I'm thinking white for the needles. Hope we can get LED info soon

 

oh... blue and white.... or white and blue... ::drools::

 

Alright heres the info on the LED's guys. Youve gotta get them at Digikey.com ...

Blue LED's are...

Description: LED BLUE CLEAR 1206 REV MT SMD
Product Number: 160-1454-1-ND

And in case you want red ones, those are...

Description: LED RED CLEAR 1206 REAR MNT SMD
Product Number: 160-1186-ND

The blue ones are way more expensive than the red. The blue ones are about 1.68 each I believe. I ordered 40 total for both the center console and the gauges, that gives me 2 extra in case I messed up or lost one (which I did, I dropped it and couldnt find it cause it was so damn tiny)

When you get the LED's theyve got to be put on a certain way. Next to each LED on the circut board is an arrow pointing a certian way. And on the back of the new LED is also a little green arrow... well ... somewhat of an arrow. Youll get it if youve got common sense lol. Youve got to match the 'arrows' up so they both point the same way. Do one LED then go plug it in to the car and see if it lights up, if it doesnt, desolder it and see if you did the arrows correctly. If not, turn it around and solder it agian. Youve got to make sure that they arent just soldered down to the board, but also soldered on top of the little tab from the LED or they wont line up.

These LED's from Digikey are about 1/3rd the size of the stock LED's... they are EXTREMELY SMALL. So take your time and be careful. Dont get frustrated. And know that whatever you do can always be fixed ;)

As for the needles, to get the orange off all you need is nail polish remover and a Q-tip. Just start rubbing! Itll come off easy. I also ordered a small bottle of transparent blue paint to put on to the needle so it will illuminate blue also. Believe me, I'm not going to let it stay clear lol I cant see ____. It should be here any day now and Ill take pictures of that too ;) The link for that is: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXVT57&P=0

My suggestion to you guys is take a picture of where your gas needle is EXACTLY and THEN take appart the gauges and take the needles off. Dont forget that youve got to recalibrate the other needles when you put everything back together. I dont wanna hear anyone complaining to me that they didnt know this and I'm to blame lol

 

You cant do white and blue. Whatever color you replace the LEDs with is the color that will illuminate onto the needles. Even if you put white paint on the needles it would still illuminate blue at night. It sucks, but thats how it works

 

YAY! thank you very much ive been waiting for this.

 

40? WTF? I only counted 14 that are used for the guages. As I recall, there were only a few more on the console. What am I missing?

 

22 for the center console, 14 for the dash


4 extra...

 

^ yup, believe me... I counted many times just to make sure.

And thats only if you do JUST the gauges. with the turn signals its 16 on the cluster... I did those too but in the first pic they arent lit.

 

I am sure that the stock LEDs are PLCC-2 sized, not 1206. That doesn't mean that you can't swap them, but I would still stick with PLCC-2 LEDs.

When you buy your LEDs, check out how bright they are before purchase. Electronic supply sites often give the manufacturer's data sheet when they list the product. Try to get LEDs with a luminous intensity rating of at least 100 mcds.

I went with Kingbright Red Hyperbright PLCC-2 LEDs from Mouser. Mouser stocks a lot of different brands, so take your pick.

Mouser's list of PLCC-2 LEDs.

To everyone disagreeing on how many LEDs there are, here are two pictures I took:





Count for yourself how many LEDs you want to change out. Some people might want to change just the illumination, other people want to change out everything. Note there are three LEDs behind the LCD in the center console.

 

can it be done for the xb

 

Would these work?

http://www.lc-led.com/View/itemNumber/98

 

I Really wanna try that..I think Im just gonna stick with the ALL Blue..

Is it possible to do the Orange on the Radio??If not its not all gonna look good...?? I'll still do it tho!!

 

i am going to do the blue for the gauges including the needles and like i think white for the turn signals and blue for center console: red, blue, white and yellow how bout that??? and would white be able to be used in the clock area that lights up??? soits easier to see??? and that paint TIMO that ur gunna use u sure its like the same thing as the stock orange???

 

Did mine today in about 1.5 hours. Bought led's here http://www.lc-led.com/View/itemNumber/98 they are the right fit. I will have to finish my console next week. I will put instruction on my webpage soon after the console is done




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^^ wow that looks really good!

 

tChillin, what kind of iron did you use?

 

I bought a 20watt/40watt solder iron from Radio Shack for $20. I used the 20watt setting. You will need sa fairly small tip on it.

 

instead of buying the leds, you shoulda filled your damn gas tank up..... tC's get thirsty too you know

 

I think blue looks good and all but I think the reason why no car comes stock in blue is because it takes longer for our eyes to adjust when looking at blue light. I think it could give some people a blur. All our lights have been yellow and white, including street lights, our headlights, and the only color I've seen for dashes has been white and amber. (did I see green? can't remember)

 

Awesome man, good job. I hope you give credit where its due when you write up the more detailed instructions