blue dash lights

[awigman 0]

hi there

im hoping to change the colour of my dash lights to blue, does anybody know where i can get hold of some leds that would fit straight in, and how easy are they to fit?

 

thanx

 

andy

[randal 0]

Henny truly is your man on this one. He's basically done the entire dashboard, with some awesome results. I think the clocks are simple enough, just a case of removing the ol' green ones and soldering the new blues in. The switches were more of a pain, but the end result used a sweet wrapper to get the colour - get yer Quality Street out!

As for sourcing the LED's I know of one or two places, but try http://www.kustompcs.co.uk for starters. Failing that RM components http://www.rswww.com should be able to help you.

 

HTH

randal

[crazymarcel 0]

Henny, Do you have any pictures of this, would love too see it.

[randal 0]

Sorry should have said in the last post, Henny has changed the lights - but I don't think the ones on his wagon are blue. I think they are like amber or something. If you do a search there are loads of pics of blue/red clocks/gauges kicking around.

 

sorry bout that

randal

[Gareth 0]

Try this place as they mite have what u are looking for

http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/

[Henny 0]

I've simply done what a few others have done (and Dubster82 has documented well in his profile 8) ) which is to change the light filters in the switches for a different colour... The only LEDs used were in the window and sunroof switches which are normally 3mm green LEDs and I've swapped for red ones... 8) The only bit I've done which not many others have done is to replace part of the LCD screen to reverse the way it works... 8)

 

Blue is an utter sod to do with just standard bulbs and filters so you'll need to use LEDs to get the brightness which is quite tricky to do... I'm playing with a set of MKII G60 clocks at the moment for a mate and trying to get a decent blue illumination to work with not a lot of success... :|

[russg60 0]

talking of dask lights mine dont work does any 1 know where they take the power from ???? :mad:

 

mine are green at the mo with silver preimer perfromance dials looks good when i get them working :D

[Henny 0]

that sounds like the rheostat (variable resistor) on the main lights switch has gone tits up... they do this occasionally... :roll:

 

Take the switch out from the dash (it just pulls out, lever it gently with a flatblade screwdriver) and disconnect it from the multiplug... you can now see the workings of the variable lighting part... check to make sure that the sweep arm is making a good contact, and clean it all with something like WD40 or switch lube, then see if that's any better... 8)

[Red=Fast 0]

i am going to be removing my lights from that all together, should i just remove the bulbs? now that i am going to have reverse glow guages there is no need for lighting there.

[Henny 0]

yup, just pull out the 3 bulbs along the top of the cluster... leave the other 2 in, else you won't be able to see the LCDs at night... ;) 8)

 

The bulbs simply turn to pull out... 8)

[Red=Fast 0]

well, i have the early version of the cluster so i only have 1 of the LCDs. i dont remember if they are back lit or not (because i have not driven my car in over a year) so i need a little refresh. if it is back lit, there should be no reason to keep any lites on it. if it isnt, where are the other two lights that i am going to have to make blue? im going for a blue theme on my car, so i plan on doing the reverse LCD look with blue #'s, and i have blue reverse glow guages, and i also plan on changing all the green lights in the car to blue. let me know.

 

*side note* I SHOULD HAVE MY CAR BACK TOMORROW!!! its been 1 year and 4 months since it was a running/driveable car. as of 2 weeks ago, it is now a RUNNING 2.0L 16v corrado insted of a G60. im going to be getting more bhp out of this N/A engine than i was getting out of my G60. i am quite excited!

[Henny 0]

the LCDs are ALL backlit with a bulb per LCD and a green filter just behind the LCD screen... 8)

[Red=Fast 0]

nice, that should be easy to fix, what do you suggest for getting a blue color of the LCD?

[Henny 0]

dunno... I tried blue briefly using a blue filter (professional lighting gel film) which gave a very nice blue colour, but was no where near bright enough... :| It may be possible to do it this way if you can get hold of some brighter bulbs...

 

I've been playing with a set of MKII golf G60 clocks for a mate using blue LEDs and that seems to work OK, but soldering them onto the circuit board is an utter pain in the ass 'cos it's sooooo easy to over heat the plastic circuit flim and melt it! :|

[Red=Fast 0]

yeah, i was thinking an LED bulb mught be the way to go. i guess i will just have to see when the time comes to tear it apart.

[dubster82 0]

yeah, like i said, but henny found out the hard way :lol: is that blue is really difficult to make work right. gettin it bright enough was usually too light a blue imo, im runnin a perfect shade of blue, to how i want it, tho i wouldnt mind a bit brighter even, tho it is readable. i upgraded the bulbs in my unit tho, and it was really tricky to do that too :mad:

 

Heres a pic of how i did them. and like henny says, theres a lil guide on how to do them in my gallery, found by clicking my sig. :wink:

 

[Henny 0]

ah, the blue on the dials is EASY.... it's the blue LCDs that's the swine.... ;)

[dubster82 0]

yeah, a blue is a piece o cake......

 

that shade of blue was a nightmare :mad:

 

knowing how bright my red screens are and how easy it was to make, a, blue colour, i wouldnt of thgt it would of been any problem with it. :?

[russg60 0]

cheers henny i havent been on for a while and i had a vision this weekend that it could be somthing to do with that and lo and behold it was :D

 

now have my green lights working again with silver and chrome dials looks cool but just need to create a new dial face fro my boost gauge that ive just fitted

thanks again

russ