NB Red Instrumentation Lighting

[kung fu jesus]

Looking to gather some information...

I have an NB1 with the factory green lighting. I prefer red lighting for my own preference and benefit. Do the NB2s have factory red lighting? What would I need to go full-red? HVAC, centerstack and auxiliary switches, etc? Do I need the lights or the panels themselves?

Thanks for looking!

[turboedpickup]

NB1 here. NB2 has amber lighting. I bought a cluster just for the metal ring surround and swapped the bulbs over. If you get the amber bulbs from revlimiter, they're more orange-orange whereas the NB2 bulbs are more red-orange (just clarifying that they're not red).

If I'm not mistaken, for the HVAC and all that other stuff, it's the bulbs that need replacing...BUT - it's a bit more involved getting to them vs the gauge cluster bulbs.

Edit: more info...

https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=536965

[kung fu jesus]

EXCELLENT! Thanks! I will plan to source an NB2 instrument cluster with the satin silver rings, the HVAC panel and an orange cigarette lighter surround.

[HarryB]

Have been trying to get rid of amber on mine for ages; I want a warm white in everything. NB2 HVAC panel has an orange overlay (I believe NB1 ones are clear?), so do the gauge faces. NB2 switches are clear, orange bulb condoms make up for amber/orange lighting. ODO screen has an orange overlay too; had installed a red led behind mine, so the screen lights up in a rich red colour (photos in my build thread).

I imagine that using red LEDs behind NB2 HVAC and gauges will give a nice red colour. Switches can be done too, either with red LEDs or with red bulb condoms.

[kung fu jesus]

Oh! I thought the HVAC on the NB1 was green? I wasn't sure from the link turboed posted.

I intend to do Revlimiter "FC" gauges, white LED back lighting, hope to match the red fields of the gauges on the centerstack and switches reasonably close.

http://revlimiter.net/store/gauges/fc-nb01.jpg

[NicolasN]

After i installed the rev limiter faces i wanted all the interior light go down the LED way!
Suddenly i realized that the Hvaac panel didnt turn to white,i thinnk that amber is on the faces :)!
Cheers

[kung fu jesus]

Amber is easier to make red than green. I dislike the green.

[kung fu jesus]

After i installed the rev limiter faces i wanted all the interior light go down the LED way

Do you mean the way LEDs dim in adjustment versus incandescent bulbs?

[NicolasN]

No acctualy i removed the oem bulbs from hvaac pabel with led ones and i wss expection white colour but i was wrong cause the faces have amber overlay. As a result i still have amber colour on my hvaac

Στάλθηκε από το LG-D855 μου χρησιμοποιώντας Tapatalk

[turboedpickup]

Amber is easier to make red than green. I dislike the green.

Agreed. My HVAC is green and it IS annoying. But it's last on my list of things to change XD.

Also went with revlimiters zen gauges.

[kung fu jesus]

All good info! Thanks so much! I found an NB2 cluster with satin silver rings and an HVAC in satin silver too. I think I’m going to try to see this through.

In my NA, I found a British company (Lockwood?) that sells red OE gauges and HVAC panels. I made all the lighting red, except the CC and dimmer switch. I liked it very much. I want to do something special for the NB. :)

[Agent☣Orange]

Man, I had a great writeup years ago but it was wiped out by Photobucket. I’m going to get my backup drive out and look up my old picts. I eventually went all LED in mine but due to the nature of the bulbs, I wasn’t able to attain uniform brightness and mitigate hotspots.

[kung fu jesus]

I saw some input you had on another forum, yeah the photos were wiped out, but it was great info! There's a lot of disjointed info out there among all the sites.

[kung fu jesus]

I received a cluster from an ‘04 with the satin silver rings, white faces, amber lighting. I wanted to be honest because the odo for the new unit has about 98k fewer miles on it than mine. I swapped the odometers. I looked up how to do it, very easy, but I still wasn’t sure what color the odo would be when I swapped them. I took them apart to show the differences.

Keep in mind, my odo is from a ‘99.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/e3e0b5e47f55c1a8c2accacbec192a8b.jpg

With the odometer assembly out, it disassembles very easily with a small Phillips screwdriver and a tiny flat electronics screwdriver. Remove the black cover from the front of the odo display (not shown below) with the flat screwdriver. Along the bottom edge of the odo display there are two small reliefs, one on either side of the display’s pins, that I used alternately to gently pry the it from the circuit board. The display is LCD (glass), so be aware it is fragile. ;)

After the display is out there are two Phillips screws holding the circuit board to the white enclosure. Removing those, the circuit board lifts out. The trip meter button remains.

Here are the pieces of the odo:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/5d8614cc6659a55781655bfd1aa00528.jpg

The key differences are that the ‘99 has a translucent diffuser in the enclosure.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/94fffec72804790976917b348b3d8b71.jpg

The ‘04 (with amber lit gauges) has a purple-ish red diffuser that the light shines through.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/6fd4d854cee004f275ccef778f962b90.jpg

The ‘99 odo has a light with a green condom on it. The ‘04 has an orange/amber condom on it.

I used all the ‘99 odo components and installed it into the ‘04 cluster, using the amber-condom’d bulb to light it, instead of the green one.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/c93ef7f6eef09e7ae86b49707024d841.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/3af912964fb15b48cfdadc2bd3b64898.jpg

I also made a jumper to operate the high beam indicator.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/4195f4c826f8935a9219366faf228354.jpg

It didn’t work, but I’ll readdress it later, I likely didn’t do it right or the bulb isn’t seated properly (I pulled it from it’s socket to look inside).

So, if you have an NB2 with amber lighting, and you want to changer the color, take note of the colored diffuser on the odo. :) I don’t know if the colored diffuser can be removed or changed.

[HarryB]

I had the same "issue" with mine as posted a few posts back. Tried to do it white as the rest of the interior lighting by using a white LED. Color turned out to be...something. Swapped to red LED instead just for the screen, came out perfect, matching the red used by Adam (Revlimiter) in the red zone of my tach perfectly. Was not aware that the NB one is clear though, was always under the impression it was green.

P.S. Try a red LED for the odo screen, you are going to love it.

[kung fu jesus]

Differences in HVAC panel colors...

NB1

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/523c8ef39d9a6fa8bf76109a3d29d9ac.jpg

NB1 HVAC knobs:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/a0223fccf7d62ed72fcf4c6d77187315.jpg

NB2 panel (not sure of year or model):

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/8ef6da4b30c3b8a3d73a22c9926961a9.jpg

NB2 knobs (right, vs NB1 knob on left):

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/38d8662627d88330904035daa831137d.jpg

I was ambivalent about the NB2 satin silver HVAC panel so I used a heat gun on low, pushed the HVAC gels/gauges out from behind:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/2fa00c6c2a0090eee0d6f196b1fa8b38.jpg

They came off clean so I re-heated the glue on the gels and transferred them to my black NB1 HVAC panel:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/95b53a1ad076d0b555812e16863517ab.jpg

The NB1 panel has two lights, both have green condoms. The NB2 has white. I removed the condoms.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/930da550c583ad52d1807415d9398768.jpg

Reinstalled the NB1 panel with NB2 gels. Checked that it all lights up before buttoning it up. I also moved the radio to middle and the pocket to the top.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/da58219f094b1d703056c1ee1a0220c2.jpg

[Warhammer]

I replaced all of my instrument lighting (NB2) with red LEDs. I love the deep red color. Only down side is that the blue in the AC temp dial disappears at night.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/799/26713994577_2da0968c90_z.jpg

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/820/40871250084_a2cdcb3bc5_k.jpg