Changing colors of lights in dash, a/c unit, etc.

[tysamigo]

My dash is completely apart awaiting the next project which is

REPLACE ALL INTERIOR LIGHTS WITH ANOTHER COLOR (and move over to led if possible)

I've seen where Etlsport did a mod to his dash lights in the past and changed colors in the speed cluster, etc. Faivish (in Russia) also did the same thing except he had a company do it for him (I believe in Russia)

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=24460

Now it's time to change the color of ALL the interior lights (speed cluster, a/c unit, window switches, etc.) but some of the bulbs like the bulb on the a/c switch that slides, its not a bulb but rather an LED that is soldered. Soldering and desoldering is NOT AT ALL a skill I can do very well.

Do you know of someone, or a company that I can send this stuff to that could do this for me? When I asked Faivish he said that he had a company do it for him and he gave me their contact info however they have not yet replied AND I think they are in Russia ... so I'm hoping to find a better solution.

PLEASE HELP if you can. Even if you can point me in the right direction...

I really appreciate ANY help that anyone can give. I've sent a PM to Etlsport and waiting to hear back, but then I thought I would also ask the group for a collective response...

[SimSamurai]

I am buying a VX soon and this will likely be one of the first things I want to tackle as well, so maybe we can put our heads together and see what we can collectively come up with. I can do CAD design-work as well fabrication and soldering.

The main things to tackle are finding the proper luminosity of LEDs and sizes, watts etc. In the Russian's post you reference it also looks like the folks at UFO either re-made or modified their own light board for the back lit needles and panel facing. This is something I would not know how to do off hand but where there is a will there is a way and I know that people with other vehicles have done similar projects with making their own PCBs. (printed circuit board)

Lastly, I would like to re-design the semi-circular dash rings themselves and do them in brushed or anodized aluminum which would be laser cut and etched. I don't like the fake carbon fiber plastic nor the fonts for the numbers as they both look very dated. I would want something much more fresh and futuristic looking. The only caveat I see is that the numerical locations and hash mark angles would need to stay the same so as to not require any other sort of recalibrations of the servos and how it relates to their functionality but there certainly should be no major issues with changing out the lighting and panel faces themselves.

[tysamigo]

Btw... im working VERY CLOSE with ICE LED (www.iceled.co.uk) and LITEWAVE (www.litewave.co.uk) in the U.K...

I think we will have a new U.S. Distributor soon... maybe by jan or feb... :bgwb:

[clipper 03 rodeo]

If I had everything to convert i'm sure I could get the job done. I've done tons of LED work converting stuff and it's pretty easy for me at this point.

I actually put an Axiom dash cluster into my old project Rodeo and did a blue background, made filters so the gear indicators lit up a different color, as well as converting the TOD to work with the Rodeos 4wd button and made it light up red with a filter and LED's. It looked pretty dang awesome. I'm pretty sure your guys' clusters would be about the same thing as my old Axiom one.

Go halfway down the first page to see how I did it, and on page 2 you can see some pics of it lit up.

http://forum.planetisuzoo.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=69265

For the other things like the door switches and stuff, that is pretty easy to do as well. I did this on my old S2000 and I modified the holders to fit a 3mm LED, soldered the resistors coming out of the backs of them and it worked perfect. A tip for most round LED's, if you sand the tips of the LED it will have a much more even output and not have hotspots. I will post a few pics of how I did my S2000's here in the next post.

[clipper 03 rodeo]

Here is a set of the dash controls I did on my old car.. All custom.

http://i50.tinypic.com/34nfzo7.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/10f5axf.jpg

http://i47.tinypic.com/54vitv.jpg

Normal LED:

http://i47.tinypic.com/2450yko.jpg

Sanded LED:

http://i45.tinypic.com/2h3mvxc.jpg


How I modified my holders with LED's..

http://i49.tinypic.com/bydly.jpg


Cut and soldered permanent LED's for indicator lights..

http://i46.tinypic.com/155qv15.jpg


If you have any questions or anything just ask and i'll see if I can help.

[tysamigo]

Could I send my stuff to you and pay you to do it?

[clipper 03 rodeo]

That may be a possibility. Sending you a PM now.

[SinJin]

Very cool work. :)

[Lizardmen3477]

Id be interestedin that as well sending you my cluster to change the color, good idea!

[MSHardeman]

There's really no need to create your own twist-lock/ instrument panel LED bulbs. They pre-make them now:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/instrument-cluster-gauge/neox-led-bulb-instrument-panel-led/220/
http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/instrument-cluster-gauge/neox-led-bulb-high-power-instrument-panel-led/221/

[evillecutter]

post it note dash light color change:

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/thumbs/post_it_note_dash.jpg (http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=25044)

[Cobrajet]

post it note dash light color change:

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/thumbs/post_it_note_dash.jpg (http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=25044)

How long can you expect those pieces of paper to stick?

[JAMAS]

I suppose if you use some glue around the edges, it may be permanent.

I would be more concerned about constant heat against the paper.

Clever idea though.