2nd Gen Cluster DIY LED upgrade

The proper term for positive and negative is cathode and anode. I was just keeping things simplified.

 

I mean on the board

 

Look for the white dot on the board.

 

I did the HVAC and 4WD knob as well. Gave someone else an explanation as the knob is more difficult than the panels. Check here: https://www.tundras.com/threads/raspberry-pi-open-auto-pro-carputer-build.102721/

 

How did ODO lose 100k miles? Seems pretty sketchy...

 

I had a local guy program it and he messed up and programmed it over by 100,000 and I had to ship it to Florida to have it done correctly. I’m referring to my optitron cluster. My original one is not being used at the moment.

If you were referring to my first two photos, I removed the eeprom chip, which showed 0 mileage. I was experimenting with programming the chip. We were talking about this on another cluster thread.

 

Curiously - were the LEDs for the Drive ("D") and the blinkers listed as the same color? I've never been able to figure out why the turn signal lights are that pukey greenish-yellow bile color.

 

Those are just green SMDs. The cluster overlay is diffusing the color and affecting what you see, giving it that off-putting color. The trans select ("PRNDS") is a little different as each indicator has its own SMD, but there's also a light pipe which then goes over them all. In my case I did all white and now whichever is selected looks almost too bright.

 

Thank you for providing him with the answer!

 

OP, hello its me your long lost friend with outdated LED's.

 

What were they thinking back in 2007?!

 

In advance sorry for reviving this old thread a year later.

OP how were you able to bench test the cluster and have the blue display on your work bench?

guess what I’m asking is how were you able to figure out which pins gave power to the cluster?

Amazing job by the way, you almost have me committed to doing this.

 

I had an extra wire harness that plugs into the cluster along with a wiring diagram somewhere but the pink and black / white striped wires are the power wires to turn on the cluster.
I’m sure if you dig around or ask, someone will get you the wiring diagram.

 

Sounds good I’ll dig around for a schematic and post it up here if I find one. Thanks!

 

OP - nice work. Orange is dated but good for night driving. I may just take this up. What is the primary size of the LEDs? I didn't see it posted.
Mouser and digikey are good places for components too.

Schematics are here.
https://www.tundras.com/threads/ultimate-tundra-wiring-diagrams-collection.81448/

 

Here

 

Thanks! Nice mod btw!

Are you a programmer via day shift?

 

Over the past three years I've unofficially tacked on EE and CS to the resume as projects have evolved to smart and IIoT. A bit of a hop from ME and MSE.

 

These are the LEDs I used:

 

Reviving this again a couple months later - how is the dash doing a year on? Any issues with the longevity of those LEDs? Great work it looks awesome.

I just bought an 08 and am definitely doing this, just ordered the LEDs, it'll be good to break out the iron and refresh the soldering skills.

 

Man that looks amazing
The factory red is very dim even in sunlight with tinted windows and sunglasses.
Even just making it brighter would be ideal.

Wish I could solder

 

So teach yourself… they’re plenty of YouTube videos about it

 

Just finished this, definitely not a good "first" soldering project, but if you teach yourself to solder surface mount stuff it's definitely not hard. Did the dash and the climate control, total start to finish was 2.5 hours, and it looks sick

(note at one point I got paid to solder surface mount computer chips... don't rush, it takes lots of practice especially the fewer tools you have. If you spring for hot tweezers you could do it like a pro, doing it with an iron is a lot harder)

 

In my opinion the sketchiest part by far was pulling the needles off the gauges to get the circuit board taken out. Was worried because it felt like I was going to break something.

Highly recommend turning all the gauges to minimum and taking a picture, that way you can be sure they're back in the same spot

 

Nicely done, sir! Glad this thread was able to help some members out! Yes, taking off the needles seem very sketchy because they’re on there really good!

This was a project I did after I got my Optitron cluster so it’s just sitting in my basement staying cool lol.

 

Thanks for the info and breaking the ground! Made it super easy to just order the parts and not think about too much.

Yea, you reeeeally have to pull those needles - I checked a dozen times to make sure there wasn't a screw or some other way that I was missing. They're just a really good press-fit.