club.liberty.asn.au

Just a small walkthrough on how I changed the SI-DRIVE switch led's

basically you remove the entire centre console out of the car (http://forum.liberty.asn.au/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=4032&hilit=cupholders if you need a walkthrough, thanks John)

tools needed:
3528 smd surface mount led's (colour of your choice) 7 in total just for the SI-DRIVE switch
Phillipshead screwdriver 2 point
thin flathead screwdriver or trim removal tools
tweezers
pencil tip soldering iron with stand (I use a temp controlled cheap one from jaycar, keep it at around 300 degrees or so)
flux (I use cheap stuff from jaycar)
solder (I use 0.5mm 60/40 lead/tin)
cleaning agent, alcohol wipe or as I used crc contact cleaner
good eyesight with a half steady hand haha
patience, above all this is the most needed part of the mod, or any mod for that matter

-unscrew the screws at the front of the console to give you the ability to remove the SI-DRIVE switch
-disconnect the wire loom for it and remove it
-then pry the switch apart from the back (see pics below) I did it in pairs eg. one side then its matching pair on the other making sure to keep tension on the first side so it doesn't pop back on can be quite tricky, take your time or else you will snap the clips
-desolder the led's (I did this one by one just to be sure the polarity is facing the right way but the led's have an angle indent on the face of them in one corner so its easy to have them correct
-I used the 'floating' method to remove the led's, basically you put flux onto the connection points (one on each side of the led that connect it to the circuit) then flood solder onto the connections (add more than you usually would as this new solder lowers the melting temp of the original connection) then heat each side as the solder will take nearly a second to cool to solid state, keep moving from one side to the other until the led 'floats' off or sticks to the iron
-clean the board from the leftover flux
-add flux to the board again on connection points (don't be shy as it dry's up pretty quick when heated)
-dab a small amount of solder onto the iron itself and then add this solder to each connection point (only a small amount is needed this will be apparent after some attempts, and the use of flux cleans the connections instead of the flux in the core of the solder as it is melted away at point of contact with iron, a common mistake for many people soldering, adding it to the iron instead of directly onto the contact point whether it be wires or circuit boards)
-use tweezers to hold the led steady on desired connection point(this is where the good eyesight and steady hands come into play)
-heat ONE side only whilst holding led in place
-once it has cooled relocate tweezers to top side of led adding downforce so the led sinks flush with the board
-at this point make sure the led is lined up with coinciding connection point (if it is not simply reheat the solder and realign, its easier to do it when only one side is soldered)
-keep downforce applied and head OTHER side of the connection points, you may then need to heat each side until the led is flush with the board (bottom side) use the same method when 'floating' off the led but keeping downforce applied
-hopefully the led stayed in the position you wanted it to but this can be very tricky and patience needs to be maintained (if the led shifts out of place it can be a PITA to get back in place, don't stress simply 'float' the led off and start again, once practiced each led will only take a minute or two each)
-now clean the board and move on to the next led until all 7 are done

now bask in your own glory



































hope this comes to be helpful, some feedback would be awesome

cheers

Brunsy

Thanks for that

Fantastic job, looks good

Nice work, but you do now realise you have to do every single red LED in the console/HU/cluster blue to match.....

the good thing is I have aftermarket HU, the downside is that the air con module is going to be pretty difficult, the power window switches and other instruments are going to be fairly easy, just waiting on led's to arrive

the main hard bit with the air con module is the dials, the rest of them are simple but the dials are soldered in place so they need to be removed from the board and then disassembled aswell, so a nervous week that one will be haha

not 100% on the dash cluster yet, im thinking maybe just to change the outer red rings and potentially leave the needles red, gotta make my mind up before I start I would say haha fun fun

I'd love to have the SI module match my cup holders.
I quite like the red centre stack illumination, but the SI is separate enough to look a little out of place next to the larger blue cup holder illumination.

One of those little things I didn't know I didn't like until I saw something better I am intruiged...

I am fussy sometimes and like something unique, and I know that anything can be changed its just about how committed you are to have a go, im glad I did

im now endeavouring to change the majority of the instrument led's, im halfway done with the power window switches and some of the other switches are done, just a few pieces like steering wheel controls that I have been avoiding as I have to muck around where the airbag sits, but I will get there, check my profile - http://forum.liberty.asn.au/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=21059

SWCs require removing the airbag & steering wheel iirc, just follow the how-tos carefully, I put alignment tape from column cover to steering wheel rear cover, cut it at the join, and then crack the nut - to make putting the wheel back on straight easy.

do I actually have to remove the entire wheel? I thought the airbag cover could just come down and then unbolt the switches from there, but a lot more research before I begin, thanks for the info BBBenny

You'd think so but iirc to unscrew the SWC's the rear cover has to come off...
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=18971
I'm waiting to get a new new wheel before changing out my SWC's to new color ones, soon I hope.

im now interested to get my hands on some black SWC, would look awesome I think especially with some new LED's in them, if you do take your wheel apart anytime soon Benny can you take some happy snaps so we know what were up against?
any ideas on where to source some black switches?

I just asked nicely
Will ask them to keep an eye out for another set...

So if you feel the back of the steering wheel, there's no access holes for the SWC screws.
Just the big holes for removing the air bag.

It only takes 15min to get the SWC out, from there the back covers just clip off exposing the PCB.
As above, the wheel cover needs to come off first to expose the screws.


Remember to remove the airbag fuse just in case.

yeah I think the whole battery will be getting disconnected and left for some time before work will commence, cant be too careful, also I will basically have to take it all apart then find what size LEDs I need, put it back together wait for the LEDs to arrive and then take it back apart and fit it all up, but I have done this countless times already so its nothing new, just know that the old steering wheel is pretty important so I want to make sure I know what im doing haha

I can pull apart my SWC's and measure w/ pics if that helps?