Shiny bits for a 400SE
Discussion
On the subject of Dash illumination, I was thinking of directly replacing the crap 12v bulb that powers the fibre optics with one of the green LED matrix's from Maplins. By amending the fibre optic housing to accept the new light source it avoids the need to drill any new holes in the dash for LEDs.
The light output should be greatly enhanced, driving at night I can hardly see the centre pod switches. Has anybody tried this already??.
Mike
www.tvrwedgepages.co.uk
>> Edited by mikeb on Wednesday 11th September 21:50
The light output should be greatly enhanced, driving at night I can hardly see the centre pod switches. Has anybody tried this already??.
Mike
www.tvrwedgepages.co.uk
>> Edited by mikeb on Wednesday 11th September 21:50
I recall that there was a guy a while back offering to do fibre-optic replacement using modern optical 'cable' with better transmissivity... but I forget who. 
You can buy the bits quite easily now from Maplins, RS etc. but the key is still in getting a good polish on the end of the fibre core. In theory, keeping the cores straight will help as you get less refraction from the sidewalls, but in a car you haven't much choice and in such short lengths it may not be an issue!
From memory I think green has a fairly low light output for a given power consumption; red is better but wouldn't match the existing dash lighting in a Wedge of course.
A word of warning: avoid blue LEDs like the plague. I'm not talking about those silly washer jets (though I bet the Max Tosser brigade would go green if I hit the wash-wipe on my 390 as the jet is on the wiper arm and would draw pretty patterns in the air!!) but referring to their use as dash lighting. My mate has an Imprezza WRX thing with a naff cabin. So he took out all the console trims, door pull trims etc. and sprayed them silver. I have to admit it works quite well. Then he stripped all the instruments and fitted blue LEDs as backlights. Bad plan. It takes so long for your eyes to adjust that you'd have an accident before you read the gauges.
Some you win...;-)
Ian
You can buy the bits quite easily now from Maplins, RS etc. but the key is still in getting a good polish on the end of the fibre core. In theory, keeping the cores straight will help as you get less refraction from the sidewalls, but in a car you haven't much choice and in such short lengths it may not be an issue!
From memory I think green has a fairly low light output for a given power consumption; red is better but wouldn't match the existing dash lighting in a Wedge of course.
A word of warning: avoid blue LEDs like the plague. I'm not talking about those silly washer jets (though I bet the Max Tosser brigade would go green if I hit the wash-wipe on my 390 as the jet is on the wiper arm and would draw pretty patterns in the air!!) but referring to their use as dash lighting. My mate has an Imprezza WRX thing with a naff cabin. So he took out all the console trims, door pull trims etc. and sprayed them silver. I have to admit it works quite well. Then he stripped all the instruments and fitted blue LEDs as backlights. Bad plan. It takes so long for your eyes to adjust that you'd have an accident before you read the gauges.
Some you win...;-)
Ian
Well, I took the fibre optic light housing apart the other day and the light bulb inside was so crap that I could hardly tell if it was on or not!. The light output on these high brightness green 12v LED clusters is quite considerable I reckon that retro fitting one of these instead of the bulb will do the job in spades.
I will have a go when I get five minutes.
Mike ;-)
I will have a go when I get five minutes.
Mike ;-)
Just picked up two from Maplins ...£3.99 each
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A 26mm highly visible LED cluster that is housed in a waterproof package with hood, and is suitable for in and outdoor information boards. The cluster has 14 x 5mm LEDs, made up from six superbright red and eight superbright green LEDs. This will also allow a 'mixed' orange colour to be generated. Red and green cathodes are denoted by matching coloured wires.
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A 26mm highly visible LED cluster that is housed in a waterproof package with hood, and is suitable for in and outdoor information boards. The cluster has 14 x 5mm LEDs, made up from six superbright red and eight superbright green LEDs. This will also allow a 'mixed' orange colour to be generated. Red and green cathodes are denoted by matching coloured wires.
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Very convenient that it's waterproof 
quote:
Just picked up two from Maplins ...£3.99 each
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A 26mm highly visible LED cluster that is housed in a waterproof package with hood, and is suitable for in and outdoor information boards. The cluster has 14 x 5mm LEDs, made up from six superbright red and eight superbright green LEDs. This will also allow a 'mixed' orange colour to be generated. Red and green cathodes are denoted by matching coloured wires.
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I just drove my 350i at night for the first time last night. I noticed that there was no light in my dashboard at all. That meant I couldn't see my broken speedo, so no biggie. But I was just wondering how the light is supposed to work?
Perhaps I should pay a visit to Maplins too.
there is a neat piece of technology that illuminates the speedo called a tungstan light emitting filament or light bulb. The fibre optic stuff is for the switches only.
Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk
quote:
Just picked up two from Maplins ...£3.99 each
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Copy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A 26mm highly visible LED cluster that is housed in a waterproof package with hood, and is suitable for in and outdoor information boards. The cluster has 14 x 5mm LEDs, made up from six superbright red and eight superbright green LEDs. This will also allow a 'mixed' orange colour to be generated. Red and green cathodes are denoted by matching coloured wires.
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Ooo, funky. So you could build a driver circuit that varies the current on each cathode and have switches that change colour while you drive along!
The Max Tosser brigade would be spunking their undies.
Ian
quote:
there is a neat piece of technology that illuminates the speedo called a tungstan light emitting filament or light bulb.
Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk
Boy you make it sound like I don't my sphincter from my arm joint.
I'll just drive during the day, it'll be safer for everyone
OK, to get serious again, back on the topic in hand, to wit: add-ons for a 400SE. How about.... going down the Cerbera route and having the electronic door/ window control system?
You could have the outer door handles removed, and use a Cerbie-esque electronics module to drop the windows and pop the doors open. If you could live without the level of electrickery in the Cerbie, it wouldn't need to be a complicated thing.
Ian
You could have the outer door handles removed, and use a Cerbie-esque electronics module to drop the windows and pop the doors open. If you could live without the level of electrickery in the Cerbie, it wouldn't need to be a complicated thing.
Ian
quote:
OK, to get serious again, back on the topic in hand, to wit: add-ons for a 400SE. How about.... going down the Cerbera route and having the electronic door/ window control system?
You could have the outer door handles removed, and use a Cerbie-esque electronics module to drop the windows and pop the doors open. If you could live without the level of electrickery in the Cerbie, it wouldn't need to be a complicated thing.
Ian
It would never work on a wedge .... cannot open my doors at the best of times!.
quote:
Dear All
I bought some Bezels from Karl Cordwell (Red 450 SEAC on wedge pages). He is having various bits made for the wedge. The bezels I bought were for my 450 SE the five small gauges and two large ones for the speedo and rev counter. £30.00.
He does other shiney stuff and if you email me I will send a scanned copy of his price list.
Regards
Broadside.
My Bezels arrived thsi morning. Very Nice too. workmanship looks excellent. Will take some before and after pix and send them off to WedgePages.
Looking forward to fitting them next week.
Incidently, I have some pix of the bezels taken this morning.
Post them up man!
I'm getting a cheque off to Karl this week.
I've decided to gor for the Bezels, Gear Knob & Handbrake Handle package.
£80 all in sounds pretty good to me.
I believe Karl's also got a few other shiny projects on the go at the moment.
Hopefully he'll send us some pictures soon.
I'm getting a cheque off to Karl this week.
I've decided to gor for the Bezels, Gear Knob & Handbrake Handle package.
£80 all in sounds pretty good to me.
I believe Karl's also got a few other shiny projects on the go at the moment.
Hopefully he'll send us some pictures soon.
quote:
quote:
there is a neat piece of technology that illuminates the speedo called a tungstan light emitting filament or light bulb.
Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk
Boy you make it sound like I don't my sphincter from my arm joint.
I'll just drive during the day, it'll be safer for everyone
Hoping to charge people double as it was a new piece of technology and I was also waiting to see if the following replies came in:
1. Does it come in ally?
2. If not can I have it in ally?
3. Can I replace it with multicoloured LEDS?
Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk
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