Lol, I've already been working on it. I've had the parts for a while, just too busy. :D

 

Mine too squall Well, not exactly, but it does use a color changing scheme.. it just ties into the ecu signals to do it :D The oscillator for the microcontroller is on the way, so testing for the first chunk is upcoming (and may create another mod by itself ). At that point I will post more info on it rather than just tease everyone. But as always, I have about 4 hours per week to put into this type of stuff, and that is broken into chunks. I really think that if I had one full day to work on it, I would have three more mods ready! But.. time time

 

Exactly! LOL Waaaay too many ideas, no time to do them. With a "variable" 12v reg, couldn't you put the resistor divider for the feedback across the pins, that way it would all be "self contained" on the voltage reg. chip? Or the legs anyway.. I did that on a switching power supply chip, but that goes way further than what we'd need here.. Either way, I'm sure everyone will approve when they use that kit and won't have to cut the etches! According to the eBay ad, the RGB's I got are: "40mcd for blue, 160mcd for green and 66mcd for red. This is a splendid device! Part number is NECM005T. For data spec go to: www.nichia.co.jp/product/led-smd-fullcolor.html " Not all that bright it looks like.. Haven't had time to power them up yet, but dang the pins are small. Also got some 140,000 mcd white 10mm LED's, I don't know why, but I did. LOL 50 of those on a board would sure light something up....... LOL Great work on the LED swaps, I think you're a lot of people's "saviour's". Everyone I meet with a tC seems to hate the color. SquallLHeart - at the rate I'm going, I'll never even get around to powering up the LED's, so I'm sure you or engifineer will beat me to it!

 

The problem is that if you have a higher power source for he button and LCD leds, then it is too high for the temp **** leds, so you still havet o change the resistors there. Two of them are powered alone and the top two are in series. The rest on the board are in series sets of three. So either way you have to swap out some resistors. So I figure, whats 4 more resistors to swap? Then you dont have any more parts than stock on the board, just different values.

Yeah, those high output whites will blind you! We mad a friends flashlight into an led light once using some of those.. it put out some serious light Just dont stare at them Someone made a set of fog lights out of them using the corner vents.. they actually did light up things pretty well!

 

Just got my new WESD51 temp controlled iron in this evening as well. May not seem like much to some, but when you solder a lot, a nice new iron and power supply is like a new toy!

 

Oh, I just saw the pimp comment Thanks for the compliment! I am glad we can each add something to the site and provide those mods that arent the typical things!

Squall, WhiteBlazer, Karl and Garage1217 are some sharp guys and keep coming up with new stuff, so it keeps things fun!

 

Nice! I used to use the typical non-adjustable pencil Weller, but gave in a few years back and bought a Pace HW100 after seeing a demonstration at work. It looks like a kid's toy, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper than a Metcal, and hasn't let me down yet! Plus like your Weller, you don't need to buy different tips for different temps. Love that. Only thing I want now is a pair of hot tweezer tips for it! That would make resistors and LED's SOO much easier. Hopefully some day I can join the list of "cool new stuff" guys. Been doing Fieros for years, now it's time for the Scion! If you need any small parts CNC'd for any new Scion gadgets, let me know! I think I'm going to mill out a mirror copy of the left-side steering wheel remote to add a few more buttons... ;) I've successfully milled circuit boards with it too, which is great for simple quick boards! It put me in debt up to my eyeballs, but it's fun. LOL

 

At work I use a Pace with a digital temp readout, a Metcal (very nice for small tips), and a Metcal Hot Air Pencil (by far the easiest to use on tiny parts). Too bad I don't have a couple thousand to spend on a soldering station. I feel like an ogre when I use my $40 adjustable Weller.

 

i used to work with the Pace Benchtop Factory (PRC 2000/E) at my former work... but i can't afford a $4K+ station..

so i'm happy with my $250-80-ish WD1001 from Weller.

but yea.. i do miss that lovely thing though... *sigh*...

 

The 1001 is a nice setup.

We used all PACE equipment in a lab I worked in for a while. I miss it like no other. All 4 of the regular stations had dual irons, with one being suction on each. We had two units set up with tweezers, and an entire surface mount workstations with attachements to remove anything up to 144 pin flat packs with one pass. We built all of the products we designed, so we also had a surface mount oven and a standing wave soldering machine. About all we didnt have was an automated pick n place, but we had enough people in the lab to keep up with building them. PACE had us up to Lee's Summit, MO for a day long soldering class using thier equipment, which, although I was expecting a boring day, was pretty cool.

We did every peice of the design, layout, build, test and ship of our equipment, We had a company manufacture the boards themselves. We just placed the parts and went from there.

Now, if I only had all of that (plus the room to house it all) in my place

 

Ok guys. there ya go! Its on page 1. I will put up a separate one for the 2007 tomorrow. It is basically the same, but some parts have moved and the resistors need to be a smaller smt package.

For those that do them alot, you can use the 0805 package (for the 2007) on the 05-06 boards. It is a little short, but if you line it up right it works fine, so this will save you from stocking both sizes.

 

i dunno.. i've squeezed 1206 larger ones onto the '07...

ehh... whatever..

THANKS DAVE!

oh.. btw dave.. that lock nut? i find it easier to just use a 11mm socket... doesn't even have to be deep. just use it without the ratchet..

if it's realllllly tight.. yea.. ratchet sure..

 

What he said! Awesome writeup. One question - any difference in resistors say between blue and green? Or are the voltage / current requirements close enough? I haven't had a chance to check the specs yet...

 

blue.. green..?

oh... no.. anything but red and amber will need this circuit mod. so yes... blue and green needs it

 

Yep, green is fine on the same resistors. The voltage drop is pretty much the same for blue, green and white.

 

^^ That's what I hoped to hear... Now to find the time....

 

Edited to fix some typos and stuff.. added a few things here and there, but the mod is the same. Just fixing my messed up writing :D

 

What were to happen if we swapped the LEDs but did not change/add resistors?

 

If you're swapping in all red LEDs you don't need the resistors for them to be properly bright. All the other colors require more voltage then the amber and red LEDs. Therefore, changing the resistors to allow more voltage to them is a must in order for the other colors to be properly bright. Otherwise, if you just swapped out the LEDs for any color other than red they would be much dimmer than the brightness of the stock LEDs. Trust me, makes a huge difference!!

 

Thats correct. And if you do the mod and use red leds, you may be killing leds shortly :D