I've been getting lots of compliments on this next door at RPS, so I figured I'd spread the knowledge now that I have some How-To's written up in rough-draft form. Stay tuned to the RPS link and Tech section for the full pictorial How-To on the LED dash conversion!

How-To change the color of your HVAC panel

Here's my much more descriptive post on RPS:

RPS Link



This picture makes the lighting look splotchy, but it was because of my camera ISO setting (400) and the angle. I'll get a better pic this weekend when I finish the How-To article, as it is very uniform and evenly lit.




And a BEFORE LED Conversion Under-Seat lighting shot...

 

nice

what kind of neon do u have under the dash/ other locations

 

looks real good, good job

 

Ironically enough, I bought them at AutoZone in the ricer...*ahem*" import section. The under dash are a dual 6 inch neon (one controller, two neons) and the under-seat are 12" neons. I bought them over a period of time so I'm not sure exactly how much it would all cost, but I believe they were under $15 each.

I also have one on the dash below the radio (you can barely see it beside the steering wheel) which I have since covered with electrical tape and cut a tiny slit in it to reduce the amount of light it emits. They're all wired into a switch on a panel I fabbed to go in the cubby hole above the cup holders, which also had an AutoMeter volt meter with blue LED backlighting (not in this pic), and my IAT sensor mod switch and potentiometer. (switch to select stock or resisted, and **** to adjust amount of resistance)

 

Can anyone guess what my favorite color is??? I'll give you all my LED resources if you guess correctly!

 

white

 

Lavender!

 

id use cold cathodes for under the dash and LEDs from oznium.com...

looks great though...wonder if i can do this to my 93 F150...

 

the blue looks sweet.

 

looks sweetm i just finished doing mine like 10 min ago.

 

Nice looks good!

 

awesome, i want to do that to mine

 

what would look good in a tan interior?

 

great job..i cant do that to my 04 gauges can i..i never took it apart to look

but im plannin on trying something for my A/C gauges

 

Take a closer look at those pictures. I have completly tan interior with the black vinyl floor. I have since installed an F-150 standard cab carpet kit retro-fitted for my floor board, and it all looks great!

You are both correct! What do we have for them Bill?



LED Resources

My choice, and probably the cheapest:


Click here for the Ebay Store




Superbright LED's.com

Superbright LEDs.com LED info with resistance calculator


John Griggs General LED tutorial - technical info on LEDs, resistance, such

AND FINALLY:


HowStuffWorks.com - How Light Emitting Diode's work

LED's are being using across the country in many different types of applications. You may notice some newer traffic lights look like they contain lots of tiny light bulbs. That's because they are LED traffic lights, which produce MUCH less heat, won't burn out, and are much more visible and brighter with less current draw.



Where's the pics!?

I believe the 04 dash is exactly the same as the Generation 4 dashes...someone correct me if I'm wrong. I recommend doing the HVAC panel lighting first, anyway.