So during some "down time", I decided to start laying out the PCB for the dash cluster. Those are full-color RGB LEDs. Right now I have it split into five zones: tach, speedo, odo, gas, and temp. Each zone color is independently controlled. Still planning on the option of having the tach switch over to red when the VTEC cams kick in. Still can't decide where I'm going to put the light sensor for auto-adjusting the light level based on ambient conditions. The biggest open question right now is how I'm going to choose colors for each zone... wireless/wired remote, serial cable, etc. Eh, it'll all come to me as I spend more time on it.

 

Top stuff mate! Can't wait to see your product outcome.

 

Lookin" good. Keep us updates as you het closer to the final product

 

Please no serial cable! It was such a pain hooking up my Mac to the right adapter for the AEM EMS because only some adapters worked. USB it, though I have no idea how feasible that is.

 

Yeah, I have little interest in having a cable running from car to computer, even if it is temporary... it was just a thought. I'm thinking it can be done with a few buttons on a small board, avoiding any form of intelligence at the keyboard end (other than me, of course ). Most of it should be pretty easy to code up as I have something similar from my original Windscreen Lights project (the one that used the 5-way hat switch).

I'm going to have fun with this one

 

you could control it from the dash radio controls, nobody uses that junk any way.

 

Quite a few still use those, including myself. Even if they didn't, it would require an intelligent interface as well as hacking into an existing system, something I'm trying to avoid.

 

If mine weren't replaced with a gauge I'd still be using them. The windscreen light controller that you made were simple to use and relatively easy to hide. Maybe have a switch on there that would allow users to cycle between the different zones? But I'll shut up now because you would know better than I would.

 

So are the actual LED's in the stock cluster responsible for the color of the dash?

 

nope. They are white.

The only thing that changes the colour is the gel insert (or whatever you want to call it)