This is a neat idea. Color changing gauges...

danman132x · Post by **danman132x** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 9:36 am

I like this idea. On some cars with vtec or similar set-up's, people make thier gauges change color whenever vtec engages. Would there be any way possible to allow our gauges to change color, using a different bulb wired up somehow, to activiate under WOT and when the secondaries are open on our magnums? I'm thinking if you could wire up a LED power source to the actuator motor on the secondaries and running it directly to the gauges, bypassing the stock gauge cluster hookup. All it would need is a ground near the cluster and maybe a few tiny holes drilled in the circuit board to allow some small LED's through. I would choose blue, since that's all that really shows up well on our clusters. Well here some video's as examples.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQamT66EAxI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j-xxqjyUSY&NR=1

kornholio788 · Post by **kornholio788** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 9:47 am

That is really cool...i bet you could do it i cant see it being all that hard...the hardest part would be getting the gauges to light up nicely...as you know people have trouble changin the color of the guages...gettin power would be really easy...gettin the gauges to light up completely...maby not idk cool idea tho

danman132x · Post by **danman132x** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 9:55 am

That would probably be the hardest part...the lighting. Since the stock bulbs woul still be in place, I would assume you can drill some 1/8 holes in the board to fit some LED's in there. It would probably take a good amount of LED's to make the blue overpower the green since the stock lights would also still be on at night. You also risk breaking the cluster if you drill the circuit board, but hey, if you have a spare cluster around it might be worth a shot.

gilly02le · Post by **gilly02le** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 10:42 am

multicolored leds would save you a lot of time, if you can find ones that allow say two different colors.. and have two sets of leads to the backs, so you can power one side for blue, one side for green/red..then all you'd need to do is have power switch from the green portion, to the blue portion.. maybe wire it to the actuator for the intake manifold.. so its on when the secondaries open... still only half awake, hopefully this actually makes sense...

danman132x · Post by **danman132x** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 11:28 am

I'm looking right now for dual color LED's. Only problem is, will they be bright enough if I do find some white/blue combo's. Hooking it up should be simple if they have leads out the back. One wire could be soldered to the cluster for constant on when the lights are turned on, and the other lead to the actuator. Doesn't seem like too hard of a task, but I don't feel like ripping my dash up again. I broke the A-pillar clips on the passenger side, and somehow managed to keep my drivers side clips intact for my full pillar pods. Even the one's from the junkyard broke

(the top ones) It would be awesome to do it though.

danman132x · Post by **danman132x** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:11 am

I cannot find any dual color LED's. I searched oznium.com and superbrightleds.com and cannot find any. Ebay no luck either. If anyone finds some white/blue LED combos, let me know.

bad04srt · Post by **bad04srt** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 7:20 pm

you just run it on a basic switch....so that when the second color turns on, it turns off the first color

HaloNeon · Post by **HaloNeon** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 10:52 pm

thats a sweet idea...did you think about mixing colors...cuz with LED's you should be able to for example mix red and blue to get like purple right? depending on what your cluster color are so when you have the one color on...and once the second one turns on.....if done right i think it should combine and be a completly diff color.
maybe... lol

soul_sword34 · Post by **soul_sword34** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 7:35 pm

I have a buddy who wired his v-tec to his underbody lights. Hits WOT and they turn on, green, when the v-tec kicks in. Kinda cool really. I won't be doing that but for his car it's fine.

Fuzzyneon · Post by **Fuzzyneon** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 2:31 am

I think a WOT Led would look hot as hell on there

NiteHawk · Post by **NiteHawk** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 3:25 am

just an FYI: the circuit board for the gauge cluster is a FOUR LAYER BOARD.... DRILLING HOLES would be a VERY bad idea..... There's traces and planes inside the board that you cant see.....