Dashboard Lights

Clond · April 19, 2009

Hello Again,

I finally got the tezza out of the garage for a spin this week.

Everything was fine until the light dimmed and the I put the lights on.

Seems the previous owner put in a blue dash light kit, which I would be

quite happy with if I could see the speedo and the chrono arrangment. I

have no chance with the fuel gauge neither.

I have searched the boards to look at getting into the dashboard and

changing the lighting however I have no idea what the orignal lights

should look like.

If anyone has a picture of their dashboard illuminated in all it's glory could

you upload a picture.

Many thanks

Clond · April 20, 2009

No Help then

Steviewevie · April 20, 2009

Are you just wondering how bright it would be ? I presume that the Tezza dash (is yours an RS200 ?) is the same as the IS200s, in that it's an amber colour, same as on the A/C controls. There are lots of pics around of IS200 dashes, probably less of Tezzas though.

Are you saying that the LEDs (I presume they're LEDs ?) are too dim, or that some have failed ?

Clond · April 20, 2009

I think that there are only two on.

do the needles glow or light up under the dash lights ?

Should they all be the same intensity ?

they look like they could but on my they don't. Even the chrono

and the petrol guage are not readable unless under street lights !

Just wondering ?

Steviewevie · April 20, 2009

On the IS200 the needles glow red, yes. The dash is lit up from behind, i.e. the light comes through the numbers/symbols etc. The OEM setup is with little bulbs that have orange "caps" on them. Quite a few people end up replacing these with LEDs, although depending on what type of LEDs you use this can either work very well or pretty badly (e.g. which way the LEDs project their light).

All the gauges on an IS200 light up perfectly with the OEM setup (yes, the same sort of intensity), and should do so still using the right sort of LEDs as a replacement. I can't imagine that the Altezza would be any different.

I wonder if someone has just done a very bad job trying to convert your dash to LEDs ?

Here's a pic where you can see the IS200 dash lit up, with the OEM lights :

And here's an IS200 dash with blue LEDs :

Clond · April 20, 2009

Thanks a bunch

yep it is shocking compared to that !

I can't even read the Aircon dials.

The red brings the needle out so i'll have think - dont suppose I can

red the needle and blue the dial ?

Anyway thanks - need it out and a full set of LED's or something.

Lexus or toyota dealer I guess !

Also tried to put a pic in - I can see why I didn't get a flood of replies - what's that

URL link ?

Steviewevie · April 21, 2009

The needles are painted red, so they'll glow red or at least reddish whatever colour LEDs you have in there. So yes, you can have a blue dial with a red needle still.

It does sound like you've got a very poor LED conversion in there. A dealer won't really be in the best place to help you if you want to put more LEDs in there. Best to check out some of the past threads on this sort of thing (search for "leds") and see what sort of LEDs other members have used in their dash. Trouble is, the a/c controls are a lot more tricky to put in there (and therefore to replace), you might have to get it out and see exactly what they've done there.

Sorry but I didn't understand your question about the URL link ?

Steviewevie · April 21, 2009

Try these threads for discussions on LEDs in the dash (bearing in mind that they're talking about the IS200 though do I don't know if the Altezza might need a different number of LEDs ?) :