long story short I changed the dash lighting to an SMD LED lighting strip Apparently a small short happened because of a nicked wire when going back in. So I'm not sure how much needs to be hooked up but only one side is lighting up but when I bring the gauge in and test where the connector plugs in (powers all lights) All of them light up fine but when in the car only the part where the speed and fuel gauge lights up and i can't control how bright the dash gets..

 

having said that I did not have the whole bezel hooked up (fog light, cruise,rear defroster) but I don't think that would make much of a difference?

You blew the lighting module. It is an expensive part so get one from a junk yard and just tell them it is a relay. get a few of them if you can. It is located under the knee panel to the right of the steering column if i remmeber correctly.

How could it blow when the left side of the gauge cluster works?

Easy, the wiring is not one big circuit, is it three or four little circuits. Easy way to find out, find the module and smell it for the magic smoke (acrid kind of smell). If you can smell that smell you blew something.

Easy, the wiring is not one big circuit, is it three or four little circuits. Easy way to find out, find the module and smell it for the magic smoke (acrid kind of smell). If you can smell that smell you blew something.

 

 

haha nipper I know all about magic smoke one too many got released when building circuits.

 

Anyways the only thing that happened was two traces on the back of the cluster but it was just for the lighting.. took the cluster back in the house and tested the leads for the lighting and everything lit up like it should in the car only the speedo and fuel gauge light up along with all my warning lights (if I leave the key to on)

What about the brightness control fuse?

 

I'm about to step outside to check that but I wanted to post this picture I just took showing that all the LED's still work.

 

The LEDs may be somewhat temperamental with voltage/current. Do you have the dimmer at full scale? If "not", it's possible some of the LEDs are over the lightings threshold, and others below it. Have you measured the volts present at the IP connector, and the voltas at one of the bulbs?

 

BTW: when you say you can't control the intensity, you mean that when you lower the setting on the dimmer all the bulbs stay on, or just that they turn off without dimming? If it's the latter, I'm afraid they are behaving exactly as they are supposed to. If you want to control the LED's intensity you need a PWM controller.

The LEDs may be somewhat temperamental with voltage/current. Do you have the dimmer at full scale? If "not", it's possible some of the LEDs are over the lightings threshold, and others below it. Have you measured the volts present at the IP connector, and the voltas at one of the bulbs?

 

BTW: when you say you can't control the intensity, you mean that when you lower the setting on the dimmer all the bulbs stay on, or just that they turn off without dimming? If it's the latter, I'm afraid they are behaving exactly as they are supposed to. If you want to control the LED's intensity you need a PWM controller.

 

 

Shame for me not taking a picture last night but I was tired.. It does dim but not like the 194 ican bulbs that came out..

 

Anyways Where can I check the voltage at the connector? does it work without the gauge in the car?

ahh ^%*& nipper I feel embarrassed to say this but.. polarity kicked my rump roast! lol took my power supply and I tested it again and sure enough I saw one side lit up..

 

And the funny thing is in that first shot I took in the house I did not know that was an AC output adapter lol

 

hopefully I should have good news when I come back inside.

(You last post came in while I was writing mine )

 

LEDs are polarized so, unless you bought some elaborate LED+circuit, none of them should have turned on. I hope you have not fried anything...

Make sure all the LEDs are connected in the right direction... just turn around the ones that were not turning on.

 

//-------------------------- Original post below --------------------------------------

 

I'm afraid you just discovered the ugly side of the LEDs... They won't illuminate below a certain voltage (or is it current?). They will dim to a certain point and then shut down:

 

You'll need something to convert the output of the illumination controller (presumably current) to PWM. But every single bulb connected to that circuit has to be a LED, or it may die faster than usual.

 

I'm not sure which pins on the IP are the relevant ones, but in theory you can measure that voltage anywhere on that circuit. For example, you could pop one of the switches on the center console out and measure the volts there. If you want to measure how much voltage is making it to the LEDs, though, you'll need to use some creativity (access is probably a pain in the lower back). In any case, be very careful. I understand these modules have a nasty habit of going belly up. Try adding a fuse (probably one or two amps at most) to one of your volt meter probes in case you touch something you are not supposed to.

 

BTW: some modern cars use LED lighting, so I would assume they have some PWM module you can hunt at a pick-a-part.

Edited January 8, 201214 yr by jarl

well the reason why I said that in my last post is I've been around LED's for so long one person I know tells me I'm obsessed with them that I was shocked something so small would trip me up.

 

And yeah I know about PWM dimming I'm about to put LED blinkers on my car and the hardest part with the layout was the front because how that bulb is a 1157 and how it blinks with the headlight on and turn signal on.

 

I felt ok enough to order the parts this past Friday but will do some testing before putting it in the car.

 

 

S-l-o-w-l-y I'm getting everything back that I lost when I totaled my other Lrgacy

Nah still can't dim anything right now it's stuck at a level that's about 2 clicks away from full dim So it's most likely the illumination control however I don't see any real testing for it.

 

I know found a way to test the resistance on the control stalk for the headlights but I have to remove the horn pad to get to that right?

 

You can measure the resistance of the dimmer at the illumination module. According to the '99 FSM the connector has 6 pins, and you are interested on pins #1, #3 and #4 (both ends of the resistance and the swiper arm, in that order).

 

The outputs from the dimmer are pins #2 and #5. When moving the dimmer, the voltage between the dimmers should fluctuate in a linear (or not ) way. It should be evident if something is wrong.

 

Again, make sure you don't short something out while doing the testing.

I remember seeing a thread not long ago about swapping to LEDs... I can't remember if it was at Scoobymods or NASIOC, though...

Cool I will try that I don't think I will get to it today but I will sometime soon (Monday most likely)

 

From this morning

 

Edited January 8, 201214 yr by 1-3-2-4