DIY: blue glow needles!
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From: Woostah
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Originally Posted by ToX
Why can't I see the pictures????
http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=98224
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From: NV
Rep Power: 812 Not really. I have mine unplugged now. The thing is...you need a filter that's behind the lcd to spread out the light source. Otherwise you'll just see an outline of the bulb. I;ve changed it to red by replacing the filter with a couple layers of red taillight repair tape, but it didn't look right. I say just unplug it and you won't have to worry.
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Originally Posted by sleapercivic
gearbox, were you able to change the color of the odometer, if so how?
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From: North York, Ontario, Canada
Rep Power: 0 Here's some pics of my gauges... Sorry about the blurryness. Still a work in process, lots more LEDs coming to fill in the darker spots. Crazy, there must be at least 50 LEDs behind my gauge faces, and I'm comlaining about "dark spots". Just wanna make it as even as possible....
Notice that the needle on my tach and my temp. gauge don't light up. I disconnected them for now, working on parts of it. Still functional, tho!
One more thing. As a reference, you can see that my "SRS" light is on. The numbers on the gauge faces are at least 4X brighter than the SRS light, but its difficut to judge since its a different colour. ((I figured out the SRS light gets activated if you disconnect the cluster while the key in either the "ON" or "ACC" position. I've reset that light so many times - I keep two paperclips bent into a "reset tool" in my glovebox.
Notice that the needle on my tach and my temp. gauge don't light up. I disconnected them for now, working on parts of it. Still functional, tho!
One more thing. As a reference, you can see that my "SRS" light is on. The numbers on the gauge faces are at least 4X brighter than the SRS light, but its difficut to judge since its a different colour. ((I figured out the SRS light gets activated if you disconnect the cluster while the key in either the "ON" or "ACC" position. I've reset that light so many times - I keep two paperclips bent into a "reset tool" in my glovebox.
Last edited by ELaudio; Oct 15, 2005 at 12:49 PM.
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From: NV
Rep Power: 812 OMG! Finally you post pics and you're still not done. I can't believe how good that looks. Well it sure beats my dim gauges 
Nice job!
Nice job! Registered!!
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From: North York, Ontario, Canada
Rep Power: 0 Yes, my gauges are a perpetual work in progress. The thing is that I keep finding better ways to do this or that, so I'm never quite "done". Right now they look pretty good, but parts of the numbers and the minor graduations are a bit dim. Well, it's all relative, these are pretty bright right now - but I want to get the light as even as possible.
I'm down in Montreal for the week visiting my parents. No gauge work this week since I'm still waiting for my next shipment of LEDs. I am installing oil pressure and temperature gauges, though, and putting the final touches on my ride height and rear camber...
I'll definitely post pics once I'm done. But, at the rate I'm going it probably won't be until August!
I'm down in Montreal for the week visiting my parents. No gauge work this week since I'm still waiting for my next shipment of LEDs. I am installing oil pressure and temperature gauges, though, and putting the final touches on my ride height and rear camber...
I'll definitely post pics once I'm done. But, at the rate I'm going it probably won't be until August!
Yes, it's an Acura EL
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From: 416-905, Ontario, Canada
Rep Power: 368 I've seen these in person. If you think the pics are bright, you should see how they look from the driver's seat. And once he's perfected his technique, I'm gonna kidnap ELAudio, stuff him in my trunk, and keep him there until he promises to do mine all in hyperwhite with red needles...sorry for the bounciness ELAudio, the Hayames are set stiff.
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From: North York, Ontario, Canada
Rep Power: 0 No probs, telly! I have to tell you, I had no idea what i was getting myself into when I started this project. The problem is that, well, I'm an engineer and we usually like to continually mess with things. I'll eventually put up a DIY, although a lot of it was extremely custom, seat-of-the-pants design work.
Example - like I've said, I used one LED for every number on my gauges. Since there was no way to mount all these LEDs in the existing cluster, I had to manufacure a mounting plate. Enter the dremel tool and plastic garbage can I acquired from work. You get the idea. I'm planning on using an extra LED on some of the numbers, if you look at the "200, 220 and 240 km/h", the 2's are a bit dim. I'm also adding LEDs to the secondary ticks and changing some of the existing ones to red.
I gotta say though, having them all white with red needles would look totally sick. I also had a thought. LSDisodes sells a Blue/Red/Green LED. Although it would involve an insane amount of work, one could wire three seperate circuits and get every colour in the rainbow by adjusting the RGB with three seperate *****. Damn, that'd be sick. You could even go all out and rig up a digital controller to morph them through pre-set sequences of colours. Imagine all the numbers and the needles on your tach turning from green to yellow to orange to red as the revs go up. The possibilities are endless.....
Example - like I've said, I used one LED for every number on my gauges. Since there was no way to mount all these LEDs in the existing cluster, I had to manufacure a mounting plate. Enter the dremel tool and plastic garbage can I acquired from work. You get the idea. I'm planning on using an extra LED on some of the numbers, if you look at the "200, 220 and 240 km/h", the 2's are a bit dim. I'm also adding LEDs to the secondary ticks and changing some of the existing ones to red.
I gotta say though, having them all white with red needles would look totally sick. I also had a thought. LSDisodes sells a Blue/Red/Green LED. Although it would involve an insane amount of work, one could wire three seperate circuits and get every colour in the rainbow by adjusting the RGB with three seperate *****. Damn, that'd be sick. You could even go all out and rig up a digital controller to morph them through pre-set sequences of colours. Imagine all the numbers and the needles on your tach turning from green to yellow to orange to red as the revs go up. The possibilities are endless.....
Yes, it's an Acura EL
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From: 416-905, Ontario, Canada
Rep Power: 368 Dude, you are TOO freakin much! Ha ha. Help me LED my gauge cluster and maybe I'll spare your ride from the inevitable humping (see the EL forum for details).
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Originally Posted by gearbox
Blue leds use a different resistor than stock for the LED to last a long time.
I bet yours will just burn out faster.
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From: Daphne, Alabama
Rep Power: 0 I haven't read through all of the posts here, so if this question has already been answered sorry. But... Has anyone tried this with the 03? Seeing as the guages are different than the 01 or 02 would there be another way to do this, or could I follow the diy for the 01 and 02?
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From: NV
Rep Power: 812 The 03 cluster is completely different, but not impossible. The new cluster uses LED lights in white to light up the numbers. Older ones like mine still use bulbs. If you're brave enough to open it up, you could just take out the factory white leds and wire in some different ones. The cluster is already setup to accomodate the LED light. The hardest part of doing mine was making the light even. I had to wrap EL wire around the numbers to make it look uniform. Leds are too directional unless you put one behind each number like the guy above did with his acura.
But I imagine the new cluster would be easier. Just take out old leds and wire in new leds with their own resistors. The light will still be even from the back.
But I imagine the new cluster would be easier. Just take out old leds and wire in new leds with their own resistors. The light will still be even from the back.
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From: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Rep Power: 295 gear, thinking about this... the 03 guages fit ours (01-02)... correct ? (except the harness) so why did we go though all this trouble when its 100 times easier to just desolder and resolder LEDs ?
Oh and on the topic of resistors.. you dont even need to change the resistance as the stock cluster would probebly be enough, but if you want to be on the safe side you can just turn the dimmer a tad.
Oh and on the topic of resistors.. you dont even need to change the resistance as the stock cluster would probebly be enough, but if you want to be on the safe side you can just turn the dimmer a tad.
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From: NV
Rep Power: 812 True, since white and blue have close to the same voltage requirement. I like my cluster way better than the 03 version. It even has a little glow around the rings due to the EL wire I ran under the cluster. It shines up through the plastic cover and looks really cool. I'm very happy with how it turned out finally.
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From: Daphne, Alabama
Rep Power: 0 Thanks gearbox, I have a buddy with an 03, who has done alot more than I have, and has more money than me. I'll get him to try it first, and if it works out alright for him, I'll try it.
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From: NV
Rep Power: 812 Well I'm guessing with the LED part. You could change the leds to a different color and still have even light, since the technology is already there. But...each color LED has a different forward voltage. Red only needs 2V, and blue needs around 4.5V I think. So simply swapping leds will make the blue ones really dim if anything. If it were me, I would run new wires with resistors and try to position the leds where the old ones were. As far as fitting an 03 cluster into an 01-02 civic, you're gonna have to do some major rewiring. It won't simply plug in. Then there's the problem of the odometer being different, since visual miles are stored in the cluster memory (real miles are still kept in the car ecu). If you're serious, I can look for the wiring diagram someone gave me.
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From: NV
Rep Power: 812 Ebay always has some. I think only the 01 model has clear needles, and I had to use parts from it to make everything work on my 02.
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From: NV
Rep Power: 812 No, it has to be custom mounted with single leds. The bulbs would not light up enough from the side, and we don't use 194 bulbs in our cars at all except for dome lights.
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From: All over! ima gypsy!
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Originally Posted by gearbox
The 03 cluster is completely different, but not impossible. The new cluster uses LED lights in white to light up the numbers. Older ones like mine still use bulbs. If you're brave enough to open it up, you could just take out the factory white leds and wire in some different ones. The cluster is already setup to accomodate the LED light. The hardest part of doing mine was making the light even. I had to wrap EL wire around the numbers to make it look uniform. Leds are too directional unless you put one behind each number like the guy above did with his acura.
But I imagine the new cluster would be easier. Just take out old leds and wire in new leds with their own resistors. The light will still be even from the back.
But I imagine the new cluster would be easier. Just take out old leds and wire in new leds with their own resistors. The light will still be even from the back.
