerything to be the same blue color. Now the problem is diffusing the light beam throughout the cluster. Also, I'm not sure if five LEDs (one per bulb hole) will provide enough light. The last person who did this on his Si used 3 white LEDs per hole! At $5 a pop, this won't be cheap.
I'm gonna try one white LED first, to see what happens. I also remember someone posting the lens covers that will diffuse the light 180 degrees instead of only 15 or 30. May look into those to make the light even at least.
This looks like a major setback, as everything will need to come apart again. Sigh, Impulse was right. And this is gonna take me a while to plan and do. Good luck with your setups guys.
One more thing. On the 01 automatic gauge faces, the shift indicator with P, R, N etc on it still lights up green. The paint is from the front side and there's no way to clear it. So I've decided to just put black electrical tape from the back to block the light.
I'll keep you guys updated.
Here are the LED covers that increase viewing angle. The thing is it looks like they don't just sell a few of them. I don't even see a number, price, or order page.
UPDATE: This other site from previous posts sells them for cheap. I'm getting a 5 pack of clear covers.
More bad news. The tick marks on the gauge face are brown. So I guess the white backlight idea won't work afterall. Numbers will light up white, but tick marks will be brown. BAD!
What else would you guys suggest? I'm running out of options here.
Maybe I can cover up just the tick marks with tape from the back of the cluster. That way light will only shine through the white numbers. Man this is gonna be a big project. Plus time to order LEDs and covers.
gear like I posted before. Curtek has then for about $2.95 USD for a 5 pack... that should work.. my suggestion is is to stick with the SQB 400 style lense, this will disperse the light evenly and direct it more towards the 90 degree viewing angle. Selecting the flat head lense will make the light more of an indicator light spreding it evenly around the whole lense, which you really dont want. You want to have the light be aimed at the cluster giving it the brightest apperance as possible..
Are these the right ones to get? I want the light spread out over a large area to light up the gauges. I'll probably go with the 5000mcd white LEDs with 30 degree angle already from superbrightleds.com
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Thanks man. It looks like this is still a work in progress. Boy I'm gonna have fun with e-tape tomorrow. Everything comes out again. I may have to see what LEDs radioshack has again.
Is there a DIY way of spreading out the light other than those lens covers? I really don't want to wait.
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________________________________________
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Member 1025782
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Jobs wanted in boulder or louisville colorado.
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i got my second pair of blue leds ysterday and modified them. then i went out to my car only to find that the bulbs for the buttons arent the same size as the bulbs for the dials. unfortunately this direct replacement will only work for the dials and the guages (which i am pretty sure are the same size. the good news is that the buttons have very long bases so a regular LED and resistor combo should fit without potruding out or anything. i will have to make a radioshack trip today to see if i can try it.
This LED Conversion is turning into a guessing game... but once its all over all the information can be compiled and then future users will not make the same mistakes. Until then... we must continue on testing..
That's the only way. I'm making a trip to the shack today for white leds. I'll find some way to spread the light. Otherwise, I've got everything figured out already except the gauge backlight.Needles work fine, as do the rest of the dash lights. The best results are obtained by actually using free LEDs and positioning them up against the buttons.
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Are you using the new soy based fp-plus?
________________________________________
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Member 1025782
________________________________________
Jobs wanted in boulder or louisville colorado.
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Looks like I made a slight mistake wiring the other blue LEDs. It's too late for me, but I was supposed to use a 560ohm resistor instead of 660ohm. Probably doesn't matter that much, but it would make them a bit brighter. Okay, I'm off to find white LEDs--I'm getting 560 ohm resistors for those.
1) 5 white LEDs from radioshack (1100mcd, 5mm). These were the only ones. I've seen white LEDs from 1000 to 10000mcds, so I was afraid they wouldn't be bright. Another thing is the ones I got have a 100 degree viewing angle. I already tried one sanded down, and the results look promising.
2) Pack of five 560ohm resistors. I'm gonna wire one LED to each hole (5 alltogether).
The biggest thing I need to do now is black out all the brown tick marks with e-tape from the back. That way only the white numbers will show.
YOU GUYS I AM SO PISSED RIGHT NOW! After spending $25 for LEDs and hours of time, it looks terrible. The white LEDs light up the numbers a cream color instead of pure white. I guess there's another filter in the cluster or something. But it looks nasty so I took everything apart.
I don't have any backlight now and don't know what to do. If anyone has ideas, let me know cause LEDs just aren't working.
I'm done. I give up. The needles are pretty much lighting up and that's it. Now I have to squint and I can barely see the numbers. That's how it's gonna be. I'm tired of spending time and money on a project that may never work. I'll still listen if you guys have ideas.
After breaking my neon tube in the car and shocking myself with it, I just want to get back to studying and stop thinking about this car.
__________________
Restore Performance, Reduce Costs www.lubecontrol.com
Are you using the new soy based fp-plus?
________________________________________
Go Here For Real Medicine http://www.youngliving.com/
Member 1025782
________________________________________
Jobs wanted in boulder or louisville colorado.
PM me if you know companies that are hiring.
