gotspeed13

Yes, definitely. I was going to say that when I eventually put up the pics of my finished project. There is just not enough room in the clear RD1 lens to do method 1.

DTN

Just modded my dimmer switch. + goes to D2 on dimmer circuit board - goes to D3.

StrikeEagle

I've gotten my heater cluster apart, and it doesn't look terribly hard. A couple questions though, on the heat control (far left one) should I add a red LED on the heat side instead of just putting blue ones in and hoping the face thing will change the color?
I'm also trying to figure out how to get an LED in that really narrow section on the fan speed selector side... It's about 1/4in. thick, so the LED won't fit in the whole thing... Does that just stick out the back pretty far?
Clear cement - is that also pretty much an insulator? Any particular brand or type? And same for white-out? Also, that stencil stuff, do you just find it in any walmart, or is it more of a specialty item?
Last thing, how many LEDs do you use? You say to prepare 7-10, but then I counted about 20? I was probably going to use about 15 or so, would this be good enough?

01tibby

you will need red to make the red parts show. i didnt do it the same way dtn does though. i think his would turn out brighter, but thats not what i want. i just drill holes int he back white plastic piece and spread leds out along there. i get rid of the clear plastic diffuser piece inside of the controls.

DTN

it takes about 4 LEDs to light up the red. Because of the tight wavelength of LEDs the red will not shine through the blue and the blue will not shine through the red. So use as much red under the red area as you like, but remember to use more blue then red on the blue/red portion of the heater cluster.

For the narrow portion of the heater cluster, just drill the LED in shorter. about 1MM. It's not a big deal if you go through, i try not to because of uniformity, you are going to put a difuser (the piece of stensil from the craft section of walmart) over it anyways.

Clear cement is an insulator, but is not marketed nor gauranteed to be one. I'd use liquid electrical tape for paint on insulation. No particular brand. Properties are the most important thing. Clear Liquid Cement is a clear adhesive which holds plastic. If you can match it, get it. Same with white out. It's just used as white paint in this application.

The 7-10 LEDs to be prepared were for the switches in the vehical and the extra 3 for the dials. 4 for the heater cluster, 4 for the 2 switches on the side and a few extra incase you mess up. It's good practice before you just tear into a project like this to have a start already. If you make a few and set them to the side you'll find a good use for them later. When you make your LEDs focus on making the leads as short as possible, the connection as good as possible and the soldering time as short as possible.

Note on the dials, 2 3mm LEDs drilled into the center lens area is more powerful then 1-2 behind the lens and it dosn't make a noticable difference as you turn the dial.

T01: i labeled that "Method 2"

StrikeEagle

^^^ Beautiful! I've got about half of them done, still working, and it's coming along well! Going to try to find liquid electrical goop tomorrow and some cement and stencils so I can finish it up.
Thanks for the advice, will keep you updated!

01tibby

without a odubt, the most important thign ive found in doing this is try to minimize the time you hold the soldering gun on the leads of the led. they really dont like heat that much.

DTN

^^ Definately. it was Tibby01 that pointed out to me that eventual flickering burnout is caused by overheating the LEDs.

StrikeEagle

Does heat just kill the LED or can it make it dim? I have one that's slightly dimmer than the one next to it, could that be from heat? There's 2 in series, and the dim one is the second one in line, so I'm not sure if that's part of what's causing it? I wouldn't think so...

01tibby

voltage drops across leds. its small and i wouldnt think you would be able to tell but maybe. the heat causes all kinds of problems though. flat out not working, to flickering and eventual deathe, to occasional on and off.