Instrument cluster lighting

[Rotzs99]

As I am typing this i have my 99 instrument cluster in pieces net to me. My question is. What makes the 99 cluster glow blue and the 01 and for that matter 03/04 clusters glow green? Is it the lots of tiny bulbs in the back or is it the face of the cluster?

 

[CobraKalas]

idk but i bought a UPR reverse glow gauge overlay and it glows 5 diff colors, 2 of which being blue and green, looks saweet. unfortunately i need to rewire it cuz i messed up and i cant have the glow face and my foglights on at the same time. DOH

 

[99CobraRC]

There are lots of tiny lights. This guy switched all the lights on his 2002. http://www.mikefordmustang.com/writeups/led-gauge-cluster/led-gauge-cluster-mustang.php

 

[Rotzs99]

Link isn't working for me:shrug:

The reverse glo must be those LEDs that have several different colors. Maybe it is the lights. It is just impossible to see if any of the little incandescent bulbs have a color to them. They all clear.

 

[BlueVenom01]

As I am typing this i have my 99 instrument cluster in pieces net to me. My question is. What makes the 99 cluster glow blue and the 01 and for that matter 03/04 clusters glow green? Is it the lots of tiny bulbs in the back or is it the face of the cluster?

it's the back of the gauge overlay. when i replaced mine with 6 color EL Glo (like the Terminators) i pulled the stock one off. if you look at the back side of the overlay, there is film over the numbers, letters, etc. blue film for 99's and green for 01's. just shine a light through the front of the overlay and you will see the color on the backside.

not sure how it works on 03/04's but with the color changing one i get the best of both worlds now anyway :beer:

unless you want some special color, i would just go with a new overlay. if not, you will have to do some primary color matching between the film on the backside of the overlay and the color of the bulbs to get the desired color output. even that may not turn out the way you would like...

 

[po-po 5.0]

there is no color to the bulbs. The color you see is the result of a color-tinted plastic film in the cluster. In '99 this film is blue, in '01 its green. The EL gauges on the terminator/lightning work entirely differently.

 

[99cobra302]

the gauges on the terminator work like the indiglo on a watch works

In an Indiglo watch, a very thin panel uses high voltage to energize phosphor atoms that produce light. The panel itself is extremely simple. As described in the Timex patent, you take a thin glass or plastic layer, coat it with a clear conductor, coat that with a very thin layer of phosphor, coat the phosphor with a thin plastic and then add another electrode. Essentially, what you have is two conductors (a capacitor) with phosphor in between. When you apply 100 to 200 volts AC (alternating current) to the conductors, the phosphor energizes and begins emitting photons.

but on the regular gauges they just use a film on the back of the numbers. when i put white gauges on my 04GT i took the stock overlay and played with it. using a dremel and a flexible sanding wheel i "sanded" the glow color off the back of the gauges. it worked really well and if you wanted to change the color of the gauges with led's it would light up great. or if you just wanted a plain white glow through color dont change the bulbs at all.

 

[CDADEUCE06]

What would it take to make an 01 into a 03/04 cluster? I have not found an cluster overlay I like yet, most of them have are white on the bottom where all the dummy lights are.
I tried the leds and found out the hard way its green. However there is a blue haze around the center of the gauges that looks cool.

 

[Rotzs99]

Thanks for helping guys. Yeah found out the 03/04 cluster is electroluminescent, no bulbs. I like that the whole gauge lights up and not just the numbers and I also like the font for the numbers better than ours. Wonder if there is a way to tint it. If I ever find a cheap cluster I'm going to tear it apart and see what I get. Might be able to take the gauge face only and put it on the 99 then get some LEDs to back light it.

 

[99MustangGTman]

There are lots of tiny lights. This guy switched all the lights on his 2002. http://www.mikefordmustang.com/writeups/led-gauge-cluster/led-gauge-cluster-mustang.php

Damn thats a good write up.

 

[po-po 5.0]

What would it take to make an 01 into a 03/04 cluster? I have not found an cluster overlay I like yet, most of them have are white on the bottom where all the dummy lights are.
I tried the leds and found out the hard way its green. However there is a blue haze around the center of the gauges that looks cool.

either a powered overlay or getting a terminator cluster. I don't think this is something you can just do at home. Or at least, for what a terminator cluster costs, not one has tried.