PDA

View Full Version : Blue Gauge Lights Swap complete



Ocelaris
07-27-2003, 06:22 PM
See it here first on ephatch :D

Ocelaris
07-27-2003, 06:23 PM
A little preview, I'll get a howto done shortly.

Ocelaris
07-27-2003, 06:35 PM
Ok, one more for tonight. But I know there are hotspots behind the odometer, It's on purpose, during the day it gives it depth, you can put the stock filter back on, I just took it off for taste.

Also, there's only 4 bulbs to light the entire cluster, I shoved 12 LEDs in there, so don't tell me the top of the temp, and bottom of fuel are dim, I know, it's rough, not really a big deal, cameras pick up lots of problems, looks fine in reality.

Sivicboi
07-27-2003, 06:46 PM
that looks sweet. nice job :thumbup:

Civicvtec1ps
07-27-2003, 06:54 PM
damn
i will wait for DIY. hopefully its easy...
do you have any other pics? like from far..(whole interior pic)
looks sweet

Ocelaris
07-27-2003, 07:03 PM
Ok, I could use some help on ideas with the problems I'm having... the top of the Temp, and the bottom of the fuel aren't lit well, and the Red needles don't light up since they're only blue light...

Maybe put a white led on the needles? can i get different needles? what about top light like this guy did? Whaddya think? Ideas ideas please, I don't have to be done yet, and I'd like to get those issues worked out. Also, what about a kinda ring around the whole thing, like the pic without the needles?

Time wise, took me about 6 hours total...

Z26
07-27-2003, 07:03 PM
I will pay you to do mine.

Ocelaris
07-27-2003, 07:19 PM
here's a little pictoral explanation of why there are some dark spots on the gauges... there's only 4 bulbs to backlight, you can see the 4 sets of 3 blue LEDs I had to aim to get it to light up the area.

fsugatorbait
07-27-2003, 07:57 PM
Damn man you got skills!:cool:

Are the lighs in the cluster able to be capped with colored condoms to achieve a similar color change?

02TafWhtSi
07-27-2003, 08:25 PM
ehh...no offense or anything but I like the stock color better. Good job on the mod though!

Ocelaris
07-27-2003, 08:56 PM
Originally posted by 02TafWhtSi
ehh...no offense or anything but I like the stock color better. Good job on the mod though!

Certainly no offense taken, I myself was questioning the move, and certainly now I'm wondering whether I like them or not... I did it mainly because some people at ClubRSX won't show anyone else howto do it, and they actually had it easy with SMD LEDs... Then they were charging 60$+shipping for the DIY and 12$ worth of parts... I used like 40$ worth of LEDs... I obviously want to share what I did, hence the second diagram, which if you hadn't guessed is the wiring diagram overlayed by the face so you can pick which LEDs/bulbs you want for which signals/back light etc..

You can't just cap the lights in the back to blue, because there is an orange film you have to acetone off, pretty easy to do, just takes a little time and alot of cotton swabs/q-tips.

However you could put red condoms on the lights to make it more redish and that probably would work. I'll get the DIY up as time permits, soon as I can.

I'd sell/trade this gauge cluster for a stock RSX cluster if I knew that they were interchangeable... but not sure they are... anyone know? I can get the pinout on the connectors if needed.

chubbychu
07-27-2003, 09:33 PM
looks nicee....but make sure you swap out all the red lights in your car...or else that will look faggoty!

chubbychu
07-27-2003, 09:33 PM
looks nicee....but make sure you swap out all the red lights...or else that will look faggoty!

StrangeShadow
07-28-2003, 08:26 AM
the rsx cluster is a lot nicer, but i haven't seen anything on swaping them. :(

Ocelaris
07-28-2003, 08:58 AM
heh, not that much nicer, just you wait :)

All we gotta do is figure out a nice schema for our gauges, print em out at kinkos on nice paper, and we'll be set... I have a good scan of the gauges, I'd post it, but it's too big... We should get some photochoppers to mod up our gauges and see what they'd look like... This should be a team project, that'd be way cool... I'm thinkin like 3 layers, two layers of photopaper, sandwiching a layer of like overhead paper painted white to diffuse the light...

hamproof
07-28-2003, 09:07 AM
Ocelaris - nice job. But are the letterings and numbers more legible in blue? The OEM orange is so washout and fuzzy during dawn and dusk time.

Personally, I prefer red/white over blue. Any chance we can undo the white face gauge? I think part of the washout is because of the black on white face. I prefer regular white on black. Much more legible.

Ocelaris
07-28-2003, 11:26 AM
Originally posted by hamproof
Ocelaris - nice job. But are the letterings and numbers more legible in blue? The OEM orange is so washout and fuzzy during dawn and dusk time.

Personally, I prefer red/white over blue. Any chance we can undo the white face gauge? I think part of the washout is because of the black on white face. I prefer regular white on black. Much more legible.

During the day, I don't think it's really as much black lettering on white faces, as it is just lack of light, on white faces... and during the night its X color on white gauges... probably just a color preference by honda, I think alot of people like the white faces, and change their black ones to white.

The only way to change the white faces to black would be to print out completely new faces for your gauges... at some point I am going to try and make some new ones, but I haven't had time yet to try... I definetly need help from some of the photoshop people...

The blurrieness as to the orange? I don't know, but I think black text on white background is the clearest... or maybe a white/translucent (colored at night) baground and black text... would have to mess around with getting an even distribution of light over the entire gauge cluster though...

RockEP_SS**
07-28-2003, 11:58 AM
Damn that looks pretty clean. I'll decide if imma change it or not when I see the DIY. Nice work!

Rocky
Showstoppers USA

AlBlueCar
07-28-2003, 03:08 PM
I'd say go with a crimson red, like what i've always wanted in my gauge cluster. Give me a good shot of just the gauge overlay and I'll photochop other colors into it. Can't wait for a DIY to, dare I say, show us the light:D

recognition
07-28-2003, 03:11 PM
Hey Ocelaris, I have some electrical knowledge and was wondering if you used the existing bulb power sources and wired the 3 leds in series with the appropiate resistor? Is it the same for the LCD?

I think it looks great by the way!

StrangeShadow
07-28-2003, 04:28 PM
if an over lay can be made then it could be possible to change the redline [visibley]...for all the people with hondata and swaps. :)

golferjn
07-28-2003, 05:32 PM
good job. the blue looks really cool

Ocelaris
07-28-2003, 07:46 PM
Originally posted by recognition
Hey Ocelaris, I have some electrical knowledge and was wondering if you used the existing bulb power sources and wired the 3 leds in series with the appropiate resistor? Is it the same for the LCD?

I think it looks great by the way!

Hey recognition, Yes, I just used the soldering tabs from on the back of the PCB with a resistor in line, I didn't have a single ~500 ohm resistor, so I used like 3x120 ohm resistors on each side of the anode (marked side)... You can just do one big resistor in front of the first anode, and shove as many LEDs as you can in the little holes, I may go back and actually feed off the other bulb solder tabs and try and fill in gaps... here's a little diagram for you.

Ocelaris
07-28-2003, 07:54 PM
for the above pic, red is bulbs, yellow is LEDs. Now I think the Cruise control (very top left Bulb) is actually backwards in my picture, and didn't remember to confirm, but the - + + - on the right top two bulbs seems to match the left, but the left is (in my diagram - + - + ... if anyone one could confirm that, I was havin trouble testing my cruise control...

Here is a pic for photoshop messin around, but I have a very large full sized scan of the gauge faces if anyone wants to work on maybe designing some printable gauges... (that's what I want to work on)...

Ocelaris
07-28-2003, 08:02 PM
Here's a pic half way through acetoning the gauges... DO NOT ACETONE THE TOP FOUR INDICATORS!!! I.E. "Brights", "Cruise Control", "Left Blinker", or "Right Blinker" you will etch away the icon...

And as soon as I have some time I'll collect these pics together with a DIY, just busy right now, I should have free time by the end of the week, either tuesday or thursday. But feel free to ask for pics, questions if I can help, I just don't have an hour or two to do a good DIY right now. Bill

AlBlueCar
07-28-2003, 09:33 PM
Thanks for the gauges, I'll get chopping tommorrow, but now, I'm off to bed. Good night all.:D

StrangeShadow
07-29-2003, 05:01 PM
Here's a pic half way through acetoning the gauges
where do I get acetone? hardware store? automotive department?...no clue...

recognition
07-29-2003, 05:28 PM
Thanks for the info!

So how do i remove my gauges without snapping or scratching anything?! :D

Sorry if this is else where on ephatch but I did do a search and couldn't find anything!:confused:

StrangeShadow
07-29-2003, 05:38 PM
cool your sig has wheels like the back to the future car. I put a how to get them off in the lighing section.
the front plastic just pops off...the one screw on top, one to the right, one to te left, and pull and unplug. getting the face off w/out damaging the needles will have to wait for Bill's DIY. :)

recognition
07-30-2003, 05:18 AM
Cheers for the info strange s. I'll look that up now and have a go this weekend maybe... glad you like the sig:D

recognition
08-01-2003, 11:06 AM
Ocelaris, I had a go doin my guages blue today, just done the temp/fuel side with 3 blue leds and a 470 ohm resistor but its not very bright.

I then used a resistor calculator thing and it worked out i need a 62 ohm reisitor...

So I was wondering what leds you're using 'cos you said that you used 3x120 ohm?

I think mine have a forward voltage drop of 3.6v

I guess I may need to acetone the guages? Could you explain a little more about this please?!;)

Thanks!

Ocelaris
08-01-2003, 11:23 AM
hehehe, I did the resistor calculations wrong. I did use 3x120 ohm... Turns out all I needed was like 1x120 ohm ;-) In my defense Radio shack was closed when I realized it, and is actually bright enough, despite running the LEDs at 8ma (instead of should be 20). Anyways, I need to go take out two of those resistors per backlight...

I have a DIY and 28 pictures to explain the whole process, it's 1.2 megs total size zipped up... ~6 pages worth of text. drop me an email and I can send it your way. I sent a copy to the webmaster at K-series (steve?) but haven't heard anything back yet... I'll post the link when it gets up. Bill

recognition
08-01-2003, 11:44 AM
yea i thought something didn't add up!:D

I managed to 'borrow':D 20 blue leds from work but I realised i got the wrong resistors:( damn, gotta to wait till monday now to 'borrow';) some more!

Ocelaris
08-10-2003, 01:19 AM
I just redid my gauges with white SMD LEDs glued to the white plastic piece right below the face... looks much better, good distribution, no pics yet, camera batteries were dead :-/ but I got the SMD LEDs for like .50$ a piece... so cost me like 6$ plus shipping to do the front... wish I had done that in the first place.

AlBlueCar
08-10-2003, 08:02 AM
So it looks light white light on white gauges? I'll post my gauge pics on imagestation in a little while. Then we can bust em out at Kinkos :D


EDIT: Here are zee GaugesHave a Look-see (http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4289441157&congratulation_page=Y)

Ocelaris
08-10-2003, 04:23 PM
WOW... I swore to myself I was done playing with my gauges... but now, I'm DEFINETLY going to rip em out and go again at em :)

Some technical details that might have a problem with...

for the left/right turn signals, the front looks good, but maybe a transparency behind the black triangles is necessary? When I messed up on my "brights" icon, I put two of these transparencies behind the triangles, and that worked well...

You Rock, I just redid my gauges white, so white on black looks like what I'm aiming for. Would you happen to have a big copy of it? For printing at Kinkos a big file, and one that is the right size would be a good idea I think.

this is a link to a picture of an "icon" for lack of a better word, couldn't find a high beam one, but this may explain sorta what I'm talking about...

http://www.mitutoyoauto.com/products/graphics/transmit-icon.gif


Awesome job man

:)

AlBlueCar
08-10-2003, 09:46 PM
I don't have a full size picture, but if you post one, I could get it photochopped. Just post a full size scan and tell me the colors and it shall be done. Thanks for the positive feedback. Makes me feel all fuzzy:D .

Ocelaris
08-11-2003, 06:35 AM
The problem with posting a full size pic, is the file is like 1.5 megs at best quality JPG... Maybe i need to get a host... I have an old Geocities account somewhere back there... maybe I'll start that one up again...

AlBlueCar
08-11-2003, 10:14 AM
You could just email it to me at cardenal@earthlink.net. Then I'll post it at imagestation. Okie silly dilly okie?

recognition
08-11-2003, 04:14 PM
hey guys, thought I'd let you know how im getting on with my lights,
well after putting in blue leds behind the guages i decided I didn't want to take the whole lot apart to acetone it etc...
so i've only down the lcd panel but it looks great!:D got the light dispersion(?) pretty good.
I've also down the electric mirror button, mirror heater switch button and the drivers 'auto' e/window switch.
Im just gonna do all the easy ones first then build up the courage to do the tougher stuff:D
sorry bout the poor pic, (used camera phone:rolleyes: )http://www.recognitiondesigns.com/images/dash.jpg

AlBlueCar
08-11-2003, 05:08 PM
Looks quite snazzy, great job! You and Ocelaris should do a group DIY for those of us who don't want to just pull apart our gauges and put LED's in without somebody else doing it first (those of us=me:D ) Nice work, any chance of a larger picture?? I hae squinting.

Ocelaris
08-11-2003, 08:01 PM
I made a DIY, but it has yet to be posted to k-series.com where I sent it... drop me a PM or email if you want it and I can try and email it, or AIM it over to you, it's just too big for most mail boxes...

Recognition, looks good :-) I actually changed from blue to white myself, where did you put the lights? I ended up using the small SMD leds for like cell phones, hot glued behind the gauges, 12 to be precise, just wired them to the stock bulb locations... oh heck, lemme go get a picture for ya :) brb

recognition
08-12-2003, 12:07 PM
Heres a little pic of how I did the lcd lights. Put one led in at a time, bent the legs to shape first and soldered in place
http://www.recognitiondesigns.com/images/led_diagram.jpg

Also added bits of black tape to prevent direct light makin hotspots, worked ok.

Im working on some DIYs' of what I've done so far, I'll put them up on my site in a bit. Haven't got any pics yet thou, sorry.

Im just doing stuff I know can be put back to orignal just in case...

Ocelaris
08-12-2003, 12:30 PM
Hey recognition, did you see the thread where I tried to give away the DIY I made?

http://www.ephatch.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=208626

If you're gonna make one, why don't you just download mine, edit it, cut it up, use pics, whatever, combine the two, or just ignore it completely... Just thought you might be interested in the work I had done, at least to compare. I already put alot of work into the DIY, and havin trouble getting it hosted, so I figure my best chance of my work not going to waste, was to hand it off to you if you want, take what you want, toss the rest. Best, Bill

recognition
08-12-2003, 12:40 PM
Hey thanks for that! It would be good to get a different perspective of how to go about installin leds.
So I've got your permission to use your photos?! that would be great as I don't have a digi cam. I'll make sure I credit you for the info and pics.
Cheers!:)

Ocelaris
08-12-2003, 12:57 PM
Yeah man, you have my permission to make use of anything I did for the group for the betterment of the group. As long as you're not makin profit off them, (a guy in clubRSX was, so I'm justa little edgy about that)... I mean I'm all for supporting the people who host the site, so if you need a small amount to pay for your hosting of course that's reasonable... I'm kinda worried about ephatch honestly, since they've disabled posting pics... I'm wondering if we might all throw in for a pay per membership... I bet it's pretty expensive running this site. Anyways, yeah, use the pics, I'd be honored to be in a final DIY, especially since you're one pic explaining the 3 LEDs through the bulb hole was killer, hehe, I don't have quite those skills... so maybe you can do a better job with the source photography I took. Best, Bill

CivicSiR4U2NV
08-12-2003, 05:40 PM
a good way to get around the hot spots is to sand the leds with high grit sand paper to make it frosty looking. that helps alot! ;)

AlBlueCar
08-12-2003, 08:29 PM
Hey Ocelaris, what color scheme gauges do you want? I git the JPG in the email and I wanna know what to do with it. Same for any one else whose interested-I have a full scale gauge scan, so (apparently) I can photochop it to a different color scheme and then print a full size transparency for the gauges. So people, tell me what you want and I'll do it.

recognition
08-13-2003, 11:45 AM
Hey AlblueCar, did you see my guage pic in the photochop forum? heres the link http://www.ephatch.com/forum/attachment.php?s=&postid=204552
Spot the difference!:D

Ocelaris
08-13-2003, 02:04 PM
Hey Al Blue Car, I really liked the white text, black background you did, I'm goin for a black and white theme in my car, and just switched the LEDs to white, so that'd go nice :-) Thanks guys, for those less photoshop talented, lol.

When I did that guy's RSX gauges, we needed to do some photoshop work, so he did the photochopping while I did the soldering ;-) goes to show the average person you meet online knows more about it than I!

AlBlueCar
08-13-2003, 04:26 PM
Very nice take on the gauges, I like the text for the idiot lights and ESPECIALLY the 9000 rpm redline. Very schweet.

So Ocelaris, do you want me to make a black gauge for you? I could do it lickity-split if need be.

Ocelaris
08-13-2003, 06:21 PM
No lickety split necessary, but what I was thinking, is where normally it is black triangles for the turnsignals, brights, and cruise control, could you just make those translucent like the rest of the icons? Then I could just make 1 layer, instead of having to do a black cover of those icons, and a transparency behind it... I have a good picture of the icons if you need them... Best, Bill

AlBlueCar
08-14-2003, 08:09 AM
Well, here's a preview of what's done. I still gots to remove some little pieces of the gauge and reshape the outline, but this is it now, in bitesize form. It's Called Full Size Gauge Black on White Preview (http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4289441157)

recognition
08-14-2003, 12:34 PM
cool guages Alblue, Looks like my UK guages :D

Heres a link (www.recognitiondesigns.com/civic/preview.html) to some pics I took recently of my little blue lights, just put 3 blue leds in the small sunglasses compartment with a switch, looks kool :cool:

Still working on the DIY's...
watch this space -> <-

StrangeShadow
08-15-2003, 11:00 PM
great pics

Ocelaris
08-19-2003, 04:05 PM
I'm all over it man :-) Thanks, and I need it, my needles/gauges are starting to get a little busted after taking them apart so many times...

Quick Quick take down your post so I can win :-) j/k, But if this turns out good for me, I'd consider doing your gauge LED swap for ya.