True Ice Blue / Red caps for the clusters !!
02-28-04, 09:50 PM
#766
Lexus Champion
Originally posted by ptkim
Right, radio deck and CC units LCDs are slightly diffrent in terms of shades. CC unit's LCD is a bit lighter, due to three LEDS being used as the backlit, as opposed to radio unit's two.
The difference is very subtle, and the difference is same as how the stock units looked like with halogen bulbs with blue caps.
Right, radio deck and CC units LCDs are slightly diffrent in terms of shades. CC unit's LCD is a bit lighter, due to three LEDS being used as the backlit, as opposed to radio unit's two.
The difference is very subtle, and the difference is same as how the stock units looked like with halogen bulbs with blue caps.
on the Climate Control unit...the back of the LCDs have three compartments. I fitted each compartment with one white LED each beam pointing down. On the radio unit, I used the existing holes (two on each end) and fit in LED bulbs, but beam is pointing center towards the middle. I guess you just have to take them apart to see.
Already been there- check the sig
02-28-04, 10:33 PM
#767
Keeper of the light
Thread Starter
iTrader: (17)
Well i did the sideways mod and here are my thoughts:
it works pretty good actually. it seems to control spotting, but not enough. there are still patchy spots between the arches. it isn't much, but it is there and i don't like imperfections. i'd say it would be good enough to "get by" but not as a produced unit, so as to say, you wouldn't get away with handng them out as OEM units at Lexus.
I think overall they look decent that way, but one of the big downfalls is that the light does not go strait to the faceplate. Compared to firing them directly into the face, it just doesn't give out the same amount of "bang".
Here is why that is a problem:
the faceplate is NOT what the light hits first. there is a white plastic sheet laying over the rear of the faceplate. Lexus put it there to spread the light better. since the plastic is inbetween the light source and the faceplate, whichever side has the most light wins. at night, this is all well and good, but in the daytime if you are driving at high noon, side by side a cluster with led's firing into the face will burn 3 times brighter ( i just verified this earlier) since they aren't firing directly into the face, they also lose LUX, or brightness.
Now, it is important to stress that Paul's way isn't bad, infact it looks pretty decent at night, though i can still tell it is uneven compared to one i built that had them fired into the face and spread evenly. My biggest complaint is that the light is not going directly into the face and won't be very readable during the daytime. Now on the ES, this isn't a big problem because the ES has a short face cluster. The plastic cover sits almost directly on the faceplate. on the SC it sits 3 times FARTHER away from the faceplate, so it is 3 times harder to get light from the faceplate to the cover. THIS is the problem with doing it like that in an SC, though it seems to work in the ES decent.
Also, i don't have to tell you guy's about surface area. the SC cluster is 1.5 times bigger than the ES cluster and that makes it much harder for the same amount of LED's to cover that surface area which is probably why the results are less than favorable with an SC cluster.
by the way big
to paul for attempting this.
it works pretty good actually. it seems to control spotting, but not enough. there are still patchy spots between the arches. it isn't much, but it is there and i don't like imperfections. i'd say it would be good enough to "get by" but not as a produced unit, so as to say, you wouldn't get away with handng them out as OEM units at Lexus.
I think overall they look decent that way, but one of the big downfalls is that the light does not go strait to the faceplate. Compared to firing them directly into the face, it just doesn't give out the same amount of "bang".
Here is why that is a problem:
the faceplate is NOT what the light hits first. there is a white plastic sheet laying over the rear of the faceplate. Lexus put it there to spread the light better. since the plastic is inbetween the light source and the faceplate, whichever side has the most light wins. at night, this is all well and good, but in the daytime if you are driving at high noon, side by side a cluster with led's firing into the face will burn 3 times brighter ( i just verified this earlier) since they aren't firing directly into the face, they also lose LUX, or brightness.
Now, it is important to stress that Paul's way isn't bad, infact it looks pretty decent at night, though i can still tell it is uneven compared to one i built that had them fired into the face and spread evenly. My biggest complaint is that the light is not going directly into the face and won't be very readable during the daytime. Now on the ES, this isn't a big problem because the ES has a short face cluster. The plastic cover sits almost directly on the faceplate. on the SC it sits 3 times FARTHER away from the faceplate, so it is 3 times harder to get light from the faceplate to the cover. THIS is the problem with doing it like that in an SC, though it seems to work in the ES decent.
Also, i don't have to tell you guy's about surface area. the SC cluster is 1.5 times bigger than the ES cluster and that makes it much harder for the same amount of LED's to cover that surface area which is probably why the results are less than favorable with an SC cluster.
by the way big
to paul for attempting this.
Last edited by O. L. T.; 02-28-04 at 10:37 PM.
03-01-04, 10:55 AM
#769
Keeper of the light
Thread Starter
iTrader: (17)
horrible, i have one just for testing purposes, i'll get some pics. you just look directly into the cluster and see the gut's. the numbers are actually clear on the faceplate.
03-01-04, 07:20 PM
#770
Keeper of the light
Thread Starter
iTrader: (17)
as you can see, it's clear. when you light it with anything you can see directly into the cluster plus the lighting itself is really not attractive when you can see the bulb or led itself. bad idea for sure. i've literally tried everything.
03-01-04, 07:23 PM
#771
Keeper of the light
Thread Starter
iTrader: (17)
oh, there was one thing i did that was cool though, when i did a 16 on the last cluster, i fired the 7 to 8k part of the tach in red. very cool look.
Last edited by O. L. T.; 03-03-04 at 12:21 AM.
03-03-04, 12:51 AM
#772
Keeper of the light
Thread Starter
iTrader: (17)
This thread started back in August and we (you guy's and I) have gotten a chance to experiment together and come up with some cool options for our cars. I had been studying the clusters starting right about the time I came to CL a year ago, and after I found those colored caps last year, it was on from there. There was no stopping my imagination ....lol.
You guy's have seen within these 52 pages, and months and months of work, the progression of not just fixing our problem, but actually modifying it to fit our needs. Now not only can we take what was once taboo, but we can fix it, manipulate it, and make it anything we want. I hope my pictures and explanations in this thread have served helpful to you guy's who did not know how to resolve this problem, since noone in the world seemed to actually do this professionally and come to our rescue.
Today that changes. Club Lexus is the first, and original place where you have seen this all done. Not just I, but WE as a community have created a demand for more. I have began to get so busy latey doing needle conversions and backlight conversions that it has cut into my time i spent doing other things until recently. This prompts me to make a decision in my life.
Since Club Lexus is the greatest forum to be a part of, and right here is the only place in the world you can have your needles changed to any color and background to any color, radios to any color...etc. I have decided to be your forum sponsor. You will see the banners in a few days.Though my website is fresh and new and going through some final stages, it is presentable and ready to display. Since there were so many hundreds of thousands of Lexus made with these needles, and so many are in need, I have launched a national operation to fix and eliminate this problem for everyone.
So from the thread where it all started, i want to present this:
www.lextech.org
www.lextech.org/forum
http://www.lextech.org/osCommerce/
We have taken a need and found a cure. I am really proud to get this into motion and see how many people we can reach. If you know somewhere you can stick these links to reach the people that don't know they can get help for this, by all means do. I have never done this for money, and to prove it, i haven't changed the prices at all. Though i have found better distributors to help me cut enough cost to pay for the website bandwidth. I moderate this website because i like to help where i can, i built my website to do the same.
You guy's have seen within these 52 pages, and months and months of work, the progression of not just fixing our problem, but actually modifying it to fit our needs. Now not only can we take what was once taboo, but we can fix it, manipulate it, and make it anything we want. I hope my pictures and explanations in this thread have served helpful to you guy's who did not know how to resolve this problem, since noone in the world seemed to actually do this professionally and come to our rescue.
Today that changes. Club Lexus is the first, and original place where you have seen this all done. Not just I, but WE as a community have created a demand for more. I have began to get so busy latey doing needle conversions and backlight conversions that it has cut into my time i spent doing other things until recently. This prompts me to make a decision in my life.
Since Club Lexus is the greatest forum to be a part of, and right here is the only place in the world you can have your needles changed to any color and background to any color, radios to any color...etc. I have decided to be your forum sponsor. You will see the banners in a few days.Though my website is fresh and new and going through some final stages, it is presentable and ready to display. Since there were so many hundreds of thousands of Lexus made with these needles, and so many are in need, I have launched a national operation to fix and eliminate this problem for everyone.
So from the thread where it all started, i want to present this:
www.lextech.org
www.lextech.org/forum
http://www.lextech.org/osCommerce/
We have taken a need and found a cure. I am really proud to get this into motion and see how many people we can reach. If you know somewhere you can stick these links to reach the people that don't know they can get help for this, by all means do. I have never done this for money, and to prove it, i haven't changed the prices at all. Though i have found better distributors to help me cut enough cost to pay for the website bandwidth. I moderate this website because i like to help where i can, i built my website to do the same.
03-03-04, 06:55 PM
#775
Driver
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: California
Posts: 108
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
OLT, you are awesome man!! Some of the color combos you have come up with are mind blowing!!
I will post this up at the Lexus dealership that I work for and give it to the other techs so we can contact you if we get a customer that has the needles out.
Good luck on this and more power to you.
I will post this up at the Lexus dealership that I work for and give it to the other techs so we can contact you if we get a customer that has the needles out.
Good luck on this and more power to you.
Last edited by grego2; 03-03-04 at 06:57 PM.
03-03-04, 11:37 PM
#776
Pole Position
Hey, OLT. Congrats and good luck.
Ed
Ed
03-05-04, 04:33 PM
#778
Keeper of the light
Thread Starter
iTrader: (17)
Thank ya 
Who's up for the worlds first 10k pure white NAK? I don't just mean the screen, i am talking about a full circut board remolding, re-wiring, total redesign. every single thing that lights, lights in 10k white. I won't say who's this is, i'll let them say if they want to. this thing lights in places it didnt before...lol.
Who's up for the worlds first 10k pure white NAK? I don't just mean the screen, i am talking about a full circut board remolding, re-wiring, total redesign. every single thing that lights, lights in 10k white. I won't say who's this is, i'll let them say if they want to. this thing lights in places it didnt before...lol.
Last edited by O. L. T.; 03-05-04 at 04:35 PM.
03-05-04, 04:50 PM
#780
Keeper of the light
Thread Starter
iTrader: (17)
there are plans to do everything in anything, but the screens will always hold back the climate unit until i find a way to do them without spotting. nothing has ever worked yet. no matter what, they DO spot, no angling is going to change that. it will be something i figure out on a 2 pot's of coffee night.