changing backlight colour on digital dash

[Brett]

i'm not sure where I heard it was possible, and I can't seem to find anything on google, but i'm pretty sure there is a way to change the backlight colour.

i recall it only having something to do with crossing a couple of wires too..

has anyone accomplished/heard of this?

:)

[Ross]

Change the positive and negatives - then they'll light up black.


I give up, I'm really not very good at sarcasm.
OK you can change the colour of the backlights but you can't change the colour of the segments of the digital instruments.

[Brett]

hehe cool

i was 99% sure that I hadn't just imagined that it was possible..

so you can't change the lights behind things such as the fuel meter? only the backlight?

i don't think there even is a backlight..I can only think of the light that comes from those displays. if the tacho can come up all different colours, i'm pretty sure you could change the others somehow...probably not to the blue I was hoping for :D

[RedP85]

You cannot change the segmets colors of the tach, nor the speed number, nor the tank and temps bars.
You CAN change the condoms of the lamps that are currently green.
What will it give with a green overlay ?? let us know !

[Brett]

so the 'just need to cross a few wires' bit isn't true?

it sounds like you're talking about the analogue dash..

[RedP85]

'just need to cross a few wires..'In your best dreams.

[EnjoySupra]

might be what your looking for

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43952&item=7984725595&rd=1

[Brett]

no sorry, but thanks anyway :) i've got a digital dash..

[Brett]

like this one:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/r/a/rae125/supra11.jpg

[Ross]

You cannot change the colours of the instruments.
The tach, speed, temp, fuel, clock will always be green.
You can change the colour of the backlights in the dash, but I don't know what colour backlights would look ok with green instruments, other than the original green backlights.

[Brett]

oh now i think i understand what you mean by 'instrument'...

so the green bits are permanently green, and there's probably only a white light behind them?

[mk2_suprafan]

You cannot change the colours of the instruments.
The tach, speed, temp, fuel, clock will always be green.
You can change the colour of the backlights in the dash, but I don't know what colour backlights would look ok with green instruments, other than the original green backlights.

pff, with enough money, you can change the color of anything. with about $2000 or so you could probably have a company make you some new LCD's that will fit and "plug" right in, to give you whatever color you want :)

[runedogg]

you may be able to buy a new dash cover i got on for my 86.5 and it was 120.00 but its going to be white with blue numbers blue lines and so on

[Ross]

pff, with enough money, you can change the color of anything. with about $2000 or so you could probably have a company make you some new LCD's that will fit and "plug" right in, to give you whatever color you want :)

Now why didn't I think of that!
I used to always say "you can do anything if you have enough money" :)

[mk2_suprafan]

youre slipping, thought id just give you a reminder of your past so maybe i dont have to say that anymore :)

[Donn29]

the tach is probably changable, my car came with 3 or 4 green leds laying around in the armrest. but the 3 other gauges are not changable[without loads of cash]

[Ross]

The tach is one big custom bar graph display, not individual leds.
The fuel, temp and speed displays are fluorescent displays, not leds.




(got a digital display right here, next to monitor)

[mk2_suprafan]

LCD, not LED...

[Ross]

LCD, not LED...

Huh?
The tach is definitely a bar graph LED module.

I don't think they even had LCDs in the early '80s

[RedP85]

I don't think they even had LCDs in the early '80s¸The radio had LCD display (at least the later 84-85)

[Donn29]

omg, there a diff between LCD and uh LCD. the clock has like 7 pixels per digit, so 30, plus the two dots. the speedo, fuel and temps guages are lcd as well. the tach is a bunch of seprate led's
And thats how it is. :woot:

[mk2_suprafan]

Huh?
The tach is definitely a bar graph LED module.

I don't think they even had LCDs in the early '80s

i know the tach is LED's, thats easy to change out.

LCD's though have been around for a while. i still have a clock/radio alarm clock from the mid 70's with a digital display... the numbers are messed up, happens, LCD's arent knows to be the most reliable source of display, but damnit, it still plays AM stations :zzzzz:

[Ross]

There are NO LCDs in the digital dash.
The tach is a custom bargraph, sure it's LEDs, but I doubt you could swap it out easily. The other instruments are fluorescent displays, not LCDs.

I have 2 of these displays sitting here now!


RedP85 are you sure the radio had LCDs?
I'm pretty sure they were either LED or fluorescent displays.

My car only had the standard radio, so I can't verify the digital radio.

mk2_suprafan I'd be surprised if your clock radio is LCD.
Open it up and look at the display.
If it has a nipple where the gas was evacuated, it's fluorescent.

quote from http://www.eng.ox.ac.uk/lc/introduction/history_1.html
After the start of the war many scientists believed that the important features of liquid crystals had now been discovered and it wasn't until the 1950's that work by Brown in America, Chistiakoff in the Soviet Union and Gray and Frank in England led to a revival of interest in liquid crystals. Maier and Saupe formulated a microscopic theory of liquid crystals, Frank and later Leslie and Ericksen developed continuum theories for static and dynamic systems and in 1968 scientists from RCA first demonstrated a liquid crystal display.

See this site for Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal_display
and this site about Vacuum Fluorescent Displays (VFDs)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_Fluorescent_Display

[Donn29]

um... lcdish?

[RedP85]

I am 100% sure the numeric display of the AM-FM 4tracks cassette witrh 9 band equilizer
available in North America on the late 84 to 86 have LCD station display.
It even shows the typical slow change rate of LCD's when the temperature
is below -20degC !

[SupraFiend]

an lcd screen has pixels like you computer moniter does and any pixel can be iluminated as needed. A fluorescent display has shapes that can be shut on and off and thats it. The digital dash, clock and stereo display all used fluorescent displays. They look similar but are very different in how they work (and cost). Apparently the digital dash in the 82 supra was the first digital dash to come out in North America.

[RedP85]

I don't want to create a fight, but the late 84-86 factory radios from Fujitsu Tan have LCD !
I am 100% sure about that.
Just the way it is connected: rubber strip with conductive strips is a sure thing for LCD !