Changing blue to amber on an Alpine HU

Posted on by Ian C.

The Alpine I recently installed in GPMINI works very well but it’s bright blue buttons look somewhat out of place, so today I disassembled the Alpine display head to see what can be done …

So we can see a couple of small bright blue LEDs, and loads of tiny green LEDs – the green ones are tiny (1.6mm x 0.8mm) and I have nothing that small, but I do have some amber LEDs on spare toggle switch panel PCBs that are small enough to fit in the blue LED position (they are size PLCC-2, like these at Digikey) … let’s try one … it works! So do the other one and see what the buttons look like:


Not bad 🙂
Here’s a “before” and “after” in GPMINI:

It’s not perfect (because the buttons themselves are colored blue too) but I think it’s better … now I need to buy some tiny LEDs to replace all the green ones – that’s going to be a nightmare job because they’re so small 😦

UPDATE: Here’s “the story so far” at night:

14 thoughts on “Changing blue to amber on an Alpine HU”

  2. Really nice mod Ian… there are so many electronic devices, particulalry car radio systems, with overly bright LEDS. Here, by the way, is a great source for small LEDS: both 1.8mm and 3mm and SMD style.

  4. Most brands now have multicolor LEDs and let you dial in the right color to match the rest of your car. For some reason Alpine has always been dead set on their blue and green lighting and wierdish design. It has always kept me away despite their superior audio electronics on the inside.
    Great job on the LED swap. I was always a bit scared of surface mount soldering but after my recent attempt it’s not so bad.

  5. I am proud of myself when I get on a ladder in my building and change a light bulb without breaking my kneck. I am quite certain that if I attempted your switch, I would likely kill myself – or someone else – from frustration.

    Well done, it looks great!

    G.

  6. Very nice mod… I actually just ordered some LEDs to start changing the dash lighting to blue. I will be sure to let you know if I need some help. 😉

  7. Josh,
    One big advantage I have is a “two prong” soldering iron specifically for working with small SMD parts like these LEDs.

  12. I really really liked the blue much better in your car, and in general. It’s so rare when car companies have interesting color schemes in their interiors…the blue did it for me…but alas, it is your car! 🙂

  13. I’ve looked everywhere and I can’t find anything matching the general idea of a two prong soldering iron. Any clue what this thing is called or how I find it?

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