Many car enthusiasts are not happy with the lighting of their dashboard in the evening and at night. But poor-quality lighting or its complete absence has a negative impact on road safety. Therefore, many craftsmen do auto tuning with their own hands, making additional lighting for their car. And first of all, the dashboard lighting is done.

Very often, LEDs are used for these purposes, which have many advantages and allow you to create high-quality lighting inside the car with your own hands. This article will tell you how you can install this type of lighting in the dashboard and the nuances that should be observed in this situation.

Why do you need additional lighting?

Today, car tuning is carried out not only outside, but also inside its interior, and there is no better place than the dashboard. Diodes built into the panel will allow you to achieve the following positive aspects:

• give the dashboard a new unusual look;
• High-quality illumination of important elements of the dashboard;
• make additional lighting for the vehicle interior;
• make your car ride more comfortable;
• improve road safety. When the instrument panel is well lit, all the indicators are clearly visible on it, which allows you to correctly assess the position of the car on the road and not violate the rules of the road with your driving.

The easiest way to illuminate such an element of a car as the dashboard is to install diodes in it. The following types of LED products can be used here:

• separate diodes. Using them as backlight, you can create full or decorative lighting for the dashboard. It is worth noting that LEDs can glow in different colors. Therefore, such LED lighting can beautifully complement external tuning, glowing with it in the same color scheme;

Note! Additional lighting of the dashboard created with the help of such diodes allows them to be built into almost any part of the board. As a result, the lighting will fully meet the car owner’s requirements and provide lighting where it is really needed.

• LED Strip Light. This tape is very often used as decorative lighting not only for a car, but also for home premises or street elements. It can be easily replaced with another, which will allow you to change the boring color scheme to a new one. The LED strip has a self-adhesive base, with the help of which its installation by hand is quite easy and quite quick.

LED Strip Light

Despite the ease of working with LED strip, diodes are most often used to illuminate a car dashboard. This choice is associated with certain advantages of using this type of lighting.

Why LED lighting is preferable

At the moment, there are a variety of products on the lighting market that can be used to illuminate any brand of car.

Note! Not every make of car actually needs this type of lighting. Some manufacturers include high-quality LED lighting in the dashboard already at the production stage. This situation is usually typical for expensive foreign cars.

Industrial dashboard lighting

But in most vehicles such additional lighting is absent or insufficient. This situation is especially relevant for older models that were manufactured at a time when LED backlighting had not yet been heard of.
When choosing an LED type of lighting, car owners are guided by the following positive aspects of such lighting:

• diodes of this type have small dimensions, which allows them to be installed anywhere on the dashboard. At the same time, they are easily massaged;
• simple soldering of LEDs for different connections between them. Moreover, if the LED strip is re-soldered, then this procedure is carried out according to certain rules, which are also typical for working with individual diodes;
• even a small number of diodes installed on the panel can create a full-fledged type of lighting, sufficient for comfortable driving;

Pay attention! With the help of such elements you can even illuminate alarm systems.

• the ability to create not only white, but also colored lighting. Diodes can produce a beautiful and frequent glow in green, yellow, red, purple, green or blue. At the same time, replacing it with a new color is possible in the future and will not require excessive effort from the car owner;

LED glow

• This type of lighting consumes a minimal amount of electricity, which is very important for a battery-powered car and its alarm system.

At the same time, installing diodes is not very difficult. Here you only need to correctly connect the elements of the lighting system to each other. Almost anyone can do this kind of work with their own hands.

Features of organizing LED lighting

LED light bulb for car

Using LED lighting for a car, you can use diode bulbs with a standard base.

This way you can illuminate the instrument buttons on the panel. In a situation where several devices need to be illuminated at once, for high-quality lighting you should use an LED bulb placed in a special socket. This requires a special re-soldering. But you can simply buy it in a store or market.
In addition, to illuminate the car’s dashboard and its alarm system, you can use light bulbs that produce a narrow luminous flux. It can be obtained from a regular light bulb by using a special diffuser (lenses) for lighting. Thus, in the first situation, the lighting will be point-like, and in the second, the luminous flux will fall at a certain angle.

When organizing button illumination, you can use light sources with a directional luminous flux. But to illuminate the speedometer and alarm panels, preference should be given to bulbs that provide a large scattering angle. Although this can already be left to the individual choice of the car owner.

How the arrows are illuminated

Very often, a car needs backlighting of the dashboard arrows.

Instrument needle illumination

• In a situation where it is necessary to install diode lighting of the arrows on the dashboard, the following manipulations must be performed:
• We clean the paint of the arrow on three sides. The paint is stripped from the bottom of the arrow and on its sides;

After this, the cleaned surfaces should be painted over with a white clerical touch or white nail polish. You can also use regular white paint, but it will be a little more fiddly;

Note! Painting the arrow white will help increase the lighting effect.

• Filled speedometer needles
• after that we take three LEDs. They need to be soldered together in series;

After that, they are connected to the power source and your arrow glows in the shade of what color the LEDs were selected.
Some craftsmen backlight the needle in such a way that it can change color depending on changes in the speedometer readings. To organize such illumination, you need to use diodes of three different colors:

• green;
• red;
• blue.

These colors are standard. Remember that for each arrow you need to use three diodes in the sequence in which you want to get the glow. Thus, the luminous flux will be sufficient for high-quality illumination of the metric part of the device.

Finished arrow illumination

Typically, green is used for minimum indicators, and red for maximum indicators. Diodes should be placed under each arrow in its circle of movement.

Organization of backlighting of stove control buttons

The second most popular situation in organizing the lighting of the dashboard in a car is the illumination of the stove control buttons.

Foil reflector

The organization of the backlight of the console buttons intended for controlling the stove is carried out as follows:

• First, remove the handles, as well as the glass from the control unit;
• We make a reflector out of foil. It will need to be secured under the removed glass;
• then carefully unscrew the lower part of the console. Under it there will be a cartridge with an old light source, which must be replaced;
• replace the old light bulb with an LED;

Note! You can install an LED strip under the bottom of the console. Thanks to its self-adhesive base, it will easily take the required position. In this situation, it will be connected with its wires through the cartridge. The main thing here is to maintain the polarity of the wires, otherwise the LED strip will not light up.

• After installing the LED, return all parts of the console to their original place in the reverse order.

Ready-made console lighting

The simplest way to create backlighting involves the following manipulations:

• take out the button from the console;
• we disassemble it into its component elements;
• inside such a button there should be a light bulb that changes to an LED;
• if necessary, you can remove the light filter from the button or combine it with a new diode glow. As a result, you can get a new beautiful and unique shade.

As you can see, illuminating the console designed to control the stove in a car is quite easy.

Combined instrument lighting

To implement this type of lighting, you need to stock up on the following materials:

• double sided tape;
• LED in a socket (three pieces);
• foil.

In order to remove the dashboard, it is necessary to clarify the removal steps with the instructions that came with the vehicle. The algorithm of actions here is as follows:

• removing the instrument cluster;
• carefully unscrew the speedometer cable and disconnect all existing plugs;
• illumination sources should be located in the upper part of the instrument panel - three light bulbs. There will also be a green filter here. It can be removed or left;
• The light bulb is being replaced with LEDs and a foil diffuser is being installed. We secure it with double-sided tape.

Ready-made dashboard lighting

After this, all that remains is to assemble all the panel parts and install them in their original places.

Note! In any case, you can safely experiment with the colors of the LEDs in order to get the most beautiful type of glow.

Conclusion

In order to efficiently replace the dashboard lighting, you can use either individual LEDs or an entire LED strip. In this case, illumination can be carried out either on a separate part of the console or on its entire area. The main thing is to connect the diodes and tape correctly, without reversing the polarity of the wires.

To make their car stand out from the gray mass, many car owners do tuning. However, today tuning means not only improving the appearance of the car, but also improving the interior of its cabin. One of the options for improving the interior is tuning the dashboard. You can learn more about this procedure, as well as upgrade options, from the material provided.

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Decorative tuning method

If you decide to produce, then you must first ensure the optimal combination of the device with the salon interior. In addition, ultimately, the dashboard must in any case meet all passive safety requirements.

So, the process of decorative improvement itself consists of adding external elements to the existing control panel, for example:

• you can use leatherette to cover the shield with material;
• you can carry out the procedure of sticking special overlays on the scales;
• Tuning the tidy can also involve making the device glow brighter.

Please note that in order to perform tuning yourself, in any case you will have to either partially or completely dismantle the tidy.

Next, we will briefly talk about each of the methods.

Tightening the tidy

The procedure for re-upholstering a PP is relevant if the device has lost its original appearance and there are defects on its surface. As a material for upholstery, you can use leatherette, leatherette or other materials. But you need to take into account that some materials, after reupholstering, can create glare in the sun and also emit an unpleasant odor. Therefore, the issue of material selection should be approached responsibly.

For example, if you decide to use leatherette for upholstery, then first you should cut it, taking into account the size of the PP, as well as its shape. This is done so that the leatherette does not stretch and does not gather in folds, so to reupholster you always need to dismantle the tidy. In this case, you can make more neat and even seams and joints, and you can use regular cardboard for cutting. All components of the cutting are sewn into one whole, and all seams must be hidden inside. The sheathing material itself can be fixed with glue or self-tapping screws (the author of the video about reupholstering is the Puls Avto channel).

In order not to waste time and effort on reupholstering, you can do it simpler - buy a special cover for the instrument panel and simply install it on top. This cover must be selected in accordance with the car model.

Color solutions

Tuning the instrument panel may also involve changing color schemes.

1. The procedure consists of the following steps:
2. First of all, you need to take measurements from the PP.
3. Next, a new scale is prepared - all the necessary divisions and numbers should be applied to it (there are many options on the Internet, you can download a ready-made one). Stores also sell ready-made decorative dashboards, so if your budget allows, you can buy a full-fledged branded device.
4. After this, the template you made or downloaded should be attached to the material that will be used on the new scale. Alternatively, thin plastic, photo paper, etc. can be used as the material.

Photo gallery “Tuning options”

Installation of LEDs

A DIY LED panel is also quite simple and one of the most common tuning options.

This procedure is carried out as follows:

1. First, the PP must be dismantled, all standard light bulbs must be removed.
2. Next, you need to determine the places where you will install diode lighting sources - of course, for better visibility they should be placed around the perimeter.
3. Decide on the color of the diodes - it should provide comfortable conditions while driving, without disturbing the driver.
4. Next, you have two options - either simply replace the light bulbs with diodes, buying the appropriate ones in the store so that they fit the standard sockets, or install diodes in new places. To do this, you will need to drill holes on the PCB where the light source will be installed. Of course, the first option is simpler, there is nothing complicated in its implementation, but we will consider the second method.
5. After the holes are drilled, the light sources should be connected to each other using soldering - for the connection you can use a flexible wire, its thickness should be small.
6. So that you can subsequently adjust the brightness of the lighting, you can add a variable resistor to the circuit. Depending on the model, an auto rheostat installed during production can be used for this purpose.
7. If you use white light sources, then in order to provide a different shade, you can paint the light bulb with varnish or special paper.
8. The diode elements should be soldered to the power circuit, and then connected to the PCB; it is important to observe polarity.
9. Then the control panel’s performance is diagnosed and its further installation on the car (the author of the video is Lesha Master).

Painting the tidy

Another option is to paint the instrument panel, or rather, the scales themselves - tachometer, speedometer, you can also paint temperature sensors, fuel volume, etc. If you install diode lighting sources in the panel, then painting the PP (necessarily with luminescent paint) will give the device a brighter and more modern look. It is necessary to paint carefully so as not to splatter the paint on the shield, otherwise not only the scales will stand out, but also traces of the paint, and this will not look aesthetically pleasing.

How to modify the design of the dashboard with your own hands? A little time, labor, and you're done! Let's look at how to do such tuning using the example of a Hyundai Accent car. Here is a list of what we need for work:

• small pliers;
• sandpaper;
• double sided tape;
• screwdrivers of different sizes;
• Lomond Satin photo paper, matte, 280 g.
• scissors.

Stage 1. Disassembly.

Let's start disassembling the panel. Unscrew the two screws at the top. Then we disconnect the three connectors and now you can sit comfortably at the table and unscrew the devices.

Stage 2. We remove the arrows.

Use 2 screwdrivers and a hair dryer for this.

Make sure that the tachometers are not damaged.

Stage 3. Processing of plastic substrate.

Take sandpaper and sand the backing.

Stage 4 Intermediate.

As a result of your manipulations, the following should appear on the table:

• opaque part of the scale (1);
• old scale (2);
• printouts of the new outer side of the scale (3);
• scale substrate (4);
• tachometer (5);
• arrow.

Stage 5 Printouts.

Carefully cut out the printouts with sharp scissors.

Stage 6. Fastening.

Attach the backing to the scale. We attach the opaque part of the scale with double-sided tape. If the glue does not warp the paper at temperature ranges, tol can also be used.

Here is the opaque part already glued. It is made using photo paper with a black fill. You can use other opaque and thin material.

Stage 7 Assembly of the structure.

We try on the scale using the gap. The holes are indicated by numbers 1 and 2. This is tape that can be seen through the photo paper. This can be corrected by making a plastic backing.

We fasten everything with standard screws.

Panel assembly. The needles will need to be calibrated on the car.

Stage 8 Calibration

We warm up the car well, fix the cooled liquid temperature arrow in the middle position. We release the throttle and set the tachometer needle to idle speed. Most likely, it is not standing correctly, it may either not move at all or move jerkily. We remove and install it again until it moves as it should! We roll out the gasoline and set the “Fuel Level” arrow to the zero position until the warning light comes on.

First, we string the arrow in the “half tank” position, after which it begins to move, reaching the limiter at the bottom or top. Here it must be removed and quickly put back in place and secured “to zero”. Next, we measure the speed, monitor in which direction and by how much there will be an error, after which we remove the panel and the device itself. We press the internal rotating part, which is at the back of the device, with a screwdriver, and then turn the arrow.

Optitron is a special illumination system for the instrument cluster. It works this way: when the car's ignition is turned off, the instrument cluster remains invisible. After turning the key, the arrows on the instruments should come to life first, and only after them the instruments themselves - the speedometer, tachometer and other sensors.

Optitron has a special anti-reflective background, thanks to which all signs are clearly readable in any conditions.

Required Components

The Mayak lamp is a donor of lighting components.

Lighthouse lamp, rear view.

SMD LEDs are exactly what I was looking for in a lamp. The size is about 3 by 4 mm.

Entire lamp, consumption in “dimensions” mode.

Entire lamp, consumption in stop light mode.

LEDs, 330 Ohm resistors.

Printed circuit board blanks, cut on a lathe.

The boards are marked for installation of components. The black dots between the tracks are where the LEDs are installed.

Marking of “tracks” on the board. Here is the fifth, the inner track is superfluous, I wanted to do a two-color backlight first, but I changed my mind.

Arrangement of LEDs 3 in a cluster.

Alternatively, you can place the LEDs on one track in series, it will be even simpler plus saving one track, but my option is more reliable.

Making an optitron

I'm trying to clean the filter at the edge of the scale. The peculiarity of these scales is that they are designed for the use of ordinary light bulbs, so they have an additional layer of dark filter (dots) applied to them, which ensures uniform illumination (closer to the light bulb, darker). A yellow filter is also visible under the white scattering layer. I would leave the yellow one, but removing black and white without affecting the yellow is unrealistic.

This is what it looks like in the light. Despite the white backlight, the numbers are still yellow thanks to the yellow filter, so you will have to remove it, although I didn’t want to.

Illuminated fuel and temperature gauges. I was afraid that there would not be enough three LEDs for the scale, but it turned out to be in vain - the scale is illuminated evenly, the gradient is not noticeable to the eye. Yes! As a result, only 3 tracks remained.

Rear temperature and fuel gauges. The light filter has been partially removed in the right places.

Ready-made temperature and fuel scales.

I remove the light filter on the tachometer. I use nail polish remover and pieces of cotton pads (we take everything from my wife/mother/sister’s arsenal). The technology is as follows: soak the pieces in liquid and apply to the area for a minute. While we are making the next one, the previous one soaks and the coating can be easily removed with a fingernail. Carefully! The front side is very sensitive to solvents, especially alcohol!

Installing tachometer backlight. Hot glue from a “gun” serves as supports and at the same time fasteners.
The downside is that in this version the tachometer is not removable.

Finished tachometer scale.

"Combined" lighting. LED tachometer, regular speedometer. The temperature scale and fuel gauge are double backlit. Here the photo does not convey the effect quite correctly.

Speedometer backlight board. The main difficulty, it turned out, was precisely here. Due to the built-in odometer, the speedometer device is very bulky and there is very little space left for illumination. As a result of trimming and undercutting, very little remained of the scarf.

Rear speedometer backlight board. I had to restore the path this way

I'm installing the speedometer light. Two lights didn’t fit, so I moved them to the side surface

I turn on the speedometer light and check it. Between the tachometer and speedometer, the common plus and minus are brought out into the T10 socket; a protective diode and a common current-limiting resistor (all from the same lamp) are also installed in it, plugged into the standard socket from under the backlight lamp.

Finished speedometer scale

Complete tidy. Currently in finished condition.

conclusions

— The inner edges of the numbers are slightly obscured by the protruding parts of the instruments;
— I didn’t make the inscriptions shine through, I didn’t want to overload the panel with light - I had to seal it with black tape from the inside;
— The odometers turned out to be dimly lit (one must think);
— The arrows were not illuminated, I left the usual light bulbs.

The panel is in working order. In the photo it looks close to the real thing. Time: afternoon, summer. It’s a bit bright at night, and out of habit, it’s a little distracting. I hope that the brightness will go down over time.

The instrument panel is one of the important elements of the interior that the driver pays attention to while driving. Its tuning always catches the eye. Let's talk about the principles and basic ways to improve the panel.

In modern foreign cars there is a whole complex of instruments and sensors, including small displays.

How to tune the instrument panel

I would like to say right away that the boundaries of tuning the instrument panel are limited only by your imagination, the taste and color are up to you to choose. But still, for the most part, we can highlight the replacement of standard lighting, the addition of lighting for sensors, arrows and other components.

In addition to lighting, you can change the appearance of the panel by adding special stickers to the devices. Thus, the appearance of the instrument panel will change. Some car enthusiasts manage to make such stickers themselves by printing them on a laser printer on self-adhesive paper.

The third method, and the most expensive, is to completely replace the instrument panel with a tuned one. Most often, this may be a completely different arrangement of devices, multi-colored lighting, or the presence of additional devices. The most modern option is to install a large display instead of analog instruments, but such pleasure will cost a lot of money.

LED-based instrument lighting

It often happens that the dim factory backlight of the instrument panel confuses the instrument indicators or is not visible at all. Also, due to such illumination, the driver’s eyes get tired, which can lead to an accident.

The most modern method is LED lighting based on strips. Firstly, they are easy to buy at any auto store, and secondly, they are quick and easy to install. The first thing we need is to remove the instrument panel; depending on the make and model of the car, the panel is removed in different ways, so we will not describe the process of unscrewing and removing the panel.

Now, having removed the panel, unscrew it to the base, so that you can easily get to the standard lighting. As a rule, in passenger cars the power supply is 12V, the same power supply is used for the LED strip.

Next, you should be good with a soldering iron; you will need to remove the standard light bulbs and solder an LED strip in their place. As a soldering fastener, you can use two small wires, but not very thin ones; they can burn out due to the load.

It is advisable to place the LED strip evenly over the entire surface. As practice shows, it is better to solder several short strips than one long one, and the likelihood of combustion is less, and there will be no load on one power supply.

If you are not comfortable with a soldering iron, then it is better to turn to experienced ones, since here you need to be careful and careful, the slightest short circuit can burn the entire instrument panel.

Once all the strips have been soldered, it’s worth checking, connecting the instrument panel with a surface-mounted installation and turning on the backlight; if everything is done correctly, all the strips will glow. The strips themselves can be attached using double-sided tape, so the backlight will be distributed evenly across all devices. All that remains is to put everything back together in reverse order, tighten the instrument panel and enjoy.

Film instead of LEDs

A simpler way is to use film instead of LEDs or LED strip. The advantage of this method is its simplicity and lower costs. Getting started is the same as in the previous case. It is worth unscrewing and removing the instrument panel, then disassembling it to the base where the backlight is located. Now the procedure begins to differ. Typically, the factory backlight is white (in domestic cars), and the color changes thanks to the film on the back of the devices.

The more transparent the film, the brighter the instrument illumination will be; depending on the color of the film, the instrument illumination will be. The principle is designed in such a way that light from a standard backlight passes through the film, thereby changing color and illuminating the devices.

Here, as they say, the colors will be limited by your imagination; you can make numbers of one color, arrows of another, and lines of a third. Some amateurs use sandpaper and a scratch pad to clean the base of the instruments on the back side (from the backlight side) so that the numbers and indicators appear brighter. The film can be used as a special film, also sold in car dealerships, or you can find it yourself from scrap materials. A big plus is that no changes will be made to the electronics, which means there can be no short circuit.

Putting a sticker on the dashboard

In addition to the above mentioned methods for changing the color of the backlight, you can also change the appearance, that is, the image of the instruments as the driver will see them.

For this purpose, special stickers are most often used. To do this, you should disassemble the instrument panel and get to the instrument backing, on which the values ​​and numbers are printed.

It is worth remembering that stickers are sold for each model, make and year of manufacture of the car separately. As an example, it may be the same car, make and model, even year of manufacture, but the instrument panel is different. One will have a tachometer, the other will not. Therefore, stickers should be selected very carefully.

Before gluing, try it superficially on the factory panel to see if it fits the fasteners, or if there is anything that interferes with the smooth application of the sticker. If the old coating can be removed, then it is better to do so; the new sticker will look much prettier. Now that everything is fine, the surface on which you will glue it should be wiped with a degreaser. Glue one side and, while pressing the sticker, slowly pull off the protective layer. It’s important to smooth it out so that there is no air under the sticker, otherwise the temperature will cause it to peel away from the surface in a few months.

After completing the procedures, you can put everything back together and mounted it to see how well the instrument panel has improved. Next, we assemble everything in reverse order, installing the panel in its proper place.

Replacing the instrument panel with a new one

As we previously recalled, in addition to the suggested methods, there is also the most expensive, but also the highest quality option, which is a complete replacement of the instrument panel. Nowadays, instrument panels that are based on a large display instead of analog instruments are in fashion.

Even on domestic cars you can install such a miracle and the panel will take on a modern look. When choosing, it is worth remembering all the parameters of your car, since even different engines can play a role in the choice. Such a panel allows you to completely customize the devices to your taste, their location, lighting and other parameters. In a word, do everything to the driver’s taste. Below we have provided a video example of the operation of such an instrument panel on a VAZ 2114 car.

This technology is based on a large display covering the entire instrument panel, an Android-based minicomputer and a set of devices, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth.

Such a replacement is usually short-lived, but expensive, so first you should think about whether you need it or just for beauty.

Instrument panel tuning price

The cost of parts may depend on what you want to get as a result. For example, an LED strip 10-15 cm long will cost about $1-2, but if you take color film, then the costs are less, or you can even find something similar at home in the garage.

As for the display instead of the instrument panel, for the same VAZ 2114 it will cost $300-400. But still, again it all depends on the modification, the installed software and the set of additional functions of such an instrument panel. On average, replacing the entire panel takes a couple of hours.

Video interactive display on VAZ 2114: