VY-How to change the lights in instrument cluster?

Let me know if that makes sense, I wrote it in word quickly then threw it in here

 

Ill be doing this mod as soon as I get a spare cluster cant wait for shift light alsoi

 

MEESEN just be careful about putting in a new cluster, normally it sets off the DTC alert and it will complain that you have no airbags then you need to have the Alert reset

 

yeah i heard about that but its going for a service that week anyway so ill just put up with it if not ill just see if it works well then mod my original.

Thanks mate

 

Awesome write up mate. Having this already done by Greg at ASR and seeing him do it. I can't stress enough how important it is for you to have experience with soldering. May sound easy but very easy to burn and stuff up. And stuffing it up can result in maybe a $600 new cluster. So don't blame anyone but yourself if you bugger it up. If you're not confident or unsure, contact ASR. Might cost a bit more than $20, but if you spend $20 to do it yourself and ruin your cluster, you're up for a much bigger expense.

Well done on this write up though. Very impressive to the point that you might be too liked by the guys at ASR now . Look forward to the shift light mod.

 

I did this over the weekend.

You can buy the SMD LEDs from ebay, 1210 is the size.
I got about 100 for $10

I just so happened to have a soldering iron with interchangeable tips. I used a fork shaped tip where the smd led fits between the forks and heats both sides at the same time. this makes de-soldering simple. Then i used a normal tip to resolder.

Make sure before you remove the LED to mark the orientation, the LED will have a indent on one corner.

 

awesome thread and write up, but how did you do the gear shift mod??

 

is there one for vt-vx?

 

From memory, they use bulbs with a green filter so it's a bit harder for those models. Might be wrong though.

 

Shift Light Mod is coming, ive just been busy with work

 

Cannot Wait

 

no stress man i dont actually have a vy or z to do it, just wanna know how its done

 

Hidden Shiftlight
Well its not really morphing lights tho it does give a good effect.

Things you need
A shift Light
Vero Board
Ultra Bright Red LEDs
Foil Tape

This is better to do while your cluster is already apart while changing the LEDs, I won’t cover pulling your VY cluster out as I’ve already posted that above
While your Cluster is apart take a Shading or paper indentation of some spare space around your Tacho
Cut your Vero Board into the Shape of your Free Space within the cluster, be sure not to cover up any of the Backlight LEDs of your cluster
Vero board is a Premade Circuit Board with rows of Tracks that can be broken to make spaces and stops things from going Bang.
Work out the Best spots for your RED LEDs within the tacho and solder them onto the Vero board making sure that you solder them Positive to Negative Leg
The Shift Light uses a 12v+ Globe normally so you need to use 4-5 LEDs in series in order for this to work

I can go on about it but a picture would be much easier so you should try and make up something like this



You can see ive soldered wires on so the shift light can get access to them

I find 5 LEDs much safer then 4 last thing you want is your car producing 13.8V and blowing up your LEDs and all your hard work
Once youve tested it with a battery, Hot glue the board in place



You will also need to Run some Foil Tape inbetween the Tacho and the Speedo to stop the red from bleeding through

Run the wires out of the top of the Cluster case and solder on some sort of connector this will help for installation later
I hid my Shift light housing under the dash so i could adjust the dial on the back with ease
Wiring for the Shiftlight to your VY is as follows
Instrument Wiring Purpose
Pink/Blue Ignition
Brown/Red Tacho
Black/Yellow Ground
Its not as good as my last write up but its not a hard mod and will suit most cars if you have any other questions just ask

 

Great write up mate any ideas on how the morphing needles would be done?

 

I believe there is Multiple LEDs that sit behind the Needle, Putting a White one on 1 side and a red one on the other would simulate a morphing Needle, i havent done this tho so purely a guess, Send me a spare cluster and ill make it work

 

You ask and you will receive ...as long as I get it back haha inbox me your address and as soon as i get my spare cluster ill have it posted to you

 

i would be really interested to see a write up on a morphing needle... it looks like a cool idea. loving the write ups milo!! awsome work mate

 

nice write ups man, i always thought there was a huge amount of LEDs under there

 

Anyone changed the light in the ring around the ignition barrel?
How do you get to it and what type of light is it?