LEDS ordered. white for dash,revs,temp, fuel, keeping all else the same so will look like this but with normal red needles. i dont really want the hasstle of changing the buttons and futering about with resistors so can live with this

@korban see for the LEDS for the 2x digital readouts you suggest replacing all 6 will be too bright. how many do you reccomend and whats ones going with the pattern

1..........2.............3 as one readout and 4......5.......6 as another, im thinking 1 and 3 + 4 and 6 ?

@korban see for the LEDS for the 2x digital readouts you suggest replacing all 6 will be too bright. how many do you reccomend and whats ones going with the pattern

1..........2.............3 as one readout and 4......5.......6 as another, im thinking 1 and 3 + 4 and 6 ?

Different makes have varying light outputs so its hard to say, the easiest way is to solder all six in place try it, if too bright blank out the middle one with elecrical tape and try again or possible try blanking out the outer two and leave the middle one on.

Karl

Seem like its time for a change with all these good ideas floating around so after purchasing some white needles off devonutopia I came up with this :-

Also some red and green LEDs produced this

Happy with the white needles but not so much with the white digital displays (too bright)

Have to change them again I think

Karl

Nice work there Karl! Thanks for proving the white needle theory

And loving the Red 'n' Green lock buttons.. cool little touch!

What's the plan with the screens then? Back to blue? Red maybe? Or try and dim the white down a bit?

p.s. Bagssy 1st refusal on the white needles should you wanna go back to red

How easy is it to get at the dash to do something like this? And what sort of LEDs are required?

How easy is it to get at the dash to do something like this? And what sort of LEDs are required?

If you have some basic knowledge of electronics and soldering it is not difficult to do it. LEDs in the housing plcc2

and you can buy them at www.digikey.com or samo other distributor for electronic components.

Nice work there Karl! Thanks for proving the white needle theory

And loving the Red 'n' Green lock buttons.. cool little touch!

What's the plan with the screens then? Back to blue? Red maybe? Or try and dim the white down a bit?

p.s. Bagssy 1st refusal on the white needles should you wanna go back to red

Thanks for the comment Rob, keeping the white needles, I think they look better. You should be able to pick up set from a scrap yard from a standard Fabia.

As for the screens now Red

Photo does not really show the tint of the red correctly and its still a bit bright but working on it !

How easy is it to get at the dash to do something like this? And what sort of LEDs are required?

As nemanja_vr6 pointed out the LEDs are readily available, if you check my posts you will find out more info. The cluster comes off very easy, pull the trim off under cluster revealing two screws which need to be removed then lever the top forward gently and the cluster will pop out, disconnect two plugs behind the cluster and its done.

Karl

Now you've had it apart a few times... Is it just one circuit board, or is it like the older nokia's where the "Brain" is on one board and the LED board is a whole other PCB?

I'm just thinking, if they were separate then I'd be more comfortable doing this... I know I can do the actual soldering, no trouble... but I'm just so paranoid that I'll kill it by accident one way or another.

Now you've had it apart a few times... Is it just one circuit board, or is it like the older nokia's where the "Brain" is on one board and the LED board is a whole other PCB?

I'm just thinking, if they were separate then I'd be more comfortable doing this... I know I can do the actual soldering, no trouble... but I'm just so paranoid that I'll kill it by accident one way or another.

If you do kill it....what better opportunity to upgrade to a maxidot pod

Now you've had it apart a few times... Is it just one circuit board, or is it like the older nokia's where the "Brain" is on one board and the LED board is a whole other PCB?

I'm just thinking, if they were separate then I'd be more comfortable doing this... I know I can do the actual soldering, no trouble... but I'm just so paranoid that I'll kill it by accident one way or another.

There is only one electronic board. There are only two problems that can make and these are:

1. removal and return of needles for pointers

2. Soldering diodes in the wrong way.

For the first problem there is a tutorial on youtube

A tutorial is for cluster of SEAT but the process of removing and returning the the needle is the same for skoda cluster

for the second problem is the advice that you change one by one as to not forget the diode direction

BE CAREFUL AND GENTLE !!! :rofl:

I just have a fear of hooking at all back up and the displays just flashing 00:00 alarm clock stylee, lol!

What are the clocks actually responsible for? Will the car work with out them?

Now you've had it apart a few times... Is it just one circuit board, or is it like the older nokia's where the "Brain" is on one board and the LED board is a whole other PCB?

I'm just thinking, if they were separate then I'd be more comfortable doing this... I know I can do the actual soldering, no trouble... but I'm just so paranoid that I'll kill it by accident one way or another.

It is one PCB as in nemanja_vr6 link to the video's. Yes the is a possibility of damaging the board with a stray bit of solder so it's best to cover up the areas that your are not soldering on.

Having said that I have removed and soldered that board many many times and the only issue I had which frightened me was when I plugged it all back together and the car wouldn't start ! Turn out to be the green connector on the right hand side not seated properly !

Couple of new pics trying to get the colours and brightness right ( boards been out about 6 or 7 times this week !

After sticking some tinted film over the LCD displays as below

I managed to get the dash to look like this

but although the LCD was now OK the red on the Rev-counter was to bright so again after applying some tinted film I got it now looking like this

Which I am now happy with not too bright and a sensible light output which is not distracting or too harsh on the eyes at night.

Again camera does not do it justice the reds are red not the orangery colour as in the photos.

Karl

So, can colour changes be made by just sticking on some tinted film? And not having to change any of the actual LEDs? I assume the LEDs shine white, but the OEM green comes from the instrument "skin" that the readouts etc are on?

Looks good mate

So, can colour changes be made by just sticking on some tinted film? And not having to change any of the actual LEDs? I assume the LEDs shine white, but the OEM green comes from the instrument "skin" that the readouts etc are on?

No sorry Jason, the original colour of the LEDs is green with red LEDs for the needles, so I've changed the red needles LEDs to white to match the white needles that I bought of you, changed the green LEDs on the dials for blue and change the green digital LEDs for red. The reason for the tinted film is to reduce the brightness of the LEDs to an acceptable level. A coloured film might change it a bit but not very well.

Looks good mate

Cheers buddy

Karl

Which I am now happy with not too bright and a sensible light output which is not distracting or too harsh on the eyes at night.

Again camera does not do it justice the reds are red not the orangery colour as in the photos.

Karl

I'd already thought about tint film on the LCDs.... But dismissed it on the basis of day time driving? Isn't it too dark to see during the day now?

Looking spot on now though... All perfect I really like the way the white needles illuminate just a little bit of the clock face silver rings.

Can we see a picture of the whole dash now to see it with a little more colour injected??

Is there a 'how to' guide anywhere on changing the LED's in the dash board?I'm going to have a lot of spare time over the xmas period so I think I will give a bash at changing my LED's over to white.

Is there a 'how to' guide anywhere on changing the LED's in the dash board?I'm going to have a lot of spare time over the xmas period so I think I will give a bash at changing my LED's over to white.

.+1

Any chance you can make a guide up Korban?? Wink wink, nudge nudge.

We would be grateful.

Fair play to you, I think this is an awesome mod!

Would love to give this a bash but don't have the time or money to replace what I bugger up!!

I'd already thought about tint film on the LCDs.... But dismissed it on the basis of day time driving? Isn't it too dark to see during the day now?

Looking spot on now though... All perfect I really like the way the white needles illuminate just a little bit of the clock face silver rings.

Can we see a picture of the whole dash now to see it with a little more colour injected??

Rob the tint goes on the white plastic diffuser behind the LCD panel so it look exactly the same as a standard dash with the lights off. The white needs are easier to see during the day, and at night they do give a nice glow on the silver.

Picture tasken during daylight (what little we get at the mo)

Is there a 'how to' guide anywhere on changing the LED's in the dash board?I'm going to have a lot of spare time over the xmas period so I think I will give a bash at changing my LED's over to white.

.+1

Any chance you can make a guide up Korban?? Wink wink, nudge nudge.

We would be grateful.

Southy and Fabla if you look through my posts you will find lots of info on how to do this, but I have started to take more pics and create a guide on this but I doubt it will be finish before Xmas.

Fair play to you, I think this is an awesome mod!

Would love to give this a bash but don't have the time or money to replace what I bugger up!!

Cheers jars its a cheap mod to do but you do need to be able to solder, there are risks but as long as you take your time and be careful what you are doing it should be OK.

Karl

Thanks Karl, I've been trawling your posts for the last day.

It seems pretty much straight forward.

2 Q's

How do you know which way the led's are supposed to be soldered and how do you remove the old led's??

korban what percentage of tint film did you use?

think were about to do mine today, clocks white :p

Thanks Karl, I've been trawling your posts for the last day.

It seems pretty much straight forward.

2 Q's

How do you know which way the led's are supposed to be soldered and how do you remove the old led's??

The LEDs have a small recess in one corner, I mark the PCB with a permanent marker first showing the location of the recess so that I know which way to fit them. To remove the LED quickly alternate both sides of the solder joint with the iron then 'flip' up the LED so that its off one of the solder pads then heat the reaming one and push it off. Hope that makes sense.

Quick pic of recess on the LED and compared it to the size of a pin head to show you how small they are.

korban what percentage of tint film did you use?

Scott I used two layers of some tinted film which I had left over from a previous project, its fairly dark and I needed two layers to cut the light output down enough

Bought it of Ebay here

Pic of the tinted LCD panel

Go for it, it not really that hard you just need time and patience.

Karl