PHEES LED guage DIY
12-03-2009, 10:16 PM
#1
PHEES LED guage DIY
9932 contacted me about doing his guages in LED fashion and i decided to make this a diy. now i understand that many of you guys will not be willing to tackle this on your own but i will provide pics for those of you who just need visuals.
Materials needed:
scissors
3m double sided molding tape (its thicker than office tape)
LED bulbs
1/4 watt resistors (same amount as bulbs)
soldering iron thats under 30 watts but over 20 watts
small glasses sized philips head screw driver
flat head screw driver
18 guage wire
thin cardboard or another thin insulator (non conductive material)
hot glue gun
blade
acetone
cotton swabs
alrights guys
im not going to explain how to get the guages out of the car because its easy to figure out and if someone wants to post this instructions go for it!
once you have the guages out you must take them apart.
the guage cluster consists of 4 plastic parts
the clear
the rear white backing
the black face bezel
and the actual guage holder/pcb mount
all of these are removed by pushing the clips out of their resting points with a flathead screw driver.
NOte: be careful with the clear part because it will crack if u dont push out every clip before attempting to remove it.
once all the parts have been seperated you will be presented with the bare guages.
remove the needles by using two spoons on either end of the needle base and wedging them under and pushing up.
should look like this \-/ the dash is the needle base and the slashes are the spoons.
BE SURE NOT TO BEND THE NEEDLE OR ITS METAL STICK THAT GOES INTO THE MOTOR
once all the needles are removed you can remove the guage faces by peeling them off gently (there is double sided tape that u must reuse under them.)
take the faces off and scrape the blue filter off of the back of them. some people use nail polish remover and say it works wonder. its up to you.
just make sure to remove the blue filter because it will mess ur light output up.
now onto the actual process
1st: solder resistors onto the postitive side of every LED that you have. (the positive side is the one with the longer end)
2nd: use the double sided molding tape to create a laying mat for the LED's around the center part of the guage motor the tape will allow u to move the LED's later without too much trouble.
once everything is in place you can use your hot glue gun to keep the bulbs in place. be sure not to get glue on the rounded end of the LED because it will mess up your light pattern.
3rd. wiring. i decided to wire the LED's in parallel instead of series. this way, if one bulb goes out. all the other ones continue working and u can fix that one bulb without having to rewire the entire cluster.
the way i did this is pictures below where the outer "ring" of wire is the positive or "hot lead. and the inner wire is the ground wire or negative wire. i placed a shaped piece of gloss cardboard between the neg and pos terminals of the bulbs to prevent shorts.
4th. Test your leads.
Grab a 9 volt battery and attach the positive end of it to the positive cable and the negative end to the negative cable. This will light up your LED’s and if one is bad/wired wrong. It wont light up.
Test both the speedo and the tach.
5thonce you’ve tested. You can connect the positive cable of the tach to the positive cable of the speedo and do the same for the negatives of the tack and speedo.
6th then wire the other ends out of the guage cluster through the bulb hole for wiring later. Test again and make sure everything lights up together.
7th. Gas and temp.
4 LED’s in an X configuration. All positive ends soldered to one hot wire and all negative ends soldered to a ground.
8th. Connect the temp and gas to the speedo and tach wires and test
9th. Now for the info display
Fab a mount just like the one pictured below with the cardboard.
10th pic below is of the 6 wires hooked up and consolidated into 2 wires.
Also a pic of the cardboard barrier that u must create for the info display in order to prevent the bulbs from shorting out on the speedo circuit board.
Remove all the OEM speedo, tach and temp/gas bulbs. All the other ones stay.
Materials needed:
scissors
3m double sided molding tape (its thicker than office tape)
LED bulbs
1/4 watt resistors (same amount as bulbs)
soldering iron thats under 30 watts but over 20 watts
small glasses sized philips head screw driver
flat head screw driver
18 guage wire
thin cardboard or another thin insulator (non conductive material)
hot glue gun
blade
acetone
cotton swabs
alrights guys
im not going to explain how to get the guages out of the car because its easy to figure out and if someone wants to post this instructions go for it!
once you have the guages out you must take them apart.
the guage cluster consists of 4 plastic parts
the clear
the rear white backing
the black face bezel
and the actual guage holder/pcb mount
all of these are removed by pushing the clips out of their resting points with a flathead screw driver.
NOte: be careful with the clear part because it will crack if u dont push out every clip before attempting to remove it.
once all the parts have been seperated you will be presented with the bare guages.
remove the needles by using two spoons on either end of the needle base and wedging them under and pushing up.
should look like this \-/ the dash is the needle base and the slashes are the spoons.
BE SURE NOT TO BEND THE NEEDLE OR ITS METAL STICK THAT GOES INTO THE MOTOR
once all the needles are removed you can remove the guage faces by peeling them off gently (there is double sided tape that u must reuse under them.)
take the faces off and scrape the blue filter off of the back of them. some people use nail polish remover and say it works wonder. its up to you.
just make sure to remove the blue filter because it will mess ur light output up.
now onto the actual process
1st: solder resistors onto the postitive side of every LED that you have. (the positive side is the one with the longer end)
2nd: use the double sided molding tape to create a laying mat for the LED's around the center part of the guage motor the tape will allow u to move the LED's later without too much trouble.
once everything is in place you can use your hot glue gun to keep the bulbs in place. be sure not to get glue on the rounded end of the LED because it will mess up your light pattern.
3rd. wiring. i decided to wire the LED's in parallel instead of series. this way, if one bulb goes out. all the other ones continue working and u can fix that one bulb without having to rewire the entire cluster.
the way i did this is pictures below where the outer "ring" of wire is the positive or "hot lead. and the inner wire is the ground wire or negative wire. i placed a shaped piece of gloss cardboard between the neg and pos terminals of the bulbs to prevent shorts.
4th. Test your leads.
Grab a 9 volt battery and attach the positive end of it to the positive cable and the negative end to the negative cable. This will light up your LED’s and if one is bad/wired wrong. It wont light up.
Test both the speedo and the tach.
5thonce you’ve tested. You can connect the positive cable of the tach to the positive cable of the speedo and do the same for the negatives of the tack and speedo.
6th then wire the other ends out of the guage cluster through the bulb hole for wiring later. Test again and make sure everything lights up together.
7th. Gas and temp.
4 LED’s in an X configuration. All positive ends soldered to one hot wire and all negative ends soldered to a ground.
8th. Connect the temp and gas to the speedo and tach wires and test
9th. Now for the info display
Fab a mount just like the one pictured below with the cardboard.
10th pic below is of the 6 wires hooked up and consolidated into 2 wires.
Also a pic of the cardboard barrier that u must create for the info display in order to prevent the bulbs from shorting out on the speedo circuit board.
Remove all the OEM speedo, tach and temp/gas bulbs. All the other ones stay.
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12-04-2009, 01:49 AM
#13
00 ssm
Nice write up man 
I've been waiting to do this for quite a while looks like i'll do it this winter break. I noticed that OntarioTL used a voltage regulator, do you think there'll be some problems down the road without using one?
I've been waiting to do this for quite a while looks like i'll do it this winter break. I noticed that OntarioTL used a voltage regulator, do you think there'll be some problems down the road without using one?
12-04-2009, 09:23 AM
#15
Senior Moderator
I still need to get around to doing this.
12-07-2009, 10:14 AM
#24
Racer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Ontario
Age: 52
Posts: 491
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Once I finish my possible last job on someones cluster as I'm retiring from it, I'm hoping to have my DIY out by xmas.
A few concerns I have to bring up with the DIY though. Are you sure it is wise to remove the needles from the gauges? I only ask as I have tried to remove needles (with a fork and spoon trick) and I find when you place them back in, they tend to stick or don't move as well as before. I've had to replace my own temp/fuel gauge because of this.
Also you forgot to mention what ohm resistor you are using as that is crucial as when someone uses your DIY and finds out their bulbs are flickering or dying because of too little resistance used.
My concerns aside, for the effort, I give it an A+ for job well done
12-07-2009, 12:18 PM
#25
good points. the needles have that issue when they are sightly bent. sometimes its not visible until they are put back in. but that only happens when you remove the needles with their silver pins.
all the needles i have removed come out without the metal pin.
all the needles i have removed come out without the metal pin.
12-07-2009, 12:39 PM
#27
for those who would rather not remove you needles here is how to remove the guages from behind.
If you look on the back of the cluster you will see where the gauges are connected. The two metal clips that are bent inward onto the circuit board must be bent upward, then take a small screwdriver to push the middle part, in which the gauge will then pop out.
courtesy of OntarioTL
If you look on the back of the cluster you will see where the gauges are connected. The two metal clips that are bent inward onto the circuit board must be bent upward, then take a small screwdriver to push the middle part, in which the gauge will then pop out.
courtesy of OntarioTL
i really love them. and i believe someone suggested a voltage regulator? i ended up putting one in for safety. thanks for the tip.
