Thanks!!! It was fun to do but I'm glad I have soldering experience. That is not a job for an amateur. You earn what you charge to do it!

Thanks for the tips you've posted on other threads! Those helped me too.

 

i'm sooo doing this, i absolutely hate the orange! but if i change the clock, i'll want to do the head unit too. how difficult is it? anyone got some super whites laying around? if i went blue, then i'd have to do the speedometer too and i'm to lazy for that. ha ha

 

You're too lazy to do the speedo, but talking about doing the HU...
Wait 'til you find out that the radio is around 40 LEDs that are less than half the size of the 1106s used in the clock! Doing the stock HU is tedious work. If you are not SUPER-skilled with a solder iron, then send it off to Squallheart or WhiteBlazer. They'll take care of you!

 

well, i'm wanting a screen and seperate player combo to put in, guess ill just have to deal with the hu orange until then.

 

well... even so, i've done aftermarket HUs to match the rest of the car too..

but yeah.... i would say it's not worth it to change leds and spend the money on the stock HU... i keep telling people that.

better to save and spend it on an aftermarket one that performs better.

but uhmm.. yeah.. those 0603s in the headunit... errr.... tedious indeed...


just a size comparison... note.. the ruler is metric.

 

I have done the mod to my clock with the white 1106's and I find the intensity too much.

These are the units I used. The work great in the steering wheels controls.

http://www.lc-led.com/View/itemNumber/97


I have four bright leds across the clock now. Back in the day with car alarms we used to put the led on the belt sander to diffuse the pattern. Not much there to do on the 1106's. I have heard of people using wax paper and even scotch tape to try to diffuse the pattern. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,


Kirby

Thank goodness my clock no longer looks like the dash of a mid 80's pontiac Transam. What is up with the horrible orange.

 

First of all, you can change the current limiting resistors values to change the LED brightness. That''s what I did. I don't recall the value but it took some experimentation to get the right brightness.

Then IIRC, I found some frosted plastic sheet (about 0.005") thick which I formed into an upside down V shape and placed over the LEDS. This type of diffuser is used in certain flat panel backlit LCD laptop screens. My clock display is now pretty evanly lit (in white).

 

So, just to recap... how many LEDs do I need to do the gauges and the clock. So far, I am coming up with about 16.
4 - clock
4 - gauge
12 - the other lights.

Do they all use 1106 or 1206? Or do I need another size?

What about the xB's HVAC? (or does it even have one?) I have a tC, and I am testing this out for a friend. I just need to make sure I have the right parts.

 

here is my clock, i wanted to do white but couldnt find white leds at the time. i also did my radio, which by the way is a pain in the a**, but well worth it.

 

the only 1206s are the 4 in the clock... the others are plcc sized

as far as the hvac, they are two halogen bulbs, which when switched out to leds... won't look good. i usually suggest purchasing oznium's flex led strips and wire them behind the hvac and do it that way.

 

Ok, thanks Trung

 

Those aren't halogen (or extra bright) bulbs - just plain incadescent bulbs.

I disagree on LEDs there not looking good. I uses 2 10,000mcd white LEDs and it looks just fine to me. Granted I shaved the LEDs and painted the inside of that entire cavity white. But it looks pretty good to me.

Check out:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...827291#1827291

If you want more info on what I did, start at:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...797821#1797821

 

me too, only I didn't use any paint. The pic's not very good, but...

 

tagged

 

Does anyone know if I can color the LEDs with a sharpie?

 

Nope... you can't.

 

you can but it won't last too long.

 

I'm pretty sure it wouldn't even make a noticeable difference.

 

watching saving

 

actually before I swapped out the leds in my speedo I used blue sharpie over the leds and it worked for about a week.