LED dash kits.

[POPEYE]

Ahem !!!

At present said gauges are on sale at $59.99


Trev

Cheers Trev, I think Chris (Caosindevon) is going to order two sets at end of
month or begining of Feb, We were not sure if these sets included bulbs as
well, I would still like to get the white gauges but wont need the bulbs as im
doin em meself, That price is looking good though, I'll be in touch, Ian,

[POPEYE]

If this is of any help Dave, Show's you what the back of the heater looks
like and the very small bulbs and holders, I think the replacement led ones will
stick out to far (the right hand one) and foul the slider mech, Ian

[Dave_bax]

If this is of any help Dave, Show's you what the back of the heater looks
like and the very small bulbs and holders, I think the replacement led ones will
stick out to far (the right hand one) and foul the slider mech, Ian

Top draw Ian, thank you very much.

Ok i thought that each air vent button had its own bulb or LED, but am i right in presuming that thier is just the two on the rear (the two large black holes in pic-1 with the silver contact visable) of the pcb board.

[POPEYE]

Top draw Ian, thank you very much.

Ok i thought that each air vent button had its own bulb or LED, but am i right in presuming that thier is just the two on the rear (the two large black holes in pic-1 with the silver contact visable) of the pcb board.

Yep thats it two bulbs They light (via two clear plastic prisems? if thats the right word) the slide controlls and the symbols on the push buttons, The
small green and one amber lights on the push buttons are lit seperatly by
indiveual leds and come on when the button is pushed, Im leaving these alone
as there's not much you can do with em, Although they arnt the problem, Its the two bulbs that are dim, Reccon i can get 6 colours and 2 white into each of those holes (3mm leds) as long as i insulate the tails and keep em out the way of the slides, That should light the ba$tard up,
Its difficult to see from the pics but there is very little room between the pcb
and the slide controll less that a 1/4" i think, The pcb visible in the second pic
is where i cut a section of ABS out the back to run the tails up and out of the
way of the slides, The bulb socket is just below that,
This is why i'm going for the leds as once done i wont have to bugger about
with it again, You never know with ordinary bulbs, Imagine going to all this
trouble and the fu***er blows the week after AAAGGG Ian

[Morr]

On my heater control panel I soldered regular LED's & separate resistors directly to the contact pads for the two bulbs. However the ones I used are far too directional and do not illuminate the panel properly, replacing these is on the ever increasing "to do" list.
The push buttons I also changed, these had LED's originally so were just a straight swap. I used some hyperbright ones, which in retrospect are a little too bright, but they're OK. When opening the buttons you can simply prise off the outer button to gain access, be careful to ensure however that the button is in the "out" position first, or the internal mechanism can be damaged.
I also fitted them to my ECT & suspension switch etc, very, very, fiddly to do.

Bare in mind that this is on a 3rd Gen, whilst I assume you've got a 2nd Gen, could be some differences... (Hint, put your year or model type into your profile, go on, give us a clue which you have )



I got my LED's from www.lsdiodes.com


There is a pic of my heater panel on the main site under owners rigs section here

[That Ruddy Squirrel]

Cheers Trev, I think Chris (Caosindevon) is going to order two sets at end of
month or begining of Feb, We were not sure if these sets included bulbs as
well, I would still like to get the white gauges but wont need the bulbs as im
doin em meself, That price is looking good though, I'll be in touch, Ian,

They do not come with bulbs, however, the numbering itself lights up


Trev

[Dave_bax]

Bare in mind that this is on a 3rd Gen, whilst I assume you've got a 2nd Gen, could be some differences... (Hint, put your year or model type into your profile, go on, give us a clue which you have )

Thanks Morr, profile updated.

I think i need to get some of these switches off and have a look. Sounds like a really fiddly job to swap these lights. Has to be done though as they are really dull at the moment.

I have ordered the LED's that Bushwacker suggested for the dash and once im in at the switches i will better be able to see what options i have.

I'll try and get some decent pictures of this as well, before and after etc.

[POPEYE]

Hi Maurice, Interested to learn that you up graded the lights in some of your switches, Most of mine are very dim especially the door switches, If you dont mind me asking are they leds in them already or did you upgrade to leds? Are
they something like the modular switches from Vehicle Wireing Products
which look about the same size as the surf ones, The ones that you can
chose which switch set up you req and add the light & symbol lense etc,
I dont mind fiddley as long as the switch internals dont shoot out all over
the place, Regards Ian.

[Morr]

Hi Maurice, Interested to learn that you up graded the lights in some of your switches, Most of mine are very dim especially the door switches, If you dont mind me asking are they leds in them already or did you upgrade to leds? Are
they something like the modular switches from Vehicle Wireing Products
which look about the same size as the surf ones, The ones that you can
chose which switch set up you req and add the light & symbol lense etc,
I dont mind fiddley as long as the switch internals dont shoot out all over
the place, Regards Ian.

The door switch's I didn't do.
I did the ECT, suspension, spoiler mirror and rear window ones. They were certainly not an easy modular setup, with several different types of construction used between them. I think one of them may have used an led originally (not sure now) but they mainly used bulbs. Even the bulbs they used varied from switch to switch, from similar to the ones behind the heater panel in a plastic push and twist clip to ones on long (1") legs to get the light to where it was needed. Fitting the led and a resistor was very tight and fiddly indeed. Also the switch's are not really designed to be disassembled, so you do indeed have to watch for internal contacts etc flying out on dismantling.

[POPEYE]

The door switch's I didn't do.
I did the ECT, suspension, spoiler mirror and rear window ones. They were certainly not an easy modular setup, with several different types of construction used between them. I think one of them may have used an led originally (not sure now) but they mainly used bulbs. Even the bulbs they used varied from switch to switch, from similar to the ones behind the heater panel in a plastic push and twist clip to ones on long (1") legs to get the light to where it was needed. Fitting the led and a resistor was very tight and fiddly indeed. Also the switch's are not really designed to be disassembled, so you do indeed have to watch for internal contacts etc flying out on dismantling.

Thanks Maurice, They do sound a bit awkward to do, I'll have a go though,
If the worst comes to worst and i buggar it up i can probably replace with
VWP switches, One thing i forgot to ask, Is it ok to shorten the tails on leds and resistors if needs be? Its the first time i've used led's, Just wish i'd used them on the RC battleship lighting, Used grain of wheat bulbs on that which are more prone to blowing, Many thanks for the info, Ian

[BUSHWHACKER]

No problem with shortening the LEDs or resistors, as they can be soldered directly to circuitboards with only the boards thickness on the legs.

er............. does that make sense????

[Morr]

Just remember before your shorten the legs .... LED's are polarity sensitive, ie you must connect the positive and negative leads correctly. These are usually denoted by the length of the leads, so take note before you cut!
Some LEDS have this denoted by a flat on the edge, but most go by lead length.
The flat side or short leg should be negative.

If you mix em up, just do a test before you fit em, reversing the polarity won't harm them, they simply won't work, don't forget to use the resisters even if just testing in this way. Alternatively, you can keep one untrimmed for reference and look thru the encapsulation at the components inside to keep the orientation the same as your reference piece.

[POPEYE]

Once again many thanks, Yes mate i understand the pos neg set up, Also
understand excessive heat can damage them so i'm going to use heatsink
tweezers when soldering and heating heatshrink sleeves, Just wasn't sure about shortning, Its sods law! Ive been waiting about a week now for the
resistors i ordered from phenoptics so decided to run into portsmouth today
and get some from maplins, Got an email when i got back to say there on their
way, At least i'll have plenty of em eh!
Thanks very much mate youve been very helpfull, Regards Ian,

[POPEYE]

No problem with shortening the LEDs or resistors, as they can be soldered directly to circuitboards with only the boards thickness on the legs.

er............. does that make sense????

Yes mate it does, Cheers, Ian

[Dave_bax]

Ian, i just stripped the heater matrix down today while i swapped my stereo out ....What a job, i checked the bulbs out and agree the bulb in front of the heater slider mechanism (for want of a better word) wont take the 501 replacement LED's that Bushwacker was talking about.

But good news (i hope) when i removed the bulb and housing it looks like the bulb just sits in the plastic with the legs folded around the flange to make contact with the PCB board when inserted, if i'm right here then these LED's from Maplin (I know, young snot alert)...

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...&ForceUpdate=Y

..Will probably sit right in. They are for 12v DC and have built in resistors. I'm gonna make a trip to farnbourough tomorrow and grab some, i will test fit in the rear window heater switch which has the same fitting and bulb.

I'll let you know, if all is OK as theses may fit the ECT, and other switches.