# Dash & Console light colour change...Anyone tried it?



## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

Has anyone ever seen an interior backlight colour change on a TT?

Obviously it involves dismantling all the switches, heater controls, radio and dash which is not going to be easy. I previously managed it on e36 M3 which I don't think anyone else did.

I thought I'd start to have a look. The Light switch is an easy place to start so I popped it out and had a look. There are 9 3mm led's to swap which is not a bad place to start. Anyway I've ordered up a load of blue led's and I'll see how I get on.

Interested to see of anyone else has tried.

This is what I managed to do in the M3. Originally everything was orange, The only thing I couldn't change in the BM was the mileage display and the light switch. Cant find a picture of the main dash  
Not TT yet but you can see whats possible


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## friktat (Sep 12, 2013)

just weld new led"s , i change couple times , to green and blue simple work , for me red dashboard start to be boring a bit....


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## Garth (Feb 7, 2012)

Yes, I changed my mk5 gti from blue/amber to all white. I have also changed a mk2 ibiza from amber to blue. It's not particularly complicated but very fiddly with modern smd LEDs


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## Hibbsy (Mar 3, 2013)

In my car, one of the bulbs that lights up the cubby at the bottom of the centre console has blown. Are they easy to replace?


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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

Hopefully the TT will be easier. There was a fair bit of coloured filter changing and surface mount work as well as illuminated press buttons to do in the M3.

As soon as the LED's arrive, I'll do the main light switch and then the cubby hole and buttons and get some pics up. I think I'll probably find more surface mount stuff and coloured filters in the heater controller and definitely in the radio.

cant remember are the needles on the dial orange? anyone know of clear replacements?


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## nordic (Apr 26, 2010)

I don't think TT uses any filters, LEDs themselves are red. I think red looks best.


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## Skeee (Jun 9, 2009)

nordic said:


> ...................... I think red looks best.


 Indeed.

It is red for a reason. :roll:


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## Pugwash69 (Jun 12, 2012)

Red is best at night, as it doesn't counter the night vision you accumulate in the dark. Or the red LED's were cheaper back then.


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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

Indeed, red light doesn't effect night vision but that doesn't stop low level blue light being used in some other cars.

You could also argue that the ride height is what it is for a reason and the power output is capped for a reason just to pick out the 2 most common mods  

Obviously its personal choice which colour looks best, just happens that I like blue  8)

Edit....and as Mr Pugwash points out, 10 years ago anything much other red or green LED were very rare and very expensive!


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## Skeee (Jun 9, 2009)

Pugwash69 said:


> ..................... Or the red LED's were cheaper back then.


 You old cynic! :lol: 
A mate from work changed his Supra dash to blue with footwell and underbody lighting. Very chavtastic. Hence why I'm not a fan. :roll:


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## Skeee (Jun 9, 2009)

uv101 said:


> Indeed, red light doesn't effect night vision but that doesn't stop low level blue light being used in some other cars.


 1. Green is better. 



uv101 said:


> You could also argue that the ride height is what it is for a reason and the power output is capped for a reason just to pick out the 2 most common mods


2. But mine is a 2005 so is lowered by Audi.



uv101 said:


> Obviously its personal choice which colour looks best, just happens that I like blue  8)


 3. See comment 1.


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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

Skeee said:


> uv101 said:
> 
> 
> > Indeed, red light doesn't effect night vision but that doesn't stop low level blue light being used in some other cars.
> ...


LOL.....but my car is blue and yes but is it 40mm plus lower than the original MKi ride height  

As said, it all about personal choice. I just fancy a blue backlight rather than red


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## nordic (Apr 26, 2010)

In regards to blue, does anyone find it hard to read stuff on VW displays? I can barely see what's written on the radio dash (black letters on blue) for some reason...


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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

Lots of people have issues with blue lights especially when they are behind you! 

Seriously, some people have issues as the light freq gets further away from red and towards blue (and eventually UV)

Same effect as when you see blue Xmas lights and they look out of focus.


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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

39 LED's in the climate control unit plus a filter for the display.










Ashtray uses a normal bulb with a red diffuser underneath to light up the cubby hole. I'll cut a small piece of perspex to go in there where the red one was sand the suface so its opaque and use another piece of blue filter. The cubby hole switches use approx 1.8mm leds which are tiny and I don't have so i'll order some in the morning. The DSG illumination PCB has about 10 more similar to the ones in the aircon unit.










Head unit next then the 5 switches above


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## friktat (Sep 12, 2013)

well good job to strip all and carry on , tell me what colour will be green maybe ?
im just living with hope see the ilumination all green there


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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

64 more in the headunit including the 42 that light the display 

I'll need to order some more


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## emeye (Jan 18, 2010)

Bloody hell you must be patient!

Looking forward to see the results.


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## friktat (Sep 12, 2013)

uv101 you want to replace all of them ? thats lot of welding i must say.....


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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

I'm an electronics engineer (mostly audio) or at least that's what I trained as when I left school, so its no big deal! 

No green LED's going in there I'm afraid! It is a time consuming excersize but at least I can now confirm its possible to replace all the entire lighting scheme for the center console. I don't think anyone will have done it so its going to interesting to see the results. Some will love it and some will hate it but like I said, I've got a thing about blue LED's. I was well pissed off that I couldn't change the light switch in the M3 as the orange was painted onto the housing. Fortunately I've not come across anything that's a show stopper yet.

Hopefully the 5 switches will disassemble although I'll leave the hazzard switch red


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## brian1978 (Jul 10, 2013)

Pugwash69 said:


> Red is best at night, as it doesn't counter the night vision you accumulate in the dark. Or the red LED's were cheaper back then.


The colour of the light has nothing to do with night vision. Only brightness.

Your eyes use 2 types of light sensitive cells, rods and cones. The rods (to do with night vision) do not detect colour. Well green and shades of gray only.


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## friktat (Sep 12, 2013)

the blue is ok , but smells like little over season fettisch :mrgreen:


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## Garth (Feb 7, 2012)

brian1978 said:


> Pugwash69 said:
> 
> 
> > Red is best at night, as it doesn't counter the night vision you accumulate in the dark. Or the red LED's were cheaper back then.
> ...


I found that the blue in my mk5 GTI was very difficult to focus on at night. Even with the brightness up full, I found myself straining my eyes to focus on the dials. I replaced the LEDs with white and had no more problems. I have had cars with green, red, amber, white and blue dials before and blue is the only colour I would never have again.

Here are my dials after I changed colour (photo taken on a crappy Nokia mobile, hence the terrible colour):








and what they looked like before (not my dials):


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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

Still no surface mount LEDs in the post!!

I had a few so I've made a start and I also had some through hole ones I found so I set about the light switch.

Warming the plastic tabs a bit stop them breaking as you flex them to get everything apart










Clear lenses on the blue LED's










Video and camera doesn't do blue light that well but they are as you'd expect, deep blue


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## Garth (Feb 7, 2012)

uv101 said:


> Still no surface mount LEDs in the post!!


What do you think I replaced on those dials? :roll:








Note the fly wire I had to use to repair a broken track.


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## friktat (Sep 12, 2013)

well i must say blue look nice , but green will be something new and nice also !


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## tommatt90 (Feb 2, 2012)

Did this in my old car too, looks great when done  out of interest why the tt instead of an m3? 

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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

Garth said:


> uv101 said:
> 
> 
> > Still no surface mount LEDs in the post!!
> ...


 

I'll be on it as soon as I get the delivery

I'm not going to change the backlight colour on the dials, just the DIS from red to blue and any other red that I can



friktat said:


> well i must say blue look nice , but green will be something new and nice also !


Its not expensive to do  parts to doe the whole should be less than £30. Its just time 



tommatt90 said:


> Did this in my old car too, looks great when done  out of interest why the tt instead of an m3?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free


Had the M3 for about 18 months from early summer 2010 till autumn 2011. Truth is, it was more than a handful in anything other than perfect conditions. Final straw was when I overtook 3 cars in line on a very long very straight bit of road on the way to work. As I pulled out, I thought I was in a higher gear and just floored it. The tail snapped out just from pulling out and it fishtailed 3 or 4 times. How it didn't smash into what I was overtaking I'll never know. Loved the shape of the E36 but really could have done with the driver aids of the e46! It was more car than I can handle, life was like a game of Russian roulette! I loved it!!!


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## emeye (Jan 18, 2010)

How many hours work do you think it will all take?! My hand is too shaky to even contemplate doing this!


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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

emeye said:


> How many hours work do you think it will all take?! My hand is too shaky to even contemplate doing this!


There's a good few in stripping the bits out before you even start dismantling and changing the LED's.

Got a delivery today so I've done the Dsg illumination, and the entire heater controls. Also got the filter in on the heater LCD and ashtray read for putting it back. The camera doesn't want to show the uniform deep blue light that's being emitted. I'll set the proper camera up on a tripod in the boot to try and show it properly when I've finished.


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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

So I've now finished the centre of the car 

The SatNav controls, DSG lights, Buttons in the cubby hole, mood lighting under the ashtray (needs a better diffuser), Climate controller, Radio, Dash Buttons, interior light panel and light swtich. I've retained the original colours where I think it makes sense. i.e. both Fog indicator green and orange, heated seat controls show red around the edge and the manual lock button is still red.

Quite impressed so far. I'll attack the dash displays hopefully in the morning 










Had 3 led's out on this one on the radio! Missed one of the 40 odd when I put it together!! :x :lol:


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## Pugwash69 (Jun 12, 2012)

Looks good. And tricky!


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## Pugwash69 (Jun 12, 2012)

brian1978 said:


> The colour of the light has nothing to do with night vision. Only brightness.
> 
> Your eyes use 2 types of light sensitive cells, rods and cones. The rods (to do with night vision) do not detect colour. Well green and shades of gray only.


Rod cells have their peak sensitivity between green and blue. Sensitivity falls off toward red. It's usually accepted that using red light preserves your night vision.

I also know that about 20 years ago, blue LEDs were very expensive. We didn't get any to play with.


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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

Cheers 

Some of it was just time consuming due to the number of LEDs. There was a bit of work balancing the output of different types of LED too and the heated seat switches were a nightmare! I actually broke one working out how to get into it. Managed a repair, but I'll get another to replace it with just because.










These are the reading light switches which were also a pain to get at!


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## emeye (Jan 18, 2010)

You sir, are amazingly patient. Worth the effort though, I love blue LEDs. 

I see you also have the BNS 4.x DIS nav - how do you find it? I thought I'd done pretty well with my patience spending hours tracking down the latest ISO image for it. :lol:

My next patience testing task, if I've solved my haldex issues, is to try and change my cassette HU for an aftermarket single din motorised screen and keep my nav system working!


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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

Cheers guys 

With respect to the nav, I got a 2013 CD from ebay which makes it almost usable....... :lol: 
Still not a patch on the phones apps tho 

Made some progress today but had to order some different LED's for the DIS back lighting. Hopefully they'll arrive in the morning.

Managed to get the 2 displays for the clock and odometer sorted



















I want to ensure I retain the yellow warning colour which is a little tricky as the original LEDs are dual red/yellow. Hopfully I'll be able to use to seperate LED's in their place as you cant get dual colour blue/yellow 

Fingers crossed for the postie in the morning, could do with putting the dash back together!!!!! :lol:


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## sarahmaley (Aug 16, 2013)

This looks like a right headache.


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## Dave v (Jul 21, 2013)

I think it looks cool mate.


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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

Should have been finished today but I'm not happy with the way the DIS illuminates.

I had to use smaller LEDs as the originals are dual colour (orange for the warnings). It also means I cannot use the filters I've used everywhere else (as they wont pass yellow light). I means I've got a colour balance issue 

I'm going to see how I get on with it but right now, Its a little disappointing. I think I may end up going all blue even for the warnings.


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## J•RED (Feb 10, 2013)

Looking good though! I don't know how or if it's compatible but would a mk2 DIS be any good? It's not blue though.

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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

The DIS is only an LCD screen so no colour. The colour comes from the backlight.

On the clock display, there are 6 LED's then on the back of the LCD there is a red filter with a white translucent backing.
When you change to the blue display, you swap the red LEDs for blue, then swap the red filter for a blue one with a paper backing. This works pretty well as you can see.

The problem on the DIS is that it can illuminate in red orange or yellow depending on whats being displayed. There are 2 different colour LEDs that backlight different area's of the LCD.

I think I'm going to try and see if I can get closer to the other displays. Main issue is the faf to make changes. Clocks out, needles and motors off.....I'll get there [smiley=bigcry.gif] :lol:


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## J•RED (Feb 10, 2013)

I understand, I think :lol: Good luck!

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## Darthhawkeye (Aug 2, 2010)

uv101 said:


> Should have been finished today but I'm not happy with the way the DIS illuminates.
> 
> I had to use smaller LEDs as the originals are dual colour (orange for the warnings). It also means I cannot use the filters I've used everywhere else (as they wont pass yellow light). I means I've got a colour balance issue
> 
> I'm going to see how I get on with it but right now, Its a little disappointing. I think I may end up going all blue even for the warnings.


Looks nice. :wink:


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## mullum (Sep 16, 2011)

Missed this thread somehow - love it !
Blue with a blue car - looks awesome 
I'd love mine all green (green car) but can't see it ever happening :-|

Good work !


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## neil_audiTT (Sep 1, 2010)

whoaa.

I normally find red tube's a good cure to boredom. But each to their own.

Does look great dude.

I'd be tempted to do something like this on the dial's in a mk2 V6. as their red and i prefer the look of the TTS white!


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## c4z (Aug 15, 2011)

Really like it but I loved my blue clocks in my old Passat. I'd have to change the clock backlights.


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## uv101 (Aug 17, 2013)

Thanks guys 

Was worth it even with all the work although to be fair, it wasn't something I'd want to do over and over.......as said, redtube fills the boredom gaps!!! :lol: :lol:

Not finished the dash yet. I'm not 100% happy with the DIS colour so it will come apart again so I can adjust the filter. I may also go blue backlight just to see what it looks like. I also keep looking out for a cheap mangled dash so I can make the needles blue!!! 

All in all, I'm pretty happy tho 8)


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