Ryan

I see that this thread has been dug up again. I thought it would be good to wrap-up my last discoveries. First to onelasttry's point, it is certainly a good idea to avoid bending the pins if possible for the reasons he gave. This is a lot of extra work if you do not have the right tools and experience. From a how-to standpoint, it is the same instructions as I gave earlier, just unsolder the pins, change the bulbs, and re-solder.

I think there was some confusion earlier in the discussions of wattage and brightness. I was in no way saying that the bulbs should be less bright to last longer - it just turned out that the only Lexus bulbs I could find were not as bright. I recently noticed that the bulb used in the shift selector (auto tranny) looked physically the same as the climate control button bulbs. I took some measurements and did some calculations and I believe these would be an excellent replacement if you needed to use a Lexus bulb (at least these parts are readily available to everyone). These bulbs would be almost 93% as bright as new, which is much better than my previous attempt with the button bulbs at 76%.

I have put together the below chart for your reference. All I used is the basic electronics formula that states that power is equal to voltage squared divided by resistance. Assume it is a 12-volt system (or very close). If you use a DMM, you can measure the resistance of the filament of a bulb and calculate the watts (i.e. brightness). If you want to know if a certain bulb will work, make sure it was made for a 12V system, see that it is physically similar, and measure it's resistance. The above formula will allow you to determine if it is a good candidate.

Although I am providing everyone with this extra information, I would HIGHLY suggest you contact onelasttry and have him do it for you. He lives and breaths electronics whereas I have just been doing a little experimenting armed with some electronics knowledge from my undergrad degree in physics many years ago. I am pretty happy with the job I did even though it is not quite perfect. I have not tried these new Lexus bulbs yet and honestly I don't plan to. Next time I go on vacation and don't need my car I will just send the unit to onelasttry.

With that, I pass the torch onto onelasttry to answer future questions on the subject. I am glad to have helped pioneer the effort to fix these things, but onelasttry taken this to the next level, and his work is greatly appreciated!

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

there's no way in heck i'd attempt to follow this thread with any form of a writeup. it is much more defined than i would have done it. reads like a "climate control for dummies" book. simple, clear, defined. truthfully, any extra need for anything beyond this and the unit probably needs to be done by someone else that's qualified.

I can teach order of operations... which is in this thread *(very well i might add), but i cannot teach skill.

THE_CEO

i just love it when a plan comes together!

CEO

93blusc300

well...looks like ima open her up and see what i can do. when you say desolder the pin do u simply hold the soldergun there until it becomes lose? im not the solder expert in this project but want to make sure my friend is as good as he says he is!!! hehe

Oh and ryan have u had any problems with the stuff onelastttry mentioned about bending the pins?

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

yes, he bent the pins and killed the lcd. it is completely black. the flexxing breaks the seal on the lcd and the crystals dry out.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/att...&postid=448051

THE_CEO

As much as i wanna try this myself i think im gonna have to send it to onelasttry!

CEO

VSsc400

iTrader: (1)

yeah... i've got sausage for fingers... i'll definitely break something...

Ryan

Not really, the unit was like that before. Most of the time my LCD is not black at all. When it is cold it get's black on the right side, but when it is warm, it goes away completely - why is this?

That picture really shows off the worst I've ever seen it. I would be willing to say that bending it could have accellerated it getting worse, but is way too strong to say it was cause and effect.

I was very careful to not bend them too much. I am certainly not going to endorse bending them, and I'm sorry if my earlier post sounded that way, but it might be an effective shortcut for someone without good soldering skills. Obviously not ideal though.

Ryan

I just now went out to my car and took a picture. It is hard to believe it is the same unit. Like I said it only darkens when it gets cold, but it never looks as bad as the picture onelasttry referenced - not sure why. This is what it looks like most of the time:

Ryan

I just pulled it in the garage. As you can see, it looks pretty good. When you compare it with the radio, it is dimmer than it should be as discussed at length previously. If I used the shifter lights I think it would look like new. Still, onelasttry would use better lights, do a better install putting the LCD at less risk, and it would probably cost about the same (maybe cheaper) as buying the Lexus bulbs. As I said, onelasttry is the place to go. I just wanted to make sure everything is presented as well as possible because this thread is the best documentation we have. If onelasttry should get hit by a bus (ouch) at least something would be in writing that others could follow. Besides, you guys have all seen my car, did you really think I would tolerate something that looked that bad in it?

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

ryan, i was under the impression that it was due to the install because of someone's comments earlier on one of the first couple pages. Muh bad. That looks completely different, i'd have never guessed it was the same cluster.

and that always made me curious because i KNOW you wouldn't tolerate it on that magnificent piece of work you slide in and strap yourself into. (talking 'bout your car man )

kcbest

What was involved in getting to the Bulbs. I have a 92 SC400, and it looks like you have to deconstruct the the console to get to the bulbs
Thanks

O. L. T.

iTrader: (17)

thats what this entire thread is about. for info on how to remove your cluster from the dash, go HERE

...and don't forget to visit http://www.lextech.org/osCommerce/ for all your lighting needs.