Lighting up cluster

[Jules86]

Has neone here put leds in behind they're dash...I am half way but have realised that yes it is very blue at night BUT am having troubles trying to see my dials, and can't see the red and orange in the tacho...just want some ideas of enlightening the dials while still keeping it blue.

Also Vl 5speed Berlina i noticed your wipers button is red, how did you achieve this? i cannot find any 3mm connies for sale.

[VL Berlina 5speed]

what part of ur dash is blue??? did u get the same type of background as me?

well for the wiper buttons
1. take the switch pods of the dash
2. undo the screen type circle thing which is a bulb holder (ether green or white)
3. remove the bulb holder
4. peel the factory connie off
5. replace with desired colour connie ( size needed is 3mm but its not avalible so use 5mm connies)
6. cut connie shorter and super glue base of connie on2 the base/bottom of bulb holder
7. replace holder in to pod
8. reconnect
9. look in amazment at it

[ucwepn]

but note that if you replace the satallite buttons lite with blue connies that it will make bugger all difference and they will be a very pale greenish blue. There is a piece of green plastic inside the switches as well, haven't worked out how to remove them yet.

[VL Berlina 5speed]

but note that if you replace the satallite buttons lite with blue connies that it will make bugger all difference and they will be a very pale greenish blue. There is a piece of green plastic inside the switches as well, haven't worked out how to remove them yet.

really i had no probs with mine, the plastic on mine was clear and its perfect red, ill take it apart now and get a pic 4 yah

[VL Berlina 5speed]

nah pics arnt workn coz the flash is to bright and just makes a pic of whiteness, but the ones ive got hear have no green lenses inside of them just a connie on the bulbs, to produce the colour, ive done this on a set of executive switches and mine (berlina)

[ucwepn]

Ok so how do I get the switches to come apart?

I might try it later with no connie and see what colour it is.

[VL Berlina 5speed]

theres two tabs that hook in, push them in and it will come apart, BUT dont yank the 2 halfs aprt hard or it will snap the cables which have only a short travel distance
ill try getting picks and show u wat i mean (if the digi alows me)

[Jules86]

alright so i gotta glue the 5mm in ive tryed squeezing them in but it doesn't fit. (Glue won't heat under those bulb heats eh?)

Those side things will be the same in every vl, with green connies.

There is a screw underneath each side part, just undo (no need to be completely undone) slide out and pull it down to take it off the hook thing then to unclip the cable do as vl 5speed berlina said.

No i dont have the same backround as you i would find it very out of place in my car, cream exterior cream interior, white dash, not happening. I have black neons (bit of a scarecy atm) which also shine blue so i choose blue for that reason. Not a fan of blue neons inside cars. I soldered some 3mm 3.2mA LEDs in the back with 470ohm resistors attached...shines through not a drama at all, only i cant see where the fuel guage is or rpm dial, or the orange in the 6000rpm and red at 7....i can only see the shadows. Ill EVENTUALLY get around to playing around with it but thought someone might have already done this.

[ucwepn]

Jules have you got the standard cluster face with leds behind it? would love to see some pics.

[ucwepn]

sorry for the extra post but wouldn't let me add pics in the edited post, this is my selector, I have a blue LED in there but it has stopped working due to my shoddy rush job soldering. will fix it one day

bit hard to see in the pics but looked great in real life

[Jules86]

i aiming to get down there...i have a blue light behind my cig lighter aswell but haven't tryed the a/c strip yet, might look weird due to led's shooting straight, will give it a go soon enough...and no pictures yet prob be borrowing a camera this weekend.

[Jules86]

How bright is your park?? do you only have one led in there? i had one in there at one stage but found it was too direct, just wondering what to use, i was thinking bodgy and maybe some alfoil to reflect some of the light. Suggestions?

[VS Omega]

I'm not sure if they'll fit, but I've seen some 4" cathode sticks on eBay http://cgi.ebay.com.au/PC-MODDING-LI...QQcmdZViewItem

[Jules86]

I soldered some 3mm 3.2mA LEDs in the back with 470ohm resistors attached

My mistake...3mm, 3.2volts, 20mA LED's
(12v - 3.2v = 8.8v) (8.8v / 0.02A = 440ohms) 470 is the closet higher resistor without using 2.

[thestash_16]

were can i get different coloured lights from??? or do i have to solder led's on myself?

[ucwepn]

If you solder LED's in make sure you add a 12 volt resistor at the LED

[Jules86]

were can i get different coloured lights from??? or do i have to solder led's on myself?

Well i tried blue led parker lights originally just to see how they would turn out, plug straight in and is noticably blue with a tad green (blue to aqua).

Red LED's seem to be the cheapest like $1, the blue were $3 each and the resistors were like 4c each. The ones i purchased were 3mm 1200mcd or whatever it is. Takes a bit of fiddling, but i chopped the anode (not sure it matters) end of the LED back soldered the 470ohm resistor onto that leg and soldered it into the socket. Try make em as close as possible to the socket. (don't have the led head so far out as it will be closer to the dash and make a bright spot in one part of the cluster).

Use the formula in my previous post to work out your resistor size.

I removed the cig lighter 1 and put it in the a/c as this led is a proper bout made one (round $7 each; little 5mm bulb ones with sockets that fit straight in) found it was still too bulgy to fit all the way in so it is just sitting there. Blue looks a treat in the a/c controls makes the blues so much darker but yet bright and phases out the heat a little more. A home job led in the cig lighter doesn't look that good cuz its too close and is like a dot in the green that is blue (pretty shit)

Still working on getting pictures as i am to getting it finished.

Warning : Getting to the A/C controls bulb may cause frustration

[Jules86]

Sorry bout the quality it lost it going to the camera, then to the computer, then when re-saved. It's not completely finished as the wipers part, are not yet blue, and blue connies aren't all that blue but aqua, and looks so outta place.

[VL Berlina 5speed]

Sorry bout the quality it lost it going to the camera, then to the computer, then when re-saved. It's not completely finished as the wipers part, are not yet blue, and blue connies aren't all that blue but aqua, and looks so outta place.

how did u do the ciggy? as ive got 2 change mine to red

but yah they look sooo much beter in really life u loose so much detail in pics and they look patchy with the lighting

[Jules86]

Remembering that the outer part of the ciggy is green, it will vary the colour, when looking at it with the lighter plugged in...but the one behind there is a proper bought LED with casing to fit straight in like a normal light..ive only seen them in blue, but you can pull the LED out of the socket and make your own.

Only thing is with that is to make the LED as close to the casing as possible, like where the other one sits, cuz an up close LED in the ciggy doesn't look good.