red guage cluster needles how to..

[ThatGuy]

^Looks like the individual warning lights to me. "Cruise Control, Low Fuel, Battery, etc. etc."

[NemeGuero]

But in the first post he has with pics.. he says it was just that bulb right? Or he changed all those little guys too?

[ThatGuy]

First pic he has the bulb circled that lights up the little "icons" under the warning lights. That one bulb lights up all those, but each warning light is it's own bulb. Does that make sense? I don't know if I'm explaining it well enough.

[NemeGuero]

So the big bulbs owns all the litte ones?

[turbo2nr]

will it be the same for s14 dash to convert to led? i wana do white w/ red needles...

anyone have info on this?

thanks

[axiomatik]

thatguy is correct. on the s13, the warning lamp icons are always lit, whether or not a warning exists. above each icon is a separate, round light that comes on when there is a warning. See the pic below. I've copied and pasted the oil pressure warning light over to all the other icons to sort of show what it would look like if all the warning lamps were on (in actuality some are different colors). All of the icons are lit by the bulb marked (1) in the earlier photo. The actual warning lamps are lit by individual bulbs, the black/dark brown ones that aren't circled in the earlier photo.



the icons are in the yellow boxes. these are always visible, and are lit by bulb number (1). The actual warning lamps are in the red boxes, and are individually lit by those black/dark brown bulbs. I have not changed those yet, but plan to in the future.

[OMGWTFBBQ]

time to whore it out
my S14 setup

few sets of bulbs from kragen

[NemeGuero]

Well that makes sense..

[Irukandji]

Originally Posted by OMGWTFBBQ

time to whore it out
my S14 setup

few sets of bulbs from kragen

What bulbs did you use exactry?

[OMGWTFBBQ]

Originally Posted by n1sm0r

What bulbs did you use exactry?

I forget the exact brand...
They came in a yellow package, I found the bulb size in another cluster color thread then just looked at what they had at kragen. They are NOT led's though, from what I could gather they will eventually fade into a pinkish color but whatever they're like a dollar a pack. IIRC they also came in orange, green, and blue..

[Irukandji]

thanks for the info, I'll research on the bulb size I need.

[Irukandji]

I just finished mine,

daytime pic (it's much red(der?) at night time)

For future reference, Non-HUD s13 cluster only needs 3 bulbs.
I used the ricelights from pepboys, about $6 total and 40 minutes of my time.

[ThatGuy]

^JDM pink in day light.

Nice work though. I'm planning to do a FULL color change on a Digi-cluster, as soon as I get a new one. I'll post a how-to if people are interested.

[nigel1]

I reallly want to figure out how do make my needles red while still having the rest blue.. I may just tackle the task soon. :P I hate working 12 days in a row. no time to do anything

[Irukandji]

They sell those little "needle kits" but it's kind of a waste of money imo.



EDIT: forgot to mention, those little bulb condoms are garbage. When I was switching out my bulbs today, I realized that my stock lights had blue condoms on them the whole time... The lighting at night time was actually green and my speedometer was very very dull.

[ThatGuy]

I would love to know how to wire in a "Start-up sequence" like Defi Gauges, into my cluster needles. That would be P-I-M-P! I think the new Lexus IS has it actually.

[Irukandji]

Originally Posted by ThatGuy

I would love to know how to wire in a "Start-up sequence" like Defi Gauges, into my cluster needles. That would be P-I-M-P! I think the new Lexus IS has it actually.

that WOULD be pimp

the STi does that as well... it makes me cry everytime I see it.

[Shawn_of_the_Dead]

If none of the lights on my cluster work for the actual guages, but the warning lights sometimes work...could it be bad bulbs causing the rest to not turn on? I took them all out and checked them, but nothing looked burnt out to me. I stuck em all back in and still nothing.

[Irukandji]

hmm if you have an extra cluster lying around, try plugging that in. If the lights don't work, then you know it's a wiring problem. Check the fuse (i think there should be one)

Also, double check all your connections going into the back of the cluster.

[axiomatik]

If you look at the back of the cluster, you can see the circuit that controls the illumination, just trace the copper lines that connect the primary illumination bulbs. One side will be marked 'Ill+', and the other 'GND'. Try applying 12 volts to just that lighting circuit and see if the cluster lights up. I think the bulbs are wired in series, so if one went out, they all would. If it lights up when you apply 12 volts to it, you know the problem is in your harness somewhere, if it doesn't light up, get a replacement bulb and try replacing them one at a time.

edit - the blue condoms are just to counteract the inherent yellowness of incandescent bulbs so that the gauges appear white, not intended to make the gauge blue.

[Ess14]

Regarding changing clock color:
I'm going to change my face to blue bulbs, hyper commented that the reflection on the clock was colored blue so it illuminates white.

How could you change it for blue? A darker blue? And I'm wondering if anyone has an idea what a good blue would be.

Nigel hows the red needles / blue background coming? Have you found a way to do it?

[preveink]

red is definatly easier on the eyes, at night in my vw it kinda hurts your eyes on long trips

[P4rD0nM3]

Reddish Pink for the win man!

[ZooMxxl]

i had replaced my stock bulbs w/red bulbs and used that for awhile. later on i felt it looked a bit tacky/cheesy having the both the needles and numbers the same color. a friend and i modded my gauges to make the needles light up with blue l.e.d.'s.

Gauges01
Gauges02

with 212k miles, my car still runs like a champ! no...i had replaced my old gauges during this experience and i did not roll down the mileage. everything looks brighter in the picture. in person, the blue lighting does not leak through the needles as shown. how the rpm is is how it really looks in person. i still like this look way way better than everything being all one color. looks more classy and a lot nicer imo. it also matches my panasonic deck that lights up blue.

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[upSLIDEdown]

Originally Posted by ZooMxxl

i had replaced my stock bulbs w/red bulbs and used that for awhile. later on i felt it looked a bit tacky/cheesy having the both the needles and numbers the same color. a friend and i modded my gauges to make the needles light up with blue l.e.d.'s.

Care to share how you did the needles??

In repsonse to That Guy... superbrightleds.com is good people. I ordered some stuff from them (individual leds, along with led bulbs)...all great quality. I will be doing this to my cluster when I swap my iinterior from tan to black. Going all red or maybe super white with red needles, I dunno yet. I like red because it's easy on the eyes. But I am thinking of going with Defi BF gauges, which only come in white or amber I believe, so I dunno...

Also, if response to the opening sequence on gauges like Defi, they are electronic stepper motors, I don't think you could do that to our stock gauges.

Also, can someone post up how to change the clock color, I didn't see a detailed explanation unless I just missed it.

Thanks,
Bryan

[ZooMxxl]

i left all of the stock bulbs in. if you look at the back of each of the gauges, you'll see that there are clear plastic strips expanding out; 1 on the gas and temp. gauges, 2 on the speedo and rpm gauges. those plastics lead to the needles. i shrinked wrapped 1 blue l.e.d. to each one of those plastic pieces to eliminate the stock bulbs light from coming through. the blue really does not look bad or is bad to the eye. the camera made it look a lot brighter than it really is.

the connector to the clock is brown i think. if you look at where the clock is and eye its location to the back you should find it. as for changing its color, i have never tried to change it so i dont know if it will work/look good/still be able to see the numbers.
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[turbo2nr]

some pics would be helpful if you have any thanks

[Jay Dee M]

This is a pretty interesting thread. I just ordered some white LED bulbs. Can't wait until I do this to my car.

[ZooMxxl]

turbo2nr, if your talking to me..i have posted links to the pics above my last post(gauges01, gauges02) of them installed. i dont have pics of the setup that ive done and i really dont want to take out my cluster again now that i have it working properly(i had to adjust the l.e.d.s to shine right into the plastics so itd shine its brightest).

my friend and i ordered a bunch of l.e.d.s and resistors and plan on interchanging all the rest of the interior bulbs to l.e.d.s in our cars. i also have a lil extra mod that i'll be doing with the l.e.d.s but its going to be a secret until i get it done, then i'll post it.

[Dutchmalmiss]

yeah does ANYone have the non-hud clusters with white LED bulbs and red needles? you know, kinda like the stock kouki 180sx guage cluster???