Colour screen mod for cluster

[IPG]

Sure.

Here is the link to download the logo loader software. You’ll need a USB-B (I think that’s the one... it’s a s

http://colormfa.ru/en/downloads

The size of the picture is 320x480.
For all (aft Audi A48E) will not be visible upper ~ 50 pixels and about 10 pixels left and right.

The process is expained in a file that's in the download - any questions shoot them here

 

[warren9022]

Sure.

Here is the link to download the logo loader software. You’ll need a USB-B (I think that’s the one... it’s a s

http://colormfa.ru/en/downloads

The size of the picture is 320x480.
For all (aft Audi A48E) will not be visible upper ~ 50 pixels and about 10 pixels left and right.

The process is expained in a file that's in the download - any questions shoot them here

Thanks Ian, much appreciated.

Now to design a logo.....

 

[S3AMJ]

Thanks Ian, much appreciated.

Now to design a logo.....

What you going for Warren? The classic S3 or something different?


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[warren9022]

Classic with a twist, got a while to play with photoshop and see what I can come up with. Just playing around with it this morning...

Will put them all up on the website when finished if anyone wants to download one.

 

[hydro s3]

The fella that I'm getting my colour mfa from said if I send him a picture of my car he will put that on as the start up picture.

 

[warren9022]

The fella that I'm getting my colour mfa from said if I send him a picture of my car he will put that on as the start up picture.

Yeah you can put whatever you want on it but as much as I love my car I don't want it staring back at me every time I start it.....

Mk 2...…

 

[IPG]

Someone has a good knack for photoshop!

 

[warren9022]

Not really mate, I just press every button til it looks OK...

Let me know if you want a Noggie Blue themed one and I can email it over to you, you could be the guinea pig and make sure it fits right on the display

 

[<tuffty/>]

Added the plug for the BT unit that arrived today... will try that part of the loom later as need to drop the glove box out to test

Then tested I can recode the wheel module using the harness...

Coding before...

Coding after...

That works then... lastly I cloned the replacement S3 cluster I now have with my S3 file

Happy days

Next job maybe to test 'fit' a white LED and see what the intensity looks like... in all honesty they were a ball ache to remove from the A6 PCB as they are not only soldered but glued on... I did get the technique perfected a little towards the end and all seem useable but I am tempted just to fit the color MFA as is and see what it looks like...

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

Good work mate! I’m currently researching into the possibilities of changing the smaller LCD screens for white alternatives.... the time/date and the mileage counter. Wondering what the differences are with the 8P facelift cluster, I’m going to hazard a guess it’s all soldered on, not like the ones we have where they just slide out.


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[syncro]

I dismantled the clocks from my 2009 8J Audi TT tdi engine donor and the black and white screens are the wrong size to fit the 8L or C5 clocks, I also dismantled some 8L a3 clocks to experiment on and changed 2 of the led’s under the mileage display to white and removed the orange/red filter from behind the display screen and put the 8J white filter in and covered the remaining red led’s with black insulation tape and the 8L mileage screen now has white digits in the corner that has the white led’s But they are way too dim

 

[S3AMJ]

I dismantled the clocks from my 2009 8J Audi TT tdi engine donor and the black and white screens are the wrong size to fit the 8L or C5 clocks, I also dismantled some 8L a3 clocks to experiment on and changed 2 of the led’s under the mileage display to white and removed the orange/red filter from behind the display screen and put the 8J white filter in and covered the remaining red led’s with black insulation tape and the 8L mileage screen now has white digits in the corner that has the white led’s But they are way too dim

Cheers bud, that clears that up onto the next challenge haha


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[syncro]

It should be possible to change the climate control screen to white digits too

 

[S3AMJ]

It should be possible to change the climate control screen to white digits too

Yeah I’ve seen that done a couple of times. I think it would finished the interior off nicely, white dials, white time/date and mileage counter and just white climate control screen. Keep the rest red.


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[S3AMJ]

Shoot me down if I’m wrong..... but can’t you just use Gel filters to change the colour of the time/date and mileage counter screen?

Red is our base colour, if you use green and blue overlays together it should produce wait for it.... White.

Which would be easier than changing LEDS, etc. You could even cut it to size and it’ll be held in by the metal clamps that hold the screens in place?

If this theory does work.... you could just glue the same overlays over the rest of the LEDS you want to change?


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[<tuffty/>]

Shoot me down if I’m wrong..... but can’t you just use Gel filters to change the colour of the time/date and mileage counter screen?

Red is our base colour, if you use green and blue overlays together it should produce wait for it.... White.

Which would be easier than changing LEDS, etc. You could even cut it to size and it’ll be held in by the metal clamps that hold the screens in place?

If this theory does work.... you could just glue the same overlays over the rest of the LEDS you want to change?


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Problem you will have is cutting light output (its the same fun and games I have in my photography)... you add filters over the light source you tend to need to bump the output levels up to compensate


I have various gels kicking around for my lighting projects so can try it later

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

Problem you will have is cutting light output (its the same fun and games I have in my photography)... you add filters over the light source you tend to need to bump the output levels up to compensate


I have various gels kicking around for my lighting projects so can try it later

<tuffty/>

I thought you’d be familiar with it Tuffty, be interesting to see what your findings are. I suppose we could always crank the output up to max via light switch, weather this will be enough or not.


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[S3AMJ]

Alternatively, if by putting both green and blue overlays on limit the light to much, we might be able to get away with using a (Cyan) overlay, which is the colour made by putting green and blue together. More light would travel through.

Plus when it’s turned off, it shouldn’t show it’s colour due to no light passing through it...


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[<tuffty/>]

Underneath the display are red LED's plus an orangy filter... I may try soldering the white LED's on instead and removing the orange filter... the filter is more a diffuser I think to spread the light to stop hotspots from the LED's so suspect it will still require something in its place

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

Ah well that’s disappointing, I know I shouldn’t be surprised though otherwise others will have done the same!

Thanks for checking though mate


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[syncro]

The white filter I removed from the 8J TT clocks was very like the plastic used in a plastic milk bottle but it was glossy on one side

 

[IPG]

The white filter I removed from the 8J TT clocks was very like the plastic used in a plastic milk bottle but it was glossy on one side

Except the characters themselves are white.

Whereas our characters are black...

 

[syncro]

No the time and mileage lcd screens are dark when not powered and when powered the characters are clear, that’s how the red comes through brighter on the characters. A mk4 golf has clear screens and black characters, when the screen lights up the whole screen glows blue and the characters stand out being dark.
I have pictures of my attempt just the leds I tried were too dim.

 

[S3AMJ]

No the time and mileage lcd screens are dark when not powered and when powered the characters are clear, that’s how the red comes through brighter on the characters. A mk4 golf has clear screens and black characters, when the screen lights up the whole screen glows blue and the characters stand out being dark.
I have pictures of my attempt just the leds I tried were too dim.

Morning mate, just curious.... but does the mk4 golfs glow blue because of the LCD or is there blue LEDs behind which illuminate it? Just wondered what it would look like put into our clusters, weather it would be an inverted colour.


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[syncro]

I’ve only seen them on the mk4 cluster mods Facebook page and guys there change the blue LEDs to white for example and those screens light up white with black characters, our 8L’s have a different time screen (apart from being inverted) because it has the date also. The colour mfa has white characters so that’s why I’d like to have white characters on my time and mileage screens if it can be done well.

 

[S3AMJ]

I’ve only seen them on the mk4 cluster mods Facebook page and guys there change the blue LEDs to white for example and those screens light up white with black characters, our 8L’s have a different time screen (apart from being inverted) because it has the date also. The colour mfa has white characters so that’s why I’d like to have white characters on my time and mileage screens if it can be done well.

Yeah I’d like black background with white numbers too, I’m assuming if you changed the time LEDs to white for the standard LCD screens it would almost wash out? As you turn up the intensity the background goes really red, I know the numbers do as well but they aren’t white.


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[syncro]

I asked the question a few weeks ago on mk4 cluster mods Facebook page and one of the replies said to remove filter and maybe use window tint.

I need to order some LEDs to have a go, I was thinking of using brighter ones behind the time and mileage screens to allow for the filter and maybe some tint. They recommend to use between 200 and 370 mcd brightness on the mk4 cluster mods page

 

[syncro]

This is a picture of a mk4 cluster with white led’s

 

[syncro]

These are the filters from pfl a4 b5 clocks (orange) and the 2009 8j TT (white)

 

[syncro]

This is the pfl b5 a4 board with 2 leds changed to white, you can already see how dim they are in comparison to the other led’s on the board, I probably damaged something as I stupidly left it powered when I was changing them, also my concentration and soldering skills are not the best and they could have got too hot when removing and replacing them as I melted the first few I removed.

 

[syncro]

And this is the pfl a4 mileage screen with the 8p filter jammed in there ( too wide) you can see how it’s so dim but the characters are showing in white.

 

[<tuffty/>]

sooooo... had a faff with LED's...

Removed the clock LCD module...

The LCD module has an orange diffuser panel... this works really well at spreading the light making it 'larger' (same principles I use in my photography)

Next I swapped out the red led's for white ones I had removed from the A6 clusters illumination...

May have put one round the wrong way as marking the polarity was an afterthought! DOH... could also be a dead LED from removing of course..

...but what is noticeable is that the white LED's are substantially dimmer than the red ones I replaced

I removed the diffuser to see whats what and....

...potentially it could work but tbh it seems a lot of hassle to do at the moment and I would need to find some white LED's that work better than the ones I removed from the A6 cluster...

At this point I think I will leave the donor S3 cluster illumination alone for now and just fit the color MFA as is...

I am still keen to look into it at some point but will have to research suitable LED's and faff with my A6 dash as and when I get time... for now though I just eagerly await the arrival of my MFA

<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

That’s interesting about the orange diffuser... I know we’ve covered this already, but Tuffty would you mind putting the blue and green filter in front of the lcd now you’ve removed the orange diffuser? I’m probably wasting your time, but curiosity is getting the better of me haha


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[syncro]

I got information from the mk4 cluster mods Facebook page on the correct led’s to use

3528 plcc2 1.8-4.2v forward voltage, ideally between 200-370 mcd brightness, 355 seems to be the recommended one. Dimensions 3X2X1.4 and available from RS online

 

[<tuffty/>]

That’s interesting about the orange diffuser... I know we’ve covered this already, but Tuffty would you mind putting the blue and green filter in front of the lcd now you’ve removed the orange diffuser? I’m probably wasting your time, but curiosity is getting the better of me haha


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I could but can tell you it would be no different to the pic I posted earlier... the gels won't diffuse in the same way as the orange panel as light just passes through rather than spread out across it...

You would need something more opaque rather than translucent to be able to diffuse and spread the light...

To draw a line under this for now I attempted to replace all the LED's with white ones...
In the following video I attempted to replace all the LED's with white ones... this resulted in no light whatsoever so to work out if its just me or a bad LED I replaced one red one and tested from a known to be working state

First I shorted the pads on the missing LED out... this shows the whites to be fairly bright and the last red LED lit up...

I then placed the original red LED back in place... this lit up fine but the whites were noticeably dimmer...

Lastly I placed a white LED in place and this pretty much nuked all the light... was tricky to pick it up on the phone video but its clear whats going on...

The white LED's I took fro the A6 clusters illumination are not suitable for this setup so would need to work out what LEDs would be... the LEDs seem to be wired in series so will be hitting the supply voltage hard and I suspect the forward voltage of the whites is higher than the reds so would need to source lower voltage whites for this to be viable... I suspect this will also be the same if I used these for dial illumination...

Maybe the A6 cluster has a slightly different circuit arrangement that supplies enough voltage to the white LEDs (different voltage regulator maybe) but for me this marks an end to further experimentation for now...

...The video


<tuffty/>

 

[S3AMJ]

This might explain what we were discussing the other day mate, why the A2 / PD130 white light (brightness) differs to the A6


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[<tuffty/>]

There will be some resistor inline to pull the voltage down somewhere... will have a look over the board at some point and see if I can track it down and compare on the S3 dash

Forward voltage will be lower on colour LED's than white typically so to get white working brightly you would need to change the resistor to lift the supply voltage...

May look into it over xmas if I have nothing better to do...

<tuffty/>

 

[IPG]

Have you guys seen the latest software update.

So good.

 

[S3AMJ]

Have you guys seen the latest software update.

So good.

What’s new Ian?


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[<tuffty/>]

Any update to ship date @IanPG ?

<tuffty/>