Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Aesthetics Custom Indiglow power supply w/red LED's

Yay!

I only used 1 LED per socket...hmmmm...that's why yours look awsome.

... Off to the store! Printed and establishing game plan... Thanks for the info.

Awesome! I am definatly goin to need pictures lol. If it is not asking to much, do you think you could do a How-to? I am sure the pictures are goin to answer alot of question of mine too.

Thanks again for your hard work and sharing this with everyone

As soon as I get the camera from my parent's, I'll post some detailed pictures of EVERYTHING.

The circuit really isn't that complex if you break it down. I have a small pcb board with the 555 timer on it. The 5k pots tie into that board(they are re-used from the stock supply). The output of the pot goes to the transistors. All of the transistors are paralleled. It just pin 1 to 1, 2 to 2, 3 to 3.

If you take your time and are careful soldering, I'm sure you could do it. If you don't have a soldering iron, Radio Shack has a 25-Watt Pencil Iron for $8. Even though I have a few Weller irons, I still keep one of those in my tool bag for quick fixes.

BTW, if you do build the circuit and are afraid to test it on your indiglows, use a small neon lamp. Like this one. It should start to glow at about 50 volts and max out around 90 volts. (I usually run my guages at about 70 volts.) Watch out because at 10kHz the bulb will be EXTREMEMLY bright and get very hot quickly. You should probably take it out of the plastic housing.

BTW #2, even the pro's screw up. I tested my circuit without the limiting resistor and got a 1/8" diameter, two inch long flame to shoot out of my speedo guage!!! I was really pissed. It wrecked my guages (obviously) and it screwed up my plastic lens over the guages.

Later,
Ben

The plastic cover from oner the gauges. The one you have to remove to install them?

I have one but it's been promised to someone else. If he doesnt want it it's yours. Just need to clean it up a bit.

Hey buttonpuncher,
I had some questions about transformers. On this page they have lots of 12v inverters. I was wondering, would any of these work for our guages? The one on the top right says it operates at 4KHz, and the input is 12v (i assume it would be ok at 14.5ish volts from a car?), and the output is 100v--this should be good for our guages right? Also could we splice in the switch that came with our guages (the dimmer) and use that? And ultimately would it make the light bluer? I know thats a lot of questions but i'd appreciate if you could reply.
Thanks

Hi,
4kHz would make the guages a little bluer (SP?) but I don't know if it would be enough. The 100V is actually too high and it doesn't look like there is any way to adjust it. When I was running my guages at 90 volts, they were EXTREMEMLY bright and got hot to the touch. I only did that for a minute or so. I would also be concerned about the current output. The stock inverter puts out 76.4volts at 1.33kHz and the guages draw 31.6mA of current. At 10kHz the guages only need 67.5 volts but the current draw jumps to 137.5mA. More than four times the stock one. At 4kHz you may only need 80 to 90mA. Unfortunately that site doesn't list complete specs.

In other words, for $10 its worth a try but I doubt it will work right. At 100V you might get a flame to shoot out of your gages too!

BTW, thanks for the offer bk but I already bought a new one from fordpartsonline.

Later,
Ben

Meh, i'm not gonna push my luck, i don't wanna mess up yet another set of indiglos. But ya, thanks for some of those specs, i was wondering about those. I'll just keep looking, and if i find an inverter within those perameters i'll be sure to post. As far as your schematic, i nearly shat myself the first time i saw it loading.....so ya its a lil too complicated for me.