modding gen 5 dash lights

[migoreng]

well its holidays now and i'm planning to get some mods done. theres a guide in the sticky for changing the stock gen 5 orange colour guage lights.

http://www.sounddomain.com/member_pa...257&page=6

and what did i happen to see last night? the same car as mine. a gen 5 camry sportivo driving past my house as i was reversing out of my driveway in my van and there was some noticable blue thing inside...at first i thought it was some blue neon...the van is high so i could see inside. anyway i tried to catch up and they slowed down for a turn and i manged to get a glance...the guy had changed his gauge lights to blue and it was bloody bright...

do you guys have any idea why it was so bright? it looked like a neon. the area surrounding the silver guages was lit up. it was glowing or is that the nature of blue lights? or maybe he could have had those EL wires around the dash which flooded out the stock orange lights..i couldn't really tell properly.

the guide shows that i need a certain type of LED - EA3528PBC blue LED. what exactly are the specs of these LEDs and are there any alternatives? anyone in australia have any idea if theseshould be available here at dick smith electronics, jaycar.com.au in bankstown sydney or any other places? i know nothing about LED voltages etc so i need some help choosing the correct ones.

my friend will actually be helping me with the soldering and stuff cause i can't solder. he is pretty experienced with electronics i think so yeah but i would still need help getting the correct LEDs.

do you guys think the above guide is complete? is there anything else i should i know or any tips? such as a more clearer description of how to exactly take out the tacho and speedo needles so i don't manage to break one haha but i'm gonna be really careful anyway. i'll fill up my petrol tank, but i'll top it up at the petrol station thats near my friends house so i the fuel needle can be as high as possible as the guy mentioned in the guide.

or do you guys think i should get another colour such as white or red? my current head unit is a pioneer deh 7650 which is mostly blue so i think blue would match nicely. i'm also trying to find a blue film to change the clock display to blue like the guy also did in his guide.

thanks for any sugguestions and help.

[terrynham]

Originally Posted by migoreng

do you guys think i should get another colour such as white or red?

if you wanted White, then you could just buy a new gauge off the Gen5.5 Sportivos , because they are white

anyway good luck with the mod

[migoreng]

lol too expensive. i think 5 LEDs for $20 or whatever, a whole day and the help of my friend is much cheaper

[Mikey21]

I'm also planning on doing this mod. I was assuming that the dimmer switch would still be able to control the brightness of the control panel. ???

If you find a source for the blue film let me know.

Thanx,
Mike

[migoreng]

yeah probably. but you gotta get the proper LEDs as they have different brightness or something. i think they are rated something like 5000k or 7000k, ultra brights etc...

i just sent my friend the specs sheet of the LED mentioned in the guide and he will try to find ones that can be bought locally.

yeah i'll go ahead with the blue dash lights and but isn't the blue film also known as celephane paper? the colourful transparanent sheets we used to use in primary school to decorate stuff my sister is in year 5 so she should be able to find something at school.

[88 LE]

Originally Posted by migoreng

yeah probably. but you gotta get the proper LEDs as they have different brightness or something. i think they are rated something like 5000k or 7000k, ultra brights etc...

LEDs are rated in mcd (milli candela). The higher the mcd, the brighter they are.

I ordered some blue leds from lsdiodes (http://lsdiodes.com).

45 cents each and $2 shipping to anywhere in the world.

[migoreng]

here is the link for the specs

http://www.eled.com/data/spec/EA3528PBC.PDF

can anyone tell me what is different about these LEDs? i don't understand anything in the above specs sheet. i just want to know about it in simple terms...is it a special type or something? what is the size of the LED such as 5mm?. do they run off 12V like those LED windscreen washers? etc

thanks

[88 LE]

Originally Posted by migoreng

here is the link for the specs

http://www.eled.com/data/spec/EA3528PBC.PDF

can anyone tell me what is different about these LEDs?

Their surface mount leds. Meaning that they lay on top of a circuit board and are soldered down.

The ones in the link I gave you are just normal leds. The legs go through holes in a circuit board and are soldered on the backside. IE: through hole mount.

i don't understand anything in the above specs sheet. i just want to know about it in simple terms...is it a special type or something? what is the size of the LED such as 5mm?. do they run off 12V like those LED windscreen washers? etc

Size = 3.5 x 2.8 mm

mcd = 60. So their not bright at all

VF (forward voltage) = 3.65V.


And no you can't run them directly off 12V, they'll explode. You need to use a resistor in series with the led.

How to wire them up:

http://lsdiodes.com/tutorial


Resistor calculator:

http://metku.net/index.html?sect=vie...calc/index_eng

[VVT-i Owns]

You can use any surface mounted LED that is the right size.