How to power up my dash clocks??

[Richie K]

right guys, I'm after fitting LED's into my dash clocks, How do I go about testing them without having to plug them into the car??

I have a 12v transformer / charger for charging airsoft batteries etc, would this work and if so what do I need to do??

Thanks

[groover]

You can use a 12v power supply, i have a bench one i use, but its fiddly testing all the dash leds as two of the 4 are on a different supply plug in the back of the dash, ie the temp and speedo will light by using probes on the bulb holder housing, but the other two wont, if you use the metal legs at the bottom of the dash that will only light the forward facing leds, so you can make up a little loom from some old dash plugs and wire up only the light feed feeds and connect to the power supply.

 

I usually test each section on the bench when doing conversions then plug into the car to do a full test:thumbup:

[phutumsch]

I know on series 4 clocks there are 3 multi plugs, 2 need to be plugged in and the corresponding wires or tails need to be powered up on the bench for all four bulbs to work.

 

Sounds like it's a 50/50 split as well on the earlier clocks but don't understand why probes Graham will not power all the four bulbs when they are touched on ?

 

If you aint got severed spare plugs then it's not gonna be easy, crudely you could trap wire under the bulb holder contact on all four ?

 

If you mean you need to get the led polarity correct then connect your 12v supply direct to the bulb and mark or scratch something and then follow the tracks on the board and plug in accordingly.

[groover]

They will all light using bulbs Andy, but the polarity on the rev and fuel side are different, yes you could change the led bulb to the same polarity so they all light up, but you will find two will not work when plugged back into the car, cos in reality the polarity is different from the feed onto the copper tracks for some reason. Give it a go lol

[Alic]

All this is confusing me, would it not just be easier to pulg the dials into the dash if you already got everything dissasembled. :wacko:

[Richie K]

Thanks guys, called in a buddy who's a telecom engineer:biggrin:

et voila!!

Edited January 9, 2016 by Richie K

[Richie K]

The camera doesn't catch how red the needles are, but trust me they're a dark deep red:thumbup:

This is as close as I could get..

Big thanks to Andy (Phutumsch) for recommending them to me and advising on fitting issues:thumbup:

Edited January 9, 2016 by Richie K

[Richie K]

All this is confusing me, would it not just be easier to pulg the dials into the dash if you already got everything dissasembled. :wacko:

 

These clocks were never in my car Ali, and my car has had no power in it since 2009, I'm simply preparing parts to switch into the car as soon as it's out of the garage and running. Isn't it better to know everything is working, before putting them all back together and fitting them to the car only to find out the bulbs were in the wrong way or a connection was faulty:thumbup1:

It's all about the preparation:biggrin:

[Alic]

These clocks were never in my car Ali, and my car has had no power in it since 2009, I'm simply preparing parts to switch into the car as soon as it's out of the garage and running. Isn't it better to know everything is working, before putting them all back together and fitting them to the car only to find out the bulbs were in the wrong way or a connection was faulty[emoji106]1:

It's all about the preparation[emoji3]

Alright that's cool, I just thought you took those clocks out to do the led install

[Richie K]

Alright that's cool, I just thought you took those clocks out to do the led install

 

Nah mate, my clocks are Jap spec KPH, The UK ones delimit and de-bing the car, as well as looking better having KPH and MPH:thumbup1:

[Alic]

The jap ones also limit the speed.

 

I have z sport clocks which as far as I'm aware the only difference from stock ones is it goes up to 300kph (bit hopeful), removes the limiter and puts a logo on it. So I don't see the point.

 

I do agree the UK spec ones look better than jap ones, but I will probably get the indiglow dash faces from zcentre as I think they look more modern.

[Richie K]

The jap ones also limit the speed.

 

I have z sport clocks which as far as I'm aware the only difference from stock ones is it goes up to 300kph (bit hopeful), removes the limiter and puts a logo on it. So I don't see the point.

 

I do agree the UK spec ones look better than jap ones, but I will probably get the indiglow dash faces from zcentre as I think they look more modern.

 

That's what I said mate, the UK clocks DE-LIMIT and DE-BING the car, I have two sets of white indiglows, and my silver ones if you're looking for a bargain??

[Alic]

That's what I said mate, the UK clocks DE-LIMIT and DE-BING the car, I have two sets of white indiglows, and my silver ones if you're looking for a bargain??

 

Oh, missread it as limit. oopsy :pinch:

 

If you hold onto the clocks i might be interested in about a month, otherwise sell away, they only cost £50 on ebay so i could probably pick them up easy if i wanted.

[phutumsch]

Struggling to get across on a pic is not the easiest job but a tell tale to me is the amount of crisp illumination on the odometer read, i see many as dull as dish water, not to mention how filthy the numbers can be :thumbup:.