Thread: DIC COLOR CHANGE!!! First atempt, learn from my mistakes

Wow, great job. How did you know what size resistors to use? I did LED mods on my fog light switch and also on my HVAC display and I think I should have gone for greater resistance on the switch and less resistance on the HVAC.

Originally Posted by SliceTheRice

Wow, great job. How did you know what size resistors to use? I did LED mods on my fog light switch and also on my HVAC display and I think I should have gone for greater resistance on the switch and less resistance on the HVAC.

well i first measured the voltage to it when i had it plugged in and all taken appart with the car running and i got like 12.92 or something so i rounded up to 13volts googled led resistor calculator on my iphone while at the shack, then you just read the forward voltage an current off the package and plug the numbers in...

heres the site: LED calculator for single LEDs

only trouble i had was that it called for a 2 watt on the red and they have none anywhere close up there which is why i had to get creative and twist the 4 together. just google paralel and series wiring info and you should be able to make any resistance/wattage with a little creativity. also if you noticed i was about 15 ohms high still on the reds... higher is okay, just might be a tad dimmer but lower... that will make it a tad brighter, but you run the risk of it burning out sooner, how much sooner i havent the foggiest idea but so long as your like 5-15ohms i wouldnt expect anything crazy. just dont sue me if you led burns out after a few months if you go too low

also if your gonna try to stick two small leds in the same hole or wire them all off one source for some reason that led calc site has a calc for multiple led configurations

here: LED series parallel array wizard

Sweet, thanks!

so... i tried to do this and melted the LCD and now i'm out my DIC. so if anybody's selling one, let me know lol.

i do have a question though. before i melted it, i couldn't get the LED's to light up at all, with or without resistors, with polarity either way, but the factory light bulbs still work. what could be causing this?

Originally Posted by Poil336

so... i tried to do this and melted the LCD and now i'm out my DIC. so if anybody's selling one, let me know lol.

i do have a question though. before i melted it, i couldn't get the LED's to light up at all, with or without resistors, with polarity either way, but the factory light bulbs still work. what could be causing this?

melted? what did you do? if you even try the leds without resistors it will burn out as soon as you touch it on there, you might see a flash but its just for a fraction of a second. you can try the polarity backwards and put the resistor on either leg all you want and it wont hurt it... did you try multiple leds?

i think i left the soldering tip on the chip too long, and it got too hot and now the display is flashing really bad.

i went back and looked at your pictures, and i figured out i'm using a lot smaller led's than you did, so i might have burnt them out from not using a big enough resistor. at least now i have something to practice on and get right before i go to do the one i now have to buy. i have one of the 4-pin ones i'll mess with today

i really recommend using all 4 pin ones if you can find them.... i had to go to two different radio shacks again to find them all. all those domed ones have a focused beam and youd have to find a way to spread the light, these 4 pins are awesome and dont focus at all

those are still using the 560 ohm resistors right? i got a couple of the two pin led's to work and you're right, they're really dim. at least now i know i'm wiring it right, i probably just burnt out the led that i was using. did you solder the resistor to both the negative pins or just one?

Originally Posted by Poil336

those are still using the 560 ohm resistors right? i got a couple of the two pin led's to work and you're right, they're really dim. at least now i know i'm wiring it right, i probably just burnt out the led that i was using. did you solder the resistor to both the negative pins or just one?

you wire the resistor in series to either the pos or neg side not both and sinve you got different leds i would go use the calc i posted a link to and put in your figures as they are probably different, might be why its so dim too, you may need less resistance.

yeah, i get that. with the 4-pin though, there's 2 positive and 2 negative right?

oh, my bad dude... yeah two pos two neg, you really only have to use one post but i bent mine together on each side and soldered. thats the reason i strayed from them the first time i thought it would be double resistors and crap but yeah use one or both, dont make to big a difference. make sure to check that led calc above and get the right resistors so its full brightness and wont burn out quick... you going blue as well? i noticed each different color required way different resistors

i'll be sure to do that. i don't have a whole lot of electrical equipment or test stuff at my house, so i'm gonna do the best i can. i'm trying to go green, but i'm quickly finding out how much green led's look yellow lol

"then i used carb cleaner but paint thinner would be better to remove the red coloring from the piece"

So rubbing is on the red got rid of the colour?? just a little confused.

Originally Posted by Poil336

i'll be sure to do that. i don't have a whole lot of electrical equipment or test stuff at my house, so i'm gonna do the best i can. i'm trying to go green, but i'm quickly finding out how much green led's look yellow lol

well if you make a green lense out of a dvd case or something it should help bring it back to green, and it may that you have too much or to little resistance to get the right color

Originally Posted by Colossus

"then i used carb cleaner but paint thinner would be better to remove the red coloring from the piece"

So rubbing is on the red got rid of the colour?? just a little confused.

^Disregard this^... I tried paint thinner, did nothing, used some brake cleaner and the red came right off... will have this done tomorrow... pumped.

Originally Posted by Colossus

"then i used carb cleaner but paint thinner would be better to remove the red coloring from the piece"

So rubbing is on the red got rid of the colour?? just a little confused.

yeah its like red paint on a white opaque lense, the carb cleaner pretty well disolved it then i scrubbed it off with the rough side of a sponge

Originally Posted by Colossus

^Disregard this^... I tried paint thinner, did nothing, used some brake cleaner and the red came right off... will have this done tomorrow... pumped.

i thought paint thinner would work better but i guess carb or break cleaner is best, who woulda guessed? post pics man... what color you doing?

Originally Posted by Kejross

i thought paint thinner would work better but i guess carb or break cleaner is best, who woulda guessed? post pics man... what color you doing?

Im doing blue, to match my deck and gauges, I used paint thinner for like 5 min and only got a tint of red on the cloth I was using.

Sticking with the stock bulbs, hopefully it looks good.