Hi Everyone! my first post on the forum - I'm sure this may have been covered somewhere before but please be gentle   

 

I've recently bought a 2012 Octavia Scout, loving it so far but last night during my first night-time drive I found out that the needle lights for the fuel, water temp gauges and speedo  don't work so its very difficult to see what speed you are doing!  I've looked into getting the dash display LEDs sorted and looks like a right faff and very expensive for what is basically a 'blown bulb'!.. so I thought a solution could be to use the digital speedo at night, but that currently only has the option to display in Km/Hr... i understand that its possible to use a device to alter this setting in the cars computer but needs a tool and software to do so - I've seen VCDS which looks really expensive and also ODB11 and Carista which are cheaper but have some sort of subscription service  ... if anyone could help me out by recommending what hard ware and software I'd be best getting on a tight budget to activate the MPH feature on the dash display, I would be very grateful - I don't think I will need it for more than just sorting that one feature, and possibly understanding issues behind warning lights in the future... thanks in advance !

 

Gaz 

Does the dashboard brilliance potentiometer on the dashboard work for other lights?

If so, the it is more likely failed leds (or their solder joints. 

 

I copied the instruction for removing the display and replacing the leds from a thread on here, and sent them to a friend with a similar problem to yours in his Yeti (uses Octavia 2 parts). He needed one white needle light and some reds.

He also replaced all leds of the same colour to ensure that all were of the same colour and brightness after the repair. It took him about a day.

 

Hi pikpilot 

 

when I adjust the brightness dial  the whole dash gets brighter/darker (including the rev needle which is lit up) but the needles on the fuel, temp and speedo needles are dead as a doornail - they don't light up at all  I'd potentially be keen to give fixing them myself at a later date, so if you could post a link to the thread in question?  Ta.  

 

in the meantime if anyone else could recommend the best software and hardware to change the digital speedo would be great  

This is how to get to the LEDs:

 

Instrument Cluster LED Replacment v1-1 (2) (1).pdf

 

 

For the LEDs, one poster said:-

"I only needed to replace the LED’s that illuminated the Rev and Speed needles. I bought these from Rapid Electronics in Colchester:
Part Number: 55-2890
Spec: 3528 smd LED
6500K
6.5lm
120deg
30mA
3.1V

Once everything was put back together, the new LED’s are about 20% brighter then the old ones and not quite as white. However, because I replaced all the LED’s for the Rev and Speed needles, this difference is not as noticeable. You may be better off getting 5.5lm and 7000K led’s."

 

Others have said that a better colour match could be made with 5000K  colour as people who had used 6500K leds reported a touch of blue.

 

Note you need to be proficient and suitably equipped for changing surface mounted devices. The other option is send the display assembly away to a specialist company who will change all (for colour matching) leds for about £150. Search the forum for details if you want to go that route.

 

Note that the digital kms display is there because the speedometer does not have dual markings for MPH and kms and is a legal requirement. However some people have changed the set up of the car's software to fool it into being an Australian model. Can be done with VCDS software. See the forum of that title on this platform.

 

I followed the instructions above for replacing the SMD leds in my instrument panel. It worked but now the needles are jerky in operation . The speedo needle goes up smoothly but jerks /jumps  on the slow down . The rev counter was OK until I realised the needle was in the wrong position,  6000 revs with engine off.   After sorting that out the rev counter has now  started to jerk like the speedo . At first I thought the face dial was incorrectly placed but no.

 

Could I have damaged the motor which turns the needles.

 

Could the needle be to far on and rubbing on the face. ? 

 

Any ideas anyone?

2 hours ago, erindad said:

Could the needle be to far on and rubbing on the face. ? 

 

Certainly sounds like friction giving it a stick-slip movement. Check the part around the bottom of the needle is not pushed down too far (my best guess)  and also check the end of the needle is not touching anywhere. Unlikely to have damaged the motors unless the shafts has been moved inwards.

 

I though that maybe the motors had been damaged when taking off needles as it took a lot of leverage with the forks (good idea the forks )

 

Getting it down to a fine art now , takes about 5mins to remove instrument panel and 5 mins to strip. 

 

The needles centre were  just too close to the  white diffuser shield .Been pushed too far on.  Raised them a fraction and alls well.

 

 The biggest problem I found was getting a soldering iron with a small enough point to melt the solder without melting the SMD led when fitting the new ones.  Had to modify my smallest tip which did the job.  10 SMD off ebay @£1.70,  cheap enough to melt them .  Could not have done it without my magnifying lamp.  

 

 

 

Well done. I try to avoid the smaller SMD parts even with a small iron bit and smallest tweezers.

I passed the instructions to friend of mine with a led display problem on his Yeti. He changed every led, but he is a professional electronics engineer with all the tools for SMD work. He gets the job if mine fails!

 

I used a hot air bower when I replaced all the LEDs in my MK1 Octy speedo a dab of flux on the connections and the solder flowed nicely 

I have the same problem with 3 needles not lighting up. Contacted a place quite near (Stirling) a couple of times that does this type of work and they never bothered to respond.

I could maybe do it myself but the smds are very small and my fat fingers might struggle so looking to send it off to get done.

Any recommendations?

I've got fat stubby fingers but as long as you can hold a pair of tweezers in one hand  and a soldering iron with a really small tip in the other and have a magnifying lamp on an adjustable stand you'll manage . Just follow the instructions above. 

20 hours ago, erindad said:

I though that maybe the motors had been damaged when taking off needles as it took a lot of leverage with the forks (good idea the forks )

 

Getting it down to a fine art now , takes about 5mins to remove instrument panel and 5 mins to strip. 

 

The needles centre were  just too close to the  white diffuser shield .Been pushed too far on.  Raised them a fraction and alls well.

 

 The biggest problem I found was getting a soldering iron with a small enough point to melt the solder without melting the SMD led when fitting the new ones.  Had to modify my smallest tip which did the job.  10 SMD off ebay @£1.70,  cheap enough to melt them .  Could not have done it without my magnifying lamp.  

 

Did you just file down the soldering iron tip? Got a photo?

I might try doing it myself.

 

 

 

 

The original tip was rounded , I just ground it down to a point. There is photo of the size now about the size of a ball point pen tip

You can get the digital MPH reading on the dash by changing the region of the car from UK to Australia, then in the MFD turn off "alt. speed" display (this is the km/h reading) and turn on "digital speed" or something like that. I have it on mine and I love it. It might only work with maxidot but I'm not sure.

 

You can do it with VCDS or Cariata, if you're in the south west I could do it for you

Edited 28 November, 20214 yr by slow_nick

Since getting used to the bright needles on my speed and rev dials I've just discovered the fuel and temp gauge needles LEDs are not working now.

 A repeat performance is now required .

 

I found the brightness was irritating and wonder if a  piece of a sweetie colour film put over the LEDS would change and dim the leds just that little bit.  A blue or red needle with a white background ?

Going to try it when I have the dash panel out again

@erindad

You do know there's a dimmer control...

Dimmer control doesn't make any difference to the needle brightness or make the temp and fuel needles light up.

I tried the red needle idea as previous post . Used red insulating tape stuck to a piece of clear sticky tape and a hole punched in it . Attached it with a small dab of hot glue. Came out quite well but don't know yet if any heat from the LED will affect it . Not been tried in the dark yet.

  Instead of bright white smd leds for the gauges I used warm white but not impressed with them I will change them for bright white and make them red also.

 

 

@erindad

Just fit red LEDs (or any other colour) and forget about the Blue Peter bit.

48 minutes ago, MicMac said:

@erindad

Just fit red LEDs (or any other colour) and forget about the Blue Peter bit.

If you fit Red instead of white you will also need to change the resistor as the different colours operate at different voltages 2.1v for red & 3.4 for white so just fitting red LEDs will fry them quite quickly 

2 minutes ago, nige8021 said:

If you fit Red instead of white you will also need to change the resistor as the different colours operate at different voltages 2.1v for red & 3.4 for white so just fitting red LEDs will fry them quite quickly 

That's doable and preferable to a collage of sticky tape, besides you can always dim things down with the instrument lighting dimmer control.

 

Do you have any specs/photos/links of suitable replacement LEDs?

11 minutes ago, MicMac said:

Do you have any specs/photos/links of suitable replacement LEDs?

 

When I replaced the LEDs in my MK1 Octy I went from green to blue as they are the same voltage (3.4v) and I think I bought them from Farnell or it might of been eBay, there's a PDF in the MK1 section about how to replace them, including the sizes assuming they are the same for the MK2 ??