Blue Dash Lights ?

[bigsul]

Hi,

Does anybody know who the Is200 owner is who has the blue dash lights ? He has posted pic's in the gallery @ page 99 / 100. Those lights are the dogs !

Ta for any help .............. bs

[ukazn]

Hi there BS, that was a pic of my dash lights there on page 99. I did it by using about 8 12V LEDs. What I did was take out there original bulbs and resolder the the LEDs in their place. I'm trying to do the speedo now but I have not had the time to do it. Also I wanted to order diffused LED's cos I reckon they would work much better but can't work out what the rating of resistor I would need.

[bigsul]

They look great, wouldn't mind having a go at that myself.

Do you have any more pic's ?

bs ............

[bigsul]

A bit of a stupid question coming up, but could you do the same with blue bulbs ?

bs ..........

[bam-bam]

I've tried it with blue wedge bulbs,but found them to shine with only the lightest tinge of blue(mainly white),also tried removing the orange bulb sleeves and replaced them with blue ones-again,not blue enough was the result.

I think the only real option is the LED format that ukazn has managed.

B)

[dlayen]

but can't work out what the rating of resistor I would need.

try a 1k resistor

[Geoffers]

try a 1k resistor

I don't mean to contradict, but use a 680 ohm for standard 20mA Leds. It's well within the limits and you will get the extra brightness. You can go lower, but then you will start to loose the efficiency of the LEDS.

www.ultraleds.co.uk have some good deals. Their LEDS actually take a bit more current so you can go as low as 330ohm, which has been ok for me, but to make sure use 470 ohm for longevity.

[Unregistered_User1]

I take it it's this piccy...

http://www.lexusownersclub.com/gallery/alb...01/dash_lights2

The blue looks OK, but does it not distract you from the road ahead? The red color is proven not to distract the eye (which is why Lexus have the deep red background in the first place).

[bigsul]

VW's have blue dash lights as standard.

bs ..................

[ukazn]

This probably gonna get me some stick but I actually have MTV playing in my car while I'm driving. The screen actually covers my dials anyway so I hardley ever get to see them. The blue is not as bright as the VW ones but they do show up better brighter when I took the pic.

Geoffers, i'm not much of an electric bof so please forgive if this sounds stupid. Are all LEDs the same voltage and it's just a case of getting resisters on them to work with 12V.

[ColinBarber]

Have you lost any of the brightness control?

[kev dood]

There are different current ratings for LED's. I don't think the voltage is too much of a concern from memory.

Obviously mains levels might not be a good idea (have to DC it first - AC won't work!!

[Geoffers]

LEDs were pretty much standard up until quite recently. Now are are allsorts of flavours with slightly different voltages/currents. Limiting the current is the important thing. LEDs are usually 20mA.

I always keep to a general rule. At 12v (well, 13.8 - 14.4 from alternator), with a 20ma LED, use a 680ohm resistor. This will be fine for most applications.

If you have an LED that has a higher current capacity then it won't achieve it's maxumum brightness with a resistor that high and you'll need to lower it.

If it is a high brightness white or blue LED, you should look up the specs, but (again very generally) I use a 470 ohm for these types as they are generally rated at 30mA.

Sorry to be so vague, it's just that there are so many different ones on the market now.

You can work it out by R=V/I So, an LED rated 30mA running at 14.4v would be

14.4/.03 = 480. You can't generally buy 480 ohm resistors so the closest is 470ohm.

[kev dood]

...and tomorrows electronics workshop shall focus on on implementing a root sum of squares processor in programmable logic! :winky:

he he

[Geoffers]

:lol:

I was experimenting a while ago, I couldn't get a decent blue sheath on the bulbs for it to look good enough but I did find that if you leave the very top of the centre bulb orange, it keeps the needle bright red against the rest being blue.

I tried with a few LEDS myself, but the light spread wasn't good enough at the time so the dash appeared patchy. The newer higher brightness types that are diffused may be better now though.

Matt Wildrness - have you tried any blue paint on these types of bulbs? The vermillion works a treat in red.

[Parthiban]

I actually have MTV playing in my car while I'm driving

how do you play mtv in the car? got a satellite on the roof?

[kev dood]

my guess is from a recorded disc - dvd or video CD?

Can't receive it on the move from anything yet!

Mind you someone has a prototype of dig. tv on a mobile, think its via 3G though. NEC me thinks!

[kev dood]

nope, not via 3G, just found the article!! Uses a portable antenna for dig broadcasting.

Prototype though and batteries only last 1hr!!

3G would be better as you would only need a low res image and sound doesn't have to be that great!! anyway

[imi]

kev dood Posted on Jul 30 2003, 10:45 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

nope, not via 3G, just found the article!! Uses a portable antenna for dig broadcasting.

Sorry again, Kev can you post a link to the article, i've done a search but no luck..

[kev dood]

Thought I'd put it here incase anyone else wanted to see it, you miss the photo, but then its just a phone!!

The article is not massive and doesn't go into much detail, but here it is.

[ADVANCE]

FYI- WAXMAN at IS300.net has the blue dash lights and also sells them.

[ukazn]

The MTV is actually stored on my XBOX. I've currently got about 200 music vids.

[wildrnes]

Can't receive it on the move from anything yet!

talk to the one they call paul norkep

ah geoff the vermilion is good isnt it :winky: