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Dashboard LED light conversion stuff


neo2810

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I've just finished the AC control unit blue LED conversion but I've got a little issue I can't work out. The 3 LED's on the bottom left which light up the bottom left 3 buttons are not working. They are the LED's on the PCB strip so 3 are working and 3 are not??? I can't see any break in the strips on the board so I'm stumped?

 

Any ideas why half the LED's would work and half not? Funnily enough, the same 3 buttons were unlit before while I had a working bulb plugged into the actual holder on that side. I wonder if the actual buttons have been covered over? Maybe something to check...

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You called...

 

Three possible reasons 1. Polarity, 2. There's solder between the legs 3. All 3 are fubar'd - personally, I'd go with number 2.

 

Luckily, it was neither.... I'm just an idiot. There was indeed a small section of the strip missing which must have popped off as I was soldering it in place so didn't notice. I've soldered a small bit of wire to bridge the gap and everything works perfectly now. Cheers for the guide and the help via PM mate, it was pretty straightfoward in the end.

 

Here's the finished product (well almost, I don't have a 1k resistor yet so the Cigar Lighter will be done next week):

 

image

Edited by neo2810 (see edit history)
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Did Si change the odo colour mate? I didn't think to ask if he could do that.

 

Andy, Si didn't do anything, I did it all.

 

The odo and clock (pre-facelift) are a simple case of removing the existing brown plastic screen on both, and replacing with clear plastic and a dark blue gel. You can get the gel strips at any arts or crafts store, Ebay or as I did, use a photography flash filter (Lee Filters sends out a stack of about 100 different shades of their filters in a test swatch bundle if requested, perfect for this. Just send them a request for a sample swatch book HERE). The clear plastic I used was just a normal CD cover cut to size. You have to glue the clock screen in place (carefully to keep the visible area free from glue) but the odo just squashes in between the dash panel and the odo unit. For the clock I used a gel sheet cut to span the whole inside of the clock so I didn't have to glue it to the screen. It just sits loose between the clock and screen.

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Andy, Si didn't do anything, I did it all.

 

The odo and clock (pre-facelift) are a simple case of removing the existing brown plastic screen on both, and replacing with clear plastic and a dark blue gel. You can get the gel strips at any arts or crafts store, Ebay or as I did, use a photography flash filter (Lee Filters sends out a stack of about 100 different shades of their filters in a test swatch bundle if requested, perfect for this. Just send them a request for a sample swatch book HERE). The clear plastic I used was just a normal CD cover cut to size. You have to glue the clock screen in place (carefully to keep the visible area free from glue) but the odo just squashes in between the dash panel and the odo unit. For the clock I used a gel sheet cut to span the whole inside of the clock so I didn't have to glue it to the screen. It just sits loose between the clock and screen.

 

Cheers neo. :thumbs: I'll get into that asap. Not worried about the clock as that'll be going sometime but the odo is a definite so thanks for the help bud. :)

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Luckily, it was neither.... I'm just an idiot. There was indeed a small section of the strip missing which must have popped off as I was soldering it in place so didn't notice. I've soldered a small bit of wire to bridge the gap and everything works perfectly now. Cheers for the guide and the help via PM mate, it was pretty straightfoward in the end.

 

Here's the finished product (well almost, I don't have a 1k resistor yet so the Cigar Lighter will be done next week):

 

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb169/neo2810/dash.jpg

 

Damn it, you've made me want to get this done :(

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what size LED are they think im gonna have to get this on mine

 

For the benefit of everyone, Heckler's step by step guide is here: Heckler's awesome LED Dash Light Conversion Guide

 

The way I went about it was (and let me just iterate now that I'm an eletronic noob ***well was*** and this was my first project involving soldering and elec components):

 

- Read the guide thoroughly to familiarise myself with the different steps and components I needed to work with

- Read the guide again

- Read the guide again (you get the idea)

- Bought a 13W soldering iron, some solder and a desoldering wick (which I couldn't get to work so didn't use but in hindsight wish I'd bought a desoldering pump)

- Went through the guide again and listed every component I'd need for the various bits I had to do

- Ordered all the LED's off This website

- Ordered all the resistors, diodes, and wire off Maplin site

- Ordered T5 and T10 (superflux) LED's off Ebay (I used the T5/10 route where possible to minimise the soldering)

- Did the easier bits first (Speedo cluster, Ignition barrel, Odometer and clock)

- Spent 5 hours doing the AC Heater control unit although only because I took my time and didn't have a desolder pump so getting the existing LED's off was painful. I reckon I'll do the next one in under 2 hours.

 

Words of caution: Ask Maplin to label the different diode and resistor bags so you don't have to mess about with trying to ID each one when you come to use them. Also, make sure you read the guide properly to avoid ordering 2x 5mm LED's for the heater unit instead of 2x5mm (2 by 5mm) rectangular LED's....!!!

 

Otherwise, it's fiddly and frustrating at times but works perfectly if you make sure you solder neatly. You don't have to be a solder god either, however, if you are still not confident, then send your dash to Heckler and he'll do it for you at a decent price. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Neo how did you use the T5 / T10`s? Are they simply plug in to existing bulb holders?

 

Ive just done mine but managed to mix up my LEDs and somehow got a bunch of purple ones on the heater control. Half of the blue ones arent working either until you press a button down so got some funky connection issue somewhere..

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Neo how did you use the T5 / T10`s? Are they simply plug in to existing bulb holders?

 

Ive just done mine but managed to mix up my LEDs and somehow got a bunch of purple ones on the heater control. Half of the blue ones arent working either until you press a button down so got some funky connection issue somewhere..

 

Yeah, T5/10's are a direct replacement for the stock bulbs and just push into the holders. Careful getting the T5's as the ones I got were a tad too long and made fitting the ignition difficult. I managed to bodge it in the end but a shorter LED would have been ideal.

 

Don't panic if you have some weird anomalies with the buttons working abnormally, just as long as all of them light up when they should. For a few minutes my heater controls were doing wierd things but soon corrected themselves somehow. At that point I didn't ask questions, was just relieved so I have no idea what that was all about...

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haha well they are acting strange! they only illuminate when I press in one of the buttons along the top.

 

Ill get hold of some of those LEDS then, I soldered mine in by following Hecklers guide, but somethings gone wrong somewhere. If I can make use of the stock bulb holders I will!

 

Were they fine fitment wise behind the dash lights? i.e. where the bulb holders are?

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haha well they are acting strange! they only illuminate when I press in one of the buttons along the top.

 

Ill get hold of some of those LEDS then, I soldered mine in by following Hecklers guide, but somethings gone wrong somewhere. If I can make use of the stock bulb holders I will!

 

Were they fine fitment wise behind the dash lights? i.e. where the bulb holders are?

 

You can only use T5/10's in the dial cluster and ignition. The AC controls have to be soldered in as you;ve done. Just get it back out and check all your soldering points to ensure you don't have any crossover.

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Damn.. and yeah gonna have another go at fixing it next weekend.

 

Pretty sure its to do with the Prototype board as I couldnt figure out how to raise it off the board, ended up using superglue and chunks of plastic :p Ive probably mis-aligned the LEDs too.

 

Money saved by doing this myself is going into the rear light LED conversions I want :)

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  • 2 years later...

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