[gcue]

Ok - damn! I would love to try this out.

Link

Anyone on here done this? I would love to see some instructions or even some tips on how to do this myself.

 

[Kwiksilver]

i saw that a few days ago. i really like it, but it looks like it might be a little hard on the eyes at night. as much as i'm not too crazy about the amber, i think i see scions point about it being easy on the eyes in the dark. i used to have white face gauges, big change. i think the xA and xB have white face.

 

[Plissken]

I really like that look. I think it would match my car nicely since i have an IIP.

 

[SilverX]

Blue would increase fatigue than Red.

 

[onefunkyfreshdj]

I like it but if you look closely.... you can't see the needle at night

 

[basilisk4]

The blue light is fine -- I have very similar light from my light kit. If it becomes too bright, that's what the brightness adjustment knob is for. Oh, and I don't see why the needles couldn't be painted white or red if need be.

 

[mmurcio]

I FOUND THIS IN A DIFFRENT FORUM> THIS IS AWESOME

I checked into this when I first got my tC then gave up for a while. Then I saw another another tC owner did exactly what I was thinking (Scion Life thread).
I ordered my LEDs last week, Heres ther ones you want http://www.lc-led.com/View/itemNumber/98

I bought a 20watt/40watt $20 solder iron, some solder, and solder sucker (Didn't really need the solder sucker).

Removed the guage cluster from the car (2 Minute job, just pull on black edge trim, remove one screw, pull out, disconnect plug.)

Pulled apart the assembly. I made marks with tape and an ink pen to where the needles should go back. Then removed the LED's and replaced them one at a time I replaced only the one responsible for lighting the dials, not the warning lights. I heated up one side of the LED's to be removed and lifted them slightley off the board. I repated that on the other side of the LED so it would fall off the board. Then I smoothed out the pad with the solder iron. I place a new one on the pad with a pair of tweezers and re-soldered one side, the the other. There are 14 in the guage cluster. The LED's have a very small cut-off on one corner, that is the side that goes in the direction of the arrow on the pc board. Do one and then you can test it if you like, just to make sure you have the right orientation.
BTW, I chose to leave my needles orange.
Put it all back together and pop a cold beer. Turn on the lights, give yourself a pat on the back.
I will do the console next week then add instruction to my webpage.

I wouldn't try this unless you have some PCB soldering expierience. I did the guages in about 1.5 hours (Watching ESPN Sunday night football)




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[mmurcio]

WAIT I COULDN"T PUT IN THE PIC GO TO THIS WEBSITE
http://www.clubsciontc.com/modules.php?nam...ic&t=1863#17727

 

[Repo1981]

ok, here's my install.

http://www.clubsciontc.com/modules.php?nam...c&p=24664#24664

 

[superchargedscion]

That looks awsome i keep on seeing this and it makes me want to do it more and more. Im just afraid of opening everything up and messing things up.i guess its becuase i baby this car, i ripped apart my old mitsubishi like it was nothing but i had an elecrical problem once and i had to pay 1000 to get it fixed....

 

[yellot00tr]

i just went blue on my guages also. looks so much better. the only complaint some people were having was that they thought the blue was too dim. i don't think it's dim at all. anything brighter and it'd hurt your eyes. i gotta do the temp guage console and clock next just don't wanna break the lcd display on the clock. cheap mod, looks awesome. my friend helped me do it-total cost $75.

 

[Repo1981]

I think that the issue with the dimness was on the ac console, Not the gauges, cuz i agree with you....the blue is very bright. But the bulbs for the ac panel use 2.2 volts as opposed to the gauges, which use 3.2V, so it causes dimness. I haven't done the mod yet....Looking for a link to get the right led's for it. Good luck

 

[DarF]

Where did you get the blue LED lights to solder into the instument guage circuit board. I can't read my instrument panel during twilight hours. It is the only aspect of the car I don't like. Help

 

[peglegskier]

here's my interior i just finished up, complete with mainly white gauges, blue accents (including all the warning/"idiot" lights), blue needles, and custom blue under-dash lights that beat to the music! the HVAC knob now fades all the way from blue to red, instead of blue to amber to red. next project is the head unit, then the dome/map lights, cubby light, and maybe i'll put a light in the glove box (why isn't there one in there?).

see all my mods

 

[shroomlad]

I've just finished my ac console lastnight and I noticed how dim they ended up being. I used the same leds as my gauges. As mentioned earlier the ac leds are operating on a lower voltage but I noticed they are in series with each other splitting up the available voltage. I desoldered 2 of the 3 leds for the lcd screen and tacked a wire across so I would be lighting only that led It was really bright so I went through the board following the traces and cutting the traces from one led to the next for all the dim ones. After all that I cut some 26g wire and put the leds in parallel. This works great they are really bright now.

 

[peglegskier]

i was dissappointed in the brightness of my climate control lights as well... hmm.. wire them in parallel... i might just have to try that!

 

[kse36cf87]

hey im new here and im trying to change my guages to blue but all the stuff i read on this forum just scares me away. I have a quick question. If I soldered stuff before like putting in new pick-ups in my guitar, will i have a lot of trouble with the LEDs. And does anyone have a picture of just the LEDs before you install them?

 

[engifineer]

Originally posted by peglegskier@Jun 9 2006, 05:34 AM
i was dissappointed in the brightness of my climate control lights as well... hmm.. wire them in parallel... i might just have to try that!

I created a fix for this in 05. If you are still needing to fix this let me know. It requires some redesign of the stock circuit, but my design makes the balance out nicely with the gauges and keeps the power supply on the board running within spec.