INT: COMPLETE LED DASH - including all switches

[J-specCb4]

im gonna have to try this

[TheNextEpisode]

Now I need an ITR clock.




Fantastic DIY man. Super thorough and a great idea. I love how it looks professional, with the stock gauges and dashboard buttons, but far better than stock. Great stuff.

[UrDoneSRH]

damn i need to take my gauge cluster back out and do those door and gas lights, i did all the lights in the dash. i also need to redo my climate controls, i need to start from scratch tho cuz i fried a circuit on the board by overloading it trying to light up the knobs, i figured it out, but it took f'ing it up to do that.

[90ACCORDLXGUY]

Now I need an ITR clock.

I like how you did it red. im gunna have to try this. great diy [cp]mike

[UrDoneSRH]

orange/amber, same as mine

[A18A]

dark_accord wanted me to say this looks like a penis:
[img]http://www.****.com/pics/diyleds/OTHER/reardefrost_2.jpg[/img]

[UrDoneSRH]

hahahaha it does

[cp[mike]]

ive gotten that comment a few times over the years :P

[93Lx]

well here is mine cluster!! looks good i just like the hot spots, i wish there was a way to spead the light out even

[TypeG]

I think its a coating on the back of the gauge. Sand it off then polish it back to the same translucency as before.

this is what i was thinking before i got to experiment on some gauges.

] yes there is a blue coating on the back of the gauges, but theres a coating on top of that. its painted over the blue, on the backs of the numbers in various transparencies based on distance from the bulbs, used to make them all light up evenly. itd make it look funky if you use a bulb or LED bulb, bright spots on the sides...

pretty much on the button.

here's a few pics of the layers:



later.

[93Lx]

so are u saying if i sand the back of the number alittle it will be a little brighter and even

[TypeG]

so are u saying if i sand the back of the number alittle it will be a little brighter and even

no, it would probably look wierd like mike said. i was just seeing if the blue/green filter was removable and i saw that it was not. later.

[93Lx]

ooooooh ok got ya

[lucid]

Thanks for the info, I learned much from this DIY years ago. I've done a few conversions since then and wanted to share some things I learned in addition to the info here:

For single LEDs, it's better to use 1/2 watt (larger) resistors so they don't work too hard and get too hot. LEDs crap out when they get hot.

For the buttons, splice, solder and heat shrink the resistors into the wiring harness (car side), instead of having to solder it to the button's chip. For heat considerations, a cleaner install, and less headache fitting things inside the buttons (especially larger resistors).

I know why the defroster won't work after the LED is in the indicator, it became obvious to me after staring at wiring diagrams for way too long....The signal that turns on the defroster goes thru the light first, and it wants to see 12v, not 3 something. You can wire a relay into the wiring for the outgoing DEF signal that will trigger with low voltage, and send 12v out.

I sanded the printing off my climate control knob panel, polished it back to transparent using type-G's plastic method, and used actual window tint to get the clean black look for my climate control.

[EJX_Michael]

Thanks! I converted my whole dash!



I want to add that sanding the top of the LED flat and the sides till they are fogged a bit will distribuite the light better than not sanding them.

Thats how I did the floor lighting! its just 5 LEDs on each side, sanded to distibrute the light.