Just finished gauge cluster LED conversion!

zammykoo

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I've been waiting for the longest time to do this and finally got the chance. thanks to these two guys who wrote up my references:
http://www.brokenlimits.com/howto/howtoclimatecontrol/howtoclimatecontrol.htm

and

http://www.hondacivicforum.com/m_433337/tm.htm

i pretty much did it the same way as the LED strips but i'm cheap so i bought a big pack of leds on ebay for a fraction of the cost and linked them together. and also thanks goes to my bro who did the handy electrical work =D

here are a few process pics... not very detailed but does its job:
http://explodingdoodoo.com/index.php?dir=2000+civic+cluster+LED/

 

mg23

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god damn i need my shades lol nice
 


Genuine Rolla

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dang...looks great..

now you should do the red lit needles
 

zammykoo

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dang...looks great..

now you should do the red lit needles
ah thats a problem, i'm not sure how i would do this because i cant stick a red light behind the needles or anything... i'm thinking of painting them with fluorescent paint and putting a blacklight tube above the cluster...... i'm testing out different neons at the moment, i'll keep yal updated =) thanks for the comments!

oh btw the gauges are bright but not as bright as you see in the pictures, theyre just over exposed because of night mode shot
 


zammykoo

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i got this paint that i was thinking of testing out... maybe on a piece of paper first but this orange is a bit too bright for my taste... i wanted a red or something or at least amber. anyone have any ideas where i can get better UV activated paint?

 

zammykoo

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well i didnt get a chance to try out the fluorescent paint + uv light cause i dont have th uv light source yet... ordering some uv leds, but i just mounted some red leds at the top so i can see my needles while driving at night lol. uv conversion will take place when they come in the mail! =D

 

zammykoo

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lookin good, might have to do this in the teg.. what did it cost you?
thanks, well the current set up costs as much as a meal at ihop, i got a 100 piece white leds set on ebay for about $7 shipped (which i still have bunch left over, i only used about half of the set). some fish tank tubing at walmart costed about $2.50 (bunch left over as well), and some resistors and red leds i had laying around.... so if you and a buddy want to do it just split the cost and it'll be even cheaper lol. thats if you only do the gauges, i plan on using the rest of my white leds to mod the ac unit and maybe the cup holders =D
 

cgpEJ6

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I'd be interested to see it done with amber
 

zammykoo

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I'd be interested to see it done with amber
hah you know what, i wanted to do that too but then i wanted to kind of keep the stock color of the ej gauges, maybe if i ever get another cluster i'll do amber.



that depends on how many led's youre stringing together in a series, i did for every 3 leds i put a 47ohm resistor. you should calculate it out before doing so
in case anyone is interested in the wiring method, this is how it is set up. it looks weird cause they alternate but if you think about it it doesnt matter which way the power is running as long as the ground is there. for every + just add the resistors, and then just solder the ground ends together so they look like [+12v][resistor][+led-][+led-][+led-][ground][-led+][-led+][-led+][resistor][+12v]

 

Genuine Rolla

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I love how the MKVI Jetta gauges look (blue gauges with red needles) so what I did, was that I took out that blue filter for the two bulbs on top of the gauge that illuminates the needles, cut them out and put some red cellophane in its place.
 

zammykoo

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I love how the MKVI Jetta gauges look (blue gauges with red needles) so what I did, was that I took out that blue filter for the two bulbs on top of the gauge that illuminates the needles, cut them out and put some red cellophane in its place.
hah that's what i did a while back but instead of the cellophane i just painted my bulbs. the color was nice at night but it was way too dim to look at. i guess thats cause i painted all the bulbs behind the face as well =P
 

EG Hatch

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nice, that looks amazing. thanks for the links. keep the pics coming
 


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