improving speedometer visibility

I would like to be able to see my truck's speedometer more easily on bright days.

How can this be done? I am wondering if it is possible to put a small LED on the flat spot at the bottom of the gauge and wire it to 12v somehow.

I don't have the technical ability to remove the cluster and solder LEDs in place of the existing light bulbs. I don't really want to take the cluster out to ship it somewhere either. My mechanic doesn't think it is going to make it better anyway.

I have had other Toyota trucks. The '86 and '89 were the easiest to see the speedometer with black gauge faces and orange needles and the gauges were not in a dark recess like my '10. The '01 I had before this truck had white gauge faces, but still easy to read in most situations.

My eyes don't like to look in a dark recess when they are more accustomed to the glare of the sun in eastern Washington. But that seems to be how cars are made nowadays.

Anyone have any insight? Thanks....

 

I have the same issues, and of course it's getting worse as I get older. I use my gps speed readout when the sun is in the windshield, or a small edc led flashlight in a pinch, or...

A flexible gooseneck with a usb plug on one end and a led light on the other end. They were made to light up a laptop keyboard, before lighted keyboards became the standard. Mine is 19" long, plugs into the left power outlet via a cig lighter/usb adapter. Perfect length, lays between the wiper switch shaft and the steering column and points directly at the speedo. A small removable glue dot would hold it in place, although I've never used anything. Even goes on/off with the ignition switch.

 

This may be a silly response....but have you tried turning up the brightness? There's a dimmer just left of the steering wheel.

 

I'm in the same boat. Use GPS for speed and flashlight for fuel gauge. Getting old is a bitch!!

 

Do an LED swap. I swapped the amber LEDs for white.

Before (Day Time):



After (Day Time):


After (Night):

 

Is there a link for this swap? Can average Joe do this?

 

There arent a lot of detailed tutorials on this out there, however, here is a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyEDHtdHx2M

You will need to be comfortable with a soldering iron. I had never messed with soldering on a circuit board before i did mine, but i had some experience soldering other things. I melted a few leds before i got them all installed, so definitely buy some extra (they are super cheap - https://www.oznium.com/plcc-2 )

 

If I tried a swap like that, my brakes lights or something wouldn't work.

 

It wasnt too hard. I think it took me about 3 hours or so being extra careful. Could probably do it again in half the time.

 

Might have to look into this, but my soldering iron is shit on a good day.

 

i used a cheap one from Lowes. if i was going to do it again, i would probably get a better one with a finer point (or take mine to the bench grinder to thin it out).

 

True man this might be what kicks me over the top to do this. I would love to get that effect. How much did this roughly run you to complete?

 

1 x Soldering iron - $20 - https://www.lowes.com/pd/Weller-Electric-Lead-Free-Soldering-Kit/4734289
25 x cool white leds (allow for extra) - $15 - https://www.oznium.com/plcc-2
1 x rosin core solder - $8 -

Sywon 60-40 Tin Lead Rosin Core Solder Wire 0.039" 50g for Electrical Soldering and DIYs

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LVTTL9E
3 x hours time and a couple beers

Total: $43

$15 if you already have a soldering iron and solder

 

That looks nice!

 

If you're not comfortable soldering on circuit boards, look around your area for a TV repair guy. I do most of my own circuit board repair, but for the really small stuff, I go to my TV guy.

 

After living with it for a little while (+3 months), the cool white is a little much at night at full brightness. I usually keep the dimmer at about 2/3 all the time. I've thought about swapping them again with red, but then they become hard to see in the daylight.

 

I've read before that red is best for night time driving, I sure miss my RSX with the red interior lights.

 

I've seen that as well. I will most likely end up swapping them again, because the rest of my interior lights (footwell, dome, map, etc) are all red as well.

 

Good thought, but the cluster lights are all on max.

 

This looks amazing. However, this mod is out of my skill set.