Switch colour service - not currently taking orders

[MonkeyVR6 0]

Woah, I bet this looks really, really cool. Whats the score on getting my whole interior done (bar the heater controls which seem to be a problem)? I live in Germany, so would it be a case of posting you a switch a week-at-a-time (for example) and then simply placing it back into my dashboard once you had converted it to a blue LED and posted it back to me?!

 

Or another approach, I'm back in Cambridge (not too far away from Surrey) late December, how much to do the whole interior in a oner? (t'internet isn't working at home, so apologies in advance if its not a speedy reply)

[JMC 0]

Woo hoo, blue and white leds have arrived, so I can start on the heater controls and anyone who wants blue (or white)switches :D

[Andy665 0]

My switches arrived back today - great service and was kept updated all the way down the line - switches look so much better with the blue LEDs

[JMC 0]

My switches arrived back today - great service and was kept updated all the way down the line - switches look so much better with the blue LEDs

 

Cool, glad you like them Andy :D The LEDs give a more intense blue than I was expecting - it's really vibrant.

[JMC 0]

I have had a go at making an early heater control and tried it in the car (see below). Nice even illumination - please excuse the wobbly picture, never easy taking pics in the dark. The only issue at the moment is that it only really works when the dimmer is set to full power (the leds are less tolerant of low voltages than bulbs are). What do people normally do - do they run this on full power, or dipped most of the time? Anyway, and feedback would be good folks.

[timg60 0]

Always on full power really. unless i am doing long distances and the ddi's are burning my eyes. Is that just the normal bulb replaced or a new install.

 

Looking great. Will have to get it sent off to you after the switches aare done..

[JMC 0]

Always on full power really. unless i am doing long distances and the ddi's are burning my eyes. Is that just the normal bulb replaced or a new install.

 

Looking great. Will have to get it sent off to you after the switches aare done..

 

Cheers Tim. Nooooo, it is not just a bulb replacement. It took about 4 hours work to do that in total. The power socket needs modifying to accept wires for the leds. There are 8 leds mounted in the back of the heater control, then white paper (acts as a diffuser), and then custom made icons sheets. Attached below is a pic of the back of it, and I did a lot to make it nice and neat. Being realistic these are going to be £30 plus postage, and like the switches it will have to be a case of sending them in for modding. For that though I will work with people to get the colour scheme they want for the icons sheets.

[timg60 0]

Worth every penny. Will be def getting you to do mine next month. A vast improvement on the old one. :clap:

[JMC 0]

Worth every penny. Will be def getting you to do mine next month. A vast improvement on the old one. :clap:

 

Cheers mate. This would work well with the old icon sheet if people want to keep the original green illumination too, so could be seen as just a standard upgrade to the typical lighting setup.

[JMC 0]

I came across colour change leds while hunting around and thought I would post it up. These cycle between blue, red and green, again and again, and I managed to find a video of what they look like (down near the bottom of this link)...

 

http://www.dansdata.com/gz065.htm

 

Now I know this will be very polarising - some will love it some will hate it, but I can do switches with these if anyone is interested :D

 

Just to let everyone know I a still working on a early slider heater prototype. At the moment (as you can see from a few post back) it lights up fine, but I need to tweked the mounting of it - at the moment the wires seem to be catching on the plastic of the dash. Will keep you all posted.

[timg60 0]

Many thanks Jon.

 

Really quick and a great finished look. Major major improvement over the original.

Out , done and back in in a week.

 

Tim

[Andy665 0]

I'm definitely up for an early heater control setup once you're ready to accept orders

[timg60 0]

+2

[JMC 0]

Indeed guys. One thing I have done today is ordered an EL sheet (as outlined in Kips thread). The idea here is that it could run off the spare output from the DDI gauges if you have them (cuts down on wiring and bulk). I will also see how that works out. I am going to be away for a bit now, but will update on the heater controls when I get back.

[the delta force 0]

Jonathan did my switches too and I'm :D

 

Still waiting to fit my electric window kit, so can't take any of the window switches but here is a picture of the fog and rear window heater switches.

 

I'll be getting the heater controls done next....

 

Thank you

[JMC 0]

Cool, cheers for the feedback Stefan :D

[Leonard 0]

Can you do (dare I say) green ones? :D

 

Fitted my new Alpine stereo and it is about 100 x greener than my switches LOL

[JMC 0]

Can you do (dare I say) green ones? :D

 

Fitted my new Alpine stereo and it is about 100 x greener than my switches LOL

 

 

Funnily enough I can - I have in some green leds for another job so can do those. They will definately be brighter than the original ones as these LEDs are pretty good. If you're interested, drop me a PM and I can give you my details....

[Leonard 0]

Ok cool got a few bigger fish to fry at the mo but will be in touch

 

Thanks

 

Matt

[JMC 0]

Ok cool got a few bigger fish to fry at the mo but will be in touch

 

Thanks

 

Matt

 

Ok, cheers Matt.

[JMC 0]

Right folks a quick update on the early heater controls situation... I've been looking at 2 ways of illuminating these. Firstly the LED route, and secondly using electroluminescent (EL) sheet like on the DDI dials (and as KipVR has done for the later style controls).

 

[strike:29g92z2f]I've made and tested the LED version. Good points - 50x better than the original, doesn't require any extra wiring, relatively cheap to do. Bad points - only works when the variable illumination is set to it's highest value, or just off it (i.e. it doesn't dim gradually in the same way that a light bulb will), needs very slight modification to the plastic behind the control to allow the wires to clear (few mm removal thats all).[/strike:29g92z2f] UPDATE - Given the time to make these I will no longer be offering the LED versions as of Mar 09.

 

I've got the EL sheet, and will be mocking up a heater control with it in the next few days. Good points - 100x better than the original, dims like a light bulb and has very even illumination, works off the DDI inverter if you already have DDI dials (so no need for another inverter). Bad points - cost (alot more expensive than the LED route), not just plug and play if you need to wire in the inverter (not difficult but you'll need to snip and solder a couple of wires), also if you haven't got the DDI dials you have the extra cost of the inverter (included in the pricing below).

 

Now don't get me wrong here, the bad points are very minor, but I wanted people to be aware of the differences.

 

As for costs - given the work involved you're looking at the following (but bear in mind you'll get custom colours on the icon sheet for this)...

 

[strike:29g92z2f]LED version - £30[/strike:29g92z2f]

 

EL sheet version (without inverter) - £50

 

EL version with inverter - £60

 

Postage is extra but will be at cost (couple of quid). As with the switches it is a case of shipping your controls to me and then I can turn them round in a couple of days. Drop me a PM if you have any questions :D

[JMC 0]

Just been out and took a picture of the EL sheet version of my heater control design and boy am I chuffed :D. It isn't as bright as the LED version (see a couple of pages back for comparison), but does dim gradually like the bulbs. I need to readjust my x100 better in the last post - more like a x1000 better :lol: . Also this one is running off the spare output of the DDI so there is no need for its own inverter. Anyway, I'm now able to take orders on both styles folks...

[the delta force 0]

I think I prefer the EL sheet version...

 

Will PM you...

[TomD 0]

Hi!

 

I've managed to do all my switches except the heater panel which I realised is a complete mission!

 

I'd like the LED one but my LEDs are all blue as they match the stereo illumination so...

 

...Is it possible to do the standard icon sheet but with blue illumination on the power dial, blue on the position slider incons and red on the line, and then blue fading to red on the heat slider with a blue square and a red square

 

Basically the same colours as the EL one up there but with blue instead of clear and LEDs not EL!

 

One more thing - is it possible to change the Lighter illumination - yours is red but i'm guessing thats off an audi? Might be the way to go!

 

Cheers!

Tom

[vwdeviant 0]

Jon, does the LED white version light up the actual controls better?

 

Also does anyone have a spare fan knob and heater sliders? I feel an experiment with GITD paint coming on! :lol: