SimonB Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 For the heater controls you need 16 x 3mm Blue LED's 1 x 6v2 diode or for dimmer lights 1 x 5v6 diode 7 x 390R resistors to match the brightness of all the LED's as the amber and green use different currents. The resistors aren't required if you don't mind variation in the brightness from what where the old green and amber LED's I did this a while ago, if you use those value resistors you will find the LEDs are blindingly bright with the lights on or off. I had to pull my dash apart three times to add extra resistors to dim them down. I couldn't be arsed to change all the individual resistors again so I found a wire link on the PCB between the power rail and all the LEDs and changed this for a resistor. If I was you I would use higher than 390R resistors, it will save you having to do what I had to. I ended up with 680 or so common plus the 390Rs. I would go for 800 or so ohm resistors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrAngry Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 What I may do is try the LED's without changing the resistors first, just to see how much difference there is, between the ones that were originally green and orange, when they are changed to blue. For the cost of the resistors, I can soon pick up some higher resistance ones if I decide to fit them. Thanks for the info Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonB Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Yeah, it's not the cost of the resistors, more the hassle of taking the thing apart several times, especially if you've got EL wire to make the backlighting blue too. Took me ages to get it threaded through so it looked good. My other tip if you're going for the EL wire is get a multimeter and make sure you know which is the positive and negative supply to connect the invertor to. I managed to wire mine up backwards and blow up the invertor twice . The first time smoke came out of it, which was a bit worrying at the time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigger Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Or you could do what I did and just angle the LED’s slightly so they are not face on with the clear plastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heckler Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 What I may do is try the LED's without changing the resistors first, just to see how much difference there is, between the ones that were originally green and orange, when they are changed to blue. For the cost of the resistors, I can soon pick up some higher resistance ones if I decide to fit them. Thanks for the info Simon I would really put the resistors in... I have on mine and there still quite bright. Other wise, if you find its too bright, you'd have to take the dash out again, take everything appart... again.... save your self the hassle and put the resistors in! saying all that - think I'll change the resistors in mine for summat bigger... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heckler Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Can ya not just change all the bulbs in the dash as some of mine aint workin?how much?how many?do i need,and get ya get blue bulbs? As far as I am aware (could be wrong...) you cant get blue bulbs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerotop Dave Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Having a bit of trouble following this thread. Anyone got the time to do a Maplins shopping list and tell us what goes where? Or is it self explanatory once you take the dash apart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heckler Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Having a bit of trouble following this thread. Anyone got the time to do a Maplins shopping list and tell us what goes where? Or is it self explanatory once you take the dash apart? look here... Should help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerotop Dave Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Most of this I seem to be able to get from Maplins but what's this? 1 x Surelight EL wire Kit (from that link - thanks, v useful) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heckler Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Most of this I seem to be able to get from Maplins but what's this? 1 x Surelight EL wire Kit (from that link - thanks, v useful) As it happens that link is my website I got everything from maplins.... thats the EL wire for the heater/air con buttons - i belive it the only way to change the colour the buttons. if you click on that - it will take you to the site. Or just click here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrAngry Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Most of this I seem to be able to get from Maplins but what's this? 1 x Surelight EL wire Kit (from that link - thanks, v useful) Electroluminescent wire It doesn't have to be that one in particular Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heckler Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 true - i only got it as it comes as a complete kit, inverter, wire... and you can keep adding to the inverter - has 4 outputs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerotop Dave Posted February 13, 2005 Share Posted February 13, 2005 I did this a while ago, if you use those value resistors you will find the LEDs are blindingly bright with the lights on or off. I had to pull my dash apart three times to add extra resistors to dim them down. I couldn't be arsed to change all the individual resistors again so I found a wire link on the PCB between the power rail and all the LEDs and changed this for a resistor. If I was you I would use higher than 390R resistors, it will save you having to do what I had to. I ended up with 680 or so common plus the 390Rs. I would go for 800 or so ohm resistors. Apologies, complete electronics numpty here. I'm doing okay finding everything on the Maplins site but need a bit of help with these 800 ohm resistors. I can find the 390Rs (which I take it I don't want...?) but don't seem to be able to find these other ones. Can anyone find it on the Maplins site for me and post a link? Many thanks, Dave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heckler Posted February 13, 2005 Share Posted February 13, 2005 Apologies, complete electronics numpty here. I'm doing okay finding everything on the Maplins site but need a bit of help with these 800 ohm resistors. I can find the 390Rs (which I take it I don't want...?) but don't seem to be able to find these other ones. Can anyone find it on the Maplins site for me and post a link? Many thanks, Dave. Click here and pick what you want! Ta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terawua Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 Sorry chaps, I had taken a couple of photos of my blue dash to post up but unwittingly erased them, so nowt to show you! I will try again tomorrow, once it is dark James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerotop Dave Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 Sorry Heckler, I'm gonna need a bit more matey! That's a page full of the darn things, which one do I want? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heckler Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 no worries, on that page - 620's will be fine. I personally have 390's but i find them a bit bright, so will be changing them for the 620's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terawua Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Heres the pics... sorry... but mobile phone pics so not the best in low light, but at least no flash to get in the way... Also I have the blue EL from Miami-GT, which work pretty well and are very easy on the eye. Cheers. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerotop Dave Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Couple of questions Mr Heckler (and/or anyone else who has done this). 1) Just how difficult is it?! Reading your guide it looks like a total nightmare! 2) Stupid question: why can't you just put the blue gel sheet infront of all the lights to change them?! 3) The warning lights for doors open, airbag, etc - I assume these aren't touched and stay their original colour? (the ones I'm talking about can be seen in the photos where you change the clock and odo) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terawua Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Dave, 1) Its not hard.. just bea careful when you take things apart. I snapped one of my PCB's (NIGHTMARE) and had to repair all the tracks! 2) I tried the blue gel sheet.... not enough light comes through.. and it looks patchy..... 3) see my pictures above..... and the pics posted elsewhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heckler Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Dave, 1) Its not hard.. just bea careful when you take things apart. I snapped one of my PCB's (NIGHTMARE) and had to repair all the tracks! 2) I tried the blue gel sheet.... not enough light comes through.. and it looks patchy..... 3) see my pictures above..... and the pics posted elsewhere Hmm... I tried gel sheet infront of the standard bulbs to begin with, two things happened, the light was a very light blue, almost white!, and the gel sheet moved about - cos i forgot to fix it down.. the guide It sounds bad, but to be honest, it isnt. The warning lights etc.. are not touched. Dunno, if you have looked at my guide again, but i have now added more pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terribleturner Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 That looks really good terawua. How long do you think it took you in total?? And does anyone know if it can be done to aftermarket gauges?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heckler Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 That looks really good terawua. How long do you think it took you in total?? And does anyone know if it can be done to aftermarket gauges?? I did mine in about 3 hrs. clocks, heater control etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terawua Posted February 16, 2005 Share Posted February 16, 2005 Sorry, just spotted the reply, James. All in all, about 45 mins for the EL gauges, but then again I have had the dash apart a lot. The Blue LED's a little longer... say about 3 hours for the disassembly and the soldering. However as I said the inverter for the EL gauges also controls the lighting in the A/C cluster if you get the right EL wire (from Maplin or PC world etc) The LED's just need soldering in, a straight swap, and the white plastic support for them needs a quick drilling to fit the round blue LED's in place of the rectangular stock LED's. As for the aftermarket gauges, well I have been thinking about that. I saw somewhere you can buy EL sheet, which you just connect up to your inverter. I am not sure about overlays, but it should be possible for a print (or similar) shop to produce a vinyl sticker to put on top of an EL sheet to allow the light to shine through the sticker in the right places. Now as for how to get the sticker right, well they usually need an adobe illustrator file or something like that to produce the sticker for you, but you could get the right size by say disassembling your aftermarket gauge and scanning the dial face in or something. I havent tried this, as I just dont have time to go hacking apart my Greddy boost gauge, but it does stand out in green now when everything else is blue. Food for thought.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerotop Dave Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 true - i only got it as it comes as a complete kit, inverter, wire... and you can keep adding to the inverter - has 4 outputs... Heckler, what else can be plugged into this inverter doobry...? Just more El-wire or something else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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