Changing Cluster light colour?

If you are handy with a soldering iron, you can change the LEDs used to light up the cluster.

You can also change the LCD illumination colour using the same technique (I.E. change the LEDs on the board behind the LCD panels to the colour that you want)....
The only thing on the SV6 cluster that is difficult to change the colour of are the needles. (They have the red backing on them, so really you can only use RED illumination on them)....

The LEDs can be bought from eBay pretty cheap (around $10 for enough to do a couple of clusters)
The best colour I have found is white, as it makes the LCD and cluster very easy to read at night.

The following page show what is involved (including cluster removal and disassembly).
It also shows an Omega cluster with a white LCD panel, and blue cluster illumination, as well as a HSV cluster that was in the process of a conversion, from red to white illumination..

Hope this helps
www.carmodder.com • Changing the Cluster Illumination for the Holden VE Commodore

 

Here's mine:














It used to be red. This was done by phreddy from ASR Electronics. See ASR in the sponsor's section of this forum.

 

10 characters

 

Hi,

I had the same concern. I put up with it for a while in my MY09 SV6, but eventually upgraded earlier than normal to a Series II MY11 SV6 for the better cluster and other improvements.

However, the trip computer part of the cluster was still red, and for my aging eyes, almost unreadable due flaring. In the end, I have recently upgraded to an MY11 Calais cluster, which has all white lighting, including the trip computer. The added benefit was the improved functionality of the three window trip computer. The upgrade seems simple MY11 Calais cluster to MY11 SV6, but the change is much more challenging for pre-MY11 models or HSV clusters.

I reported my change on the following link.

http://forums.justcommodores.com.au...ced-series-ii-sv6-cluster-calais-cluster.html

Just another option.

Cheers.

 

I take it that means good? lol

 

Nah, you dont want to swap...
The cluster and the Radio Fascia are programmed to work with your car (and only your car)...
(The Cluster is specifically programmed to your individual car, with the VIN#, transmission options, and lots of other little things that make difficult to change)...
It is definitely possible (I.E. you will need a $30 eeprom programmer to do it), and you will really need you original cluster at the same time to pull information off, but it definitely can be, and has been done before...
(Im running with a triple LCD E2 HSV cluster that I programmed myself with an EEPROM programmer, and another member msenj is running a triple LCD Calais cluster on her Omega)...
www.carmodder.com • Programming Cluster EEPROMs for the Holden VE Commodore


The Radio fascia is much easier, (There are only 6 bytes that need to be changed on the EEPROM), however, you will need a different EEPROM programmer to the one above)....
www.carmodder.com • Programming the Colour LCD HVAC / Radio for the Holden VE Commodore

Some thing to keep in mind....
1) If you want to go the swap route, you may as well buy / upgrade to a suitable cluster / radio, and program these yourself, as I dont know anyone that will be willing to go through the pain / expense to simply swap these parts over. (Unless it meant a free upgrade for them)...
2) If you are going to send the parts away for changing the LEDs, your car will throw some DTCs (Specifically for the instrument cluster) if you attempt to drive it without the cluster fitted. So that kinda means no car until you get your cluster back...
(I.E. you would really want to see phreddy with the car, drop it off to get the conversion done, and pick it up when its ready)...
All the other components you could ship off to be done though...
3) If you are going to go to the trouble and expense of changing the LED colours on these things, it may be an idea to upgrade them first,
(I.E. Upgrade the cluster to a triple window version, and the radio to a Colour LCD version)...
That way, if you wanted white illumination, you could go for Calais bits, and the LED colours would have already been done for you...

Hope this helps..

 

You can unplug all the parts, take them to your workbench and do it there... I'm pretty sure that's how everyone else has done it (myself included).

 

Hope this is not irrelevant to this thread.

How do you change the cluster gauge needles to a different colour. I think I have read that they are semi transparent and you can't just paint over them because it effects the light coming through from behind.

Is there a way to do ?

 

Yes, the needles are just painted, however the LEDs illuminating the needles are also coloured as well.
(So if you wanted to change the needle colour, you would also need to change the 2 or 3 LEDs underneath each needle, as well as the needle paint...

Hope this helps

 

Thanks Z, I appreciate your reply.
Just to clarify. To change Calais cluster white needles to red needles, i think you are saying:
- I need to remove the white paint from the needles and repaint them red; and
- I need to change LEDs under the needle to red as well?

Thanks again.

 

If you are using white LEDs to illuminate the needles, then you really only need to paint the needle.
(The red will have a washed out look look to it though), but it wont be too noticable.
Changing the LED to red will make the needle a much more vibrant red colour...

If you were going the other way (I.E. Changing an SV6/SS/SSV/HSV Cluster to white needles), then you would need to change both the needle paint, and the needle backlighting...

Hope this helps...

 

Thanks Zerone,
Yes that's very helpful.

 

I'm sure phreddy didn't change the paint on the needles for mine. He just changed the led's which illuminate the needles.

It probably depends what colour you are changing from / to. I can't remember, but I think mine were white, so changing them to blue only involves changing the led's.

 

Thanks again guys,
The reason for my questions is that I want red needles for the day time look of the interior but not red gauge lights at night. Some have said that doing this (red needles with white lighting) makes the needles a bit harder to see at night?

I also read that if you only paint the needles along their sides at the back (but not the line down the centre) it can all work ok.

I wanted to do it all myself but i may need to go to gauges specialist I think!

 

Only thing I haven't heard yet was how to get the cluster out to change the LEDs?