Clock LED Modification
 

mikochu: Please be advised that you should use a low watt soldering iron. If you do not know what you are doing, do not do this modification.

Perform this at you own risk, I will not be held responsble for screw ups.

Alright, all y'all that want to change the color of your clock, here are some pics and info that might help you out. You will have to change LED's which means a little solderings gonna be required. Especially if you want some bright exotic colors, no sharpie tricks here.

Here is the updated version of how to change the color of your clock LED's. :D

First you will need to pull off the gauge cluster bezel by removing the plastic screw that is located in the top - middle of the light cluster area. I believe this is only for the '05 model so if you don't have it don't worry about it. I used a small philips tip to remove this screw first. After removing the screw, grasp the bezel and pull it towards you, you will feel it come loose and then you may just have to pursuade the other clips to come loose as well.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0146.jpg

After the bezel is off, you'll need to unscrew the 3 screws that hold the gauge cluster in place.
This pic shows the screw at top and to the right.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0149.jpg
This one shows the other screw at the left side of the speedo.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0150.jpg

Now with the screws out, you can wiggle the gauge cluster out. On the back of the cluster you'll see the wire harness that's plugged in. Unplug this harness and you will now have your speedo removed and ready to work on.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0152.jpg

Find a flat clean surface to work on and then begin removing the 4 brass screws on the back.
Here you see the one screw by the wire harness.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0154.jpg
And here are the other 3 brass screws
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0155.jpg

With the screws removed, you'll need to unclip the plastic tabs to remove the white rear cover.
These are pics of all sides of the gauge cluster where you need to undo the clips.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0156.jpg
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0157.jpg
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0158.jpg

Now with the cover removed, you should be able to see the circuit board. Before you can just yank it out, you'll need to bend the metal tab up and also undo the ribbon cable that is connected to the speedo. You can do this easily by gently prying the left and right side of the black connector up to loosen the clamp.
Picture of before bending the tab and loosening the clamp.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0160.jpg
Picture of bending the tab and loosening the clamp
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0161.jpg
Picture of ribbon cable disconnected.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0162.jpg

Finally, gently undo the white clips that hold the circuit board in place. Just pull up on the board slowly making sure that none of the clips are in the way. it's ok to feel a little resistance, this is because the LCD clock has pins that plug into the connector on the circuit board. Just pull up evenly on all sides of the circuit board until the entire board is free.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0163.jpg
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0164.jpg

Now you have the circuit board available to work with. In the following picture it shows I took off the clear speedo cover, the black instrument template, and the LCD clock. But removing these items is not necessary.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0133.jpg

Now if you look at the front of the board where all the LED's are, you will find the 4 yellow (they just appear orange because of their low luminous value(mcd)) LED's. You need to unsolder these leds to reveal the soldering pads that you will use to solder the new led's. I can't explain how to unsolder properly as everyone has their own technique but if you look online their should be plenty of sources that may show you how to do it properly. I used something called hot tweezers to remove mine, for the budget minded, you might try to use a solder wick.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0135.jpg

Measuring the size of the LED's they measure approximately 3.0mm x 1.5mm which should be a 1106 sized SMT LED.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0136.jpg
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0137.jpg

Links I've found to purchase LED's in small qty's.

http://www.lc-led.com
http://www.eled.com

If you want the more exotic colors such as white, blue, or purple, expect to pay a premium for these LED's compared to the normal yellow and green led's because of the special manufacturing process used to create them. Also, the blue and white LED's require slighlty more voltage than normal color LED's for them to operate correctly but since the white ones that I have work fine, there shouldn't be any worries about using any color you prefer.

Here's a close up pic of my final masterpiece.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0143.jpg

Here's a shot of all my work so far.
https://www.scionlife.com/tech/image...b/IMG_0139.jpg

Hope this helps anyone that wants it. 8)
Stay tuned for our next episode when I change something else. hehe :wink:

Whoah, hold on guys. Actually I haven't bought the LED's yet. I meant to say that I got my LED's for my wife's navi at http://www.eled.com. I want to buy some white ones to match the speedo but they don't carry any and also apparently they are very expensive. Especially since most places put minimum order requirement. Here's one place I'm considering http://www.lc-led.com/View/itemNumber/39. I'll update everyone again when or if I get them.

........
 

just saw the pictures and assumed that was you doing all that.......... :D

Actually I disassembled the gauge cluster to show everyone what would be involved with changing the color of the clock. It's really not a hard operation at all. I'm currently searching for some LED's right now, so as soon I get them, I'll give everyone an update. You can pretty much have any color you'd like in there. the current color is actually yellow and not orange, it just appears orange because of the low luminence (mcd) of the LED's and the piece of white plastic sitting behind the LCD clock. Typical voltage is about 2-3 volts for the standard colors (yellow, red, green) up to about 4-5 volts for the white and blue colors. I'll probably try the white's to see if they work. Since the yellow LED's require less voltage than the white's, I'm kind of concerned if the white's will have enough voltage to operate after I swap them. If not I suppose I can solder a resistor between each positive pad and the anode of the LED. Well, I'll see how it goes. In the meantime anyone's free to try it on their own. If we can get enough different color combinations, we'll know what works good and what doesn't.

Here's a source for LEDs... www.sloanled.com

And one more thing. To get this color you won't be able to use colored filters, sharpie pens, or led condoms. Other colors might be possible but not white. I actually used white leds for these and they're expensive too. :D

First off, awesome job and thanks for figuring it out. Can anyone point us in the right direction as to where to find these LEDs online?

What size bulb did you finally end up with?

yeah bulb size , place of purchase and price. how do you remove/install the leds? a sharpie over the stock ones does not work just looks dull and ugly. i'm interested in white or blue soo. thanx for the great pics . would like to see some of the removal/installation. also where do you get your led condoms cuz i went shopping all over town at every electrical store/radioshack/computer stores to no avail . what gives . no one even knew what i was talking about.

I got the LED's for my wife's navi at http://www.eled.com but you can also try this one too, http://www.lc-led.com/. They also have several unique colors too like blue, purple, and of course white.

I ended up getting 1210's because that was all my local electronics shop had. It's just slightly bigger than the original led's but it's significantly wider (almost 2x). :shock: So I was kind or worried if they would fit, but they fit just fine. I would honestly try getting 1106 SMD LED's if you can though, these would be the most ideal size to work with. Also I was worried if the voltage was high enough to operate the white color as it requires a higher operating voltage than the yellow led's. It work out quite nicely in my opinion. :wink:

These are not the standard type of bulbs you just twist off and replace. You will have to de-solder the old ones out and the new ones in no shortcuts here. The price was around $0.95 which are very expenisve for LED's but because white LED's are expensive to produce, this is normal. Most of the remove instructions are up in the first post. I'll see if I can do a more detailed how to tomorrow. As for the LED condoms, I don't have any, all the lights I have are either stock or I changed the LED's.

so, if the voltage of whites worked, then blues should work too, eh? I wonder if there'd be enough contrast with the blue though. You can actually see all four leds in the closeup you took :)

That looks sweet bro. I had my dad look at it because he does soldering work. He said he could do it with no problem Thanks for all the info, it helps alot 8)

You're correct Jere. The white and the blue require similar operating voltage with the white being a little more because it's esentially a blue but with a phosphor coating to make it appear white. But traditional LED's, yellow(orange to yellow depending on luminous value(mcd) ), only require somewhere around 2..4V and the exotic bright or ultra colors such as blue, white, and purple require around 3.5V to operate.

I'd imagine the blues would look very good because you would be using a true blue light source rather than coloring the led with a sharpie.

As for seeing the LED's, it really only shows up on the digital camera. When looking at it at normal viewing distance it appears very evenly distributed and you can't see the led's. It looks very nice :D The other thing that could explain this is that I used slightly bigger led's than the original. I used 1210's because that's all the local shop had and I wasn't about to mail order 4 led's. The shipping would cost more than the led's themselves. The proper size is 1106 if you were planning to change them.

Lets' Place an order as a group.

I want blue or hyper blue. Anyone in? I will buy and ask you to PayPal me or send a money order. I will only charge exactly what it costs me. Shipping should only be like 40 cents.

Nice job.

I love the 2004 Camry Navigation system.
How much was it?
How difficult was the hook up?

What happened to the CD/radio?

Here ya go man, all the information you wanted and then some... 8)
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23214

But the concise version to answer you questions.
it cost me about $1500 from Troy @ http://www.oemvalue.com because I was supposedly the first Scion to purchase from him and get him pics of my installation.

It was very easy to install, I've helped saicow install his and I know coasterlvr has installed his and has his own pics also. He's connected an IPOD to it and also a reverse camera. You really only need to hook up the reverse wire and the speed sense wire, everything else was plug and play.

As for my old single cd head unit, I traded it in to Troy for credit so I could cut the cost of that system even more.

Hope this answers all your questions.

does anyone know where to buy the led's mentioned above and the led condoms also?

Was there a particular color you were looking for? The 2 links I included above have all the standard colors and the lc-led link has white and blue colors. Just be sure to order the chip type Surface Mount Device LED's around the 1106 size. you can go 1206 also but the length might be a tighter fit over the pads so it might be difficult to get your soldering iron tip in there. The ones I used are 1210 power top's which are bigger than the 1106 but I still managed to fit them on there without much difficulty.

As for the led condoms I'm not sure how many places carry them anymore because some complained that they melted and others were saying the light became too dark for comfort. I believe someone posted a link on where to get replacement leds in several different colors for the center console portion but I can't seem to find the link. Perhaps anyone reading this can contribute to help hotbox05 out? :D

Alright hotbox05 after some looking around the web, I think I've found what you were looking for.

LED Bulb covers
Autometer Light Bulb Covers

Colored LED replacements:
http://autolumination.com/74.htm (#74 LED)
http://www.superbrightleds.com/1157.htm (second from the bottom)
http://www.lightlens.com/coloredbulbs.htm (last table at the bottom of the page)