HOW-TO: 03-06 NBS Gauge cluster LED conversion

[blatta1999]

Well I swapped out stepper motors and bulbs to led. The left turn signal I must've wired backward cause the bulb doesn't work so I'll have to dive into that another day. Question on the gauges that don't seem to be reading accurate. How do I go about getting those to read right?

 

[treehan77]

Well I swapped out stepper motors and bulbs to led. The left turn signal I must've wired backward cause the bulb doesn't work so I'll have to dive into that another day. Question on the gauges that don't seem to be reading accurate. How do I go about getting those to read right?

View attachment 80378

Which are wrong? That temp gauge looks exactly like mine did - BEFORE the stepper motor was replaced. Did you replace that one? Did it look that way before?

 

[blatta1999]

The temp gauge was actually working before but I went ahead and swapped it anyways. The oil psi and the voltage were not working at all. Not the volts look good but the oil psi bounces around sometimes looks right and sometimes doesn't. And the temp gauge is definitely off lol.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

The temp gauge was actually working before but I went ahead and swapped it anyways. The oil psi and the voltage were not working at all. Not the volts look good but the oil psi bounces around sometimes looks right and sometimes doesn't. And the temp gauge is definitely off lol.

One method :

Plug it in to the truck, run it for a few seconds, and then go to engine off, key on. This will zero out the gauges, so put all your needles on now pointing to 0. Then start again for a few secs and repeat to check accuracy. Some needles might take a couple tries to get right on 0.

Note:
Do it when the truck is cold and do the temp gauge first, before it warms up from starting it a bunch of times, but give it a minute to settle before you put the needle on.

 

[01ssreda4]

Every stock cluster gauge face overlay that I have ever seen (including Escalades) has a bluish film on the back of the overlay that makes cool white or bright white LEDs end up appearing sky blue. That's why most people just end up going with blue LEDs. Some people have been brave enough to remove this blue film with acetone or some other chemical (with extreme risk of damaging other graphics or numbers on the cluster) and I've also seen people remove it by scraping it off with a razor blade. I've done it myself with a razor blade and while VERY time consuming, it does work and is far less risky than using acetone. But the end result when you get the blue film off is a pure BRIGHT WHITE cluster when you are running pure white LEDs and it does look great.

when you wanna come do mine

 

[Bombsquad85]

Quick question, sorry to bump an old thread. Are these prewired LEDs correct or do I need LEDs that are not prewired?

https://www.ebay.com/i/311218025186...3D711-117182-37290-0%26rvr_id%3D1386745392911

 

[Bombsquad85]

Disregard my last post followed the first post and ordered LEDs and resistors. Gonna give this a shot tomorrow depending on what time the package gets in

 

[ScottyBoy]

Disregard my last post followed the first post and ordered LEDs and resistors. Gonna give this a shot tomorrow depending on what time the package gets in

Just be careful with disassembly of the cluster. Do NOT forget to mark the stop position of each needle, so the gauges will not be inaccurate

 

[Bombsquad85]

Just be careful with disassembly of the cluster. Do NOT forget to mark the stop position of each needle, so the gauges will not be inaccurate

Thanks. I just took it apart yesterday to fix my PRNDL light

 

[Bombsquad85]

Got my LEDs soldered but they will have to wait till tomorrow to get installed. I work overnights and need to get some sleep

 

[Tonyrodz]

Got my LEDs soldered but they will have to wait till tomorrow to get installed. I work overnights and need to get some sleep

View attachment 189716

Leds can go only one way with + & - .

 

[Bombsquad85]

Leds can go only one way with + & - .

Yup good to go! Diodes one way electrical gateways!

 

[Bombsquad85]

Got this part done. Next up all the rest! Got a couple hot spots so I might bend the LEDs

 

[Tonyrodz]

Got this part done. Next up all the rest! Got a couple hot spots so I might bend the LEDs

View attachment 189779

Looks good.

 

[Bombsquad85]

Looks good.

Thanks

 

[Bombsquad85]

So I took a look at the light switch along with foglight and rear wiper switchs and had a couple questions. The twist bulb for the dimmer is blown what type of replacement is this? And the foglight switch has smaller maybe 3mm LEDs. I have a shit ton of 5mm can I just use those? And will I need resistors or does 3 v 5mm not change that

 

[Bombsquad85]

@ScottyBoy how can I get the LEDs to shine evenly I have crazy hot spots

I was thinking about wrapping the white frame with aluminum tape

 

[ScottyBoy]

@ScottyBoy how can I get the LEDs to shine evenly I have crazy hot spots

I was thinking about wrapping the white frame with aluminum tape

I have done several tricks to help with hit spots. The easiest trick is to sand the tips of the LEDs flat. This serves two purposes, a flat LED disperses the light spread wider that a round tipped LED. Plus the sanding leaves the tip with a dull or hazy finish which helps to diffuse the light more than a crystal clear tip.
Also, I sometimes use the "strip" LEDs in the clusters as they have far less tendency to cause hot spots.

 

[Bombsquad85]

I have done several tricks to help with hit spots. The easiest trick is to sand the tips of the LEDs flat. This serves two purposes, a flat LED disperses the light spread wider that a round tipped LED. Plus the sanding leaves the tip with a dull or hazy finish which helps to diffuse the light more than a crystal clear tip.
Also, I sometimes use the "strip" LEDs in the clusters as they have far less tendency to cause hot spots.

How delicate do you want them and what grit do you use

 

[ScottyBoy]

How delicate do you want them and what grit do you use

I usually use about 220 to 320 grit. Any more than 220 and it leaves really deep sanding scratches. You CAN however start with 120 or 150 for fast knockdown, then finish with 220 or 320. I have also used Emery boards as well and they work ok.