Anyone sat in an 05" Accord or Civic...

[mystickid]

Anyone who has sat inside or owns a 05" Accord or civic will know about this.


The interior Guage cluster of the 05" Accord & civic are lit up with white Leds on the guages and a bright reddish-orange Needle.

Man this needle glows like crazy, its Like hot orange color. I don't know if they put an LED strip in the needle itself but its truly bright.


In my Gen 4 Cluster I colored the stock white needles with an Orange sharpie Marker. It looks great in the day, bright and orangy. However, at night, the orange is Dim because not too much light from the cluster leaks into the needle to make it so bright.


SO anyway, I wanted to ask if there is any kind marker, or paint out there that when applied and light hits it or shines through it, it reflects back bright vivid color. You guys have heard of colors like hot green, hot pink, hot blue, hot orange etc. right.

I want the effect similar to like how when a Black light shines on the color orange, the orange becomes really bright and vivd. Is there such a paint, marker, spray to brighten colors???


Here is my guage now

[leasaunce]

hey mate,

thats nice!! how did you do the needle red???

I did exactly like yours but all in WHITE. I was trying to do something like this lexus Gauge

[mystickid]

Leasaunce,


I just used and Orange colored Sharpie™ marker and colored the Needles. Now I just need them to light up brightly. In the day they looks fantastic.

[terrastrife]

use a brighter bulb for the needle.

[mystickid]

Is there a seperate bulb directly under the neddle that lights the Needle up ???

When i opened up my cluster, I didn't unscrew and take apart the actual black guages.

I just turned the cluster around to the back and changed the 5 large 194 wedge bulbs to LEDs.

[Hawkeye-SE]

Originally Posted by mystickid

Is there a seperate bulb directly under the neddle that lights the Needle up ???

No. terrastrife doesn't know what he is talking about (again).

You may want to check out this site: http://www.importcarpartsplus.com/Needles.htm They do not list the gen 4 explicitly, but you can probably get some answers about something that will work for you.

[terrastrife]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye-SE

No. terrastrife doesn't know what he is talking about (again).

You may want to check out this site: http://www.importcarpartsplus.com/Needles.htm They do not list the gen 4 explicitly, but you can probably get some answers about something that will work for you.

wtf ar eyou on.

there is a light inside the swivel bit (center) of each needle. its a bitch to get to but its there.

i only know of one person on these forums who has actually changed the bulbs for the needles.

[leasaunce]

on the GEN 4 Camry Gauge theres only 1 Bulb for each panel (eg; 1 Bulb for the Km/hr, 1 Bulb for the Tachometer)

So the only way you can make it looks like the Honda is to colour the needle like "Mystickid" did.



^^Thats what mine looks like

[mystickid]

Terrastrife,

Arrite,

So the Needle bulbs are in a Gen 4 camry right. Just wanna make sure before I operate on my guages.

I hope I don'r screw anything up

[Bunthy]

try this website:
superbrightleds.com

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t81747.html

The leds used in that car were the 5 mtraix led bulbs. They look brighter than a standard 194 and other leds I ;ve seen.

Also this website is cheaper then others I've seen.


$22 shipped for (4) white 5-matrix leds.

If you want to make your needles different color, get eth craft paint pen from Micheal's or a similar craft store. Their expensive around $4 for one, but its so easy to use and dries fast.

[mystickid]

See that picture of the Honda guages 3 posts up, thats how i want my needles to be. Bright and vivid ornge-red.

I already markered them orange --> first post at the top, but as u can see, the needles aren't glowing too well except the fuel needle.

can anyone else confirm that there are bulbs directly under the needle in a GEN 4 cluster?????

[AutoBox]

Read this 8+ page detailed post about guages and interior lighting in the camry.
the pics on the first pages are huge -but worth the wait:

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t88355.html


i think someone on TN made all of the guages brighter by fitting refletive material around the back of the circuit panel - but be careful with that cause the guages themselves create a lot of heat.

*note there is a bulb for each needle in the OEM gen 4.5 guages and gen 4 camrys should be the same

[mystickid]

Autobox,

Thanx for the confirmation of the bulb. Do you by chance know what the size of that bulb is (194, 74 etc.)???

[SnakeyeS]

Originally Posted by AutoBox

i think someone on TN made all of the guages brighter by fitting refletive material around the back of the circuit panel - but be careful with that cause the guages themselves create a lot of heat.

That was me

[leasaunce]

To change the Gauge light, you need 5x 194 Bulbs