I decided to do the Commander mod. Here's a few pics of the (nearly) completed project. Anyone got any ideas for something cool that I could put next to the screen? I've got about 4" x 2.25" to work with. Thanks to Spyfish007 for the original idea, and hercdriver for answering a few of my questions.

-Scott

 

Maybe you can answer this since you had it gutted.....is it possible to change the green bulb/led to an orange one? how tough wld u think it wld be?

 

Changing the lighting would not be an easy task. The LEDs under the control buttons are really tiny, literally like 1mm by 2mm. If you're mainly interested in changing the backlight of the screen then that's a different ballgame. I was able to track down the exact LCD used in the Commander: a Seiko G1216 Series. The specs on that site explain a lot of things, like why the screen is funky when it's cold (operating temp. only goes down to 32F! ). The LCD doesn't use LEDs, but is Electroluminescent. The site says there are a variety of colors, but it would take some researching to see how feasible replacing the lighting element would be, or how you'd even get the parts.

 

I just want to say ...

NICE JOB! You did a great job installing it!

 

Interested in doing this for others for a small fee. If so let me know and I'll send you my commander.

 

I've changed the lighting on the Power FC to indiglo blue to look the same color as a S-AFC, you just have to know someone who has a solder gun small enough to do it(someone that works on boards will have this).

 

RX794,

Can you give us some more info on this? Where did you get the parts? When you remove the metal frame from the circuit board you expose a white filament (for lack of a better word). Is that what you replaced or are there LEDs under it that provide the backlight?

Spyfish007,

Thanks for the compliment. Did you end up doing any more of these mods for friends?

SilverR1,

Doing this for someone I don't know would make me nervous since the Commander isn't cheap. I'd be happy to share any tips though. Did you just want the two halves split apart and re-connected with longer wire or did you want the whole shebang? Doing the fine cuts for the buttons wasn't fun at all. I still haven't found a Dremel bit that I'm happy with for cutting plastic.

 

RX794
Could we get some pics of the commander witht the indiglo lighting.

skotx

I would be willing to take the chance to get the commander set up like yours. I want the whole shebang.

 

I haven't done this for anyone else ... I put mine back together for the guy who bought it from me and it keeps breaking on him .... Don't know what to say.

 

Can you post some pic's and also some info on where you got the blue lights.. part #'s would kick butt...

also how much would you charge to do the mod for others?

 

ditto!

 

Looks good dude. I like your placement of the control buttons. Very clean. I think I will end up just putting a WB O2 display above my PFC display instead of a stereo. Later

 

Stealth mods appeal to me, I don't like the bolted on look.

Anyway, are there any gotchas with this mod?

I can solder, even surface mount at a push, done led's in mobile phones etc...

In particular I am interested in how you mount the display after cutting the unit in two, did you use some bezel or just cut out a rectangle in a blanking plate and then glue the display panel on the reverse side?

Any practical tips would be appreciated before I start the surgery.

Cheers,

Richard

 

This is seriously one of the coolest things I've ever seen done. Very well done, tasteful and functional. Mad props.

I wish I was confident enough to do this myself :/

 

It's been a few weeks since I did this but let me see if I can think of a few things that would make this project go smoothly. First of all, this was the first soldering I have ever done on a circuit board. I've done wires and stuff, but never anything like this. Call it confidence, call it stupidity... but I was really tired of trying to hold the Commander and drive.

There are two circuit boards: one with the controls, one with the LCD. They are connected with 20 solder points and there are little metal pins stuck through the holes on the boards with a dab of solder on each side. Getting these pins out is very tedious, take your time.

I removed the LCD from the board because I was afraid of it getting too hot and being damaged. When I put it all back together my screen was screwed because the contacts on the circuit board have to line up exactly with the contacts on the LCD (kinda hard to explain, think of rows and columns and each pixel dot). It took me a while to figure that out cause I was flying blind and I knew nothing of LCDs. I would recommend against removing the LCD.

I used four feet of 20 pin ribbon cable. The wires are 24 gauge so they're a bit hard to work with but manageable. Again, patience is the key. I wanted to put a connector in the middle of the ribbon so I could separate the controls from the screen but I couldn't find a 20 pin male/female pair that I liked. My advice: find some connectors. It'll make the installation much easier.

Regarding the mounting: I got really lucky in that I had a trim piece from an old Pioneer cassette deck lying around. The plastic cover on the Commander (with Apexi written on it) is the exact same size as the inside dimension of this trim peice, so it fits perfectly. Without this piece the installation wouldn't look nearly as clean. A word about the Apexi cover: it's stuck on the Commander with a tacky, double-sided tape. It pops right off with a little force from the back. You can then stick it on the LCD when you're ready to mount the screen. Right now the screen is very loosely sitting in the DIN spot. I knew I'd be revisiting it soon to fill the blank space so I didn't want anything too permanent. You could super glue the unseen part of the screen to the trim plate, but I want to be able to take the Commander back to stock if need be. I haven't thought of a good permanent mount yet. I did super glue the trim plate to the DIN area cause I knew I could pry it off.

The trickiest part is the control mount. It has to be able to withstand repeated pressing. What I came up with is pretty funky, and too hard to explain in words. When I re-do some stuff I'll post pics. I used the back of a DVD case for the button panel. It's a bit flimsy but it's very easy to carve with an xacto knife.

The best advice I can give is to plan everything out carefully, and get all your parts while your thinking about your design. You can put a lot of it together before you de-solder anything.

SanJoRX7, thanks for the compliment. I'm very pleased with the results.

-Scott