DIY: Changed my Alpine Head unit's glow from green to amber

[pd109]

good thread

[rideanddestroy]

fwiw you can buy little rubber covers that slide over leds to change their illumination colour. works great! and you can pick any colour you want

[runnr548]

I love it! Now if I can talk my son into changing his blue Alpine glow into orange.

[mipajor45]

Good to know this can be done. My OEM head unit has been giving me more and more trouble lately. I might invest in a new one if I will be able to match the glow to the rest of the car.

[myAWe36]

That matches pretty well and is a huge improvement from the green. +1

[e36fiend]

My Alpine headunit already has perfectly matched buttons but the white/blue LCD display has always driven me crazy. Today I modded it to match the amber interior lights, it was super easy and looks great!

Before:


After:


Basically, like the other displays in your car that feature amber backlighting (OBC, HVAC) the light is provided by incandescent otherwise "white" bulbs and there is an orange/amber piece between the bulbs and the LCD that colors the display. What I did was open my faceplate and insert some colored cellophane in between the LED backlight and the LCD display.

First remove the face plate and unscrew the back.




Volume knob pulls off and the circuit board comes out easy.


The LCD is held down with some tiny clips and is attached with a ribbon cable. Detaching the ribbon was not necessary as there is plenty of room to flop the LCD over.


The LCD screen flipped over on the bottom. It's mostly transparent, the large white surface is simply a light source. Bright LEDs shine through the LCD to create the display.


Now here's where I had to get creative. I purchased some straight up red-cellophane and it made the display FAR too red/pink. Tried some orange PVC I got at a hobby store and it made the display a very bright yellow, no matter how many layers of orange I inserted. I found that one piece of orange combined with one piece of red matched the rest of the interior almost perfect!

Orange piece.


Orange.


Red cutout.


Red on top of the orange.


Voila!

[kevinz]

e36fiend,

What model Alpine is that? Thanks

[e36fiend]

e36fiend,

What model Alpine is that? Thanks

CDE-HD149BT. Can't recommend it enough, I've had several Alpine units over the years and this one is awesome.

[e36fiend]

Couple shots at night, I have amber LEDs in the footwells and E39 door handle lights.

Blown out for emphasis


Funny thing is, the OBC is the one that looks the most "off" in color

[Hutcho]

Works on pioneers too, I did mine the other day from blue to red/ amber
basically just pull the front off the unit
and take it apart until you find the bulbs

[el3zazy11]

So well done great idea ...👍👍

[Thrifty S50]

Bump For solid thread. Did this mod and it matches perfectly. Love it.