Many f my bulbs were out, so thought I'd do the "Blue LED" thing, plus fix the clock with a new ribbon cable...

... Here are the results

 

That is very nice, I thought of this same idea some time ago, but thought that with the age of the system that the LED's wouldn't work out well with it. I'm glad to be proven wrong. Did you have to replace any fuses or relays to do this work?

 

nicely done, what kind of led are u using? and what resistor did u use?

 

I used these, didn;t need a resistor and they also are dimable using the standard dimer control on the steering column.

I took them apart and mounted then in the various other holders so I had a standard colour across all the dash

10PCS DC 12V T4.2 LED 3528 SMD Car Blue Dash Board Cluster Gauges Lights Bulbs | eBay

 

How many bulbs did you end up using?

 

About 60 in total - needed a few white and red ones for hazard warning switch etc

 

Are the same bulbs sizes used for gauge backlighting and the warning lights?

Thanks,
Nick

 

Yep - same bulbs for all for consistency.

I even used the same ones for the bulbs in the door window switches

 

Looks good, I may do something like this at some point, but would be interested in getting the needles to still show as white.

.

 

I haven't torn into mine, but I would guess there's a lamp near the pivot base of the needle because of how brightly all the needles are lit.

 

Its a clear plastic "light tube" type thing, but the same bulb is used to iluminate the needle aswell as the dial - already working on the 2nd gen version with a slightly funkier design, will post when I've done...

 

I think the problem is that all of the original lights are white, and the gauge pack "filter" is what turns the numerals, etc green & red. So using any colored LED ends up coloring the needles as well.

 

Is there any consistency over which is the positive feed to the bulbs ?

ie - upper, lower, left, right ?

Obviously it didn't matter with incandescent bulbs so it could well be random but it might save taking the unit in and out several times.

Can't quite remember the pcb clearly even though I replaced a stock bulb recently.

 

Here is the somewhat "definitive" LED conversion thread for the XJ6:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...dimming-38712/


... has a lot of info along the lines of your question.

.

 

OK so Version 2 is now complete - multi coloured LED's

Fibre optics to spot light the dial ends, and even changes colour when you put it in "Sport Mode"

 

Version two (I assume second photo with green lighting) looks good.

Do they dim as well?

Any additional detail of how you built the "fiber optics" to get light to the needles, etc?

.

 

No all of these pictures are of version 2, the dash is normally in blue with red dials, but when you press the sport button near the j gate, the dash goes green.

 

Very cool! Care to expand on how you made all this work? I have my cluster out right now to install the trim rings around the gauges and would be interested in doing this...