VT Berlina Climate Control

[JD1337]

so i was messing around with my climate control trying to replace blown bulbs with led's and managed to break the front casing of it.

So my first question is does anyone have a broken climate control since my electronics work perfectly fine i could just dump my electronics inside a casing.

or second and a funner scenario, does anyone know how to replicate the style of buttons used on the climate control ie

black outside and illuminated picture or symbol in the centre

thanks heaps

[showbags]

Have the buttons just come out or is it actually broken? You can put the buttons back in if they've just fallen out.

[JD1337]

no like i broke the holes that the screws go into to hold it all together. ive also destroyed the clear acrylic behind the buttons trying to get leds into it (well it works but the wires i used to power the leds increased the distance between it and the pcb leading me to break a screw and then subsequently all the screw holes

i only showed the pic if someone knew how to fabricate buttons so they knew how it would nee to look

[accentstencil]

You are better of getting a second hand unit on ebay. They usually go fairly cheap.
vt climate control | eBay

[JD1337]

yeah ive been tossing up that... its just frustrating me that the electronics in mine are still perfectly working.. i hate just throwing it out and getting a new one id rather be able to use them somehow

[wrx884]

if u find out how 2 fabricate the buttons let us know so ASR can finally delete the green plastic their made from, but i dont like ur chances there. engraving shouldnt b 2 hard 2 get done tho.

[BlackVXGTS]

Just do as accentstencil suggests and buy one off eBay. Keep your old one for spares (particularly for the globes which are expensive) in case you have further problems.

[JD1337]

half the globes were blown, hence my adventure. thinking of buying a new one off ebay and attempting to fab a whole new one aswell...

my plan is the make a mould for the buttons and pour in this plastic stuff... ive seen it on youtube, two types of chemicals mix together pour, then wait and it turns into rock hard smooth white plastic in the mould.

Im then thinking of putting those rub on transfers on the plastic in the shape of what i want then spray the button black on top and then use an eraser to rub off the transfer and i should have a black button with white symbol on the button. This should mean that you could have any backlight colour behind it except red (which would turn pink)

id then make another mould for the front fascia to stop the buttons falling out. ive also bought these off ebay to use as the momentary switches..

Im then going to etch my own pcb to attach the front fascia and momentary switches too, with a bit of foam in between to keep it smoothe. I will also remove lcd from orignal climate control and pu on new pcb, then i will solder all point from original climate control units onto new pcb and then I should have a completly newly designed climate conrol using the old electronics to run it just with new things on the front.

i think i might also put two different coloured leds as back lights so you can chose what colour you want everything to be

woah big project... so it will take a while!

[wrx884]

make sure u report back i'll b interested in how u do the moulds and re make the button caps.

if u wanted red back lighting just do wat holden did and use a coloured plastic (red) 2 get that colour so its not pink.

[JD1337]

my only issue with that, is i havent found (so far google) any diy plastics that make a clear plastic they alll are white which would mean to get the red i need it would be very dark for the led to shine through

its looking like its going to be a long term project, so ill try and keep updated along the steps and would def appreciate it if anyone knows about particularly the plastic moulds / fab to give me some tips!

[JD1337]

so i listened to accent to get a temp climate control of ebay. got one for 72 with postage (not as cheap as id like... but its doesnt seem to work properly, seems not to blow where i tell it



is it because its a dual zone one where as my standard one wasnt.... i was reading on here somewhere (in amongst many searches) that it didnt matter and just worked... maybe i read wrong??

[wrx884]

yeah u gotta get the same type where it b duel zone or single. its the other standard heater units that it doesnt matter which 1 u buy even tho theres 3 different types they all still work the same.

[JD1337]

damn, oh well. will just make me more inclined to mod my original one!

[showbags]

I soldered red LED's into the factory globes. You will need to un pick the wires from the plastic holder and drill the holes slightly larger before you solder them in. I'm no electronics expert and I was able to do it so I recon it's pretty simple.

[wrx884]

I soldered red LED's into the factory globes. You will need to un pick the wires from the plastic holder and drill the holes slightly larger before you solder them in. I'm no electronics expert and I was able to do it so I recon it's pretty simple.

cant see the colour of the buttons in the pic but knowing the buttons r green the red wouldnt b coming through a red colour.

[JD1337]

the best i could get previous to breaking the surround (argg) was a aqua sort of colour from blue leds behind each button (drilled into the clear plastic) it actually looked nice, but had to use a red led behind the temp up buttons otherwise there would be no light showing.

for the actual lcd display i just drilled the glass out of the bulbs and put an led into the bulb (had to solder the rresistor) but that was the amount of soldering needed.. i found that i would get a bit better colour dispersion with filing the roundness of the led down to a flat surface....

but like i said, did all this effort and broke the screw holders that kept it all together!!

also an update on making my own buttons... more and more googling... found this stuff they use for making jewellery of all things... dries hard and clear! so you can also colour it to suit what your doing... getting really excited now... off too find somewhere that sells it!

its called easy cast

[showbags]

Can't change the color on the buttons. Only on LCD panel. The green is moulded into the plastic on the buttons.