Ya if you put all the parts together, with instructions I mite give it a go myself. Wouldnt take me as long then! haha

But then it would give away all your secrets and take away customers...

 

That looks awesome!! I want it done 2....

 

It's not only that, but I've explained this countless times. The electronics peices that are involved in this conversion are VERY EASY to mess up. If someone takes my instructions and fcks up their car, they will come back to me and say, "HEY MAN! My car is messed up! Now I'm out $___ something bucks!" The liability issues far out weigh any profit I could ever see by offering a DIY kit.

-Acree

 

^ very true!

a person like myself learns through trial and error, I would hate to go through the error part if I attempted this myself! Probably cost the same to have you do it as it does for me to screw it up the first time and then get it right the second! haha

 

did you ever get the stereo face to light up blue?

can you pm me the price you have sent others? can you pre-build the guts and swap them easily? I would be interested...but I don't know how permanent this sort of thing is.

thanks,

chris

 

Yes the stereo lights up blue now. PM sent.

-Acree

 

Hey.... well i just stumbled apon your thread because someone posted up on radardetector.net about your V1 display then i saw your conversion link....

So i drive a bimmer and our stock lighting is amber... i also went the blue route and am 95% done... heres my thread if youd like to see http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...d.php?t=535358

I have a question for you. I am currently doing the display for my climate control and it is being a dirty bastard.... I pulled the LCD screen off and behind it are 7 or so surface mount LEDs.... so i removed the LEDs and bought some similar sized blue surface mounts off Egay... I cant get all of them to light up to save the life of me. And the ones that do light up are dim as crap. Im a rookie EE (im acutally working on my M.E. degree right now haha)and didnt think that resistance played a factor in this since i was replacing LEDs with LEDs... Could that be the reason they arent lighting up at all or not very well?....
I also have no idea the polarity of them. Ive taken them off and put them back on so many times now trying to get them to light up its driving me insane. If it start at the left and go to the right should i keep positive on one side at all times or should i alternate positive to neg. or what?... Thanks again -Dave Markert

 

Please If You Could Pm Me With Were You Got All Parts That Is Exactly What I Was Looking For That Is Sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

A full parts list is in one of the previous pages in the this thread.

328iJunkie - Looks like you're making good progress. As far as your comments about the polarity of the leds, there should be marking on the circuit board you're working on. That's why you always check the polarity of the leds BEFORE you unsolder the stock leds. If its not marked on the board, I always mark it with a sharpie. I'm a sophomore working on my EE. I know how it is man. Resistance will definitely play a factor in the lighting of the leds. Amber leds operate at a lower voltage than blue leds, 99% of the time. They usually run at the same current, but the voltage is higher. Also, depending on how they wired the board, if you have one led in backwards, it could be enough to cause as many as 4 leds to not light up. It depends on how many leds they have in one branch. I don't have time to look very carefully through your thread since I'm about to head out of town. Once I get back tomorrow, I will try to look at your pics and see if I can help.

-Acree

 

not to rain or take away from the beautiful work from acree,

but my buddy just bought a Z and he wanted me to work on his gauges for him..
i've done many led conversions in other cars.. and well... fell upon this forum and acree's work.

just wanted to let everyone in the bay area, ca that i'm here if you want some led work done

*sigh*... i'm kinda glad the Z's gauges have plcc's.... just what i'm good at.. lol.

 

Okay, I absolutely love the white lighting guages. However, I want to get white light guages with a blue needle. What's the best way to accomplish this? Are you able to simply take/scrape the orange film off of the back of the existing face plates to get the white light to come through, or is it still a "switch out the LEDs" situation? (Same question goes for the digital Speedometer guage).

Thanks in advance for your knowledge guys!

 

shooting a bullet in the dark.. i'm gonna say you're still going to have to switch out the leds.. along with getting new faceplates as i don't think you're going to be able to scrape off the stock one without making it look clean or if it's even possible.

the blue needle will have to be a replacement too since the stock one (from what i was told) is colored plastic.

 

I'm new to the Z scene, but I am interested in the mod, preferably white over blue or red though. Would the resistor values be far off from your blue LED values? Also, are you using a standalone soldering iron, or do you have a soldering station. SMT soldering can be a real pain either way.

What's your average turnaround and pricing for the mod, and when is the best time of year for you?

Thanks in advance,

Marty

 

Actually I have found that the resistor changes are not necessary. Some how the circuits regulate voltage and current. I'm fairly certain you can solder any color led you want to the board and it would turn out just fine.

Personally I use a stand-alone soldering iron. Radioshack FTW! And yes, SMT soldering is amazingly painful.

I am currently focusing on other projects such as the v1 mirrors and turn signals I've made. I need to get these projects caught up before I can do anymore conversions. Add to that, a full semester of Electrical Engineering and I don't have much free time.

-Acree

 

+1 You couldn't pay me enough money to retake my EE courses. My job right now (Software Engineering) is a cake walk compared to my EE courses at Univ. of Maryland.

 

very nice......how much are those conversion kit?

 

Awesome job!

 

looks so good

 

HOLY CRAP BATMAN!!!!!
That is HOT man.
Beautifully done!

 

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