Just throwing this out there, wondering how many Vic members who want to fit LEDs into their dash and sidepods would be interested in in coming to a tech day. Anyone who has done it before, (sidepods) would be really appreciated if they could make it down and help out. I, for one, have never used a solder, and know little about electronics and stuff. I can get a hold of a huge garage, space for 5/6 cars INSIDE plus about 10 to 15 outside in carpark. If your keen, and serious, please show some interest in this thread, and if it goes well, i'll organise properly with dates and stuff. So far its looking to be around 3 weeks away on a Sunday.... Regards, Elie
Hey mate, Count me in. I've done the lights behind the gauges but not the side pods. I can solder so if we have instructions or diagrams, we could probably do the side pods pretty easily. Dates I'm not free are: - 21, 27 and 28 Nov - 5 December That's it so far - Filling up due to birthdays and christmas parties. Cheers. Cliff
Here are a few tips to anyone who is interested too: - The LEDs are polarity sensitive so you need to make sure you check this when you fit them into the baton or before you solder them in. The best thing to do is fit the bulbs in the batons, reconnect your car battery and turn your lights on to see they actually light up. If they do, you got the polarity right when fitting the bulb. If not, Take the bulb out and switch it around. For the soldered bulbs, I'd imagine you would "dry fit" and turn your lights on to test too. - Keep some super glue handy. While unscrewing parts of your 15 - 20 year old dashboard you're bound to find one or two broken plastic screw mounts. I'd use Zap a Gap (http://www.supergluecorp.com/zap-brand-products) or another professional plastic modeller's cement as this actually melts the plastic parts together - strong stuff. Good tool shops and hobby stores have this. Ask for the strongest possible sh!t to bond plastic. - There's quite a few screws. Keep 'em with the part that they belong to e.g. gauge cluster, a/c pod. This is so you don't lose them and so you know which screw goes where. Easy. - With part of your dashboard off the car, it's a good time to clean your instrument cluster, pods, etc. 15 - 20 years worth of grime!!!
I'd be up for this, only just ordering parts now as I missed the group buy, hopefully it all arrives, if not then I can at least see how its done
exercise a lot of caution when removing the LHS pod housing, specifically the hazard light switch. You'll find the plastic threaded holes for it will be extremely brittle. Fortunately, this not only fastens the hazard switch within the pod housing, but also the bracket that the pod itself clips into. Thus resulting in an inoperable hazard switch and pod that constantly falls out.
I'd be interested. I've got gauge rings different colour speedo, and of course the LED lights that i've been too lazy to install. Keep in mind 3 weeks away is the GOR cruise, so you'd probably want to do it the week b4 or week after? or you could do it on the saturday, But I won't be able to make it
There is a solution for repairing, if you dont want to lash out and buy a new housing. Did it with mine until a new housing came in. It is however, dependant on some of the threaded plastic staying in tact. (both of mine snapped about 10mm into the thread.) 1. Go to Bunnings, or an electrical wholesaler, and get a couple of 6mm Ramset Concrete fasteners. Might pay to get a few to get the depth right. http://www.sydneytools.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=1377&bc=no 2. You will want the fastener, minus the screw, to slide within the snapped thread, so cut off 1 of the legs, but at the height that is required for the hazard light switch to sit at its original depth within the housing. (Hence the requirement for a few as a trial and error). 3. Slide the fastener within the damaged thread, and with a 4(pretty sure, maybe 5mm)x25mm screw, screw the hazard light switch back in. The new, smaller screw will thread against the existing damaged thread and the remaining leg of the fastener, thus holding the hazard switch firmly in place. Make sure your scew is in fact screwing down the threaded hole, and not punching out the side. 4. Refit the pod, and check that the pod clip incorporated in the hazard switch has been set at the correct depth. Its a quick and effective fix for under $5 that will get you back up and running until you decide to order a new pod housing.
What soldering? I just bought them off ebay and the base is the same as the globes in there and just fit strait in. Can't remember which ebay seller it was maybe XPE or something like that, anyway he only advertises for the instrument cluster but if you ask him for globes for the pods he knows which ones they are and can sell you all the ones you need.
no they dont,they are soldered onto a board They are not talking about the lights that come on with your headlights,they are talking about the coloured globes that indicate they are on or off and the digital display colour etc give it a go ellie,its not hard and there is easy to follow tech articles for it
I just finished the pods last night. It's all pretty straight forward. The speedo leds are easiest. Simply remove the old globes and replace with wedge leds. The pods are a little more tricky as they require a bit of soldering (resitors onto the 3mm leds) with the lhs pod being a prick. I didn't realise that 90% of the globes in my pods were dead. The car is so much more user friendly now as I can now see the pod controls at night
Hi Ross, What type of resistors were supplied with the kit? Was it specified with the kit or did you read the colours off the resistor? For anyone who has a kit that you haven't installed, I'd like to know (even a photo would be great as I can read off that). With that info, I'll know what I need to buy from JayCar. Cheers.
Hey Cliff, I just bought a heap of 3mm leds off ebay (pack of 50) dirt cheap. I then used a resistor wheel and hooked it up to one of my spare 12v UPS batteries to get the desired brightness. I think I ended up using around 500ohm resistors. Generally anything around that number is fine. I think I used 390 when I did the dash in the soarer and that worked just as well. It's pretty simple to hook up. I'll try post some pics tonight. Just solde the resistor onto the positive leg of the led (longer leg). For the climate control pod I used two leds in series for each spot a globe used to be. To do this you just hook the positive leg of the first led to the -ve leg of the next led, with a resistor on that leds +ve leg. I used the same ohm resistor whether running a single led or two. Hope this makes some sense. It's pretty simple, just a little fiddly. My knowledge of electronics is very basic, so I'm sure most people will be capable of doing this.
Thanks for the info mate. Yeah it would be good to see a pic but I get what you're trying to do. You've now given me another project for when I finish my last exam. P.S. Drove down EastLink late last night. It's the first time I've driven when it's really dark. The new LEDs in the dash look AWESOME. :br:
