| biggun |
I was surfing the net and came upon this maxima forum that has figured out an innovative way of getting rid of the orange display. I would guess that this would work for the MO as well.
See link: http://www.6thgenmaxima.org/ |
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| zebelkhan |
| Good find. Sounds like just bulb replacement only though. I wonder how they do the screen. I bet jaak knows! Well???? :D |
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| samwlee |
So it's $595 installed???
Looks sweet.. the only thing I wish they could add is to light up the front door sills.. be cool if the "Murano" letter glowed when the door opens :2: |
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| jaak |
$595? Holy stuff, that's expensive for a few bucks worth of LED's and some time.
I'd do mine, if I owned it, but I don't. If I get ambitious I'll take mine apart just for the heck of it. I've done this same thing on a number of cell phones. |
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| zebelkhan |
quote:
Originally posted by jaak
If I get ambitious I'll take mine apart just for the heck of it. I've done this same thing on a number of cell phones.
The bulbs are easy. What I want to know is how you can change the color of the display. Any pointers jaak? |
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| biggun |
zebelkhan,
I was thinking the same thing. I would imagine, if you take apart the display screen (ouch...especially if you break it) then you would find some orange/amber lights that can be swapped out. It may require soldering.
Living so close, I may decide to do this mod. Although, it would have to go at the bottom of my currently lengthy mod wish list.
Notice that you can get this mod in other colors: Blue, Red, Green, White, and Purple. |
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| zebelkhan |
| Tell me what to do. I already have mine out of its case! I had to do it in order to fit it in its new location....:4: |
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| biggun |
Sorry Z,
I'm no expert on this topic. I was guessing here.
I think Jaak is the expert on this topic. |
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| jaak |
I need to connect my logic analyser to mine to capture the data to the display during start up, and I hope to do this this weekend. So while I'm at it, I'll take a look at where the LEDs are and what size.
The black plastic cover on the back of the display, is just held in by little tabs. Once you remove this, you see:
Where the white ribbon cable attaches on the left, can be released. Part of the black connector is pushed in to compress the end of the cable. You can release this by gently pulling up on the edge of it, either side. It will come up a bit, but not out, and then you can pull out the ribbon cable and remove the screws holding in the circuit board. This board is the one that takes the data sent to the display unit and formats into the bits to turn on and off each segment or indicator in the display itself.
The next step is to unscrew the metal case from the display. There's a black plastic cover on the front of the display, that also has little tabs that hold it in place. Make a note of which way it's on, so you put it back on the right way around. It will fit upside down, but then the clear opening on the front will be a little off in position.
Once you have the display out of all this, it will look like this.
The next step, which I have yet to do, because I had no need to, is to straighten out the metal tabs that hold the display in place, and then being extremely, did I say extremely, careful, lift the PC board from the carrier, ensuring the connector to the LCD itself is not stressed or damaged in any way. Damage that, and you just trashed your display. I expect there are surface mount LEDs on the other side,but I've not taken mine apart to see where, how many and what size.
Yet.
One note about this whole process... You must do this in an environment that is low static. Don't do it on a plastic surface, try not to drag your feet across the carpet before doing this, don't play with your Van der Graf generator or Tesla coil, immediately before and try to handle the circuit boards by the mounting points (screw holes, tab pads) when you first touch it each time.
Static electricity can cook a part and you'll never know it happened. Well, until you try to use it again. |
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| jaak |
I just thought of something funny...
I mentioned I've done this with a number of cell phones. I've tried red leds, blue leds, green were often in there already, white leds and orange leds.
The red ones were terrible at making the display readable. The blue ones look cool, but again, the contrast could have been better. However there are whiter blues that might work better. But my favourite mod was to put in.... You got it. Orange. Always had the best contrast! |
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| biggun |
Jaak,
You are a tease! You showed us everything with the exception of flipping the screen board.
Come on - just take it out and flip it. You are practically there.
:eek: Oops, then again...we don't want you to trash the thing before you attempt to capture the data.
Please, please, please, keep us updated. :D |
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| GMTURBO43 |
| Amber (orange) and green are the easiest to read against black. |
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| jaak |
quote:
Originally posted by GMTURBO43
Amber (orange) and green are the easiest to read against black.
Hence all those early Green and Amber computer monitors...
Yeah, I took those pictures a couple of weeks back, when I was looking at the electronics, so I had no desire at that point to go the one more step.
But I'll likely do it this weekend, just cause I've been this way since childhood.
Lots of kids could take stuff apart. I'd put it together and it would still work. Sometimes, even better.
;) |
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| jaak |
| The display is orange because of 18 LED's. These can be replaced with any colour LED you like, to make the display, any colour you like... |
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| jaak |
How? Well I'll look up a replacement for those that feel ambitious. Don't do this, unless you have experience with electronics and can solder surface mount parts.
When you get the display apart to this stage, you have to straighten out all the bent tabs to take off the metal shell. |
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| jaak |
Be extremely careful, and you can remove the metal shell. Do not put your fingers on the face of the display, and I suggest you do this on a table with a cloth underneath.
The white plastic is sandwiched between the display and the PC board, with a flexible ribbon cable between them. Gently lift the display off the front, and then the PC board can be taken off the back. It may be easiest to flip the display up and off, and then lift the white plastic part off the PCB. There is a tab in the middle that will try to lock the PCB on to it, and a couple of guide pins, plus the LED's fit precisely into the the plastic.
Once unwrapped, it will look like this... |
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| jaak |
| Be careful as behind the display, in the white plastic carrier are two other parts for diffusing the light. |
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| jaak |
So, depending on the LED's, it might cost you anywhere from 4 to 20 bucks worth of parts, and some time.
$595? That's some pretty good profit there. I'd do it for half that. Installed. |
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| jaak |
| Now to go do what I really took the display out for... Connect it to my logic analyser! |
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| CoolMomo |
I used to drive 99 honda accord before murano
and I also have done the interior light change..
actually, one of the accord crew did it for me with almost 100 CDN.
the accord had green light on gauges, climate control, clock, etc.
and I changed them to blue...
and.. the output were... ok.. it's a lot dimmer than i expected..
I always like the way lexus has... or Mercedecs...
bright white.. (the new accord has them as well)
do u think it's possible?
maybe, there are using some different LEDs.. |
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| jaak |
| Yeah, there are white LEDs. There are also brighter blue ones than used to be around. |
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| biggun |
Nice Jaak,
Thanks for the pics. How are they replaced?...with or without soldering? |
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| Kris |
jaak,
fantastic job! It is really tempting now. I would love to have dark-green display....or maybe white........would be nice
biggun, these are surface mount. Not easy to replace.
link to LED |
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| hfelknor |
Unless things have changed since I retired way back in '01, SMDs are welded on a board, not soldered.
Homer |
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| jaak |
They're soldered on.
Now the interesting part... Because of the format of these LED's it would be possible to cut the small traces to the four pads, well three of them, anyway, and use tricolor LEDs. The pads would be wired a little differently, and with an external control, any colour combination could be created, that you want.
Using the link Kris provided, as an example, the Tricolor LEDs there are $4.80 each, so it would cost 18 times that for them but then you could change the color with your mood swings. This is just an example, I've not looked to see if they're the right size.
I captured the display start up with the logic analyser, and by the looks of things, a small design change in the software and board layout, would allow Nissan to control the colour of the display at any time. But, like so many things designed in, it's not implemented. |
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| jaak |
The following picture is part of a capture from the connector from the display's controller board to the display memory board.
The Yellow traces appear to be for the LEDs, with brightness controlled by the upper traces width. If these were done so that they controlled RGB, then any colour combination could be created.
The Red traces appear to be steady state power, and the Green ones are at ground level.
The light blue traces are the data being sent to the display to turn segments on, or off.
If anyone wants to look at this in more detail, you need to download the TLAvu software from www.tektronix.com and then PM me for the files, with your email address and I'll email them to you. |
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| CP-Mike |
Are the only surface-mount LED's the ones for the display? Or are all the stereo/hvac/dash lights surface-mounted also?
I really want to try to do this myself if I can. One of the things I loved about my previous car (VW Jetta) was the dash and instrument lighting. All the knobs, buttons, etc were red, but the tach/speedo/etc were blue with red needles. I want to try to replicate this color scheme on my MO.
How hard is it to do surface-mount soldering without frying the PCB? I've soldered before, but not surface-mount stuff. With a little practice, would an averagely-dextrous person be able to pull it off?
What type(s)/size(s) of LEDs would I need? Just a brief look at that site (Ledtronics) revealed about 50 different types of LEDs... |
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| Tyler_Canada |
I work with people who can surface mount solder by hand with an iron. :)
I tried once on a processor, in order to overclock it. I succeeded, but it was messy and I made a mistake and tore up a track, but I was also dealing with smaller SMDs. These were resistors that were about 1mm X 2mm and these LEDs look to be about 2.5mm X 3mm (am I correct Jaak?) I think I could manage that.
I too really like the VW colour scheme and would like to reproduce it. |
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| jaak |
I would expect all the LEDs to be surface mounted, as it's less expensive to manufacture.
If you want to try it yourself, I suggest you buy a junked circuit board from a junk electronics store and try removing and placing parts on your own. It's not easy.
You need an extremely fine tip on a low wattage iron, to do this. Too much heat and you'll pull the traces right off the board.
I'd show you how it's done, but I like the orange, and mine's leased! |
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| CoolMomo |
why not show us using my car? :D
my car has nav, so i don't need to change the LCDs.
I want it super bright white!!! |
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| jaak |
| If you were close and I had the spare time, I would.. :) |
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| jace |
*subscribes*
the surface-mount LED's scare me, but I know some people who wouldn't be at all afraid to touch them... |
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| Tyler_Canada |
| I'm more afraid of taking the whole display system apart than I am of changing the SM LEDs. :13: |
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| Kris |
PhatBoi
do not tempt me! It looks great! If only I had more time...... |
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| CoolMomo |
only if all of my orange display can be that bright white..
i am willing to try! |
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| jaak |
Well, buy yourself a low wattage soldering iron, and go to an electronics surplus store and find a circuit board with surface mount parts on it. I used to use my iron with some copper wire wrapped around the tip and the end pointing out, as the actual SMD tip. Now I have another iron that has a fine tip and a heat control.
See if you can develop your skills enough that you can remove and replace parts without damaging the board.
You'll need some flux and solder, for electronics, not for plumbing!
Wash your hands when you finish messing around, as there's still a lot of lead/tin solder being used, especially in older parts. Too much lead exposure makes you go a little crazy, start to lose your hair, and become a moderator. |
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