EA82 Dashboard BackLights Upgrade to H.I.D. White L.E.D.´s

[-tombba-]

I'll answer to myself here The turbo light dies not have the green painted on it.

 

But a little update to you guys too. My dash was from -88 model and did have a green color painted on it. So I did a small mod and it's now white. Altought this is not yt finished but this gives you the idea how to get the green color off from the gauges.

 

First you need to remove the gauges from the dashboard panel itself. The you need to take the plastic spreader or whatever it is apart from it too. Then you can get to work. Take some sanding paper (i just used very coarse one to do this. It was 80grit) Here is a pic after I have sanded the temperature gauges color of rom the back (backlightcoming outfrom the window in the back):

 

 

So just sand the backings of the gauge readings. You don't need to do the whole thing.

 

Here's what the temperature gauge looks like after sandind. You can see that the rpm meter is still green (not very well in the picture but the difference is bigger in real life).

 

 

After sanding the back color off the next step would ofcourse be to put everything back together. Not a very big job to do. Took me about 60mins the whole thing (not including was the unmounting from car itself).

Edited December 2, 2012 by -tombba-

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Thank you for the Update and for Sharing the info here.

 

Can't wait to see the Results.

 

Kind Regards.

[-tombba-]

So I was supposed to do some schoolwork BUT this what happened instead now

 

Here's how it looks with standard bulbs:

 

 

Heres a better pics of the sanding done on the backgrounds:

 

 

 

And some other findings from the center piece of the dash

 

 

 

These are only a rubber mounts that has small lamps stuffed into them

 

OEM shift light does anyone has this working ?

 

And if someone is intrested to change the color of the needles it can be done by sanding the back of them and painting it to any desired color.

 

And that's about it this time. Just have to order a bunch of leds and get things going onwards then.

 

Oh and if anyone want's to use the pics go ahead

Edited November 28, 2012 by -tombba-

[peacewize]

Good to know about changing the colors so cool!my friends dad has a new ford truck and the needles are like an ice blue color that I think would look sweet in my subi

[-tombba-]

Yes needles do look good in light blue

 

 

Still waiting for my T10 and T5 leds to come. Picture taken it two normal 5mm super bright white leds that don't spread the light evenly. But just a small teaser pic this one Note that the car picture in center part looks white/blueish too. I think the light will not spread evenly since the original setup did not look even either but it will remain seen. I'll post the final pics after it's done.

Edited December 1, 2012 by -tombba-

[peacewize]

Yes needles do look good in light blue

 

Omg I love it! It's amazing please tell me how you got that color. Since I have not taken my dash out yet I'm still a bit mystified how to change the needle color. Great job

[-tombba-]

Omg I love it! It's amazing please tell me how you got that color. Since I have not taken my dash out yet I'm still a bit mystified how to change the needle color. Great job

 

You just remove the nedles and sand the orange backing color off. The part near the center is the trickiest but it took about 10min to do all four of these. After sanding all the color off just apply any wanted color to the back. In my case I used a ligh blue nail polish from my girlfriends supplys (It's light blue with golden flakes in it ) The temperature meter is the trickiest part since you have to fit the small plastic part again to the backside of the meter after taking the needle off. It's actually really simple thing to do you just need to be careful with that thing.

[-tombba-]

Hey guess what people ! I've got some new info regarding the lamps inside the dash centerpiece

 

So here goes:

 

The size of the bulbs are approximately 10mm x 4mm as you can see in these two pictures:

 

 

So I decided to order a bunch of leds from ebay. To be more precise a set of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/100pcs-R-G-B-W-Y-ultra-bright-3mm-Water-Clear-LED-kit-/320878478241?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ab5d903a1

 

So I'm going to swapthe original incandescent laps to these 3mm leds (the reason I picked that set of 5 colors from ebay is that I'm going to keep the original colors and why not to brightem them up a little at the same time

 

Here you can see the "filter" part of the center thingy against daylight.

Everything else but the "height controll" and "door lock" will be in use. So fingers up it will work out nicely. The color of these lights would be a pain in the rump roast to change since the panel is painted only from behinf and you would most likely damage the black paint at the same time removing the colors.

 

But now it's just sitting and waiting for the new led bulbs to arrive from ebay. Hopefully it happens before chrismas so I can have nice christmas lights from my dash

[kanurys]

Where will you put the current limiting resistors with those ebay leds?

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

That is a Good Question...

 

The T-5 and T-10 Led Bulbs I Used, came with Built-in current limiting Resistors... This question and Answer are from the Earlier posts of this thread:

 

... I would like to know if they come with a built in current limiting resistor, In the plain bulk ones you buy they self destruct instantly without one at even half the voltage that they are rated for, bulbs only draw X amount at a certain voltage, But an LED is a forward biased diode, so without limiting resistors in the circuit they try to draw infinite amps! ...

 

Answered my own question a link at the bottom of superleds wesite "about leds" states right out that the resistor is built in to every LED they make!

 

Excellent, Can't see them ever needing replacement unless the resistor opens.

 

But the "Bulbs Only" will require Resistors.

 

Maybe you could install some in the Power Line?

[-tombba-]

Well that remains to be seen. There's actually pretty much space inside. But when I get to the point to install them I'll take some pics how it works out If they do not fit I just have to go and buy some 12volt leds instead that are available in 3mm size.

 

I have couple of 560 Ohm resistors already so why no to try fit them in. The resistor may sit outside the rubber thing holding the bulb inside. But we'll see how it goes.

Edited December 5, 2012 by -tombba-

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

I Kindly suggest you to do a Test of the e-Bay bulbs you purchased, connecting one directly to a the Car's Battery, then Start the engine and Rev it up for a While, (ten minutes at least) to see if those Bulbs could Hold the 14+ Volts from the Car's electrical system without burning; Prior to install them to the electronic board.

 

The idea is to Avoid damages to that Board, and wasting of Time, in case they fail.

 

Also, you can use a Common Resistor for all the Bulbs in that Board, usually they Share the same Positive imput (+) Marked as IGN in the rest of the Subaru Instrument cluster's boards.

 

Kind Regards.

[-tombba-]

I Kindly suggest you to do a Test of the e-Bay bulbs you purchased, connecting one directly to a the Car's Battery, then Start the engine and Rev it up for a While, (ten minutes at least) to see if those Bulbs could Hold the 14+ Volts from the Car's electrical system without burning; Prior to install them to the electronic board.

 

The idea is to Avoid damages to that Board, and wasting of Time, in case they fail.

 

Also, you can use a Common Resistor for all the Bulbs in that Board, usually they Share the same Positive imput (+) Marked as IGN in the rest of the Subaru Instrument cluster's boards.

 

Kind Regards.

 

That's exactly what I'm going to do with these. If i hook them up with the mentioned 560 Ohm resistor with a power rating around 0,5W it should hold up pretty well. That resistor should keep the curent at 20 mA and drop the voltage to the desired 3.2 V if the supply voltage is 14.4 V. That's what I calculated but as I said it remains to be seen that do they hold against burning in the car. I'm not going to put it back in the car until they do hold up against burning.

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Great! ... ...

 

Please Keep us updated with any Advance, and thank you for Sharing your info, experiences and photos here.

 

Kind Regards.

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Dear Friends:

The Early instrument clusters on those models got an Amber Background illumination, but after ~ the first couple of production years, subaru switched to a Green Background illumination on those clusters; I thought that the Amber Clusters did not had any tint behind the Numbers and that the Amber tone was due to the incandescent Bulb's tone themselves; while the Green clusters does have a green tint painted behind the Numbers.

Amber Clusters have a thin layer of Amber Tint behind the Numbers, but that Amber tint layer is way much thinner than the green tint layer on Newer green Clusters.

Recently I did the LED Bulbs' Retrofit onto another Subaru Loyale (Not Mine), Also I used the same T-10 (194) White (5000K) Multiple Led Bulbs on another Non Subaru Cars' Clusters, and noticed the Difference; Specially in my Wife's "KiaStein".

The "KiaStein" did have Light Blue Rubber Caps -Condom Like- Covering the original incandescent Bulbs, to give a Whiter Background Colour over the natural yellowish of the incandescense; I swapped 'em using the Multiple LED T-10 Bulbs without any rubber cap, and That Cluster really is untinted...

This is how you easily notice the Difference: The Resulted illumination in the "KiaStein" resulted in a Cool White Colour, while in my "BumbleBeast" resulted in Warmer White Colour, but way much whiter than the incandescent bulbs.

I Really, Really preffer the Looks of my "BumbleBeast" Cluster over any other I've retrofitted so Far... Next week I'll do the Retrofit onto another non-Subaru Cars... My Friends really Liked my Idea!

Well, Let's Continue with the Updates.

Kind Regards.

Edited October 20, 2023 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo
elaborate better the ideas

[92_rugby_subie]

Gonna be purchasing another cluster, just in case I dont do it right (the sanding) I wont end up having an inoperable car (at least not accurately operable)

 

I have the LEDs and a slight modification planned, hopefully will be doing this within the next week (gotta have the new cluster sent to me)

[-tombba-]

Gonna be purchasing another cluster, just in case I dont do it right (the sanding) I wont end up having an inoperable car (at least not accurately operable)

 

I have the LEDs and a slight modification planned, hopefully will be doing this within the next week (gotta have the new cluster sent to me)

 

I would not worry about the sanding since you do not touch the front side that has the readings on it. You can basicly sand the whole back side iff you want to and would not notice any differenc on the front expect that the tint is gone.

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Yes, sanding the whole Back is Good Idea, I Kindly suggest you to use fine grain sandpaper (~600), in order to avoid scratches; then you can use a Carnauba Based Wax to polish the Sanded back. Don't forget to place the front of the Cluster's area, over a Soft cloth on a Level Surface, again to avoid damages.

 

Keep us Updated!

 

Kind Regards.

[-tombba-]

I may have to correct my writings too. I found that my other turbo dash has a filter for the turbo light. BUT since it's only same kind as the blinkers have it's very easy to pop of from the frame. It's only a small green plastic part in the white frame part so nothing big about removing it. I did take it off and now it has a nice blue led in it that fits the needle color hopefully. But as said I'll be also posting pics after I get the leds in it and since it's christmas time the delivery time will be veeery slow since I ordered them from ebay

[-tombba-]

Again I may have to correct myself The leds arrived today and I used my day to fit them into the dash centerpiece.

 

So first of all. I soldered the 560 Ohm resistors straight to the positive led pin like this:

 

Once done I dropped the led with the resistor into the rubber mount like this:

 

And fitted them back into their places like so:

 

Here's one led in a test with the resistor. Power source gave me 14,9volts and after fitting the resistor inline with the positive wire the voltage was 3.04 as can be seen here:

 

All in all a bit snug fit into the rubber mounts, but when I left the led standing a bit out of the mounts it worked fine. Now the time will tell do they hold without burning in the car. Since the ones I already installed aren't on all the time when driving it should be fine. Hope this helps someone once again. Remember that you use this method only with your own risk. You do need to check wich way around you put these leds into their places but it's quite easy to track wich connector goes where since they are all marked pretty well.

 

Still waiting for the main illumination leds to arrive so no updates from them yet.

Edited December 20, 2012 by -tombba-

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

This:

 

 

... first of all. I soldered the 560 Ohm resistors straight to the positive led pin like this:

 

 

Once done I dropped the led with the resistor into the rubber mount like this:

 

 

And fitted them back into their places like so:

 

 

Here's one led in a test with the resistor. Power source gave me 14,9volts and after fitting the resistor inline with the positive wire the voltage was 3.04 as can be seen here:

 

 

All in all a bit snug fit into the rubber mounts, but when I left the led standing a bit out of the mounts it worked fine. Now the time will tell do they hold without burning in the car...

 

 

Is an Awesome, Clean and Well Done Retrofitting Work!

 

I Almost can not wait to see the Results...

 

Thank you for keeping us Updated and for Sharing such Great info!

 

Kind Regards

[-tombba-]

Got the white leds in today. Only pic that I managed to get from it with the leds on is here:

 

The leds are a bit bright in that picture but not too bright in real life and are perfectly clear (not blurry as in picture). I don't have a decent camera so can't get a better pic of it now but it gives some idea how it looks after sanding the backside, changing the bulbs to led and coloring the needles. All in all I'm happy with the guage part now. Next thing is to change the original bulbs to leds in the rest of the dashboard and put all back in the car and see how it looks

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Nice Photo, it is starting to Look Very Sharp & Nice with those White LEDs, please Keep us Updated!   

Edited June 2, 2013 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Everyone please feel Free to Share here your Own Photos & Experiences doing this LED Bulbs Retrofitting.

 

Kind Regards.

Edited June 4, 2013 by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

[Loyale 2.7 Turbo]

Any Updates / News \ New photos of the Project?

Got the white leds in today. Only pic that I managed to get from it with the leds on is here:

...