Changing VDO backlighting

[herisites 0]

Hi all,

 

I have used the search and there is no end on fitting VDO gauges in the centre console however what i want to know is?

 

1) Are they lit up by LED's or Bulbs?

 

2) If LED's what voltage ones - 12v or low volt (3v or 5v etc)?

 

3) What is involved with changing the back lighting? Difficult?

 

Cheers,

 

Rob.

[ben16v 0]

i think riley did this a while ag involves cutting the back of the gauge off, think he said it was tricky but doable, check his gallery

[herisites 0]

Ok cheers mate.

 

Neil (Riley) can you confirm this? :D

[Lippy 0]

thought you may get away with high brightness LED/bulbs to overpower the filter - would be interested to know myself

[steve @ 0]

The bulbs are clear. The gauges have an orange background/filter. You need to cut open the gauge and lightly sand the orange filter off, then just fit green bulbs or use green bulb/glass paint.

[herisites 0]

Ok thanks mate :)

[Steve16v 0]

I have done this... I also changed the needles from Red to white to match in with the needles on my 1990 Corrado

 

Easy enough job.. just be careful... especially when pulling the needle and face away from the gauge unit... you will need to do this for removing the face so that you can sand the orange tint away. I have some green bulbs and 12V LED's left over that fit the standard lighting loom, PM me if you need some

[herisites 0]

Yes yours is the one i saw mate with the white needles, looks superb! Was it hard to do? Did you do a How To?

[Steve16v 0]

Cheers mate... I didn't get around to a how to guide..... Is it just the set of 3 gauges that you have? If possible find a knackered one and practice on it.

 

 

This is for the standard Audi 80 gauges with orangle back light illumination.

 

1. Run a strip of masking tape approximately 1 Inch areound the white back case of the gauge so that one side of the strip is tight in against the black face ring and the other side forms an edge about 5mm from the end of the case. What you effectively have is a ring going around the back of the case 5 or so mil from the connector side.

 

2. Get a Dremel or similar multi-tool and fir it with a cutting disk. I used a little 0.5mm thick metal serated disk. Basically a scaled down circular saw.

 

3. Gently cut around the case using the edge of the tape as a guide. The plastic is about 1.5mm thick in most points but the careful not to go too deep as one section is only about 0.5mm deep, this is where the gauge mechanism itself is, it it protected by a metal casing... but I still wouldn't like to be cutting into it

 

4. Once the plastic is cut gently prise the gauge mechanism and dial holding part of the gauge out from inside the main part of the white casing.

 

5. You will then need to remove the face from the gauge mechanism. undo the 2 screws, to protect the paint on the screws I put some masking tape on the tip of the flat screwdriver. The face is then free but you won't be able to remove it fully beacuse of the gauge needle.

 

6. There is no easy way of saying this but you are now at the point of no return. The face and needle will have to be pulled away from the gauge mechanism. I have that the best way of removing the needle is buy holding the face and the light direction plastic (you will know what this is when you open up the gauge) and pulling them away from the mechanism along the axis of the needle. This will spread the force evenly across the needle and avoid the shaft being damaged or bent.

 

7. It is then just a simple case of sanding off the orange tint on the back of the face and re-assembling. DO NOT used super glue when putting the 2 parts of the case back together!! Use something like Aroldite that won't give off fumes that stick to the moisture in your finger prints. (I did it one and I very quickly learned my lesson)

 

Hope this helps, let me know if you need any more tips

 

Please excuse the terrible photo, but you get the idea how mine have turned out.

 

[The Hub 0]

Cheers for this Steve16v, just received a set of the Audi gauges today and this will come in very helpful :) Maybe it should be put in the Wiki?

PM sent about bulbs and LED's

[herisites 0]

Yeah thanks very much for that Steve will come in very helpful. Did you change the bulb/led with green? If i want mine to light up bright white like my DDI dials what would i need to use?

 

Cheers,

 

Rob.

[Steve16v 0]

Yeah I changed the bulb.. when you sand off the filter the backlight is clear... make sure to use a fine sandpaper.. something like 600 grit. You can then change the standard bulb to whatever you want be it normal clear or possibly an LED in your case. all the bulbs are readily available on e-bay, it is the 5mm wedge base that you are after

 

Ebay LED's

 

Hope this helps

[herisites 0]

Thanks mate thats brilliant and thanks for the link. I will be fitting them this weekend hopefully so will have a go!

[Steve16v 0]

Get them fitted and working first.. then you can start on modifying them to your taste. I think I would avoid using ultra-bright LED's they might standout too much. Let us know how you get on anyways.

[herisites 0]

Yeah i will fit them and get them working first definately. I dont want them too bright i just want them to light up white using a bright white bulb as normal bulbs just light up yellow and dull

[Steve16v 0]

Well sure once you get to that stage it is just trial and error with the bulbs to see what type gives the best effect... good luck with it anyways.

 

Just on how the Gauges fit in with the dash... a mate of mine brought a Rado over here recently with the standard centre console in it. When one of my mates got into it it shocked him to remember that there had actually been an ashtray in my car at one stage. When done right I think fitting these gauges looks very OE

[herisites 0]

Yeah they do look superb and very OE, i will certainly take my time with them to get to look as good as possible. I need to get one of those dremmels though i think!

[Steve16v 0]

A hacksaw will do the job... I just found the dremel to be quicker and give a better cut... A sanding head on the dremel is also very handy when removing the last few bits out of the centre console

[herisites 0]

Well i will see if i know anyone with a drmel as im not buying one just to do this :lol: if not i will just use a hacksaw and a file :D Cheers again for your help, much appreciated!

 

Rob.

[fla 9]

2.5 years on... how do you remove the orange tint on the back of the dials? It just looks like another layer and i'm worried about taking off the dial face as well. I prised open the black face ring from the front so that will be pushed on again.

[davidwort 0]

depends on the gauge type, the early ones had a plastic orange filter that can be cut out in a couple of pieces, the later ones (as said earlier in this thread) require the orange layer of paint to be sanded away.

It's all a bit tricky from what I recall, mostly the bit you've done, carefully prising the black ring face away.

[fla 9]

I'll post a pic of my dials later as i cant see the orange film, only when white light is shone through it

[fla 9]

In fact whilst we're here, could anyone do a version of the dials in photoshop in the same font as 'Andi's White Dials'? I'll post up the existing dial measurements later today or over the weekend. Would be greatly appreciated, in black, with white text.

[fla 9]

here are the pics of the dials, plus the orange tinge on the back. I've included a shot of the other two gauges. The diameter of the black gauge face is 48mm, if anyone is able to do the 'Andi's white dials' font. There is aslo a scanned shot of the volts gauge, whioch is measured as 48mm dia.