Changing instrument cluster LEDs

[BigBlueDart]

I was wanting to change from the red lighting in the instrument cluster and dash. Started with the instrument cluster last night. I ordered a bunch of 3528 sized LEDs in cool white and in blue. Took the cluster out and brought it down to the circuit board and got started. For the speedometer there are two lights for the primary backlight and one light for the needle. The tachometer has just one of each. I used a soldering iron to remove the old LEDs, then soldered on the white LEDs for the backlight and the blue LEDs for the needles. I also scraped off the red backing on the needles and then painted the back blue.

While going through this whole process I did frequently plug the circuit board back in the car and turn on the driving lights to make sure they were lighting up. Once I finished and put it all back together, though, it was very dim. Not only that, but the dash lighting was also dim, and I haven't even started on that, yet. I'm thinking I need to swap out some resistors, too, but I'm struggling to figure out how to determine where they are and how to calculate what to replace them with. If any of you feel up to the challenge of helping me on this I'd gladly accept your input. In the meantime I'll be talking to a few local friends that might be able to help me figure it out.

Once I get this all figured out I'll go ahead and do a "How To" write-up. For now, here are just a couple of pictures from last night:

 

[utmorpheus]

http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz

Red, yellow, and green typically run at a MUCH lower voltage than blue and white, you will need to change resistors to get any form of brightness out of them.

 

[BigBlueDart]

Okay, so I had the instrument cluster apart again tonight. I was trying to track down how the LED's in question were wired and identify the resistors I might need to change. I found myself wishing I had taken some readings with the multimeter when the original LEDs were still in (they're dead, now). There was some back and forth out to the car to look at things. While I had this out I was noticing the posts that stick out from the circuit board. I knew the one on the right was for cycling through the trip meters. I was noticing the on the left rotated instead of pushing in. *head slap!* I knew there was a dimmer switch!

Anyway, it's looking a lot better, now, of course. In order to get the maximum brightness a resistor swap may still be warranted, but for now it is working well enough. Here's a pic:

I'm not sure if it's possible, but I'll look into changing the color of the LCD screen. Changing the lights in the steering wheel buttons is probably next up. Dash lights will probably involve more tearing the car apart, so I may put it off until I have a good chunk of time to work on it.

 

[Manckx]

Looks GOOD! One of my (few) dislikes of the 2 is the red illumination of the instrument cluster. Good Job!

 

[cosh68]

OMG.... thats fantastic... don't let Julic71 see this, she'll be wanting her's changed to green.....

BigBlueDart.... good on ya for this one....

Shaun......

 

[BigBlueDart]

I had someone request a how-to write-up. The pictures are the same as those posted above and it may be missing some information, but here is what I sent him:

First off, FontMotorsports posted a How-To on removing the gauge cluster for the purpose of replacing the background with his product. Follow the instructions he has and then go a step further by opening up the rest of the housing to get at the circuit board inside. This will involve pulling apart the white front section from the clear back section while undoing some clips around the edges and on the back. See the How-To here:

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123811594-Font-Motorsports-White-Gauges

Once you have the circuit board out you'll want to identify the LED's to remove. Hopefully this picture illustrates that well enough for you:

The LED's circled in red are those that light up the main background on the gauge cluster. They are the ones I replaced with white LED's. The ones circled in yellow light up the needles, and I replaced them with blue. I also circled the resistors that are in series with these LED's. I have not done anything with them yet as things work okay without a change there, but I may swap them out a little later so that my new LED's operate at a higher brightness. You would have to test to see which resistors are associated with which LED's and do some calculations to determine what to replace them with. Just remember that red LED's typically operate at 1.8V while blue and white operate at around 3.2 or 3.3V.

The kind of LED you'll want to get is are PLCC-2 3528. I picked up some on eBay from this seller:

https://www.ebay.com (commissions earned)

In order to remove the LED's you will need a soldering iron, of course. Tweezers are a must, as well. The best way to remove them is to grab the LED with the tweezers and then apply the soldering iron to one of the soldered sides until it lifts. Then, with one side lifted, you can get a better grip with the tweezers and melt the solder on the other side to fully remove. Here is a picture which may or may not be helpful in illustrating this:

I'm not an expert in soldering, so I likely did a bit of a hack job in putting the new LED's on. Surface mount LED's are tough to work with. The only pointer I have is to make sure you have it oriented correctly when putting it back on. The LED's are marked with a cut corner, so just make sure that matches with what you removed.

Good luck! And let me know if you have any questions.

 

[ScorpioGTX1]

Ballsy. Looks great, but there's no effing way I'm going to tear apart that gauge cluster again.

 

[CorkSport]

Looks like a fun evening of work.

For the blue color on the needles was there a specific color you chose or was it something you had around?

-Derrick

 

[BigBlueDart]

I purposely chose the blue color and ordered the LED's for this project. I eventually intend to do the lights in the dash and steering wheel controls, too.

 

[utmorpheus]

I really don't mind the red-orange of the gauges, but damn I wish the needles would have been a contrasting color from the factory. The red-orange actually prevents your pupils from contracting (unlike yellow, green, blue, and white lights) and allows you to see more and further at night. Problem is the muddy glow from the gauges really doesn't allow you to see how badly you're speeding without actually looking at them. If you have any of those white LEDs left, feel like doing my needles for a couple buck?

 

[BigBlueDart]

Follow my ebay link above. They're pretty cheap.

 

[utmorpheus]

I'm just too lazy/busy to start a new projekt. Already balls deep in the Miata with the quad projector retrofit, can't afford to be down two cars at once.