LED Speed Gauge Cluster Build

[link]

Nuno for the two ccu, was it a plug n play into the white bulb holder or did you solder? I attempted to swap out these two bulbs out past weekend but the bulbs kept burning out, have to admit it looked nice for the split second it was lit though haha.
Maybe the ma of the bulbs I had was not high enough? I used 25ma 5mm 4.5 volt.

 

[UnhuZ]

Hi,

they are fed with 12v...so if you use 25mA 4.5v LED, you need to use a resistor of 300 ohms on one
of it's legs (either cathode or anode) or it will burn :wink:

then if the light is not even enough, you can sand the leds all arround to diffuse the light all arround,
and even if that is not enough, you can use more leds to it, as i did...then i can help you with how
to do it :wink:

Thanks,
Nuno

 

[bonhamsurf]

Hi,

link, i didn't use bulbs... i used LEDs that i used to replace OEM bulbs... you have to open up both the CCU and HU Faces,
and use your solder iron ...

About the clock, the procedure is exactly the same as the CCU and HU display:
You need to remove the current gel filter and replace it with another one in a different color.

Nuno

Did you get the size and model of the LED's or the stamp on the side of the old bulbs to compare to order them? Or can you please link to the size and website you bough the LEDs?
Thanks.

UPDATE: My engine is actually in route. Holy sh$t, 5 months later, but I'm sure it'll be worth it. It arrives a week from today, so I'll be able to pull the dash out next week and get started on the guage light replacements.

 

[UnhuZ]

^ i just bought 5mm High brightness leds... i didn't care about the OEM bulbs specs...and i don't
have a link as i bought them in a local electronic shop.

i guess that when converting to LEDs, the OEM bulb specs are not that important. What is important
is the voltage that feeds them... you need to know so you can calculate what resistance to use.

of course that for bigger bulbs, you use bigger leds...but once you have the bulbs in hand, you can
easely know which size of LEDs to buy for that application.

I used 5mm and 3mm LEDs.

Nuno

 

[link]

Nuno thanks for the input, bought the resistors and the LEDs worked!! Ran out of time and need to finish it up though.

I'm just replacing the two ccu bulbs, I think I'll add one more bulb to each side. I had to trim down the bulb holder for it fit with the resistor, fairly easy and found it to be fun. I'll take pics and post them.

My question now is, Will the bulbs bonhamsurf found for the cluster work without adding resistors?

 

[UnhuZ]

Hi,

they should work, because they have to be prepared to get 12v, so as they are LEDs, they
must have the respective resistance built-in.

About your CCU. if you add 1 LED to the bulb, then you'll have a total of 2 LEDs, then the resistance must
be lower - 120 ohms

so, for 4.5v 25mA LEDs:
1 LED needs 300 ohms
2 LED needs 120 ohms
3 LED won't work - then you need to connect addtional LEDs parallel

Thanks,
Nuno

 

[bonhamsurf]

Hi,

they should work, because they have to be prepared to get 12v, so as they are LEDs, they
must have the respective resistance built-in.

About your CCU. if you add 1 LED to the bulb, then you'll have a total of 2 LEDs, then the resistance must
be lower - 120 ohms

so, for 4.5v 25mA LEDs:
1 LED needs 300 ohms
2 LED needs 120 ohms
3 LED won't work - then you need to connect addtional LEDs parallel

Thanks,
Nuno

I finally got my dash out a few days ago and am in the process of swapping out the lights and the orange film. I'm also taking photos to updated the thread.

Nuno, I'm not to sure where you're getting the LED's from. I posted some links on page 1 of this thread to (supposedly) swap and go. I sent the dimensions as well as the glass etchings from each bulb over to the LED company and then I purchased what they said will be just plug and play, but this will be seen when I actually try them out.

Also, I'm trying to figure out a way to change the orange/amber plastic that sits at the top of the gauge cluster. This is the source of the light color at the top. I'm wondering if a similar sized piece of transparent plastic in a different color, glued to the same mounting space will achieve the even color look.

 

[bonhamsurf]

So, as far as I can tell, the orange light comes from the piece of orange plastic located at the top of the gauge assembly. Here's part number and photos.
78166-SL0-003 ILLUMINATION ASSY.

There is a black paint/film that looks to be controlling some of the light. It leaves a "bird shaped" place for the orange light to shine through.

It's interesting, it would appear that the "scratches" in the black part of the orange plastic are either.
1. Done on purpose, or
2. Possibly a product of the heat in there.

They are similar in design. I have circled in red in the last photo.

- - - Updated - - -

If I remember correctly, the gauge faces have an amber film that is laminated between the foil face and the plastic diffuser backing. If you put white (or whatever color bulbs in) the back-light on the gauges will still be tinted amber.There is no way to remove that amber tint without destroying the gauge face. I played around with white leds a few years back. They were a lot brighter but still amber

as for dimming.. You can still dim them slightly.

Interested to see what you come up with.

So yes, there's a film behind the black face of the gauges. With the back of the assembly off, I shined a led penlight through, and there's still an amber tint to the numbers on the speedo and tach. Now, I have to get the face of each one off very, very gently. Anyone done this yet?

 

[Honcho]

The patterns on both the main cluster piece and gauge face films are on purpose. If you do not copy them exactly with the new color film, you will have uneven light. I believe Lithimus went through this a few years ago.

 

[bonhamsurf]

The patterns on both the main cluster piece and gauge face films are on purpose. If you do not copy them exactly with the new color film, you will have uneven light. I believe Lithimus went through this a few years ago.

Thanks for the tip. Do you know if there's any way to remove the film from the gauge faces without having to remove the gauge needles?

 

[Honcho]

No- I have researched this issue in an attempt to replace my faulty oil pressure gauge. I think your best bet is to source an already broken gauge cluster (from someone who tried and failed to remove the needles), pull the needles, scan the backs of the gauge faces at hi-res to get the weird black line patterns, and then take the patterns to a print shop to have them transferred to the film color of your choice. This way, you would not have to peel the film from the backs of the gauges and risk damaging them, or altering the pattern by stretching/ripping.

 

[bonhamsurf]

No- I have researched this issue in an attempt to replace my faulty oil pressure gauge. I think your best bet is to source an already broken gauge cluster (from someone who tried and failed to remove the needles), pull the needles, scan the backs of the gauge faces at hi-res to get the weird black line patterns, and then take the patterns to a print shop to have them transferred to the film color of your choice. This way, you would not have to peel the film from the backs of the gauges and risk damaging them, or altering the pattern by stretching/ripping.

Thanks for the heads up. is the orange film actually a part of the black face? My intentions were to use a colored light, so the necessity of the film wouldn't exist anymore. I couldn't do this anyway, however, if I can't pull of the amber film without pulling out the needles.

Also, amber is not a color that mixes well with other colors. Unfortunately. I'm wanting a Blue light, and blue is a "Prime Color" which means you cannot create blue by mixing other colors, so I can't even mix a colored light to work/mix with the amber colored film and change the color.

 

[bonhamsurf]

Update...

Sorry for the delay, had my car tuned and the alternator failed, so I had to get a new shipped to Hawaii before I could run it again and take photos at night. I'm super stoked, I made 581.91 rwhp!!!

Anyways, here's the photos of my dash. I still haven't pulled it back out to change the left hand bulbs' positions so that they work, but you can see my speedo. Again, I did nothing but put in a pure white LED to acheive this effect. These photos were taken with my Iphone, so they're not best quality. In person, there's still a slight amber color, but overall it's a nice change. They're not too bright, and I like how it updates the overall look. I plan on making all the bulbs work ASAP. And yes, they are dimmable.

View attachment 103818
View attachment 103819

 

[bonhamsurf]

I'm trying to figure out which bulbs are turned upside down without pulling out, guessing at bulbs, putting back it, turning on headlights. I would like to just connect a 12v battery to the entire assembly somehow to see which bulbs are lighting up and which are not. Does anyone know where to connect the 12v to the gauge assembly. I've been reading the heck out of the service manual, but I'm not an electrician, so I can't seem to find it. Thanks!

 

[freespace303]

Subscribed!

 

[L_RAO]

Subscribed as well!

 

[bonhamsurf]

After reading the service manual electrical like 10 times, i'm still not certain where I can put a 12v battery onto the dash unit when it's out to see which bulbs are working> does anyone know? Thanks.

 

[Yes!NSX]

One other approach may be:

- Check the dash as it is right now (plugged in) and note down which of the bulbs works right now.
- Remove the instrument panel, check the bulb you noted earlier. Mark one of the terminals with a sharpie and its corresponding connection on the instrument panel.
- Remove the bulb, hook up to a battery until it lights up (just build a cheap fixture or something so you don't touch it!). Note the polarity of the terminal you marked earlier.
- Use a multimeter and check the continuity between the marked terminal on the instrument panel against the connectors of the other bulbs you want to replace. Mark the side where you get continuity.
- Check each of the other bulbs in your fixture (hooked up to battery) and mark their polarity.
- Match the proper polarity against the instrument panel markings.

You can use a cheap motorcycle battery or one of those 12V boosters

 

[bonhamsurf]

So almost 1.5 years later and I have successfully changed my entire Gauge cluster to blue!!!! Yay! I will wait until it's nighttime tonight to take some photos and also start posting more on how I did it. I love it!

 

[MK0U]

Would like to see pics!

 

[riddl3r]

Would love to see pics. Please post!

 

[Juice]

Pics or it never happened.

 

[S2G-Unit]

Anyone complete this yet & have pictures?

 

[enkrypt3d]

Bumping this thread - I really need some new brighter bulbs... does auto illumination still sell all the bulbs needed to brighten things up? And anyone got pics of how it looks ? not looking to change colors just need to be able to see what's going on.

 

[B2FiNiTY]

I have some brighter 3 way LED bulbs in there for the gauge cluster but it isn't helping much.

Going to try out some other bulbs next time I have the cluster out.