Final Results

[yARIC008]

Heres the final product. Turned out very well I think, cluster is very vibrant now. I had planned on using the dimmer on the factory light switch but turns out i can't, at least not yet. The dimmer gets it's power for the instrument cluster through the wire for the parking lights. Right now i have everything powered off a relay which gets switched from the parking lights. In order to have the dimmer work with my little LED controller I need at the least a different switch for my parking lights, which i have, just need to rig up and stuff. Anyways, here are some kinda before and after pictures. The old pictures were taken with the same camera i think in the same settings, but of course the camera is very subjective. I brightened up the old pictures because they were so dim you couldn't even see anything. The new ones i just cropped and made smaller in photoshop.

As you can see the dials are bright white and the green is bright green. There is one little area over by the engine temp that isn't lit 100% properly but that's mostly because 1 light/LED lights up 4 guages. The speedo have 3LEDs lighting it and the Tach has 1.

If you're just chimming in, these are the LEDs i used.
http://www.luxeonstar.com/item.php?id=386&link_str=196::198&partno=LXHL-LW3C

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Here is the before with the normal incandescent bulbs

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Here is with the Luxeon LEDs.

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Here is the back of the panel, i used heatsinks bonded with thermal compound on the LEDs and then used a piece of aluminum to be the brace for the back and to also be an extra amount of metal to be an added heatsink.

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I cut a hole in the AC tube back there and mounted a fan that would blow at the back of the cluster to keep things cool. While under normal operation with no fan outside before i installed i didn't see any temps over 120 degrees F and the LEDs on the front were cool to the touch, i could keep my finger on them and not feel a thing. If things begin to overheat i can just switch on the AC and cool everything right down. I don't anticipate any overheating though, these should be cooler than the incandescents.

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Here is the cluster kinda installed and you can see the front of the LEDs and sorta how i had them held in there.

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The same.

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Here is it all lit up.

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Close up.

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Driving View.

 

[Cheaper Jeeper]

Very nice....

 

[FordGuy100]

That is awsome , I need to figure out how to do that on my rig.

 

[riotwarrior]

Ya Ha Sweet sweet sweet

Can you provide a materials build list with wiring diagrams that can be used by everyone here?

How about part #'s and where to get em?

 

[Agnem]

I know the dash in the Moose Truck is so dim, I think its mostly from dust on the bulbs. It's so old I hate to take it apart. That plastic gets brittle after a while.

 

[ttman4]

I know the dash in the Moose Truck is so dim, I think its mostly from dust on the bulbs. It's so old I hate to take it apart. That plastic gets brittle after a while.

I hear that if you use an air gun to blow dirt & dust out of the cab & dash & cracks & crevices, dust willfind it's way to the backside of the clear plastic instrument cover, instruments, bulbs, all the little white & orange markings that are supposed to glow in the dark.......
I myself wouldn't know.......
Since I'm getting to where I can't see past the steering wheel anyway, I'm looking round for an instrument panel that's in Braille. Our oldest son says he may have a line on a Braille steering wheel for me...

 

[h2odrx]

I know the dash in the Moose Truck is so dim, I think its mostly from dust on the bulbs. It's so old I hate to take it apart. That plastic gets brittle after a while.

On mine the printed board is starting to come apart. maybe that is my gague problem?

 

[reklund]

The LED's look great, but I'm equally impressed with the odometer reading... Is that actual mileage on your E?

Ryan

 

[rubberfish]

Our oldest son says he may have a line on a Braille steering wheel for me...

From a Chinese guys garage sale?

 

[yARIC008]

The LED's look great, but I'm equally impressed with the odometer reading... Is that actual mileage on your E?

Ryan

Thanks, and yes it is.

 

[yARIC008]

Ya Ha Sweet sweet sweet

Can you provide a materials build list with wiring diagrams that can be used by everyone here?

How about part #'s and where to get em?

here is a materials list:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=197&products_id=2191
heat sinks - $10

http://www.luxeonstar.com/item.php?id=863&link_str=240::241::1397&partno=3021-D-E-1000
3021-D-E-1000 LED controller - $20

http://www.luxeonstar.com/item.php?id=1827&link_str=240::241::1398&partno=3021HE
Wiring harness for controller, can also get the one with pot already on it. $5

http://www.luxeonstar.com/item.php?id=386&link_str=196::198&partno=LXHL-LW3C
5 Lambertian Luxeon III leds $40

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=123&products_id=20870
40mm fan to have forced convection $10

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=58&products_id=20428
Thermal compound $10

http://www.powerstream.com/
the 24 volt boost converter from here $20

Piece of aluminum from home depot, about 1/8 inch thick, about an inch wide
to be cut into 5 small pieces and then two holes drilled in it to be held with threaded rods and nuts
$5

1 long small threaded rod from home depot with nuts and washers
$5

spool of wire, i used speaker wire
$ 10-20

total: $135-145

Tools used:
Soldering iron, solder, crimpers, electrical tape, meter, blow torch, screw driver, spade connectors if you like, needle nose vise grips, cutters, socket set, flashlight, metal cutting saw, bench belt sander

Before i started i cut 10 small threaded rod pieces to about 1 inch to be used to hold the LEDs in place. I sanded the ends of them so the threads would be operational. I also cut the long aluminum strip into 5 small pieces about 1 inch long and drilled two holes, one at each end, bit enough for the threaded rod to fit through.

To mount the LEDs in the cluster i took a blow torch and a standard screw driver and heated up the driver and melted to existing holes a little larger so the small heatsinks would fit through. I then cut speaker wire for the LEDs and soldered them all together in series with the proper length wires inside the cluster. Then i got them in the position i wanted and drilled two holes next to the LEDs and put my threaded rods in with nuts on them, then i put the heatsinks on the LEDs with the thermal compound and put the aluminum strip on the back of that with the holes in it. I ran the threaded rods through that aluminum strip which inturn held the LED in place and pushed the heatsink up against the LED. Just look at the pictures of the front and back of the cluster and that should make sense. I then did all of them that way. I ran the wires out the back however i could. Just any free hole.


All 5 of the LEDs are simply wired in series with the power driver/controller. Each LED is 3.9 volts therefore the voltage into the driver must be over 3.9*5 volts, so 19.5 volts. The powerdriver needs to have an input larger than the voltage drop across all of the LEDs it's powering. So you get the 24 volt converter to power the driver, 24 is greater than 19.5. To power the converter i rigged up a relay driven off of them parking lights output of the headlight switch. Just a standard 12 volt 30A relay. I also powered the fan from this relay aswell. To mount the fan, i just found some screws that fit in it then drilled them into the AC vent tube behind the IC in the dash, i then took the fan off and took the blow torch and a standard screw driver to melt a square hole for the fan to suck air through, then i put the fan back on.

Then it was basically just put the thing back together.

I can throw together a quick wiring diagram if someone wants, but if you can wire up a relay you should be good to go, they're all the same. The wire that powers the parking lights off of the headlight switch is the brown wire, just use that to switch the relay. To dim the LEDs you just need a pot between the two control wires in the power driver. On their site they recommend a 5k pot.