Roadster Dash Pod Lighting
The Roadster uses a great deal more surface mounted LEDs than the For2 which restricts the changing and what colour filters you can use.
Dash Pods
Forget the LEDs in this case. Changing them over gives poor results and they are hard to fit.
So instead I came up with a better way to light them using CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lighting).
Remove the dash pods from the car.
Remove the clip on surround by pulling it off. Undo the 2 circled Torx 6 screws.
Remove the internal surround.
Pull of the needle.
This reveals the PCB. It is not clipped in place but can be hard to remove.
I had some sucess by inserting 2 screws a little way into it and pulling.
Here is the PCB removed from the pod.
You can see that the 4.0x4.0 side facing LEDs still solder at the base.
Easy to get out but a nightmare to solder back in.
Circled in red are 2 clips, bend these out and rock the LED until it falls off.
It will leave 2 metal connections behind that are very easy to desolder. Remove them all.
Obviously with blue back lighting you don't want red needles.
Using a stanley blade, scrape the paint off. Paint the backs white, Tipex works.
Here is one of the two 40mm round CCFL's that I used. Mine are white.
You can buy these from Wiltec in Germany.
Glue the CCFL to the circuit board.
Run the wires out the base.
I scratched of the yellowish filter from the back of the dial faces and stuck the required
coloured lighting gel into place. It is best to use white and a coloured gel as CCFL coloured
tend to be very washed out. For example, red is very pink and blue is light blue.
With the pod reassembled you plug the CCFL into the invertor and wire that to a switched live.
The Roadster has plenty of room under the pods for both invertors.
Job done.
Finally with them all back together and lit you can see the finished article.
The needles still need resetting. The left gauge has a white painted needle, the right is painted blue.
It is quite clear that painting the needles white is the way to go.
It makes them easy to see in the day too.