LEDs in Dash

[CHIAPET]

is there anyone that is willing to change the leds in my dash from red to blue for me?

[dentinger]

try asking mcguyver, he might be able to do it for you... for a fee....

[mleblond]

it's a hell of a job! from what I read...

[McGuyver_3]

It is a hell of a job and at the moment i think i am going to have to do some homework before i do this again because i am having a little difficulty with mine right now and am usure what caused it. Simply the leds i am using or a faulty guage cluster?

[matt9]

It is a hell of a job and at the moment i think i am going to have to do some homework before i do this again because i am having a little difficulty with mine right now and am usure what caused it. Simply the leds i am using or a faulty guage cluster?

Heh that sucks.. I would imagine the fee for this sort of thing would be easily 100$ for the time involved.

[McGuyver_3]

A little bit more then that but you are close haha

[matt9]

What have other people pay in the past to get this sort of thing done?

[Jeff-TheBiz]

most do it themselves.. kinda something that cost too much to get someone else to do, but worth the time if you do it yourself.

Problem is, one mistake and you are buying a new cluster.

[McGuyver_3]

thats true but knock on wood i have not destroyed any due to mistake just stupidity lol and luckily it was mine

[M3Nick]

Exactly what went wrong? I'm in the process of doing this now... Anything I should watch for?

[McGuyver_3]

The very first guage cluster i had i changed the leds to blue and was too tempted to get the little km display in blue aswell so i attempted that and the saughtering iron i used got so hot on the circuit board it destroyed the connection for the led to mount on to. this is because there is a little cover covering those leds up :(. the second cluster i currently have the leds were working fine for close to 4 months and all of a sudden 2 wouldnt light up anymore. so no panic took the cluster out and installed new leds well that didnt fix it. i checked for continuety through my saughter job and that is fine i know the contacts on the circuit board are ok and i tested the leds individually and they both work fine. I am assuming that because i did not buy the cluster new it may have been defective. But i want to make sure that the leds i am using are not drawing to much power causing some resistor or something to blow along the board somewhere. But my only problem is i do not have a wiring diagram to chase it down. Now my only option left is to find out the stock current on the stock leds and the current on the new leds. then i will see where i went wrong. In the mean time any ideas how i could bridge the lights to power the whole board up again?

[Noisy Crow]

In the mean time any ideas how i could bridge the lights to power the whole board up again?

Use wirewrap wire (it's really thin) and run jumpers from a couple of known good LEDs. Just scrape a bit of the protective coating off of the printed circuit to expose the copper underneath so you can solder to it.

Note: you can "strip" the ends of the wirewrap wire by heating it briefly with the soldering iron where you want to remove the insulation.

To ensure that whatever is wrong with the board does not affect the jumpered LEDs: When you make the connection to the dead LEDs use a small knife to cut the printed circuit so as to isolate the LED from its original feed. Then solder the jumper to the side still attached to the LED. It's best if you actually make a couple of cuts close together (about ½ mm) and carefully pick the copper in between the cuts free -- this ensures no bridging.

You might also want to invest in a smaller soldering iron... 15W would the biggest I would be comfortable using on such work :)

[matt9]

I wonder if it's worth mastering the art of changing LEDs in the HU, getting a bunch and starting a little business in the GTA area :)

Hmm *thinks*

[McGuyver_3]

Use wirewrap wire (it's really thin) and run jumpers from a couple of known good LEDs. Just scrape a bit of the protective coating off of the printed circuit to expose the copper underneath so you can solder to it.

Note: you can "strip" the ends of the wirewrap wire by heating it briefly with the soldering iron where you want to remove the insulation.

To ensure that whatever is wrong with the board does not affect the jumpered LEDs: When you make the connection to the dead LEDs use a small knife to cut the printed circuit so as to isolate the LED from its original feed. Then solder the jumper to the side still attached to the LED. It's best if you actually make a couple of cuts close together (about ½ mm) and carefully pick the copper in between the cuts free -- this ensures no bridging.

You might also want to invest in a smaller soldering iron... 15W would the biggest I would be comfortable using on such work :)


Thanks for the great tip i will try that cwey soon i appreciate the help




I wonder if it's worth mastering the art of changing LEDs in the HU, getting a bunch and starting a little business in the GTA area

Hmm *thinks*

thaught about it not worth it if you screw something up or fi they come back to haunt you like mine sorta did but i am still unsure to what caused mine to screw up