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I can’t stand the look of the dingey green dash bulbs that came with my Mazda pickup. I couldn’t even stand to drive the truck without retrofitting the interior. I chose neutral white LEDs. (seems like most of the modern cars have white LED dashboards)
I did the Cluster, HVAC controls, 4wd select switch & headlight switch. Much of the trim has been painted to match the body (Dupont Chromabase basecoat with Select activated urethane clearcoat)
I also reverse-polarized the LCD odometer.
ORIGINAL
board design
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First class job, does the OEM dimmer circuit work with the LEDs?
Did you layout the PCBs yourself, or are they available online?
[quote=”BigDanIL279″ post=148325]First class job, does the OEM dimmer circuit work with the LEDs?
Did you layout the PCBs yourself, or are they available online?[/quote]
I make all of my own circuitry in my shop. I design them in CAD and then use special etching paper, copper clad board, hydrogen peroxide, muriatic acid and lacquer thinner. I cut them with a band saw and I have several solder stations for mounting components. I’ve done a ton of lighting projects like this. Radios, clusters, gauges, HVAC controls, buttons, even headlights and tail lights.
Everything dims just like the factory bulbs. They run on a regulated 12V circuit so they do not get dimmer or brighter with the alternator ebb and flow.
I am a big fan of KiCAD for my board layouts, but I have not done much with automotive applications. My interests are more with Arduino and Raspberry boards as a hobbyist. Using the service from Seeed Fusion PCB the boards are out of China, but affordable for my needs. I do not have a space to etch boards myself, and my wife would not appreciate having the chemicals in the house.
When I first started laying out boards it was with tape on a light box with all thru-hole components, now all CAD and SMT. Everything has gotten so small so fast and disposable. The craft of component troubleshooting/ repair is a dying art replaced with board swappers.
Do you source your LEDs here in the states or go online directly to China?
[quote=”BigDanIL279″ post=148332]I am a big fan of KiCAD for my board layouts, but I have not done much with automotive applications. My interests are more with Arduino and Raspberry boards as a hobbyist. Using the service from Seeed Fusion PCB the boards are out of China, but affordable for my needs. I do not have a space to etch boards myself, and my wife would not appreciate having the chemicals in the house.
When I first started laying out boards it was with tape on a light box with all thru-hole components, now all CAD and SMT. Everything has gotten so small so fast and disposable. The craft of component troubleshooting/ repair is a dying art replaced with board swappers.
Do you source your LEDs here in the states or go online directly to China?[/quote]
I buy my parts on digikey and mouser. They have pretty much everything I need. I try and avoid no-name china stuff. I’ve had some bad experiences with parts like that. I am somewhat old-school when it comes to CAD, I use autocad 2000 still on WINE run in Linux.
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