How to change the color of your gauge LEDs - Page 2

quote:

ORIGINAL: IronFox

well the problem is that the guages for the 98 - 99 900s have a button style lights where you can take out these little plugs that hold the led.

true but what you have to do is order super bright white or blue 3mm led bulbs and remove the old bulbs from the holder and put the new ones in. im in the progress of doing this to my 2000 F4 im just waiting on the bulbs to get here from Hong Kong and when i get them ill post a HOW TO!!

lol i was thinking about doing it.... untill i saw the pics. theres no way on earth i'd be able to get away scotch free on this one, i'd prolly ruin it

Has anyone done this on a 929??

anyone? anyone? Bueller? bueller?

Ive got the blubs 3000mc blues, Ive take apart the guages and the led holders. The led sizes are identical but the wires on the blue leds are a bit bigger (I should post some pics i guess). Luckly theres no soldering at all, just unscrew the holder, take out the led and put in the new one.

No soldering on the 929, heh?

Cool, do you mind to post some pics and info about where you got your bulbs and all?? Thanks alot!

Thats a 900 by the way. But I do intend to post some pics as soon as I get around to putting in the LEDs. College takes up too much time.

yeah test one bulb without the resistor first to see if it pops.but since you got 3000mc bulbs it might be ok

Here is a DIY I made for the RSX for swapping LEDs, fairly similar....

http://forums.clubrsx.com/showthread.php?t=102079&highlight=Gauges

and some pics from it.






You can also swap out Bulbs for LEDs if you plan the circuit correctly, it's a little bit more work, but not impossible:
Here is a picture of my Civic.



I ended up putting strings of LEDs behind the cluster, as a replacement for bulbs. I don't have my own bike yet, but if there's anyone in the DC are that wants to trade a test ride for some LED work, feel free to hit me up :) Right now I'm riding the wife's kawi 500ex but I'd like to get an F4i or similar, but wanted to try one first.

The LEDs that are used in most of these clusters appear to be PLCC SMD LEDs, You can get the Blue 470nm ones here for $0.50:



http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G13706

Or if you want to replace Bulbs, I would reccomend the Super Flux over the 5mm or 3mm, as they are usually brighter, wider dispersion, and not as tall...

For the record I am so doing this....

I love how the needle just glows.....

I personally would not do blue, because it is hard for the eye to focus. In a dark room, orangish red is the best, and anything else is better than a straight blue. Yeah it looks cool, but don't expect to be able to glance down at it in the dark and take a good reading, it'll be a blur.

If you don't believe me, take a blue LED (not a blue bulb, but an led) and kinda job it back in forth in a dark room... it will make streaks. The cones that focus on the blue color are outside the focal point of the retina, so the time it takes to focus is much greater.

what if you did this option? whats your feelings on it.



Also Whats everyones thoughts on the all white? Its for a perl yellow/metalic gray f4i

I like the all white myself personally, the blue is cool, but kinda gets old... where as white IMO is crisp... but it's all personal preference.

Someone said you have to desolder all the pins on the speedo? Not impossible, but certainly going to be a pain. Is there a parts list somewhere? Or the number of different sized LEDs and what they are for?

And what about calibrating the tach? I assume you have to just get the tach on just right? How does the needle pop off? Just pull it off gently? Some cars, like the RSX, the needles immediately break when you remove the needles, and you have to glue them back together, kind of a pain.

You can pretty much pick any color you want for any part, you just have to know how many of what kind 3 or 5mm or the rectangular SMD PLCC type LEDs... that you need. I am going on vacation this week, and won't be back for a few weeks, but when I do that may be one of the first things I take a shot at.

I started a thread on the F4i forum because I forgot where this one is...

http://www.cbrforum.com/m_166468/tm.htm

If anyone has any tips on getting behing the LCD or Tach on the F4i, I'm all ears, going to attempt this soon.

Don your a crazy man if you venture out on this one in your own hands!

This job would be one of very few i would give to the techs to pull off.

For those who don't venture over to the other thread for the f4i, here are some pics. The difficulty lies in actually getting to the leds under the LCD and gauge... It's just kinda in there underneath. I think I will end up having to desolder the tach, which shouldn't be more than 6 pins, where as the LCD as you can see is like 80 pins.

so what is the size for the f4i's? 3.5mm x 2.8mm? i just need to know the size so i can order sum and do this thanks.

Well, they're a standard size called "PLCC" they are of the SMD variety. So SMD PLCC is what you want. e-led or lc-led or the electronic goldmine is where I get mine. .50$ for a blue, .80$ for a white at the electronic gold mine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Ocelaris

Well, they're a standard size called "PLCC" they are of the SMD variety. So SMD PLCC is what you want. e-led or lc-led or the electronic goldmine is where I get mine. .50$ for a blue, .80$ for a white at the electronic gold mine

i know there plcc about there are mutiple sizes in these? i just want to know the exact size.

Yes, there are different sizes, but really any PLCC will work, as the length is usually the same. I've done some comparisons here for you, price and MCD (MCD = MilliCandellas, the more the brighter)
____________________________________________________________
white is a tad narrower at .90$ a piece MCD unknown
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G16010


where as blue is standard size at .45$ a piece MCD unknown
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G13706

_______________________________________________________________________
eled.com has the most variety of any site:

They call them PLCC2 and have two different sizes under the "Single Color - Top Emitting - PLCC2" category
PLCC2 - 3.5mm x 2.8mm LED white = (150mcd) = 0.40 / PCS, high brightness (800mcd) = .68 / PCS


PLCC2 - 3.0mm x 2.0mm LED white = (150mcd) = 0.40 / PCS, high brightness (800mcd) = .76 / PCS


http://www.eled.com/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=LEDs&category%5Fname=Single+Color+SMD+LED&Page=1

Of all these categories:
Sub-Category
Single Color - Axial - Gull Wing LED
Single Color - Top Emitting LED - 0603
Single Color - Top Emitting LED - 0805
Single Color - Top Emitting LED - 1106
Single Color - Top Emitting LED - 1108
Single Color - Top Emitting LED - 1206
Single Color - Top Emitting - PLCC2
Single Color - Top Emitting - High Brightness LED
Single Color - Side Emitting LED – 0802
Single Color - Side Emitting LED – 1104
Single Color - SOT-23 LED
Single Color - SMD Subminiature LED

The PLCC2 are the normal sized and narrow sized decent to work with. The High Brightness are way too big, and all the othres are ridiculous to work with... Literally grains of salt, you need a magnifying glass and reading glasses to work with them. I don't wear glasses normally, but I borrowed some when I replaced all my headunit's 0603 LEDs with white ones.

________________________________________________________________________
LC-LED calls them "Surface Mount LED - Power Top"

http://lc-led.com/Products/department/5



For white, Pricing Information: 15-99 pcs : $1.35 USD
_______________________________________________________________________

Looks like ELED wins by a pretty high margin... Just be careful not to heat the white ones up too much or the phosphor burns and they give off a more greenish hue instead of pure white... other than that, just physically doing it is the only hard part. Buy at least 5 more than you need, you WILL kill or lose a few I guarantee it. Even if you're an expert, They get lost easy.

thanks for the sizes and such. i was gonna use the 3.5x 2.8 is there any good companies where i can order just few of each color?

yeah, eled.com there is no minimum, you'll have to pick out the best brightness ones, but you'll have to pick out how many of each you want. I don't think any site has a bag of different varieties, because usually people are pretty particular. What colors do you want? I can probably find you the best ones.

ultraviolet (uv), blue, ultra white see what u can find let me know. i couldnt find a plcc in UV i dont think they make them.