fiestaturbo.com

[ChriX]

Well i've had quite a few people private messaging me about the picture of the blue clock I have in my signature, so I thought i'd explain it for everyone.

Its not a lot of trouble to do, took me 5 mins tops.

Maplin will provide all the bits you need for this mod, you only need a LED and a resistor. If you are doing mail order, they will charge you over £2 for postage which is stupid for an LED and resistor (although they will send it in a huge padded envelope), so you go on their homepage and subscribe to their newsletter (you don't have to put in your real address) and it will give you a code for a £2 off orders over £2 which makes the postage almost free (only 30 days left of this offer at time of posting).

The Maplin code for the blue LED that I used is NR85G, this costs £2.99. For this LED you need a 330 Ohm resistor, don't know why, but Maplin have discontinued the resistor I used but you can use D330R instead.

You also need to have access to some solder and a soldering iron if you want to make a neat job.

First of all you have to prise the clock out from the dash using a small screwdriver or something similar, it pops out easily from the top. Then you should unclip the lead going into it so that you can completely remove the unit from the dash and take it inside to work on or somethin.

Remove the bulb from the back of the unit and unclip the white plastic cover. There are 4 tabs (if I remember correctly) that need to be pushed in with something to allow the white cover to easily come away.

Then you should see the clock PCB, with another, smaller PCB raised up from it with a lead going to it with two wires. In my car the lead with the black line on it, the one nearest the outer edge of the clock (the left edge if looking from the back) was the negative of the two.

All you have to do is solder onto the places where the wires come through the upper PCB (the ex bulb holder). Solder one end of the resistor onto the negative (positive if you wish, it doesnt matter) pin of the wires, it does not matter which way around the resistor goes. Then solder the other leg of the resistor onto the negative leg of the LED, this is the shorter leg of the two, and it has a little flat spot on the round casing of the LED marking it aswell. Then you can solder the positive leg of the LED onto the other pad where the wire comes through the PCB, and bend the whole LED-resistor assembly so that the LED is shining down through the hole onto the back of the LCD display.

I recommend cutting the tip off of the LED, or filing it down as this helps to diffuse the light to light all of the LCD rather than just a spot of it. If you do this though, make sure that you dont start cutting/filing into the metal elements inside the resin casing of the LED as this will kill it.

Then you can re-fit the white cover of the clock, making sure that the legs of the LED are not touching each other or the resistor in places that they shouldnt be. Then plug the lead back into the back of the clock unit and put the clock back into the dash, turn on the sidelights and hopefully you'll have a nicely blue glowing clock!



This was performed on a MK3.5 but I know that 'Cl@ssy Burd' has successfully performed it on a MK3 where the digits light up instead of the background.

There is a green filter in the clock that makes the light from the original bulb light the clock up green, however the blue LED light is really strong so it doesn't make any difference. It may, however, make a difference if you wanted to use a white LED for example.

If you want to use any other colour just use the search on the Maplin website and find a LED. Make sure the LED you purchase is bright enough, as a comparison, the one I used was 3cd or 3000mcd. This is the candela rating, the higher it is, the brighter the LED. An LED with a candela rating of 30mcd or so will not provide a good effect. I recommend at least 1cd or 1000mcd. Also, if you want to use any other colour, you will need to calculate the resistor needed for that particular LED.

To calculate the resistor you need for the LED you need two values off the data page for that particular LED. You need the forward voltage and the forward current. The forward current will usually be in mA (milliamps), you need to convert this to A (amps), where 1mA = 0.001A. Then, to calculate the resistor you do the following.

Supply Voltage(V) - LED Forward voltage(V)
LED Forward current(A)

This will give you an answer which is the value of resistor required in ohms. The supply voltage in this case is obviously 12V as that is the car battery voltage.

If you have any questions please post here, as you are killing my inbox

[andymac]

Quick note, although the resistor can go on either the positive or negative leg of the supply, the LED must be connected the correct way around if it is to function correctly. If you get it back to front it will either fail to work at all or glow very dimly.

You can also get flat-topped leds from maplins if they dont have any of the regular domed ones, but they are more expensive (so not worth getting unlees you are stuck).

Very nice mod tho.

*goes back to getting pished*

[Jay B V6]

Have you managed to do the bulbs for the Dash aswell? If so what value resistor did you use for those?

[mec82]

does anyone know if theres any way to just use a blue bulb and remove the green filter? it'd be a hell of a lot easier!

[zetec_si]

I did and it looks like this:




Plus, do the bck of ur dash if u can like I did:

http://www.fiestaturbo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=31738&highlight=blue+backlit

[ChriX]

I didn't backlight my dials, I lit them from the front after changing them for Lockwood white ones.

[Cl@ssy Burd]

I used a dome top blue led for mine but i filed it down to make the end flat if that makes any sense.



Pic taken when it wernt too dark but does look tonnes better at night

[ChriX]

Yes, there you are, you were mentioned in the guide!

[Rich si]

Quick question, I'm poss gona change the colour of my dash and clock but is it possible to change the colour of the bits that light up on the heater controls and the bits above the buttons for the rear window and fog lights etc? Otherwise I think it'l look a bit od with a mix of colours

[custom boy]

right when my cars done i think i will try doing this the clock looks well sweet!!!

[heeman10]

Does anyone wanna make one of these to order?!

[Unplugged]

Tried with suggested LEDs and resistor and it looks so pathetic its beyond beleif in pitch black you can just about see it and its registering 2.4v across the circuit so I guess wrong resistance

Just ordered some 10cd Blue LEDs and the resistors for 12v so probabbly blind myself when looking at the clock lol

[AndyRS1800]

Has any1 managed to do this?

I want to change the colour of the dials, clock etc to blue, Think it will look better, also want to do the switches for fog lights and stuff then stick some nice blue guages in to, Think it will look sweet,

How did ya do the dials???

[Unplugged]

The bulbs for the dash are in the top you just unscrew the plastic casing and solder the LEDS on in the same way.... The baclit dash can be done bu going to http://www.fiestaturbo.com/phpBB/viewto ... ue+backlit

do that along with changingthe normal ones with leds should look quite leet

[DaveZetec]

Does anyone wanna make one of these to order?!

I will do you one - and any of thedash switches too (the fog light etc ones)

send me the parts and ill do it for nowt just postage

[Unplugged]

Heres mine



Cameras a bit crap at night but meh picture is not 100% clear

I use 10CD leds but found maplin were rip off merchants

http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/

1 (Single) 12V Resistor - £0.05 - http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=140&osCsid=dce9d06f8720e5873a78eaa2da19fa9c

1 (Single) 5mm Extreme Ultra Bright Blue 10,000 Mcd Led - £1.45
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/product_info ... a2da19fa9c

Led - £1.45
Resistor - £0.05
Postage - £0.28

Total - £1.78

Cant get fairer than that

[chimp2k2]

Heres mine



Cameras a bit crap at night but meh picture is not 100% clear

I use 10CD leds but found maplin were rip off merchants

http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/

1 (Single) 12V Resistor - £0.05 - http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=140&osCsid=dce9d06f8720e5873a78eaa2da19fa9c

1 (Single) 5mm Extreme Ultra Bright Blue 10,000 Mcd Led - £1.45
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/product_info ... a2da19fa9c

Led - £1.45
Resistor - £0.05
Postage - £0.28

Total - £1.78

Cant get fairer than that

add the http:// to your image

[Unplugged]

Done I diffused the LED a big better today and angles it so it looks like the first guys i need to get an updated pic

[alwaysmods2do]

dam thats cheap!!! i'v jus paid 10 pound for 3 blue leds and 10 resistors from maplin

dave

[Unplugged]

Me too and the resistors I ordered where to big hence why I saw the 10 ones on there going cheap so thought why not

Done the dash out as well in the same LEDs

again apologies for the pic my camera isnt that great

[alwaysmods2do]

unplugged- did u do ur dials with the 10cd leds? wot resistors did u use? and also did u leave ur green filter in?

cheers

dave

[Unplugged]

Nope I smashed the filter out using combination of a screwdriver and hammer and long nose pliers

took best part of 20 mins

In getting the glass off I put a crack in the corner so need to get a new glass and do it all again -_-

Er the 10CD leds I got from the site in my previous posting no idea what rating they are the geezer only sells resistors to convert all the leds on his site to 12v systems

[jazzygm]

Errr, am I being thick here?

Supply Voltage(V) - LED Forward voltage(V)
LED Forward current(A)

For a car battery the supply is 12V
For the LED recommended (NR85G) the forward voltage is 3.6V
And the LED forward current is 30mA (0.03A)
Thats 8.4/0.03 = 280 Ohms

So could you not use a 300 Ohm resistor and increase voltage (and brightness)? Also would the M300R be just as good as the D range?

[Unplugged]

Technically when the alternator kicks in the voltage can be as high as 14v but 12v is general

I found 330 gave me about 2v and was barely enougth to light the LED the site I brought my leds from (posted abouve) automatically gave the right resistoes not sure on what the resistance is but they work a treat

[pugeyed]

ok me bein a lazy arse does anyone wanna make me a blue mk3.5 blue clock ill pay im just dense at stuff like this
anyone?
cheers mark.

[sr0276943]

just wondering how to change the colour of the heater controlls and foglight switches to blue have you done a guide before or could you tell me how to do it please it would be a great help

[AW3K]

just wondering how to change the colour of the heater controlls and foglight switches to blue have you done a guide before or could you tell me how to do it please it would be a great help

i know this is digging up an old post, but all of what you ask is on my site, http://www.fiestaguides.co.uk


Andy

[bullenb]

right can anyone tell me y my clock and dials speedo etc doesnot light i have removed the filter from the clock but it doesnt light wen the sidelights are on

[Kevo]

[ERRR] was u working so late on it for lol

I did it today was propper impressed with results thanks ChrisX