Changing the color of the Climate Control and switch back-lights

[Homeboy981]

Hi @particlewave,

NOW you are living up to your name! Gonna change it now to Blue particlewave?

The Blue LEDs REALLY look good! I have switched out my doors and dome, thought about this…how many IN TOTAL LEDs did you use? How much time/money did it take? Were there any other problems you encountered?

Good Job!

[Mrmaddbrad]

Man oh man, those are awesome. Compartively to sodering two wires together, how hard is this to do?

I've never soldered on a circuit board and it would make me pretty nervous!

[particlewave]

Thanks for the compliments
Here's a rundown;

LEDs-
23 micro surface mount for the climate control unit
10 micro surface mount for all rocker switches(2 each)
5 small standard for the head light switch
2 large for the power outlet and "ashtray"(1 each)-these also require a resistor to drop the voltage from 12v to 3v.

The climate control and switch LEDs are pretty darn small, so a steady hand is a must. Check the orientation of the LEDs first and use a black sharpie to put a dot on the negative terminal of each(on the board). This will make things go faster
I think that I spent about 2 hours on the CC unit, which was the most work of course.
All in all, I'd say that I spent 4-5 hours on the whole project, though its hard to say for sure since it was spread out over several days.
The instrument cluster LEDs all came from porscheleds.com and took only a few minutes to swap out as the are just plug-and-play.

1-10, 10 being the most difficult, I'd rate the whole project a 5, but that is dependent upon the skill level of the individual.

[Swhitcomb]

I have an 02 and am really interested in doing this mod on it. What is the difference in the kit that it says it's for 97-00? What do I need to do to make the switch in an 02? Also, it seems whatever pics were originally posted of swapping out the LEDs have disappeared.

[BruceH]

Originally Posted by Swhitcomb

I have an 02 and am really interested in doing this mod on it. What is the difference in the kit that it says it's for 97-00? What do I need to do to make the switch in an 02? Also, it seems whatever pics were originally posted of swapping out the LEDs have disappeared.

I don't believe you can. I have an '01 and was told the boards changed with the '01's and thus I could not do the mod.

[particlewave]

Originally Posted by Swhitcomb

I have an 02 and am really interested in doing this mod on it. What is the difference in the kit that it says it's for 97-00? What do I need to do to make the switch in an 02? Also, it seems whatever pics were originally posted of swapping out the LEDs have disappeared.

No plug and play for gauge LEDs for '02, but I'll do a few custom jobs for those who ask nicely
PM me for details.

[SpeedYellow02]

Your setup is AMAZING! Can you let me exactly what LED's you used, so I can replicate this? I'm not that handy, but am eager to take a pass at this.

[Ghostrider 310]

Pwave, It looks so much better than stock it's dramatic! As for your comments on soldering, I've had to do it on a few boards before with only about a 50% success rate. Your caution should be well heeded, it's not like joining two wires. If you overheat it and some other solder on the board runs, that is truly where the new cusswords are created.

[Iflylow]

pwave, That dash looks awesome.

I would ask you to make one, but I've found that half the fun of the Box is learning new things. I've had some, but limited, experience with LED on PCB, so I think I'll tear apart a boom box or something to practice on. I looked for porscheleds.com, but get an error. Do you have an alternate address?

The sites I did find list voltage as 3.0-3.5VDC, but you said the CC is 1.5VDC. Am I looking at the correct LEDs, or will 3V ones work? These won't need a resistor, but the speedo/tach are 12V, so they will, correct?

Thanks for the supplies breakdown. Do you also have a breakdown for the rotary guages?

[Mrmaddbrad]

Originally Posted by Iflylow

I looked for porscheleds.com, but get an error. Do you have an alternate address?

This is the same website everyone uses, they must have changed their name.

http://www.sportscarleds.com/

[particlewave]

I recommend these LEDs.
They are rated at 3v-3.4v, but are plenty bright on the 1.5v board supply, as can be seen in my pictures

If you order the dash led kit from the link that Brad provided above(formerly porscheleds.com), they come with the resistor built in. If you decide to make your own you will need resistors. Likewise, any LED powered off of 12 V(Cigarette lighter, ashtray) will need a resistor. You can use an online LED resistor calculator to determine what resistance you need for each LED.

[particlewave]

Thanks!

The links are on page 2, but I gues I can re-post them
Bulbs for for '97-'01 clusters;
SportsCarLEDs.com - LEDs Replacements for the Porsche ® 996 Boxster 993 964 911 928 968 944

For the climate control and switches;
I recommend these LEDs.

[particlewave]

I am very sorry...I did link the wrong ones. I used the 250-380mcd LEDs.
Yikes. My apologies. That's a lot of work to do twice, but at least they're cheap. I'll fix the link.

The headlight switch requires small standard(non-surface mount) LEDs as the are soldered to the rear of the board, not the surface. I had some in the parts bin that I used and don't have a part # for those, but any small 200-400mcd led would work. For the "ashtray" and lighter, I just picked up some full size LEDs from radio shack. On the lighter socket, I just removed all of the stock light hardware and directly soldered the negative leg of the led to the metal of the socket so that I could aim it at the diffuser and adjust it for optimum even light distribution. I'll see if I can get a picture soon.

[Benjamin]

No worries, man. It took me less than an hour to do the first time and I'm actually an electronics engineer, so I've got all the right tools to do it. I wouldn't mind seeing the lighter socket setup you have.

[particlewave]

Here are some pictures of the lighter socket LED. I wasn't super happy with my approach here. I'm sure I could've designed something much better looking, but I figured that it wouldn't be seen anyway and this was an efficient way of mounting, powering, and aligning the LED for optimal light distribution in the diffuser ring. The resistor is on the negative leg under the heat shrink.

[Henkel986]

Looks awesome

[particlewave]

Thanks Henkel

It's definitely better than orange and well worth the effort.

[Benjamin]

Any tips on getting to the LED on the intermittent wiper dial? I got the back off, but it looks like I would have to destroy the thing to get to the LED.

[Iflylow]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

Any tips on getting to the LED on the intermittent wiper dial? I got the back off, but it looks like I would have to destroy the thing to get to the LED.

I just did mine a few weeks ago. You have to pry it off, but it does come apart and go back together again.
Sorry, no pics. I'm deployed again. someday I'll be able to drive my car!

[particlewave]

Hmmm...I don't have one of those