I HATE the stock orangish LEDs in the gages, so I swapped them out for white, & I did the needles in red. It's so much easier for me to see; especially the LCDs. Tomorrow, I'm going to do the climate control & switches,; including the steering wheel.


Notice the LCDs are white too.

 

Moderators,

If I put this in the wrong section, please move it for me.

Thank you.

 

How easy is this to do?

 

It's not too difficult as long as you have a couple pencil point soldering irons, & your up-close vision is good. Otherwise you'll have use a magnifier; these LEDs are small! Also, try to keep as much heat way from the board as possible; it will only take about a second with the iron to flow the solder. Any more than that & you're risking damaging the components.

I have since done the LEDs in the steering wheel & switches. The components in the steering wheel are even smaller than the others.

 

Ok thats not something for me hahaha. I'm more a mechanical type of guy

 

I'm sure you could find some to do it for you. I would be happy to help you out, but the shipping might take a bit of time. I think there is a guy in the UK who has done this for other people.

 

I done my guages. What size are the leds on the steering wheel buttons?

 

0805 LEDs, about 450 mcd luminosity.

 

I love the orange stock gauge color - orange is my favorite color, but it's awesome that you were able to customize yours to the color you wanted! Any photos of the process?

 

Do you mean the finished product? Or how it's done?

 

Here is a picture of the finished product. All the gage backlights & switches are done in cool white, & the needles are red. I had to turn the light sensitivity way down on my camera to avoid a washed-out look; but this is pretty close to how it really appears; pure white with just a hint of blue (not yellowish).

I also changed the A/C LED to blue (because, in my mind, that's what color it should be; & virtually all other car's A/C indicators are blue) & I changed the DSC indicator to a soft green (much less annoying than that amber). I did the courtesy lights (in the door handles & above the cup holders/cigarette lighter) in blue; it's enough light to see if you're fumbling for something down there, yet it isn't distracting at all. I also brightened up the blue & red arrows on the heater control; they were too dim.

If you plan on changing the color of your LCD displays, you will need to make diffusers of the proper color; as the stock diffusers are orange, & will either block out light (such as blue) or drastically alter the color (white will appear amber, purple will appear red). If you try to run without diffusers, you will get bright spots, i.e. the LED will show right through the LCD. The diffusers are made from plastic. I have a CAM cutter, so I made a CAD drawing of the diffusers, & then cut several out of a sheet of white opaque plastic.




All the gage & switch lights done in cool white.

 

Nice job man!

 

Thank you!

 

Looks sharp, nice clean look!

 

Looks very good, looks much cleaner than the amber leds

 

Could you possible list the sizes of all the LED's and their corresponding components?

 

Steering wheel are 0805 LEDs, about 450 mcd luminosity. The door handle illumination are through-hole radial, everything else is 3528. Read what I said in my previous post about diffusers for the LCD display.

 

Much appreciated, that white looks superrrrr clean. Looks like it makes a huge impact on the feel of the interior, and practical advantages as well.

 

It's MUCH easier to see, & especially to read the LCD displays. I think it changes the whole feel of the car. I like it SOOOOO much better than stock; I don't regret making the change at all. I always hated that orange! (insert barfing emoji here.)

 

I just noticed your signature, lets see a picture of your blue LEDs.

 

One more question, what is the voltage at the LEDs? Is it still 12v or stepped down to like 5v?

 

It's much lower, like around 3.5v.

Also, you could use 1206 in the steering wheel buttons, & the flat tire reset is a T1.

 

I figured that was the case, and good to know, thanks again, motor safe!

 

Just noticed this post, they aren't the gauge LEDs, they are for the dome light, foot wells, overheads, etc, haven't taken any photos or I would post.

 

I put cool white LEDs in all the interior lights as well. I also put LEDs in the running lights, blinkers, brake lights, etc. HIDs in the high beam as well as the fogs, with the euro spec programmed in the body control module, such that the fogs stay on when the high beams are turned on.