Well i have been just LED crazy lately, and i am trying to put them everywhere. You might call me a light Junky after joining HIDplanet. I am in the process of LS430 projector retro, with e55 as high beams and homemade LED "oem" tails. But i have recently been replacing all my cabin lights with leds such as..

Home-link led was red now blue
instrument panel was green now white
windows, mirrors, etc was green now white

But the reason why i posted this is because i decided to take my CCFL gauges apart to find out why their so complex and no one is modifying them out there. I think it CAN be done, however will be experimental... and if enough people want a DIY thread i will post, but until then here are some snap shots of my experience...
Overall general view... Super glue just incase...

Gauges exposed, needle removed, and the gauge number sheet...

With CCFLs exposed

CCFLs exposed, through my 30% tint around 5 o'clock

Gauge number sheet... thing.. anyone got a better name?

The LED cluster that shows Gear range position, waiting for my whites for drive gears and blue for neutral to come in the mail, i already have a red for park.


This is what happens if you have to rush and put the gauges so you can see how fast your driving on the way to work.... hahahaha, im a process type of guy.. sorry for the blur, it's hard to do a 100 and hold the camera still, anyone done 8 grand in their GS430?

 

hello to a fellow minnesotan =) do u have led on your license plate light?

 

What are you going to replace the CCFL with? I wonder if LED would spread evenly.

 

Hello, What city are you from? Not to many people from Minnesota here. To bad it's freezing... Yes i do, i ordered some bulbs from superbrightleds.com. I am not going to replace the ccfl, i think it gets most of the color from the gauge number thing, there is actually 2 layers on that thing, i if you were to have a clear blue, or red, or green plastic sheet you could lay that underneath the numbers, i like my white gauges, in fact im going to buy a seperate cluster to experiment. I would agree leds would be interesting...

 

I have also been wondering about changing the cluster gauges to either blue or white LED/CCFL, seems like you know about this, a DIY would really help! please. =)

 

I'm interested in a DIY

 

yeah i've only met like 2ppl frm MN on here. ugly ace weather 2day =( i live in burnsville but i'm usually driving everywhere. so the lights on ur plate-- is it bright like the how the new lexus's have on thiers? i looked on ebay for lights but not shure if i should get it..

 

do u know what leds i need to get for the license plate lights? i checkd the site u gave but not shure what to look and order..

 

Look for some 1W high power LED's. I got mine from ebay. The size is 194.

 

thats for the license plate lights?

 

Awesome, i'll take the time do to a DIY... Brusnville huh...? I live in South Minneapolis, right by where highway 62 meets 35W, by Richfield. Yes, he is correct, 1watt LED wedge type bulb 194.. look for the "WLED WHP LED Wedge Base Bulb" 4th down from the top...
http://superbrightleds.com/mini-wedge.html

 

Wow I would like to see a kit for a 3rd Gen GS style for the 2nd gen now. I never knew you can remove the needles without messing things up.

 

Hmm, I wonder how hard it would be to heat up the CCFL tube and bend it to the correct shape. I have a couple here to experiment with. Only thing is I like the white gauges and don't really want to change it to another color. So I don't really have any incentive to do it lol.

 

Jeff sounds like an interesting proect. Maybe once the weather breaks you'll be more interested in experimenting. I also love leds.

 

these are what u will belooking for the license plate LEDs:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2pcs-...8744QQtcZphoto

This guy on ebay has the best priced and highest quality LEDs out there, I got my LEDs for my clearside markers, lowbeam parking lights, license plates lights, and full interior LEDs all from this guy.

The lights in the link above is are the LEDs i'm using in my license plates lights and they look JUST like the new line of lexus' license plate lights, if not a little brighter.