Custom instrument cluster illumination

[Michael]

After I installed Dave's fantastic climate control board, it only intensified how poorly lit the instrument cluster was. After a few hours work today, I finally have a decently illuminated DeLorean cockpit...in any color I want!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrSlyAY86s0&feature=youtu.be

[Lightning]

Interesting idea that I hadn't thought of. Wonder how hard it would be to have a simple arduino or other such board tie into the rheostat to adjust the brightness and just hold the leds at one or two colors depending on day or night driving.

[rdarlington]

Interesting idea that I hadn't thought of. Wonder how hard it would be to have a simple arduino or other such board tie into the rheostat to adjust the brightness and just hold the leds at one or two colors depending on day or night driving.

It would be easy, especially if you do an LED conversion for all the bulbs controlled by that 15 watt rheostat. I know that's one of the parts that breaks and is sorta hard to come by. An LED conversion would mean a very inexpensive potentiometer (another name for rheostat) could be used to control a PWM LED dimmer, and heck, you can find them that can be "clicked" by pushing in/down. That means you can toggle between color settings and brightness.

[mluder]

After I installed Dave's fantastic climate control board, it only intensified how poorly lit the instrument cluster was. After a few hours work today, I finally have a decently illuminated DeLorean cockpit...in any color I want!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrSlyAY86s0&feature=youtu.be

This is awesome - I have no grasp of what's involved as far as parts, where to get, and how to install.

Can you provide more specifics and even a write up? I would love to do this to my car.

Cheers
Steven

[Tillsy]

I've been hanging out for both bitsyncmaster's AC panel (http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?6057-Building-New-AC-Panel-Faceplate) as well as dmc6960's instrument cluster (http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?1160-Backlit-Electronic-Instrument-Cluster), as they'd be an absolute killer combination.

Sadly Jim is still 6-12 months away on the instrument cluster, quality takes time and even longer when squeezed amongst everything else in life.

A LED strip does sound like a great option rather than individual bulbs in the meantime.

[Bitsyncmaster]

That's a good idea to use both LEDs and incandescent bulbs. Think your the first to think of it. I was waiting for Jim's new board also but I completely understand the time to design such a board. I may have to do some tinkering with LEDs like Michael has done in the mean time. When I first installed my AC panel LED board the first thought that came to mind was how crappy that dash looked with stock incandescent lamps.

[Michael]

That's a good idea to use both LEDs and incandescent bulbs. Think your the first to think of it. I was waiting for Jim's new board also but I completely understand the time to design such a board. I may have to do some tinkering with LEDs like Michael has done in the mean time. When I first installed my AC panel LED board the first thought that came to mind was how crappy that dash looked with stock incandescent lamps.

When I put your climate board in I thought the same thing. The cluster actually looked like it had something wrong with it in comparison. I tried a lot of different positions and you would think the best place to mount would be on the roof of the light box with the lights pointing down on the cluster faces. The light was too harsh and cast a shadow. I mounted the strip on top of the cluster itself with the light pointing up on the roof of the light box. This diffused it enough to give the perfect amount of broadcast in both the large and small openings. I definitely wanted to keep the incandescents in place because I liked the idea of "custom mixing" the two colors...and the trip and odometer looks cool lit up in a different light.

The install was very easy. The only thing that took time was trying to figure out the best place to put the light strip. I ran the wires to controller and mounted it to the bottom of the knee pad next to the climate control. It's just to the inside so it's completely out of sight but easy to reach. The power leads were easy to come by since I had three left over from the incandescent plugs for the climate control panel, (for those who do not have the led AC panel, only one lamp plug lead is needed, so the other 3 just remain with no bulb in place). I set the controller in place with some 3M double sided tape(always have a roll on hand).

For those who want to do this and may not know where to start, just search for "5050 rgb led strip" which will get you the light strip itself. I buy this in rolls of 5 meters for around 10 bucks a roll. The controllers are very diverse. Simple to complex remotes. For this project, the inline controller shown below works fine and it's only a few bucks. Other than some hook up wire to extend the lengths from the strip to the controller to the power source, that's all you need!

This is the controller I used, very small, cheap, and easy to place out of sight:
https://www.torchstar.biz/upload/img/20130130/20130130235212670.jpg

Wiring up so easy, it still surprises me how cheap this stuff has become.
https://www.torchstar.biz/upload/img/20130130/201301302352122019.jpg




I think I like green the best...the intensity is adjustable in 5 levels...this pic is taken at level 3


http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=24366&d=1389555470

[mluder]

The install was very easy. The only thing that took time was trying to figure out the best place to put the light strip. I ran the wires to controller and mounted it to the bottom of the knee pad next to the climate control. It's just to the inside so it's completely out of sight but easy to reach. The power leads were easy to come by since I had three left over from the incandescent plugs for the climate control panel, (for those who do not have the led AC panel, only one lamp plug lead is needed, so the other 3 just remain with no bulb in place). I set the controller in place with some 3M double sided tape(always have a roll on hand).

For those who want to do this and may not know where to start, just search for "5050 rgb led strip" which will get you the light strip itself. I buy this in rolls of 5 meters for around 10 bucks a roll. The controllers are very diverse. Simple to complex remotes. For this project, the inline controller shown below works fine and it's only a few bucks. Other than some hook up wire to extend the lengths from the strip to the controller to the power source, that's all you need!

This is the controller I used, very small, cheap, and easy to place out of sight:
https://www.torchstar.biz/upload/img/20130130/20130130235212670.jpg

Wiring up so easy, it still surprises me how cheap this stuff has become.
https://www.torchstar.biz/upload/img/20130130/201301302352122019.jpg


http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=24366&d=1389555470

Thanks! This is great! I can't wait to try it.

Cheers
Steven

[Domi]

Really nice improvement ;)

[Michael]

Thanks! PS, if anyone ends up doing this, the colors seem to wash out when you turn the factory bulbs up, so I now leave them down just enough so the mileage counters will work. I also forgot to mention, you can turn them off completely by holding down the brightness button.
24385

[kobachi]

For those who want to do this and may not know where to start, just search for "5050 rgb led strip" which will get you the light strip itself. I buy this in rolls of 5 meters for around 10 bucks a roll. The controllers are very diverse. Simple to complex remotes. For this project, the inline controller shown below works fine and it's only a few bucks. Other than some hook up wire to extend the lengths from the strip to the controller to the power source, that's all you need!

Could you provide a part number or link for the particular controller you used?

[Michael]

Could you provide a part number or link for the particular controller you used?

Just search for "RGB inline controller"

[bigmac]

Is the led strip infront or behind the Perspex cover?

Thanks

[Michael]

Is the led strip infront or behind the Perspex cover?

Thanks

Actually neither. I placed it on top of the cluster under the light box roof panel. Point the LED's up so they are facing the roof. When the roof is put back into place, it diffuses the light so that it comes in evenly through the long openings above the gauges.

[DMC5180]

Any idea why the cluster ceiling is Light Turquoise as opposed to White? Does it Matter? Do you think that coloration effects the color? I know that with Standard incandescent bulbs in a backlit application, Green characters use a turquoise Filter so it appears GREEN when the light mixes. It's the old yellow & blue makes Green standard.

[Michael]

Any idea why the cluster ceiling is Light Turquoise as opposed to White? Does it Matter? Do you think that coloration effects the color? I know that with Standard incandescent bulbs in a backlit application, Green characters use a turquoise Filter so it appears GREEN when the light mixes. It's the old yellow & blue makes Green standard.

2 things you can do. You can paint it white or if you don't want to do anything permanent, you can put a piece of sheet plastic in with double sided tape. Sheet plastic can be found at any good hobby store and it's molded in white.

I didn't do anything to mine, but it was a very light shade of turquoise. I just thought it was aging and it was still almost white.

I would suggest you place the cover in place and test them. You will probably find the lights are so intense that the color of the box will not matter very much.

[Spittybug]

Michael said he forgot to take a picture of the LEDs in place. I just did this mod and am very pleased. I'm still figuring out all the different settings with the controller however.... here is a pic.

[Michael Babb]

Nice work Michael! I am going to try this same thing, but plan on using a strip of UV LEDs . . .

Thinking that I will probably keep the regular Incandescent's or LEDs for the odometer illumination.

Will post here if I can get something working that illuminates everything properly.

This is what I have with just replacing the incandescent illumination bulbs with UV, and it is not nearly bright enough:
25758

[nkemp]

Has anyone tried UV and RGB LEDs? RGB's for the illumination, UV for the glow.

[john 05141]

I am waiting for a nice solution from Dave one day.....

Jan

[robvanderveer]

In my clock replacement i've added a feature that sends out a PWM signal on the wire that leaves the rheostat, driving the sashboad lights. It was so close together i could not ignore it. Because I've replaced the rheostat with a rotary encoder that drives the setting/selection logic of the clock, i can do all kinds of stuff with the dashlighting using the microcontroller of my clock. Fading, xmas blinking, etc. <- if you can create a feature that doesn't mean you should.