As the title says... has anyone changed their Abarth 500 instrument illumination colours?

I found a guide at https://www.fiatforum.com/500-guides/421744-changing-instrument-illumination-colour.html?p=4045963
Somewhat familiar because, umm, I wrote it scary when you’ve completely forgotten making a guide...

I’m now thinking of doing the same to my Abarth, except I might use cooler white LEDs rather than the warm white LEDs I used before.

I just find the orange a bit dark and hard to see the needles against; it doesn’t match the LCD’s orange very well. Since the numbers are smaller than the Lounge’s retro-styled digits, I think a cooler white (“brighter”) will be OK.

On a related note, has anyone arranged for the boost gauge to be illuminated during the daytime? Hard to read otherwise.

-Alex

What might solve you issue would be to upgrade the the later TFT screen.

I've seen some posts on Abarthisti regarding it, though not all of the features work as your model might not have TPMS, parking sensors and the likes.
https://www.abarthforum.co.uk/500-abarth/my-new-2014-led-tft-digital-cluster-installed-on-2010/
https://www.abarthforum.co.uk/500-abarth-tuning/tft-retrofit-problems/

How it's done is beyond me! Though I think if yours has Blue & Me, you need a screen from a Blue & Me model, same goes for Uconnect.

All this reminds me to search and see if I can change the colour of the car in the image on the screen, it's white and I'd like it blue.

I think the boost gauge is just a gimmick, do you really need to know the pressure? I'm just happy to make the most of whatever it is!

Goudrons said:

What might solve you issue would be to upgrade the the later TFT screen.

Click to expand...

Yes - I did think about it. Probably just needs a proxi alignment to enable the new cluster, the LCD graphics are nice, but I don’t like the actual instrumentation it provides. The dials have been relegated to small bar graphs and a digital speed display. If only it was an updated central LCD and still the instruments (rev counter and speed) around the outside...

There is a great feature of the 500 1.4 and Abarth (not the diesel, and possibly the 1.2 but I’m not certain) - in 4th gear, the rev counter and speedometer needles coincide and make their way around the dial together. James May touched on this but missed the coinciding needles in his test (against the French parkour artists) because he was driving a diesel 500! Anyway, with the new cluster, the effect is lost.

I like the improved LCD of the Abarth and particularly the little animation that you get after closing the door, when the two halves of the 500 logo slide together.

My reason for changing the illumination colour is that the dark orange used as standard doesn’t contrast enough with the red needles for my liking... and also, the orange of the central LCD doesn’t match.

I’ll probably use the same warm white LEDs that I used in our 500 Lounge. I was thinking of a cool white, but it’s too blue. I could look at some other LEDs to find something whiter but I’ll have to find them and buy them; it’s easier to just use what I have on hand from the last time.

Yesterday I repaired an engine ECU and bought a $34 temp-controlled soldering iron with a nice fine tip. If the repair was successful (I’ll hear today), I think I’ll splash out on a $179 surface-mount rework station (hot air type), which will get used first for changing the LEDs in my instrument cluster... as practice

-Alex