Testing gauge cluster lighting when out of car
 

I am in the process of replacing the incandescent bulbs in the gauge cluster with LEDs.

Is there a way to test the gauge cluster lighting when it's out of the car?

I've tested solenoid operation with a 12V laptop charger that I spliced the wires for but wasn't too sure where to hook up power to light up all of the instrument cluster.

From the wiring diagram (Z-44) it would appear I may be able to plug into the B/Y 2D pin on the C1-01 Instrument cluster plugs but I am unsure if this will work. I am also unsure if and where the "ground" would be. Again from the wiring diagram, it looks like each instrument gauge has a different "grounding" point.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Wiring Diagram Pictures:


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...b22fac6555.png


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...da3f2da57c.png

I messed around with doing something like that once, it's much more difficult than you would think.

I usually just hook it up to the car :).

Dale

@ Dale
 

Yea...figured as much. Not exactly a 2 prong light bulb.

In the middle of a rebuild right now so I guess this'll be one more thing I'll clench and pray for when first start up happens :sad:

Btw I am following this thread by Sniper_X

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...rsion-1022813/

I noticed he's using a lot of white LEDs for the gauge cluster. Wouldn't these be less bright due to the amber/orange film we have in our cars? The threads a couple years old and I never did up seeing any pictures for that build.

Looks like you'd need to connect power to the red/black wires on 3 of the instrument cluster plugs and also connect each red/green wire to ground.

Or alternatively, look at the circuit board on the back of the cluster, any pin marked up as ILL+ will be where you need to connect power and any marked ILL is where you connect the ground. You can see these markings in this picture I took of a cluster I have for sale:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/488/32...e0d191f6_k.jpg

Ceylon
 

Thanks Ceylon!

You're right, I didn't realize the traces were labeled on the board. Gonna be a little weird trying to figure out how to make the pin and power supply lead contact but I'll give it a shot and post pictures next week as I am putting in the LEDs.

'preciate it everyone!

You are correct - do not use white LEDs to transmit through amber/orange film. White LEDs will certainly be much less bright than amber/red leds when transmitting through amber/red film.

White LEDs work by blending a spectrum of 5 light bands together to produce a white light to the eye. So, the amber/red film will act as a filter to block any colors that don't match the film. The result will be a dimmer light.

Use the brightest amber/red LEDs you can find for the majority of the gauges. There are several places you need to use non-red/amber LEDs though. Look at the pics posted by Sniper where he points out the colors that are needed for those locations.

color of LEDs
 

@ David

Ok that's what I had thought. Was his build then for a white cluster face? Something like this write up by Bottlefed

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...ghting-473379/

I kind of like the plain amber lighting personally : /

Don't know. Not sure he posted up pics. As an additional thought, you can add in extra lighting if you feel the brightness is not high enough. I added in some red light strips to go around the outside of the gauges. Now it's all nice and bright. Attached the power and ground wires to the back of the cluster.