Instrument cluster with LEDS. "Picture"

[MrPants]

thanks holmes

[coupe]

Sherlock Holmes?

[castlesteve]

With that high wattage resistor (alum with heat sinks), you will be sinking a lot of current through those wires!! ... and you are forcing the diodes to sink more current than they may take. Consider a simple 5V, 3 leg voltage regulator... you can get them at radio shack... you just ground the center pin, apply 12+ volts to the left pin, and you get 5V on the right pin... it is current limited and has a heat sink... then you can simply tack 100ohm (or whatever) resistors to your LEDs.

[gt350mike]

Originally posted by castlesteve
With that high wattage resistor (alum with heat sinks), you will be sinking a lot of current through those wires!! ... and you are forcing the diodes to sink more current than they may take. Consider a simple 5V, 3 leg voltage regulator... you can get them at radio shack... you just ground the center pin, apply 12+ volts to the left pin, and you get 5V on the right pin... it is current limited and has a heat sink... then you can simply tack 100ohm (or whatever) resistors to your LEDs.

If you can come up with a part number for the 5v regulator, I can try to get "samples" for everyone! I sell electronics in the real world.

[buckshot]

is it the picture or is the light distributed uneven?
the reason i'm asking is i spent about 25 bucks from 9x auto.com
and bought the kit that puts new reflective material on the "fiber optics" and then replaced the bulbs with 5 watt instead of 3 watt.
light is very even and bright.. my only concern is how long this fix will last... if it doesnt, i' going to try the led route... seems like
a great idea. just a couple months too late..
very interesting looking at your handiwork
good job!
buckshot

[MrPants]

Originally posted by coupe
Sherlock Holmes?

haha. whichever holmes you prefer

[coupe]

castlesteve With that high wattage resistor (alum with heat sinks), you will be sinking a lot of current through those wires!! ... and you are forcing the diodes to sink more current than they may take.

The resistor does get hot, I had it on a soak test for about 2 hours. This may be a benefit, a voltage regulator. But wouldn't the voltage regulator get just as hot as the resistor?

At present, the whole set up draws about 130 mA of current. I'm no electronics expert, but is this excessive?

[AFJuvat]

I was wondering a bit about shadowing as well - I wonder if it is possible to modify the design a little.

Using some sort of plastic mirror - drill holes in it, and use LED holders to secure the LED's in place

May take a little playing around.

Anything that reduces the chance of damage to the circut board is good - too expensive to replace under most circumstances.

AFJuvat

[coupe]

Hi all. I have drilled my led holders. I will be updating the design tomorrow, so I will post new pictures.

On another note, I went back in there, and re-arranged the leds, and most of the shadow is gone, trouble is, it;s too bright for now.

[coupe]

Here are pictures of the first attempt and the second after re-arranging the LEDS. These 2 pictures: a total of 9 LEDS are used. 3 LEDS per segment. attempt 1

Attempt 2

[AFJuvat]

That looks outstanding - much more uniform lighting.

AFJuvat

[perry951]

Looking good. You are finding some of the same problems I had when I started this project 2 years ago. Keep at it and you will get it. 130ma is excessive, and in part from the large resistor you are using. Go with the voltage regulator as said above, or with a diffrent resistor setup. If you would like me to give you some tips, shoot me a private message and I'll help you out.

Please do not take this the wrong way, but don't plan on selling them. I have 2 US Patents Pending under applications #09/085,677, #09/106,201, and processes under application #09/081,610. I almost got nailed on this from someone who designed the single LED bulbs that parts stores sell when I sent in the applications.

I have no problems if someone wants to make them for their car. If you can do it, more power to ya!

[castlesteve]

I dont have the part numbers on hand... its pretty generic.. like Mot 7805.. But really they are everywhere... no point in sourcing them.

the reason it is getting hot is that you are creating a voltage divider with low impedance... and there is a LOT of current drawn just for your voltage drop. Only a small amount is actually diverted to the LEDs. with a voltage regulator, the voltage is regulated using only the current requested by the diodes.

its too early.

[coupe]

perry951

Please do not take this the wrong way, but don't plan on selling them.

Hi there Perry951, I have absolutely no intention on selling any of my little projects, that I come up with, purely based on my own initiative to improve my 951. However I do intent to share most of it with my fellow members here on this board. By doing so, we can all benefit by helping each other.

With all due respect to you and your business plans, I wish you the greatest success. I also would like to thank you for offering your assistance. Today I was able to achieve what I have been after, and my instrument cluster project is now complete.

[perry951]

Good to hear.. my product is still a hobby and always will be. I started with the same idea, make an improvement in my car. For a while, I had the full instructions online on how to make them youself, but with so much time and effort in it, I decided to make them for a few people. I'll make about 50 kits to cover my cost and make a few credit card payments, then I'll destroy the molds and put the instructions back up.

I applaud you for the effort, it is not an easy task doing it from scratch. Again, if you want some ideas, especially on the light dispersion, let me know.

[coupe]

Hi there Perry951, I took a good look at your website, and you have no doubt done a lot of work on your car. It looks great.
Please feel free to 'shed some light' on the Instrument cluster light dispersion.

[Frank B]

Hey coupe can you draw up something so that I can use this technique on the rear panel (PORSCHE) of my car, My lighting harness has rotted away.
I took it off the car a few weekends ago and noticed it was never hooked up (wire was cut) I'm gonna guess that it had rotted away long ago, and was never repaired.. Maybe there is a harness available?.. I dunno but would like to get more info on this subject..

COUPE, you are a genius.. great job..

Frank B

[perry951]

Most likely you have 20 degree bulbs. Mathmatically, if you have 3 bulbs, you will cover 60% of the area, devided by 3 sections. Since it is hard to find an LED that will light more surface area at 3.8", so you'll have to modify the optics you have.

With a diamond blade on a Dremel (or carbon blade), grind off 1.5mm from the top of the bulb. This will give you about 45 degrees of light angle, therefore more than covering the needed 90 degreee area lit by the 3 bulbs. With the 2 other arrays, it will fill in nice.

Do not polish the lens, leave it flat.

Also, get some mylar strips to place on the inner backing of the gauge cluster (to reflect the rearward light). This will help cast an even glow onto the gauge faces, along with refocusing the LED's by grinding.

Try it out.

The other option is to make a focused beam cluster, like I did.

[coupe]

Frank B Hey coupe can you draw up something so that I can use this technique on the rear panel (PORSCHE) of my car, My lighting harness has rotted away.

Hi Frank, unfortunatelly, I dont have one of those panels, so I have no idea of the light set up. However, if the wiring harness is still there, renew it and have a look at this website, for LEDS that fit on like ordinary light bulbs.

www.superbrightleds.com

perry951

Thanks for that Perry951, I will experiment by shaving some spare LEDS that I have.

[Frank B]

THanks Coupe.. hey how's Married life treating ya?.. or in other words, how much of your "stuff" is in the garage now?!?!