Rep Power: 812

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.

http://www.curtek.com/product_info.p...708cf666e50130

 
Rep Power: 812

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.

 
Rep Power: 296

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..

just my 2 cents

 
Rep Power: 812

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

 
Rep Power: 0

man thats awesome! But I don't even dare try that.

 
Rep Power: 812

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.

 
Rep Power: 0

wtf are u going to do now with the e-tape?

 
Rep Power: 296

This is the lense, you just need to pick the approriate one according to the size of the LED.

Also, if you really want to go all out.. 60 degree viewable LEDs

Click Here

 
Rep Power: 0

more bad news.

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.

 
Rep Power: 296

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..

 
Rep Power: 812

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.

 
Rep Power: 812

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.

 
Rep Power: 812

Here's what I got from shopping:

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.

 
Rep Power: 812

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.

 
Rep Power: 812

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.

 
Rep Power: 305

*tisk tisk tisk* gearbox. how many times have you tried to make LEDs work on your car? i lost count. just go back to stock, you cant go wrong.

 
Rep Power: 0

just use bulb codoms over stock bulbs for blue. then all lights will be the same, it may not be BLUE BLUE, but it will be close. i will try it out sometime and let yall know what it looks like.

 
Rep Power: 812

Norrinradd has already tried condoms. They look more of a teal color than blue. I have one more trick left and then I'll just get the blue condoms.

 
Rep Power: 296

gearbox.. use an EL Cable to get your desired colour.. the light should be pretty even since you can put it anywhere.. the cable is thin. and well.. ya I know its more money.. but what can I say.. i'm just filled with Ideas..

You should have just stuck with the blue..

 
Rep Power: 812

I'm gonna try and paint the fading bulbs with blue glass paint (high heat). If that doesn't work, I may look into the EL cable idea. The condoms are a last resort.

 
Rep Power: 0

you could double the condoms but it will he herra dull, the paint sounds like a good idea. coulda just painted the stock bulbs though.

 
Rep Power: 812

Okay, the paint is not gonna work. I have to put on alot of coats to make it blue enough, and then it's too dim.

I bought 5 feet of streetglow neo-blue EL cable and installed it behind the cluster numbers. The glue is drying right now. I sure hope this works. I had enough to loop around the tach and speedo twice. Now I just have to install it all. Just like indiglo gauge wiring.

 
Rep Power: 812

Yay! I have backlight. Now here's the thing. The EL cable was just tested and it lights up the numbers nice and evenly. Even though the wire is a cool blue, it has a greenish look to it in the cluster. It's really similar to Norrinradd's gauges that he did with condoms.

This leads me to believe that the cluster has some kind of extra filter that still changes the light color. There's nothing you can do. At least the lighting is uniform throughout the cluster.

I'm not really gonna post pics because my camera can't tell between the colors. Basically, the numbers light up more of a teal color compared to the leds. Still looks nice, although a bit dim.

I had to run the cable inbetween the numbers and tick marks, so it's not as bright towards the center. Still looks even and nice.

 
Rep Power: 812

Also, I taped up the smaller tick marks from the back, so only the bigger ones and numbers will show. Also covered the km/h numbers. Looks alot cleaner. I had to stuff the cluster back in because of all the cable and wires back there. It barely went back in.

I took lots of pics of the EL cable install, but my memory stick crapped out and I lost all of them.

 
Rep Power: 812

Okay, here is a chopped pic for you. It's not as dark as the pic shows towards the center. You can see all the numbers in real life. Color is pretty accurate.

 
Rep Power: 0

so the condoms make about the same color?? if they do i am just gonna do those.

 
Rep Power: 296

ya el cables Go me Go !! hehe... but how blue is the colour(color) can you compare it to the LEDs

 
Rep Power: 296

is it this kind of blue

 
Rep Power: 296

here are some more EL cable colours to pick from...
which one did u use.. and which colour(color) did it come out to being..

 
Rep Power: 812

Yeah, same color. The only positive about the EL wire is that the lighting will be even like in the pic above. Here's what NorrinRadd's cluster looks like with blue condoms: