Gauge cluster LED replacement for bulbs
DIY Gauge Cluster LED's
Well, months back I saw the write up to change the bulbs in your cluster. Well, I could only do the one big bulb and the little bulbs, I couldnt find bulb paint. I saw that OC_civic had LEDS on his and wanted to do that instead. I went to radio shack to get some LED's and all they had were 3 volt and 6 volt, which, im pretty sure is a no can do due to the 12v battery. So today in advnced I looked in the ricer section and BAM, 12V individual LEDS. So I found one of my projects for the day.
DISCLAIMER
*********
I take no personal resbonsibilty for any mishaps or malfunctions on your part in this How To. Do this DIY at your own risk. If you do not know how to work with electrical or wires, do not continue.
**********
NEEDED:
At least 5 Individual 12 volt LED's (I found these in the ricer section of Advanced Auto)
- NOTE: Make sure they are 12 VOLT.
Scissors
A pair of wire strippers (I used nail clippers cuz I lost mine)
A small flathead screwdriver or knife
about an hour of your time
--------
If you want to get fancy and do it correctly, you can bust out your solder iron. This is optional and for the
experienced person only. I didnt cuz I dont own one. So I ghetto/mexican rigged it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STEP 1:
Remove your gauges. (If you dont know how to do this, search, i know its on here and its not that hard.)
STEP 2:
Once your gauges are removed, turn it over to the back. You will notice a bunch of black and brown knobs. Locate your primary bulbs (Circled below for EX gauges, I believe DX, LX, CX have only 4 primary bulbs) Twist off the knobs and remove the bulbs. (keep the bulbs just in case)
STEP 3:
Open up your LED package and remove LED's. Different sets vary on how they are packaged. Mine came each indiviual LED with 15 ft of lose wire. we only need about 2 inches from the bulb. For safe measure leave about 5 inches of wire from the bulb. With the wire cut, get your strippers and strip off the plastic around the wire. (If you use clippers, be careful not to cut the wires) I twisted them to keep them all together. ***Use proper judgement when estimating how much plastic you leave between the LED and the stipped wire. Too much and the wire wong go in right. Too little, and it wont stay or wont work.***
STEP 4:
Grab the knobs you pulled off the back that was holding the bulbs. If you look on the sides of the knob, there are to little metal tabs. (picture below) Those provide the power for the LED's. With your little flathead or knife, lift those tabs up. Dont break them, you want to apply on slight pressure. PLace the wires in the slot for the bulb with the stripped wires sticking out. Now grab one stirpped wire and place it underneath on of the metal tabs. I pulled it in on one side and came out the other. If the is excess, that is fine. Once underneath the metal tab, use you flathead or knife and push down on that metal tab. It should stay relativly back to normal, keepin the wire smashed under it. (That part can be substituted for solder and soldering iron. As I stated before, this should be left to a person with experience) Now, do so to the other side in the exact same way. When done, snip of the little excess.
OPTIONAL STEP: If you want more light, you can also replace the over gauge lights with white LED's, this way your needels and front gauge area will light up brighter to. To do so, just install LED's the the same way, but replace over gauge bulbs instead.
STEP 5:
You should have all your LED's in their knobs. All you have to do now, is put them back in there sockets. With the wires under the tabs, it makes it harder to turn, just put a lil more effort, it will go in. All to do now, is re-install gauges and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Heres a crappy pic of mine.
Any questions, feel free to PM me, or post on here.
Brought to you by,
X-aCuTiOnA
First pic by oc_civic
DIY Gauge Cluster LED's
Well, months back I saw the write up to change the bulbs in your cluster. Well, I could only do the one big bulb and the little bulbs, I couldnt find bulb paint. I saw that OC_civic had LEDS on his and wanted to do that instead. I went to radio shack to get some LED's and all they had were 3 volt and 6 volt, which, im pretty sure is a no can do due to the 12v battery. So today in advnced I looked in the ricer section and BAM, 12V individual LEDS. So I found one of my projects for the day.
DISCLAIMER
*********
I take no personal resbonsibilty for any mishaps or malfunctions on your part in this How To. Do this DIY at your own risk. If you do not know how to work with electrical or wires, do not continue.
**********
NEEDED:
At least 5 Individual 12 volt LED's (I found these in the ricer section of Advanced Auto)
- NOTE: Make sure they are 12 VOLT.
Scissors
A pair of wire strippers (I used nail clippers cuz I lost mine)
A small flathead screwdriver or knife
about an hour of your time
--------
If you want to get fancy and do it correctly, you can bust out your solder iron. This is optional and for the
experienced person only. I didnt cuz I dont own one. So I ghetto/mexican rigged it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STEP 1:
Remove your gauges. (If you dont know how to do this, search, i know its on here and its not that hard.)
STEP 2:
Once your gauges are removed, turn it over to the back. You will notice a bunch of black and brown knobs. Locate your primary bulbs (Circled below for EX gauges, I believe DX, LX, CX have only 4 primary bulbs) Twist off the knobs and remove the bulbs. (keep the bulbs just in case)
STEP 3:
Open up your LED package and remove LED's. Different sets vary on how they are packaged. Mine came each indiviual LED with 15 ft of lose wire. we only need about 2 inches from the bulb. For safe measure leave about 5 inches of wire from the bulb. With the wire cut, get your strippers and strip off the plastic around the wire. (If you use clippers, be careful not to cut the wires) I twisted them to keep them all together. ***Use proper judgement when estimating how much plastic you leave between the LED and the stipped wire. Too much and the wire wong go in right. Too little, and it wont stay or wont work.***
STEP 4:
Grab the knobs you pulled off the back that was holding the bulbs. If you look on the sides of the knob, there are to little metal tabs. (picture below) Those provide the power for the LED's. With your little flathead or knife, lift those tabs up. Dont break them, you want to apply on slight pressure. PLace the wires in the slot for the bulb with the stripped wires sticking out. Now grab one stirpped wire and place it underneath on of the metal tabs. I pulled it in on one side and came out the other. If the is excess, that is fine. Once underneath the metal tab, use you flathead or knife and push down on that metal tab. It should stay relativly back to normal, keepin the wire smashed under it. (That part can be substituted for solder and soldering iron. As I stated before, this should be left to a person with experience) Now, do so to the other side in the exact same way. When done, snip of the little excess.
OPTIONAL STEP: If you want more light, you can also replace the over gauge lights with white LED's, this way your needels and front gauge area will light up brighter to. To do so, just install LED's the the same way, but replace over gauge bulbs instead.
STEP 5:
You should have all your LED's in their knobs. All you have to do now, is put them back in there sockets. With the wires under the tabs, it makes it harder to turn, just put a lil more effort, it will go in. All to do now, is re-install gauges and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Heres a crappy pic of mine.
Any questions, feel free to PM me, or post on here.
Brought to you by,
X-aCuTiOnA
First pic by oc_civic
haha
