Instrument Cluster Display - possible mod ...

[GLK]

A few months ago I bought an instrument cluster, from a W245, to get me a set of nicer looking dial needles.

The cluster was listed as non-working, with a failed central display, and I bought it for next to nothing.

I fitted the needles to my cluster, and put the rest away, with a view to its potential use as a spare - the screen was clean and scratch-free, and the casing had all the fixing lugs. But all I really wanted is these:

old needles:

new ones:

These LCD displays are prone to failure (dead pixels), so I thought I double-check it, and bin it, if it's not working. The chap said the display was completely dead, so I fully expected to just chuck it.

Now, I never powered the cluster before, as all I wanted from it were those dial needles ...

This is what I saw first:

That can't be right, I thought, so had a closer look - the cluster was disconnected from the board, simple as that.

I then looked at those 21 orange LEDs and thought, if I can replace them with blue ones, it could look nice:

Re-soldering 84 micro-contact points is not a huge fun, but at least I have a spare to practice on ...

Oh, and not a single dead pixel on display, so that's another spare

 

[richard]

Excellent. You'll have to get it reset by a cluster repair company in order to be able to install it in a new car (well, do be able to set the mileage/VIN/etc)

R

 

[GLK]

Excellent. You'll have to get it reset by a cluster repair company in order to be able to install it in a new car (well, do be able to set the mileage/VIN/etc)

Thanks

That's for the cluster itself, right? Or is it true for just the LCD display too? I didn't expect it to be able to store any data?

 

[richard]

You are correct - its the flash ram on the main board..

R

 

[GLK]

Great, hopefully my cluster (and the LCD) will go on for a good while still, but it's nice to have a backup.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Good stuff! - I'd have gone with white LEDs myself as Blue what VW uses

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Nice work, we did a mates car a while back where the only thing wrong was the LCD needed plugged back in.

 

[GLK]

Good stuff! - I'd have gone with white LEDs myself as Blue what VW uses

Yes, you're spot on!

After trying a couple of different ones - white LEDs give the exact desired effect - dark blue background and white, with just a tiny tinge of blue, symbols - exactly as the next generation of Mercedes clusters was, before the full colour with animation, etc kicked in.

 

[GLK]

I want to avoid manually soldering all these tiny LEDs, so shall look into powder and hot air gun combination ...