Cluster Brightness ?

[ikeepzitclean]

Originally Posted by xps

I almost did, but didn't & stopped here:
remote IR, 16 colors, 7-step brightness, on/off

The paint is this, I sprayed into a container & use small brush to apply to needles.

that looks good. Im guessing that controller has its own dimmer so then u only use the rheostat to dim everything except the cluster. thnx 4 the pix.

[VaiFanatic]

Originally Posted by ikeepzitclean

yeah but to apply plasma overlays the needles have to come off I'm guessing.. i've nvr tried that on this car. how can this be done safely, so that it still works properly after being put back on?

Beats me! Mark on the side of the existing gauge with a pencil where the needles should point to when everything is off?

I think Turnpike addressed in his thread what he did to make sure it all matched up.

[ikeepzitclean]

well i know on certain cars they have a certain way they come off then it can be safely put back together and still works calibrated properly.. idk about Benz's tho. da needles on these w126 seem really fragile.

oh and i tried searching for turnpike's thread u mentioned..no luck. lmk if u find it. thnx

[VaiFanatic]

Originally Posted by ikeepzitclean

well i know on certain cars they have a certain way they come off then it can be safely put back together and still works calibrated properly.. idk about Benz's tho. da needles on these w126 seem really fragile.

oh and i tried searching for turnpike's thread u mentioned..no luck. lmk if u find it. thnx

Well, it looks like I can't find it either. It was there, but now it's gone.

[ikeepzitclean]

well idk.. i tried searching too and cant find anything concrete. i have an older spare 126 cluster that I pulled out of the JY about a week ago and tried to pry it off there but it wouldn't budge. lol


ohhh and this is totally random but just a side note for any member trying to upgrade their cluster to LEDs...never use the "canbus" style LEDs in these 126s cuz they will fry ur circuit board and/or rheostat. dont ask me how I know lol

[VaiFanatic]

Originally Posted by ikeepzitclean

dont ask me how I know lol

How do you know?

[ikeepzitclean]

lol i knew somebody would
had to resolder the board behind the rheostat twice this past weekend. tried 2 separate kinds of "canbus" LEDs and bam both times! finally put in a regular LED (5050 SMD) and it worked. I also used the foil method as Mike suggested and it looks good after a tad of gorilla glue and a bit of trimming.. i ordered some multi-directional ones waiting for them in the mail.

[85mbz]

Not sure if anybody knows this but if you take say a 3mm clear lens LED and scuff sand the whole thing it makes it more like a standard bulb in light pattern. But with the color and brightness of LEDs.

[ikeepzitclean]

Originally Posted by 85mbz

Not sure if anybody knows this but if you take say a 3mm clear lens LED and scuff sand the whole thing it makes it more like a standard bulb in light pattern. But with the color and brightness of LEDs.

you are correct. however, I use SMD 5050 LEDs (which are the brightest IMHO) they are small and square'ish in shape, hence they cannot be sanded down. the bulbs that I use now are multi-directional SMD 5050 LEDs. and theyres 5 of those LEDs per bulb. looks like this: http://img.alibaba.com/wsphoto/v0/48...-Bulb-Lamp.jpg

[ianrandom]

I was using SMD ones with loads of LEDs per bulb, about 25 I think they were. Expensive though, and eventually would keep just winking out on one side. Hence reverting to normal bulbs which eventually I have preferred.