Qxxx4's all blue climate control

[Qxxx4]

Special thanks to slickroger for the cellophane and tips!!! I know I havent been on much, ive been working crazy hours and school and going out of town almost every weekend. ive been working on the q every spare hour i get though.

After having so much trouble with premade base/led's i decided to just make my own for this application since theres so much room to work with (kinda) in the C.C. I first took the bases and soldered my own LED/resistor to each, then the light output was very uneven. I.E the fan control....had almost double the light output to the bottom arrow as the top (because the bulb is closer) the auto/econ/off setup has ONE light...wow...no wonder its always so dull. Anyways,heres my solution.

note that this is how the damn module is removed...

My DIY led base, kept these for the TEMP, and recirculation lights

simply taped the cellophane on, dont worry about wrinkles you cant see them

The rest of the LED's i hardwired, and the pads are TINY, so if you have a variable heat iron, turn it down, or else you will have to do what I did, rewire to pads you CAN solder to. What a mess. but it works!

ok heres my idea, theres reflectors behind the fan control and auto/econ/off buttons, just take them out, drill holes in them for LED's and wire up the LED's

I ended up installed 2 LED's in the auto/econ area, this was a test

i also did my hazard switch, added a 5mm Red led, blue was kind of dullnotice how it comes apart..pay damn close attention, its pretty tricky to put it back together, heck i still didnt do it right, i cant get it to stay on i have to hold it lol ill fix it later. That little white piece is key!

finished......here is the Auto/econ/off with a regular bulb...(yawn)

and with my blue setup, red LED hazard, and i have yet to do defrost/4wd/cigg ring/heated seats (those i will be doing something totally different)

what do you guys think? the camera makes the blue brighter than it is so dont expect such brightness when you do yours, its a pretty soft blue really. OH IM GETTING A NEW DECK, Pioneer AVIC-U310BT, has a 4.3" removeable screen so i wont worry about getting robbed anymore, and i need navigation so im pumped. Only thing that sucks is it doesnt do video and the removeable screen isnt a standalone nav, but its great for adding addresses inside my house instead of in the q when its -10 out!

thanks for checking out my thread!

[naladude911]

Nice job, im going to get on this asap. Since your getting a new deck, how much for the old one?

[Qxxx4]

LOL its pretty much sold as soon as my new deck gets here. I bought mine for $300+tax, now with the cell phone laws coming into place the price jumped to $450 at best buy!! Which is why i decided to upgrade. I posted my ad on craigslist asking $300 and 3 people already offered me that. Im sure they are cheaper in the U.S, my new deck is $699 here but I bought it from the U.S with shipping included for $420...and its coming USPS...no gay brokerage fees...UPS is a ripoff.

[fueler]

Damn thats too much electrical work for my blood! But the finished result is beautiful! Esp. lovin the compass. Did you lose any light output with the cellophane? I would clip the dimmer wire to the compass so it would stay fully lit even with headlights on.... been wanting to do that.

Where did you get the cellophane?

[Qxxx4]

yes you definately do lose some light output in the daytime, but its still visible. Today i was driving into sunset and had a real hard time seeing the compass until i turned my running lights off then it looked great, I plan to cut dimmer wire to it eventually.

The cellophane I got from slickroger he lives a few minutes away from me, check out his thread on it im pretty sure hell tell you where he got it

[Empty V]

He posted the link to the ebay page, I've got mine on order. Looks great Brian. You can say it sucks you've got to do all of that compared to my 01 which is just popping in the new bulbs but it wouldn't be fun if it was easy, right? Nice work bro you presence has definitely been lacking of the last month. Does anyone know which wire is the dimmer for the compass? Obviously with the nav you'll only use it for outside temp.

BTW glad to see you're sticking with pioneer, that unit looks pretty sweet. I could probably count on 1 hand how many times I've used my DVD player, it's something you wont be missing.

Billy
Modified by Empty V at 11:26 PM 10/17/2009

[Pwnin O'Brien]

He posted the like to the ebay page, I've got mine on order. Looks great Brian. You can say it sucks you've got to do all of that compared to my 01 which is just popping in the new bulbs but it wouldn't be fun if it was easy, right? Nice work bro you presence has definitely been lacking of the last month. Does anyone know which wire is the dimmer for the compass? Obviously with the nav you'll only use it for outside temp.

BTW glad to see you're sticking with pioneer, that unit looks pretty sweet. I could probably count on 1 hand how many times I've used my DVD player, it's something you wont be missing.

Billy

The illumination wire for the compass/thermometer is PINK/GREEN. You can't just snip that wire, if you do they won't illuminate at all. In order to achieve maximum brightness you will need to cut that wire and feed the wire (on the compass side) either constant 12V or Ground, I'm not sure which is required tho. I'm pretty sure Ground would put it at full brightness, but don't quote me. The best way to find out would be to meter that wire and turn the illumination up/down and note the change in voltage. I believe that the PINK/GREEN wire will lower in voltage as you turn up the illumination and increase in voltage when you turn down the illumination. It could be the other way around, if it is then you would need to feed the PINK/GREEN wire a constant 12V.

[Pwnin O'Brien]

If you need to ground it there is a BLACK ground wire at the compass/thermometer harness.

-- or --

If you need constant 12V (well 12V with ACC or ON) the GREEN/RED wire at the compass/thermometer harness should do the job.

Remember to always meter the wires before connecting them!

[exvin]

WOW...That looks really good!!! Nice Job

[lino]

Love the blue! Very nice .

[slickroger]

Nice Job looks good

Heres the link there talking about

Green display to blue with cellophane

[Pwnin O'Brien]

So I posted in this thread already, but I didn't yet comment on the color change...

Firstly let me say that that looks absolutely perfect. From the pictures, it looks like the new blue LED's and the blue lights on the head unit match almost perfectly. I think it looks great and I wish mine could look this amazing. I'm not gonna lie, the one thing I hate most about my Pathy is that it doesn't have the auto HVAC and I wish it did so I could do this mod.

Second, good choice on the new head unit. I bought and installed a Pioneer AVIC-F900BT last summer and I love it. A lot of F-series owner hate it because there were a lot of issues when they first came out, the software was buggy and very slow. With the recent release of the X-series and U-series, they were able to work out all the kinks and perfect the units. I recommend checking out the website http://www.avic411.com , it's a great place to get lots of information on the Pioneer AVIC series; I've been a member since I bought my unit and it's allowed me to heavily modify my units software and make the unit the way I want it. I know you'll love the U-series!

I bought some of the purple cellophane but I have yet to try it out. The cellophane I bought is a little lighter than yours and Slickrogers, but I'll try it out and post some pics when I get it finished.

[Empty V]

...Second, good choice on the new head unit. I bought and installed a Pioneer AVIC-F900BT last summer and I love it. A lot of F-series owner hate it because there were a lot of issues when they first came out, the software was buggy and very slow. With the recent release of the X-series and U-series, they were able to work out all the kinks and perfect the units. I recommend checking out the website http://www.avic411.com , it's a great place to get lots of information on the Pioneer AVIC series; I've been a member since I bought my unit and it's allowed me to heavily modify my units software and make the unit the way I want it. I know you'll love the U-series!...

I second AVIC411.com. I joined when I bought my D3 last year and used it again for my Z3. I'm a big supporter of Pioneer, they make quality head-units. I can actually mod the hard drive in mine and load all sorts of stuff on it or swap it out for a bigger one. The only bummer is they don't have any Nav support for expansion maps. I'm in Baja a lot and would love some street maps.

Billy

[slickroger]

I second AVIC411.com. I joined when I bought my D3 last year and used it again for my Z3. I'm a big supporter of Pioneer, they make quality head-units. I can actually mod the hard drive in mine and load all sorts of stuff on it or swap it out for a bigger one. The only bummer is they don't have any Nav support for expansion maps. I'm in Baja a lot and would love some street maps.

Billy

Im on this site to i got some help from those forums, I would like map expansions aswell.

[Qxxx4]

thanks for the comments, ill definately check that forum out. I feel that the deck is going to be a bit basic compared to the higher models but I really need that piece of mind of a detachable face, too many times im scared to park in places or go certain places because the easiest thing to steal is my $300+ deck, whereas if my subs/amp were stolen i could care less since I only paid $140. Plus I really need nav since im moving to a new town next month.

The pictures actually make the led's look alot better than they are, dont expect perfect results unless you have a huge selection of shades of purple for cellophane. The display's blue is a lighter shade than the buttons, and the three circulation/defrost and mode buttons are noticeably under-lit compared to the temp button. This is just because of the way their lights are positioned and I really cant find a way to improve that. But when i just stuck bulbs in there the off/econ/auto and fan speed controls were all unevenly lit so my little mod made a world of difference and made them much brighter so it looks much better now, i highly reccomend drilling into the lenses....just take it really easy and use a pinhole bit and slowly work your way to larger holes until your LED fits, and you have to use 2-3mm led's, no way that a 5mm will fit

[Empty V]

Before you install your deck don't forget to do the bypass! The bypass allows you to start or change your router while driving and if you've got a dvd player you can watch them while the vehicle is in motion.

Billy

[Qxxx4]

easy?? im supposed to get it today/tommorow and i have exams all week ill just mod it later thx for the heads up!

[Pwnin O'Brien]

The bypass is super easy and only take a couple of minutes. I definitely recommend doing the bypass during the install.

[slickroger]

easy?? im supposed to get it today/tommorow and i have exams all week ill just mod it later thx for the heads up!

The bypass is easy as pie I can give you a hand its definetly worth doing. you wont be able to insert new addresses or search for things in your vicinity without stopping which is wack when your on a highway or something.

[Qxxx4]

ill figure it out, i took apart my trim around the gear shift and saw parking brake wires and avic411 says something about grounding one of those wires, seems no prob. I think its whack too that i cant mess with the addresses n stuff while crusing down the 410....thats not eco-friendly. technically modifying the must-be-stopped function to be disabled is GREEN.

screw you hippies!!!

oct 26th...hands free laws!

[Pwnin O'Brien]

ill figure it out, i took apart my trim around the gear shift and saw parking brake wires and avic411 says something about grounding one of those wires, seems no prob. I think its whack too that i cant mess with the addresses n stuff while crusing down the 410....thats not eco-friendly. technically modifying the must-be-stopped function to be disabled is GREEN.

screw you hippies!!!

oct 26th...hands free laws!

No no no, you have to ground the parking brake wire on the Pioneer units wiring harness, not your vehicle.

[Qxxx4]

gotcha!

so cant I just take the parking brake wire on the pioneer harness and tie it to chassis ground of the deck?

also...since i already have a newer pioneer deck (2008 model) cant I just juse my same harness? will the connector be exactly the same? if so then my harness already has a parking brake wire? i dont remember seeing one for that..

[Pwnin O'Brien]

Your current head units harness most likely doesn't have a parking brake wire since they only implement that wire for navigation/DVD head units. The wiring harness for the new head unit will probably be different from your current units.

As for grounding the parking brake wire on the new head unit harness, all I did was solder the parking brake wire to the black grounding wire in the same harness. Yeah, you could probably also just connect the parking brake wire to the grounded unit chassis.

[slickroger]

Your current head units harness most likely doesn't have a parking brake wire since they only implement that wire for navigation/DVD head units. The wiring harness for the new head unit will probably be different from your current units.

As for grounding the parking brake wire on the new head unit harness, all I did was solder the parking brake wire to the black grounding wire in the same harness. Yeah, you could probably also just connect the parking brake wire to the grounded unit chassis.

Thats what I did, I also had to ground some mute wire not sure if its cellphone mute or something else but i definitely had to ground two wires on my deck they called it the "2 wire bypass"

[Empty V]

Thats what I did, I also had to ground some mute wire not sure if its cellphone mute or something else but i definitely had to ground two wires on my deck they called it the "2 wire bypass"

It's not a cell phone mute it's a useless wire. You have to move one wire in the harness to a different pin location and ground that and the parking brake wire. When I went from the AVIC-D3 to the AVIC-Z3 the block connectors were different so I had to re-solder the harness, pretty ridiculous.

Billy

[slickroger]

yea thats it I did this so long ago but thats what I did. I took the cellphone mute wire out and put it in the harness location that needed to be grounded that makes sense now.

[Natedogg1701]

where can i buy real cellophane? like good stuff that will give me the blue looking lights for my climate control abd other lights? cause i doubt the ebay stuff is any good.

[Pwnin O'Brien]

where can i buy real cellophane? like good stuff that will give me the blue looking lights for my climate control abd other lights? cause i doubt the ebay stuff is any good.

You mean like this?



This is the eBay stuff. This is the real stuff and it does the job. I doubt you will be able to find anything better.

[Qxxx4]

kinda hijacked my own thread but i finished installing my new nav unit, wanted to thank you guys for the parking brake tip, didnt think it would be that easy but you guys proved me wrong! Pictures up in next few days