Speedo Lights

[Jay2525]

Anyone any experience in changing dial colours? Behind the rev counter/speedo theres a large clear piece of plastic which I imagine illuminates, but I cant find the led which lights it.
Any ideas?

[Jay2525]

Or there must be a way to change the bulb??

[wintertidenz]

You can change the bulbs that illuminate the writing itself, but it involves taking out the dash cluster.

If you go for LEDs make sure they are OK to use with 12v, or use a resistor.

[Davezj]

the standard dash background illumination is done by cold cathode tubes one at the top and one at the bottom running horizontally i believe.
so you can change the tubes for a different colour or place a coloured filter between the tube and the dash back ground.
i am not saying this is the only to do it just a possibility.
the gauges themselves ar primerally lit by lamps which can be replaced by leds but the colours of the gauges are controllede by the colour of the plastic used to make the niddles and the illuminated pictures/text.
you could play with putting a red led under a green bit of text and see what colour the text turns in to.
you should be able to predict this.

[Jay2525]

Ok, previous past I asking about changing speedo surround colour, decided against this as I now prefere the crisp white on the dials.
How ever, ive tinkered with the dial needles, ive stripped the orange paint of the needle and painted it with a class paint, then realised that there is tiny leds which light it orange also, so changed them bulbs, got half way through yesterday and all worked fine, tonight gone to finish of and the needles no longer light up, there is now power going to them! Every thing else lights up fine, anyone know if they have there own fuse somewhere?? Or how come yesterday they was fine, but today nothing....

[wintertidenz]

You may have blown the LEDs by putting 12v through them. Check the voltage.

[awkgah]

also led has polarity. This means that the positive and negative terminals must be connected correctly for it to operate properly

[Jay2525]

Have checked leds and polarity, all is finothin.e, tried the old ones and nothing.

[Jay2525]

Decided to leave it as it was, trouble is now my needles done light up, checked the bulbs and all good, is there a separate fuse as theres no power going to them.

[exevoowner]

have you checked there seated back on there pins to light them up ?

[exevoowner]

what leds (voltage/wattage)do the needles use???

[swinks]

3.5v - 4.8v

[Jay2525]

Ok, will check once again that i have not blown the leds, however is the a fuse or anything that could have blown?

[Jay2525]

What voltage does the dials kick out then?? So if i have to get new leds I know what voltage to get.

[exevoowner]

Your looking for 5v ones

[Jay2525]

Thanks nigel, trouble is checked leds, they r fine, theres no power coming from the place where they slot into, is there a fuse of anything??

[exevoowner]

have not really looked for one but there is a printed circuit board on the back which i think is to control the needles and lights

[Jay2525]

Ok, so how can I fix/get round that?

[exevoowner]

Without looking at one i have no idea i do have a spare set of clocks if you need anythin from a set

[Jay2525]

Ok will have a good look later

[Davezj]

Did you remove the screws on the back of the dash dials, they go through the flexible circuit board on the back.
If so did you make a note of which screw goes in which hole. The screws are different lengths and some have an insulator in the middle of them, these screw are what transfer the power to the gauge lights.
Wrong screw in the wrong place and no power to gauge lights.
I fell foul of this little gem. There is a guide on here somewhere telling you which screw goes in which hole. You should be able to search for it.

[Davezj]

Here is the thread you need for screw placement.

http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?26357-260kmh-speedo-fitting-article&highlight=Dash+lights+screws

Read the bottom of the first post it will show you the placement for the screws, picture is marked with blue, red and yellow dots the key is below in the text.
This should sort you out.

[exevoowner]

cheers dave i think i will be reading that too as im looking at changing the needle colour once i find the right leds lol

[Jay2525]

Took it all back out, don't even know what I'm looking for :( one min working now not. Looks like may have to look out for new clocks

[Jay2525]

Didn't see ur post Dave will go an have a look now :)

[Jay2525]

Grrrr cant access thread :(

[Davezj]

I can't copy the relavant info from the thread at the moment as i am on my iPad and it does not work the same as a laptop.
There is a full thread on how to does assemble the dash and fit new gauge backs, needles LEDs etc.

This is why membership is you friend it is only £20 a year.

I will have to wait to tomorrow to copy the picture and text you need, when I have my laptop up and running.

[Davezj]

here is the info you need, i am sure bradc will not mind me posting up the info you need from his thread.

64106

and the key info you need is hear.

"The blue ones are the longest ones with a wood thread on part of them, then a section with no thread at all. The red ones are the same style, but shorter (be VERY careful with these two) the yellow ones are normal fine thread screws. Ignore the tick and the cross, I had some problems due to me putting in the wrong screws at first (blue into the red ones) Discussed later on."

i post up this picture to show the the cold cathod tubes above where the dials would have been, and it is these light tubes that provide the white back illumination.

64107

[Jay2525]

Thanks for posting mate, sadly doesn't help me as I didn't take this off, I did the remove the 4 screws holding the white plastic case but that's as far as I got, looks like new clocks then :(

[exevoowner]

did you sort your clocks as i have just changed mine to something different 64864
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