*** UPDATED JANUARY, 2015 *
After months of many inquiries and
orders from all around the world, I think its appropriate to add a small
F.A.Q. I grouped the most relevant questions and picture received from people that have installed the ELD5 Inverter Card in their cars. I hope that will help interested people to get their answers quickly.
Note:
Although the following might contain tech details and discussions
regarding installation of ELD5, none should be take it as instruction,
the official install instructions are found at the beginning of this
webpage. Always follow exactly the 1 - 7 steps above ! Yet, the following will probably help in understanding some aspects of installation the ELD5 Inverter Card.
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Q:
- How difficult is this inverter to fit for a novice, and how long does delivery take to the uk? Thanks S.
- HI, have a dodge caliber 2006 plate in the UK .. thi flixing and what your info says is spot on whats happen to my car.. now the ligths will not come on.. fuse is fine. whats the cost postage to london UK postcoode: ********.. also does this come with step by step of how to take the dash board off.. ? hope you can help. Regards, R. B.
- My 2007 Dodge Caliber got this problem just 3-4 days ago, and I'm not happy driving in the dark now. But I think (don't know --- but---) it is very difficult to get the instrument panel out of the dash in order to repair it - or to mount your solution. Or am I wrong?? Please let me know if its easier than it appear. Best regards . P.
A: Delivery details updated above.
Well, difficult is a relative term and depends how skilful one is for that task. One way or the other the Instrument Cluster MUST be removed from the car, either for repairing or replacing. Removing Instrument Cluster from Sebring or Avenger its easier than Caliber, but basically all you need its a screwdriver and patience.
DODGE CALIBER CLUSTER REMOVAL PROCEDURE:
1. Both "A" pillar Trim2. Both End Caps covers
3. Center Bezel
4. Top Cover
5. Upper Panel
6. Steering Column Cover
7. Instrument Cluster
CHRYSLER SEBRING CLUSTER REMOVAL PROCEDURE:
(courtesy of Mr J. / Netherlands)
SOLDERING:
The recommended procedure is outlined in IPC-7721 "Repair and Modification of Printed Boards and Electronic Assemblies" that a professional personnel should be in acquaintance with. We can extract some important aspects as follows.
For soldering the wires you will need a decent soldering iron with temperature control (315 degree Celsius recommended). Do not start soldering if the tip of your solder iron looks like a rusty nail, soldering
is difficult when the tip is black and crusty – if the wet sponge
doesn’t help, get new tip. Also, applying a "no-clean" flux to the soldering points beforehand, yields in a high quality soldering with a smooth and shinny aspect.
Soldering the six wires correctly have a crucial importance, when not sure you can do it properly always ask a qualified specialist for assistance, read next Q.
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Q:
The card arrived and I fitted tonight. I checked the card when it
arrived and everything seemed ok so continued to fit. I made all the
connections exactly as described in the article, and cut the connections
required. To my disappointment, the lights on my dashboard do not
work. Everything else works on the dashboard as it should, all the
dials and displays, however the lights do not come on. What can I do
now?? Regards . S
I
have been away for the weekend and only come back today. I have checked
the connections again and found that a couple of them had come off j3
& j6. I have reattached them after some trouble as j3 had pulled off
the solder disc from the board and j6 was difficult to get to stay in
place. I have only started the engine once since reinstalling and the
lights still did not work, hopefully they will work on the second try,
after the card has paired with the CPU. I will keep you informed.
Regards. S.
I see.
Unfortunately you have been used to much heat on the J3 pad and to few on J6. Its all about the connections.
In the pack you received also some special plastic that you can melt over soldering joints, but the wires should not come loose by them-self even without that glue plastic.
You have connection issue, I strongly recommend to ask someone for help with it , or let me have a photo. Regards. Miki
Unfortunately you have been used to much heat on the J3 pad and to few on J6. Its all about the connections.
In the pack you received also some special plastic that you can melt over soldering joints, but the wires should not come loose by them-self even without that glue plastic.
You have connection issue, I strongly recommend to ask someone for help with it , or let me have a photo. Regards. Miki
I
took the instrument cluster to a local electronics company, after my
hatchet job attempt at fitting this card. They repaired the missing
solder pad and made all the joints good. I have re-tested the display
and everything appears to work perfectly. I can see the backlight coming
on during daylight and also changing when dimmed. The test will be
tonight when it's dark, but I'm hopeful that the results will be good.
Thanks for all the information you supplied to help with this fitting
Regards. S.
Thanks for all the information you supplied to help with this fitting
Regards. S.
A: Again, proper soldering its everything ! When in doubt always contact a electronic repair workshop.
Here is another picture received from an user. All solder joints except J4 looks good.
As a guidance a solder joint must cover the wire diameter completely and have a smooth and silver-shinny aspects.
Too
few solder is not good as joint might be weak, too much solder is not
good either as it can reach the green solder mask around pads
(especially at J1 & J2) and under that green solder mask its ground
plane !For long term protections of solder joints against vibrations, after proper soldering and testing you can use the plastic glue gun to cover the soldering points in plastic as in the following picture received from an user.
Soldering the J3, J4 wires, to that small pads, in vertical position as in pictures above is recommended because it allows a correct, distinct soldering with solder evenly distributed around the wire and not spreading to the ground plane (that green solder mask).
Some PCB layouts:
Q:
- To anyone that can help me:
I recently purchased an ELD5 Card. Looking at the back of my cluster
assembly, where the J5 and J6 are supposed to go, my assembly is
different and has none of the items on the pcb that is shown. I need
help in where to hook up the J5 and J6 wires on my assembly. Thank You.
K. P. and by the way it is a 2007 chrysler sebring
-
I received the inverters today, thanks for the fast shipping!! I do
have a question though. Some of the Chrysler Sebring clusters do not
have the info display in the lower left corner of the cluster so J6 and
J5 wires cannot be hooked up to the chip in the instructions like you
show because that style cluster has no chip on that side of the board.
Is there someplace else to connect these wires on that style cluster.
Thank you! J.
Nevertheless, as I said above, the PCB is the same ! Some electronic parts may not be placed on that main-boards, some dials may look different on outside but the Printed Circuit Board which means "layout cooper traces" are the same in any Instrument Clusters.
And we are going to connect to the "cooper traces" / PCB points, not to the electronic parts that may or may not be there.
Bellow is a photo from such electronic main-board
There is nothing changed in the way ELD5 should be connected to this clusters, just follow Install Instructions steps 1 to 7 as usual. Cutting the old tracks (see install step 4) remain mandatory of course !
Note: Because some parts are missing from this PCB we have now available a more accessible, alternative soldering point for J6.
Advice for mounting the complete assembly after installing ELD5
Here is useful observation regarding Install Step "7. Paying attention to the six wires reassemble the dashboard instrument cluster and mount it on the car."
(courtesy of Mr W. / Netherlands)
"When assembling the black cover, I noticed the possibility of J1 and J2 wires pinching off from the boss."
"If you solder J1 and J2 wires more sideways and cut away some material from the boss (black cover) oblique compression is at a lower risk."
You could adopt same solution as he did or at least observe the footprint of the plastic bump before closing the cover and make sure the wires will not be affected.
Also, in the photos above, please note the plastic glue gun melted over the wires ! This will prevent wires from moving (due to vibrations of the car) hence protecting soldering points !
