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2G Gauge cluster LED project

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Well the main problem was the tach... It will spin and spin and spin and just keep spinning. it would be great to like find a way to get the gauge to not move at all... and then pull the needle off... The only thing that stops it from going down is a little pin. See I had this problem where when you'd turn on the car, not start it, just turn the key to on, the tach would rise up to 2000... and sit there... I tried moving it but couldn't get it back down properly.
 
InfiniteGSX said:
Well the main problem was the tach... It will spin and spin and spin and just keep spinning. it would be great to like find a way to get the gauge to not move at all... and then pull the needle off... The only thing that stops it from going down is a little pin. See I had this problem where when you'd turn on the car, not start it, just turn the key to on, the tach would rise up to 2000... and sit there... I tried moving it but couldn't get it back down properly.
Click to expand...

When you put the needle back on, you need to put it facing almost straight down and then "jump" it up over the pin. Did you do that?
 
InfiniteGSX said:
LOL, no I did not. Almost straight down? or straight down?
Click to expand...

That's the "fine tuning" part of it. Before you take the speedo and tach needles off for the first time you need to jump them over the pin. Wherever their final resting spot is, that's where they should go back on when you reinstall them. This picture was my reference shot.
 

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Tyte! Now I know this, I'm going to do my glow needles. Thanks. BTW, any progress with the Mirror buttons? Since the light was really dim inside? Also what about any updates on the fog switch?
 
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Unfortunately, I wish it looked this good. There are "hot spots" around certain areas and such. Most noticeably would be the left turn signal in accordance to the right. The left turn signal I was only able to get 2 of the leds to work due to my soldering skills and they're incredibly dim. The right has 3 bright leds. The comparison when you turn on the emergency lights is unbelievably noticeable. I would fix this but I kinda ran out of LEDs. Furthermore, I do not wish to take apart the gauges and go through the whole process again. I actually have a genuine idea though. I might paint the stock bulbs with some blue and shove them back in there. Just a thought. Overall, I rate this project a success. Took me all Saturday and a better part of Sunday. The reconfiguration of the needles was hard as well. Also my stock boost gauge cease to work...not that it really matters since I have the A-pillar and autometer ready to be installed. I eyeballed the speedometer pretty well. I had my mom drive at 20 mph on an empty parking lot and I was around 21 mph. No biggie. The RPM was also easy. I pretty much knew where I would be at when I start the car and that the turbo spools close to around 2500 RPM. I just floored it and doublechecked it was within range when I heard the turbo.
 

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Autozone sells these bulbs, they are colored, the blue ones, actually light up blue. I bought them thinking they would be the ones that light up that nice white color... But they were BLUE! Might could use those.

Also, you can find some led bulbs that replace our stock bulbs, it might work?

looks great tho.
 
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Err....my needles aren't glowing...I'm totally clueless to how that works but oh well.
 

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Yeah, you'd have more luck with White LED's to get them to glow anyways. Cause Blue, as you can tell, doesn't match with the orange/red colors. Do what Eric did with the little rings, its what I'm doing.

But seriously, your gauges look like Christmas lights LOL
 
Crap. I really was hoping to avoid the SMT LEDs. I had trouble with the regular ones. Im not going to do so well with something even smaller. What if i sanded the red off?
 
crimsondragon said:
Crap. I really was hoping to avoid the SMT LEDs. I had trouble with the regular ones. Im not going to do so well with something even smaller. What if i sanded the red off?
Click to expand...

You could try that but I doubt the needles will shine much at all.
 
Hey, If you sanded the color off the needles, you will see them less. Trust me on this, I tried doing clear Needles... I belive my picture in the above few posts of my blue LED/EL Interior shows that, my tach is missing LOL... its there you just can't see it. If you sanded it down and added a reflective white color, you might see them more... But since there's no direct light going into the needles... it will still be hard to see them.

Man, just take your time! No rush, no problems. If you have solder already. Make sure you have flux... get some flux paste or a bottle... Prefibly paste, and get some qtips... apply it to the areas your going to solder, get some solder built up on the needle, and apply, it should all go together quite nice.
 
Just a note... another method to calibrating your needles is to insert the cluster, w/o the black overlay on it (along the with clear peice as well), into your dash and start your car and let it warm up to operating temp. Normal idle is lik 750-800. Since you know that your car is idling there, stick the tack needle on EXACTLY 750 RPM's. Don't stick the needle on and then move the needle where you want it. PUT IT ON EXACTLY WHERE YOU WANT IT TO BE THE FIRST TIME. This will work for all the needles except the speedo, for that... go take a drive and pace traffic; or pace a buddy that you know is going 35mph and then STICK THE NEEDLE ON EXACTLY AT 35 MPH.

When you get home, take the cluster back out and put back on the black overlay and the clear shield and your done!

This method works GREAT for those of you that don't have access to a datalogger. And of course, fill your tank up before you put the fuel needle on.
 
Fuel and temp needles are a sinch. They don't move when you pull them off. The speedo, I belive was easy... it has an internal stop. So you can easily set the speedo. But I might be wrong, it might have been my accord that was that way.
 
crimsondragon said:
Why 35mph? I had it set going at 20 mph. Seems to work the same. Plus it's hard to drive and replace the needle at once.
Click to expand...

Same difference. He was just stating to put the needle at the speed you are currently going.
 
Im in the process of doing this conversion on my 1g. I'll get some pics up as soon as I get em done. I was wondering what mcd LEDs you were using? I was checking out ebay for the smt LEDs to do my needles and I see 1800mcd, 2200, 2500. I'm guessing this is a rating of how bright they are. I also see on ebay, LED strips but they look like small square LEDs and farther apart than the ones I see on the pictures from azdave and turbosax2. Will they be bright enough to light my cluster? Also if anyone else wants theirs converted I may be willing to do it for a small fee.
 
HiPoSped said:
Im in the process of doing this conversion on my 1g. I'll get some pics up as soon as I get em done. I was wondering what mcd LEDs you were using? I was checking out ebay for the smt LEDs to do my needles and I see 1800mcd, 2200, 2500. I'm guessing this is a rating of how bright they are. I also see on ebay, LED strips but they look like small square LEDs and farther apart than the ones I see on the pictures from azdave and turbosax2. Will they be bright enough to light my cluster? Also if anyone else wants theirs converted I may be willing to do it for a small fee.
Click to expand...

I used 2000mcd's for this cluster and I order 2200mcd's because I'm running out. I don't really know what the difference between them are but I bet if you searched on google for it you could find out. Post a link for the led strips you're talking about so we can see them.
 
HiPoSped said:
Thanks for the info guys. Here is the LED strip I was talking about.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LED-...008QQitemZ180171790491QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

It does say that they are smd LEDs does that mean that they are similar (or the same) as the little smt LEDs?

What do you think about these.. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LED-...008QQitemZ180171790491QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
Click to expand...

I don't know about the smd part. I'm no lighting expert at all - I've just copied the work azdave did.

I saw those lights too when I was shopping around. I decided not to go with them because the lights look like they're spaced farther apart than the ones I used and I thought I might not get as good of a look with fewer lights. The strips are thin though which would be a definite advantage on this project because space is so tight.

They look like they would work. However, I do not know if the cut portions of the strips could be rewired to use again. That's something you would have to find out.
 
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