95.5-2004 Tacomas & 96-2002 4Runners 4th gen pickups and 3rd gen 4Runners

Blue LED Dash Conversion....Who's Done It?

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Old 05-13-2004 | 06:45 AM
  #81  
chuckd's Avatar
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No, I used four leds per resistor. Something esle I found to be incredibly helpful was to use a cardboard box as a table. I then drew the heater control panel on it, and used the soldering iron to poke hole where the leds go. Then I put the leds to be soldered into the holes, and that way they were held in place where they needed to be without me having to hold them. Much easier to solder like that. I will use MS paint to make a diagram after I eat and email it to you.
Old 05-13-2004 | 07:50 AM
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Wonder if this will work. I attatched a rather crude diagram of what I did for the heater. I had to zip it because paint files are huge.
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leds2.zip (35.8 KB, 109 views)
Old 05-13-2004 | 09:13 AM
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any way you can take pictures when you redo it?



Originally Posted by Phoenix12
I'm close to pulling the trigger on this but the heater thing has me worried. Pics would be great, and maybe something of a wiring diagram? Did you put a resistor on each LED or just the beginning of the series? Virtually zero experience with this stuff here. Thanks...
Old 05-13-2004 | 03:40 PM
  #84  
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I don't see why not. I just need to borrow a digital camera from a friend or my bro. It is going to be raining here for a while, but whenever it clears up I'll get some shots. I had no solder experience before this. The biggest help for me was finding various ways to secure the two objects I was connecting while I was soldering them.
Old 05-13-2004 | 05:26 PM
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Okay, these are not redone, but you can get an idea. I also made another brilliant mspaint thing, this time of the ac switch.
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ledsac.zip (23.2 KB, 65 views)
Old 05-13-2004 | 05:27 PM
  #86  
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not sure how to get pics in here.
Attached Thumbnails Blue LED Dash Conversion....Who's Done It?-openheater.jpg  
Old 05-13-2004 | 05:28 PM
  #87  
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still not
Attached Thumbnails Blue LED Dash Conversion....Who's Done It?-openacbutton.jpg  
Old 05-13-2004 | 05:30 PM
  #88  
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Bear in mind these were taken with a camera phone. Here is a pic of the ect and rear window button. I have a few mor.e pics, but they aren't really helpful
Attached Thumbnails Blue LED Dash Conversion....Who's Done It?-leftdash.jpg  
Old 05-13-2004 | 06:21 PM
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Awesome... thanks man. These are going to get lots of views I bet. For the heater panel, what keeps the LEDs in the right position? Did you drill holes in the clear plastic behind the front panel and stick the bulbs in the holes?
Old 05-13-2004 | 06:56 PM
  #90  
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No, the clear plastic is gone. The leds come with stiff wires out the back about an inch long. I just bent them how I wanted and trimmed as needed. The whole harness thing just holds its shape. It looks like a mess here, but the next one will be cleaner. The fuse plug thing makes it easy to take out and switch, and it takes about 30 sec to switch it back to factory if you were to so desire. I think tomorrow I will make some paint things for the ECT and back window. Actually the ect is just a cut and paste job so nevermind on that. If you think it might help. I think I may as well just compile all this stuff into a write up, that way no one will have to deal w/ zip files.

Last edited by chuckd; 05-13-2004 at 06:58 PM.
Old 05-14-2004 | 02:15 PM
  #91  
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More art for those who like art. this is the ect and rear window buttons, from memory, but I think they will at least give an idea of what to expect if you want to try. Sorry, but more zips for now.
Attached Thumbnails Blue LED Dash Conversion....Who's Done It?-acandect.gif  
Old 05-14-2004 | 02:51 PM
  #92  
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Gorgeous work.... ever thought of going professional? Seriously, it helps a lot. I was thinking today of using 2 or 3 colors of LEDs. Maybe blue behind the cold air, red for hot, green behind the things for fresh or recirculate, etc. My indiglo overlays have some greenish hues (even on the blue setting) so I thought of complementing that, and the red that's in them too. All blue might be too blue for my taste.
Old 05-14-2004 | 02:56 PM
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BTW, where did you get your LEDs? Are they frosted? What's a good price?
Old 05-14-2004 | 03:07 PM
  #94  
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I am a starting my own graphic design studio, mostly doing contract work for illustrative things. Or not.

I am going to have red behind hot in version 2. Red will also be behind the hazard button.

I got mine off of ebay. 50 for 10 bucks or so, milky white (frosted), 3mm. I will look for exactly where. I think the auction was for clear leds, but you can email them and they got it right. I think for like a buck more they will throw in a ton of resistors they say will make it work w/ 12volt, but I don't know the specifications of them so I just stuck w/ what wildbill recommended.
Here:

http://search.stores.ebay.com/search...id=5&fp=0&st=2

Last edited by chuckd; 05-14-2004 at 03:22 PM.
Old 05-14-2004 | 03:25 PM
  #95  
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Oh yeah, I'm not positive whether I got 3 or 5 mm. I don't have a ruler on me, but from base to tip one is exactly half the width of a dime.

They are 5mm. For sure.

Last edited by chuckd; 05-22-2004 at 11:38 AM.
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