Ok, When I changed my climate controls color I received many PM's from some other members asking if you could swap the LED's in the DIC the same way I switched the color of my climate control unit.
Well the answer is yes, but there are alot more LED's in the DIC's screen. There are a total of 60 LED's that would need to be changed in order to get rid of the ugly orange display.
The good thing is that the warranty seal on the radio does not need to be broken since you do not need to take the radio apart to get to the face. The face of the radio comes off with 4 external screws. Once the face is removed you need to remove the 2 ribbon cables that hold the face on and it will separate.
Once apart there are 3 circuit boards connected with 2 ribbon cables. You need to remove the 2 ribbon cables and then remove the 6 screws that hold the center circuit board.
When the board is removed and fipped over you will see a metal housing that needs to be removed. One metal foot on the plate was soldered on my unit so I unsoldered it.
With the plate off you now need to move the screen foward and then remove the white plastic housing. Behind that there are rows of orange colored LED's (60 Total) that would need to be changed if you want to rid yourself of the horrible orange display. (Or you can go my way and swap it with a NAV )
The pictures below will show you in detail all that is involved in taking the unit apart.
So you'd have to cut out 60 orange LEDs and solder in 60 new ones? I don't think I could do that. But a blue LED DIC would be cool, if a bit expensive.
Tomm, super kudos on the DYI instructions. I think this may be one for the cadillacfaq. This is something I would really love to have done, but these boards are made by machine. Im thinkin that 60 LEDs placed and soldered by hand might not come out so well. Someone mentioned contacting the circuit board vendor about special ordering, I'm curious to know if there was a response.
Its really not that hard and at a cost of $1.28 for each LED it would cost $76.80 to make the color change. I have not done the DIC color change because it would be of no use to me since I am using the NAV now. I just took the unit apart because I had many inquiries wanting to know if the DIC could be done as well.
It took me 10 minutes to swap the 16 LED's in the climate control unit so I would say that it would be around 30-40 minutes if taking your time to do the complete swap on the DIC. There are some great products out there that can help get this done very easy.
If you are not great at removing solder there is a product called chip quik.
This looks like solder but it takes much longer to harden so you can add this product to both sides of the LED and after its applied just lift the LED right off. Using some flux and desoldering braid you can suck up all the remaining solder on the circuit board and you will have a clean surface ready for your new LED.
Also, If you know of a color that mixes with orange you might be able to easily change the color by adding a colored film over the white plastic housing. Since the LED's are orange it will have to be a darker color. I have no idea what colors mix well with orange but if these guys would have just used white LED's and a colored film they could have made life much easier.
Also, If you know of a color that mixes with orange you might be able to easily change the color by adding a colored film over the white plastic housing. Since the LED's are orange it will have to be a darker color. I have no idea what colors mix well with orange but if these guys would have just used white LED's and a colored film they could have made life much easier.
Then it could be like the new Mustangs where you can change the colour with the touch of a button
Also, If you know of a color that mixes with orange you might be able to easily change the color by adding a colored film over the white plastic housing. Since the LED's are orange it will have to be a darker color. I have no idea what colors mix well with orange but if these guys would have just used white LED's and a colored film they could have made life much easier.
Yes, the same thoughts crossed my mind, first was to use a film/filter, and second thought was why didnt those bastards use white LEDs!!!
That's to much work 4me. But I would like to do the climate control LEDS in white. The dash lights are white and the DICs are orange. What do you all think of doing only the climate control LEDs? You still got two colors.
Note: Tony orlando, I can do this in less than 3 weeks!:madtalkin
That's to much work 4me. But I would like to do the climate control LEDS in white. The dash lights are white and the DICs are orange. What do you all think of doing only the climate control LEDs? You still got two colors.
I would not do only the climate controls because it would probably look worse. When you change to the white LED's since the glass lcd display is tinted the background will look like a light blue.
I would not do only the climate controls because it would probably look worse. When you change to the white LED's since the glass lcd display is tinted the background will look like a light blue.
Then you would have 3 colors in your dash
There is nothing that you can do to make it pure white since the white LED light gets colored slightly when is passes the tinted glass. Because of this I have decided that I will try red the next time since there is red highlights in the speedometer area. I attached a picture which shows the climate control background color with the White LED's.
There is nothing that you can do to make it pure white since the white LED light gets colored slightly when is passes the tinted glass. Because of this I have decided that I will try red the next time since there is red highlights in the speedometer area. I attached a picture which shows the climate control background color with the White LED's.
Does look better than the orange but you would want to do the Dic to match. How are the lights tinted? Can that be changed?
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Tom have you done this yet?
You still got two colors.
