killer4605

ok so after 4 hours of tediously changing the LEDs on the center console, i go plug it back in and put everything back. i turn on the car and see that the LEDs are very dim. they are supposed to be bright white but they are so dim they have a slight blue hue to them. see for yourselves. (they are dimmer than the picture shows)



on a side note, i changed my headlights too. disappointed with the look, but they do light up the road better than stock. they are a tad yellower than the picture.



up next is gauge cluster modification. going to change them to white.

WeDriveScions

We need regional experts on LED color changes.... Only guy I know is in AZ or around.... I don't want my guages out for days + Shipping.... We should have travelling training, so we can all learn the techniques and tools of the trade.... I'm scared to death to do it myself, but with someone looking over my shoulder, it'd be much more comfortable.

killer4605

i actually did the mod with jack ____ for soldering experience... it honestly just takes time, patience, and a steady hand. i singed the first LED i put on and it was pretty easy after that.

i found the best thing that worked for me when desoldering was to put the iron on the joint, use tweezers to pull up one side of the led, then do the same on the other side.

when resoldering, i put the LED down as perfect as i could and i cut a very tiny piece of solder, put it at the joint, held down the led, and put the iron up to the solder until it melted.

definitely cover your iron's tip with solder before you begin or you end up with black ____ all over it and it stops working.

XD40tC

Good soldering tips! All it takes is time. I have no problem soldering I just dont wanna deal with the hassle of taking sh*t apart unless its easy. Is it?

06tCguy

I just melt the solder on the end of the iron, and touch it to whatever needs to be connected..works fine for me.

killer4605

actually its pretty easy to take everything apart and get to the pcb. the hardest part for me was to get the stupid plastic **** off and the metal ****. the metal one has 3 slits in it along the side, shove a tiny flathead into all 3 sides and the metal **** pops off..

the plastic **** needs to be removed with pliers or something.. i nearly broke mine trying to pull it off. after that, just unscrew some stuff.

soldering wasn't too bad at all. you might want to hold off on this mod if you want to use blue or white LEDs until someone comes up with a solution for the dimness.

killer4605

oh, i'm working on the gauges right now so i'll pop back on the forums in an hour or two. the gauges are way harder from what i see. the lcd is a _____ to take off without cracking it and keeping the needles aligned when putting them back will be a pain.

pics soon to follow!

killer4605

just a quick update, i HIGHLY suggest you change the LEDs on the center console FIRST if you have no experience in soldering. the gauges has much tighter spots with less buffer for error.

that said, the gauges are going pretty quickly now that i've done the console.

and tomorrow i'll get my new cd player!

StealthTC414

Here is my dash, taken with camera phone, please excuse the quality, my whole cluster is blue and the buttons on the center console are all red to match the buttons on my DDX7015 and the A/C Control **** rotates from blue, white, white, red. Also when you push the A/C Button the LED lights up blue.

Here are some junky pics

JSVH

Very nice Stealth, Not far off from the way I am doing my LEDs.

killer4605

i'm done!!! it took 3 hours but OMG the results are WORTH IT!!!! I am psyched. i might even change the LCD on the center console! this turned out wayyyy better than i expected... can you feel the excitement?

first, thank you to engifineer and panasoanic. i could not have done this without them.

and without further ado:

before:


after:

teksno

the whits is sick... i was talking to engifineer bout white lights and those are soooo hotttt..... daddy wants bad now... and since leds are firly cheap... i might do this in the coming weeks.... soo hot

qbnlykwhoa

iTrader: (1)

So the blue only comes out dim on the center? What about using a different LED? I want to do it blue..... but i guess i will wait for a solution.

killer4605

blue and white come out dim. any other color works fine

qbnlykwhoa

iTrader: (1)

Well doesn't that suck... the two hottest colors wont work. What if a different LED was tried...... is it a voltage issue?

killer4605

yes, voltage issue. from what i was told, the white and blue require more volts... gotta wait for a solution

ssdm7683

I wish i had the patience for the task of changing out the surface mount led's. Anyone in the ATX want to earn some , i'd pay someone to install my dash led's.

farberio

I don't mean to say your method doesn't work, but I have soldered many things and I could point out a few pointers. My last experiance was hand soldering Microchips, if you have never done them don't _____ about soldering.

Soldering is very very simple, if possible, find a way to secure the thing you are going to solder. Like, put it on a table, clamp it down, tape it down. Then put a dab of solder on the tip, just a dab. Connect the tip of the soldering iron to BOTH of the metals you are going to solder. This will heat up both metals so the solder will form a proper bond with both things. When the metals are hot enough the 'dab' of solder will slide right over to the metals. At that point you can take some more solder and feed it into the end of the tip. When you have enough solder, stop feeding it. Then remove the tip.

The dab of solder should be touching the metals as you are getting them hot, not on the opposite side or you won't see it slide over. If you leve the solder gun on the PCB to long you run the risk or burning out micros. I seriously doubt this will happen unless you leave it on the PCB for like 2 hours....

As far as desoldering goes, he has the right method. Except you may want to run out to Home Depot/lows/menards and get some desoldering braid. All you do is. 1. Put braid on area you don't want solder. 2. Put tip of solder iron on the braid. 3. Put solder on the braid when its hot enough.
I know its wierd that you put solder on the braid to remove the solder on the other side...but it works miracles.

Anyway. Happy Soldering!

farberio

There are irons that can also be used as tweezers. So it goes like this. Tweezer the led off, there should be enough solder left on the PCB for the new one, so tweezer the new one on.

The tweezer will be hot and it should just slide right into spot and self adjust the led to be perfect.

For those less fortunate, here is another tip. Buy two irons, place the surface mount LED like I mentioned earlier with both sides. And then use the irons to heat up both sides of the LED, it should get hot and it will slide into an even position between the two pads.

Its hard to secure surface mount LED's, so you will need tweezers to place the LED perfectly. Then do the above steps, when one side is soldered it will secure the other side.

engifineer

Here is my post on soldering for those interested

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...=61793&start=0


I never heard back from you killer, but good to see you got them in alright! Looks good!

Another tip: If you lay a small sized solder wick in the solder joint, press the iron onto it until you see solder seep through and remove it and the heat together, you will pull most of the solder out of the joint, making it much easier to remove. After working with many different types of soldering equipment in various labs, I still prefer a standard small tipped iron for most tasks. It is easier to use once you get used to it. For removing surface mount flat packs with many pins or for some difficult tasks the other irons are virtually a necessity, but I have learned to stick with a standard iron usually. The simple tweazer models mentioned above are very nice as well.