Brighter shift light

14010 Views 31 Replies 15 Participants Last post by BillV, Jan 4, 2021

BillV

Discussion Starter · Feb 25, 2010 (Edited)

I was unimpressed with the OEM shift light on my K6 so I decided to try to build something better. Here's what I came up with:

In the picture you can see the OEM shift light as well as the oil pressure and fuel lights for comparison.

It is connected to the gauge cluster at the wiring harness connector for power and ground and to a point on the circuit board associated with the OEM light for the signal to illuminate the new light. Thus it turns on and off in sync with the OEM light and also dims with it. It only took about $5 worth of electronic parts but a bunch of time and effort figuring out how to build and connect it.

It sits higher, is red, and is significantly brighter than the white OEM light. This makes it much more noticable, i.e. it has a poke-in-the-eye factor that the OEM light doesn't have. It's not necessary to look down to see whether the light is on. I'm very happy with it.

I can provide more details if anyone is interested.

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sradmad600

· #21 · Jan 3, 2021

stevie 502 said:
more info on this please

May or may not get a reply on such an old post, why dont you DM BillV he is always happy to help ?

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BillV

Discussion Starter · #22 · Jan 4, 2021

I'm fairly sure that the pics were originally posted on Tinypic and they've shut down. I've since put everything into a doc file. As I recall T.R.E contacted me via PM and the file may also contain some comments to him. Give me a day or so and I'll copy it to a place that it can be downloaded from.

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stevie 502

· #23 · Jan 4, 2021

sradmad600 said:
May or may not get a reply on such an old post, why dont you DM BillV he is always happy to help ?

BillV said:
I'm fairly sure that the pics were originally posted on Tinypic and they've shut down. I've since put everything into a doc file. As I recall T.R.E contacted me via PM and the file may also contain some comments to him. Give me a day or so and I'll copy it to a place that it can be downloaded from.

I really appreciate it man thanks

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BillV

Discussion Starter · #24 · Jan 4, 2021 (Edited)

Here's the lead pic that is now gone from Tinypic:

The doc file with the details is here (minor update on 1/9/2021). Important issues are the use of a p-channel MOSFET to drive the LED (instead of the more common n-channel) and identifying the pin on the cluster's circuit board to tie into. Soldering the cable leads onto the connector pins into the circuit board is a tad tricky because of the tight space and requires some care.

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stevie 502

· #25 · Jan 4, 2021

BillV said:
Here's the lead pic that is now gone from Tinypic:

what wires do I tap into to get it to work right. does the stock light still work in sync with the led?

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BillV

Discussion Starter · #26 · Jan 4, 2021 (Edited)

The OEM light is unaffected. It's on in the pic but not immediately noticeable because it's so much dimmer than the new light. The new light dims with the cluster setup intensity setting but I don't claim that it exactly follows the OEM light. It could probably be fine tuned with the resistor values. I just wanted a more noticeable light and was happy with what I have.

As is detailed in the doc file, you tap into the 12V and ground leads on the cluster connector plus one pin associated with the OEM light.

I wish that the cluster setup had a larger range and finer increments on the trigger RPM setting as it could then alternately be used as a speed (meaning MPH) warning indicator. Unfortunately the RPM in 6th gear at 70 MPH is around 4650 RPM and the lowest setting is 5000 RPM. Furthermore the increments at the low end are 500 RPM, which is 7.5 MPH. I've been looking onto what reprogramming is possible on the cluster but this doesn't seem to be one of them.

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stevie 502

· #27 · Jan 4, 2021

BillV said:
The OEM light is unaffected. It's on in the pic but not immediately noticeable because it's so much dimmer than the new light. The new light dims with the cluster setup intensity setting but I don't claim that it exactly follows the OEM light. It could probably be fine tuned with the resistor values. I just wanted a more noticeable light and was happy with what I have.

I wish that the cluster had a larger range and finer increments on the trigger RPM setup as it could then alternately be used as a speed (meaning MPH) warning indicator. Unfortunately the RPM in 6th gear for 70 MPH is around 4650 RPM and, as I recall, that's lower than the lowest setting. I've been looking onto what reprogramming is possible on the cluster but this doesn't seem to be one of them.

He I really like your set up I was just gonna go with a red led strip across the lower portion of the windscreen.

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BillV

Discussion Starter · #28 · Jan 4, 2021

An advantage of mine is that it's all part of the cluster so you don't have to worry about leads running off somewhere and the associated connectors.

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stevie 502

· #29 · Jan 4, 2021

BillV said:
An advantage of mine is that it's all part of the cluster so you don't have to worry about leads running off somewhere and the associated connectors.

so you tap into the board of the cluster and mounted the red led in it?

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stevie 502

· #30 · Jan 4, 2021

stevie 502 said:
so you tap into the board of the cluster and mounted the red led in it?

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stevie 502

· #31 · Jan 4, 2021

I tried to tap directly into the pins some the back of the shift light but when I do that the stock one doesn't work I have tried power to the bulb and ground from wire harness.

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BillV

Discussion Starter · #32 · Jan 4, 2021 (Edited)

"and mounted the red led in it"
Not in it. It sits on the top outside of the cluster case. The MOSFET monitors the OEM LED's voltage but its high input impedance means that it doesn't draw anything of consequence from it. Trying to drive something directly from the OEM LED leads sounds risky and ill-advised.

As I understand MOSFETs, the gate doesn't draw any current at all. So the 15K and 22K resistors in the diagram just act as a voltage divider. I think that they could be increased to 150K and 220K without affecting anything. That would lower the already low drain on the cluster circuit by a factor of 10.

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