Odometer display colour change

Quazzie

I recently bought an old corrado for a project car, and I'm trying to make a start on it with some small changes.

The dash lights and speedo cluster all light up a horrible green colour, and I was hoping to change this. My question is about the digital odometer. Will changing the bulbs to red from green change this part of the display (highlighted in red below), or is that set as green and changing bulbs will have no effect?

Thid queestion is not specific to a corrado, as this type of odomoeter is quiet common.

Quazzie

Bumpage for the morning crew!

JMcCR

Have a look on ebay. there are plenty of listings offering complete bulb kits to change the dash colouring for many cars.

Quazzie

JMcCR wrote: »

Have a look on ebay. there are plenty of listings offering complete bulb kits to change the dash colouring for many cars.

I know that. My question is regards the little screen highlighted in the pic. Will changing the bulbs change the colour that that screen lights up or is there pigment in the screen that makes it light up a predetermined colour.

For example at the moment there are green bulbs, so it lights up green. If I change the bulbs to blue will the small screen (highlighted) light up blue or will ti be a weird blue-green.

Pics: This is what it looks like now


will changing the bulbs to blue change the display to this?

Owen

The screen will be lit by LCD's, not bulbs. If you're brave enough to take the cluster out - essentialmini.co.uk will change them for you. They've done 3 of my MINIs for me, and are coming to Ireland shortly to do 6 cars from the MINI Club of Ireland, if you were patient enough to wait a month or two, you could get yours done at the same time. He does mostly MINIs, but also VW's, and a few other cars too.

FearDark

I actually did this to my car today and the worst part was handing over 30 euros to Halfords for 4 bright white L.E.D.'s! (Shame on me)

Couldnt have been simpler, five philips screws, a bit of a lift with a screwdriver and my clocks were out, the bulbs themselves just twist out and the new ones went in, cant wait to see what it looks like tonight, Its a nice mod and its not completely tasteless

Owen

You're talking about swapping bulbs FearDark ... the ones that light the LCD screen are surface mounted LEDs which are about 2mm square, and are soldered to the board.

alo1587

PaintDoctor wrote: »

You're talking about swapping bulbs FearDark ... the ones that light the LCD screen are surface mounted LEDs which are about 2mm square, and are soldered to the board.

Yeah and they're a ******* to solder on.I work for an electronics company supplying parts to Audi/VW,i changed the bulbs in my phone to the same colour as in my caddy van,all blue.Looks neat in the hands free kit! If you're good with a soldering iron you could chance it,though not sure if the lcd colour will change to be honest?

colm_mcm

I recently got replacement LED illumination for the LCD odometer on my car, was fairly straight forward too. they came with dials made by KMC. I'm sure this sort of thing is available. it's basically illumination for LCD panels.

http://www.pacificdisplay.com/lcd_backlights.htm

Quazzie

PaintDoctor wrote: »

The screen will be lit by LCD's, not bulbs. If you're brave enough to take the cluster out - essentialmini.co.uk will change them for you. They've done 3 of my MINIs for me, and are coming to Ireland shortly to do 6 cars from the MINI Club of Ireland, if you were patient enough to wait a month or two, you could get yours done at the same time. He does mostly MINIs, but also VW's, and a few other cars too.

I'll keep that in mind. I have two sets so I might try mess around with it myself in the mean time.

FearDark wrote: »

I actually did this to my car today and the worst part was handing over 30 euros to Halfords for 4 bright white L.E.D.'s! (Shame on me)

Couldnt have been simpler, five philips screws, a bit of a lift with a screwdriver and my clocks were out, the bulbs themselves just twist out and the new ones went in, cant wait to see what it looks like tonight, Its a nice mod and its not completely tasteless

I think changing the lighting for the LCD display is different than replacing the standard bulbs. Considerably more fiddly as my research revealed

PaintDoctor wrote: »

You're talking about swapping bulbs FearDark ... the ones that light the LCD screen are surface mounted LEDs which are about 2mm square, and are soldered to the board.

alo1587 wrote: »

Yeah and they're a ******* to solder on.I work for an electronics company supplying parts to Audi/VW,i changed the bulbs in my phone to the same colour as in my caddy van,all blue.Looks neat in the hands free kit! If you're good with a soldering iron you could chance it,though not sure if the lcd colour will change to be honest?

Solder? Not according to the site I found (below)

colm_mcm wrote: »

I recently got replacement LED illumination for the LCD odometer on my car, was fairly straight forward too. they came with dials made by KMC. I'm sure this sort of thing is available. it's basically illumination for LCD panels.

http://www.pacificdisplay.com/lcd_backlights.htm

Great site their colm. Lots of usefull information that led me on to a few more before eventually finding the two that specifically apply to what I am looking for.

The first shows how to change the colour of the LCD display.
http://www.corrado-club.ca/mods/LCD.html

and the second one shows how to inverse the display. Which looks class imho.

http://www.oichan.org/mods/lcd/lcd2.htm

Maybe Paintdoctor this is something you might want to try yourself. It certainly looks relatively easy from them guides.

colm_mcm

the reverse looks class alright