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Today at Atelier Kaz - ex-Honda R&D, F1, Indy/CART engineer

CCU Illumination 02

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2 Comments
by
Kaz-kzukNA1
, 11-10-2012 at 10:50 AM (3419 Views)



On going testing of modified setup on Clock and CCU illumination.








Under the daylight with the light switched on.

This photo was taken when only the clock was modified.












Clock and CCU being modified.

Their displays stay at the max brightness with the modifications.

Please note that due to the camera exposure rate and photo being taken
directly in front of the centre console,
the text on the audio head unit looked very clear even without any modifications.

We all know that this won’t be the case while we are driving under the daylight.
We can see almost nothing on these displays.









Inside the garage before turning the lights on.









Lights on and it will switch on all of the back lights as well.

With the modification, the Clock and CCU display will maintain their brightness
as above and won’t dim.

I have also modified the board to maintain the brightness of the LED at
the push button switch on CCU display module.



The audio head unit is standard and not modified so the display will dim.


So far, tested in the wet, dry, daylight, night driving conditions and for me,
it didn’t bother me even with the max brightness in the night.

Having said this, I prefer to have them back to the original (dim) state for
the night driving.


As I would like to put everything back to their original state once I have
installed the DRL, made minimum modification to the CCU circuit board.

Just two tracks to be cut and they can be re-connected with ease.


It’s time of the year and starting to get dark earlier than the summer period
so interesting to see how the test goes.


Kaz
Categories
A/C CCU Board Service , Electronics

Comments

  1. Silver Surfer's Avatar
    Top effort Kaz.
    I suspect 95% of owners would like this mod.
    Please let us know how we can have the pleasure of this pioneering modification.

    Kare
  2. Kaz-kzukNA1's Avatar
    Hi, Silver Surfer.
    It’s nothing special for someone with electronics background.

    You just need to cut tiny amount (less than 1 mm) of one track on the CCU board to keep the brightness of the display and then another one at the display module if you want to do the same for the LEDs at the push buttons although latter one may not be required for some of you.

    So, if you can take out the CCU by yourself or ask someone to do it for you, cutting the track is a DIY process.


    Again, if you are installing DRL, you want to go back to the original state so the modification has to be the minimum.


    Before I post the detail, I just need to be careful to see whether there is any local regulations requiring the display to dim or not during the night driving session.


    One time when we were designing the dash display on the steering wheel for the open air cockpit racing car, we went to a certain place where it can simulate all sorts of lighting conditions in the nature including the direction of the sunlight, night driving, etc and based on this experience, I’m aware of the pros and the cons of driving with the bright display in the night.

    In summary, it is best to have minimum brightness at the dash display located at the line of your sight while driving in the night to maximise the visibility/focus on the road and prevent any disturbances.

    The clock, CCU and audio head unit are all at the centre console so personally, I felt comfortable driving with these modifications even in the night but I would like to test more especially going through the roundabout or making turns in the night while my eyes will spend longer time at the side of the car than going straight.


    Kaz