2nd Gen Cluster DIY LED upgrade

I think we all can agree that our stock "orange" cluster looks like dog crap and pretty outdated! I recently upgraded to an Optitron but still wanted to tinker with my old cluster by swapping out the amber LED's to white ones, and blue LED's to my blinkers, parking - drive, etc. (I'm still waiting for my blue LEDs to arrive). I'm also messing with reading the odometer chip / writing the chip as well, which I am saving for another post.

The process wasn't too hard and I already had all of the tools required to do the upgrade: soldering iron, solder, solder sucker, and tweezers. I've done a lot of soldering in the past so the process was not too hard for me.

Here is the link to the LED's I used, which are way cheaper than the other websites I've seen:

$7 Chanzon 100 pcs 3528 (1210) White SMD LED Diode Lights Chips (Surface Mount PLCC 3.5mmx2.8mm DC 3V 20mA 7-8LM) High Intensity Bright Lighting Bulb Lamps Electronics Components Light Emitting Diodes

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CUGAG14?ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

$7 CHANZON 100 pcs 3528 (1210) Blue SMD LED Diode Lights Chips (Surface Mount PLCC 3.5mm x 2.8mm DC 3V 20mA) Super Bright Lighting Bulb Lamps Electronics Components Light Emitting Diodes

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CUG9YM6?ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

Here are some photos of the before, during, and after. I'll add the blue LED's once they aarive.

 

Hmmm I'm starting to wonder if my blue LED's will even arrive. When I click on the order, it shows me white LED's. I may just grab some off eBay then.

 

Wow! Great job!

 

That looks great! Would love to see it with the blue leds as well.

how many leds are there total to change out?

 

I changed out about 20 so far and probably have another 10-20 to change out, depending on what I want blue.

 

Love it! What a night and Halloween difference. :|

What's your soldering setup like?

 

It’s some adjustable temp soldering station I bought from FB marketplace, nothing too fancy lol. I’ve been using a normal one for the longest time and needed something with adjustable temp and different tips. I will post a photo of the setup later today when I get home.

 

Rad

 

Optitron on top and original on bottom. They look strikingly similar minus the screen on the bottom.
The LED upgrade is pretty impressive with how much it transformed the look!
If I wouldn’t have already gotten my optitron, I would be perfectly happy with my original cluster with the updated LEDs! I would’ve saved myself over $200 lol

 

Here you go! My adjustable power and my old trusty soldering iron.

 

Nice..curious what the difference would be during the day vs. at night. There are some pretty minor differences for sure. Much cleaner either way!

 

how did you know which LEDs to swap? Meaning if you wanted to keep the check engine, abs, brake, low gas lights the factory color (or any of the non orange lights) how would you know which ones to keep?

 

You’ll see a letter beside each LED to indicate what color they are.
A = amber
G = green
R = red
Also, I had the gauges handy and placed them over the cluster to see what LEDs lit what.

 

Anyone change the rest of the orange like AC controls?

 

Kinda debating on doing the cluster, and if I did then I would do the controls as well

 

I’ll probably leave mine for the time being.

 

I wonder if you change the leds in the cluster, and tint the plastic lens while you're in there. Might look close to the Opti cluster.

 

I was thinking you could use 5% tint to darken the glass and it’ll give it a very similar look to the optitron.

 

I got most of the remaining LEDs swapped out to blue, giving it a newer updated look. It was tricky getting a photo that was properly exposed but they look a lot better in person than these photos.

 

I dig it.

 

This is high in my list of things I'd like to do... But there's about five projects in front of it!

 

There are more that are blue, but will only light up when prompted. The parking, reverse, neutral, blinkers, etc are all blue now.

 

Looks good! Can’t wait to see it all together

 

How much to do mine?

not kidding

but seriously, great work and amazing results.

seriously, How much

 

Nice job looks great.

 

Let me think about it. I’m just tinkering around and not looking to start offering a service for LED upgrades and such.

 

How how do you know what way to position the led ?

 

You just about sold me on this job lol

 

The white dot beside the R is the negative side on the board for the led. Every LED on the board will have a white dot to indicate the negative side.
The led will have a corner that is not square and that will be the negative side.

 

Here is another eBay seller that sells the LEDs too:
https://ebay.com/usr/support-manufacturing