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yetimus · 05-17-2009, 07:41 PM

I recently finished installing the MPGuino display in the instrument cluster of my '96 Passat TDI.

I'm pretty happy with the results, but it was a lot of work. In order to find something small enough to fit in the dash, I used Newhaven Display NHD-02161Z-FSY-YBW-C along with Molex 0520891619 FFC adapter. It was quite the crash course in soldering tiny wires!

The miniature display compared to the MPGuino original:

The cluster I'm running is out of a VR6 Passat with an auto trans. The automatic cars used a LCD display under the tach face plate to indicate gear selection. My car is a 5-speed so I used the space in the tach face to mount the display.

I desoldered the original LCD from my Spiffie MPGuino and mounted (crudely, I might add) the board to the back of the instrument cluster. I powered the LCD backlight directly from the instrument cluster lighting through a 270 ohm resistor so the MPGuino display would dim with the rest of the gauges.

Finally, I ran a trio of pushbutton switches in parallel with the tactile switches on the board itself and mounted these under the steering wheel.

I'm fairly pleased with the results overall. The small display has a fairly large space between the top and bottom rows of text which hampers readability somewhat, but not too bad. Also, I was hoping for a better match of the LCD backlight with that of the existing gauges. But it all works as it should and it's been a fun learning experience.

05-17-2009, 07:41 PM	#9 (permalink)
yetimus EcoModding Lurker Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: colorado Posts: 16 Thanks: 0 Thanked 3 Times in 1 Post	I recently finished installing the MPGuino display in the instrument cluster of my '96 Passat TDI. I'm pretty happy with the results, but it was a lot of work. In order to find something small enough to fit in the dash, I used Newhaven Display NHD-02161Z-FSY-YBW-C along with Molex 0520891619 FFC adapter. It was quite the crash course in soldering tiny wires! The miniature display compared to the MPGuino original: The cluster I'm running is out of a VR6 Passat with an auto trans. The automatic cars used a LCD display under the tach face plate to indicate gear selection. My car is a 5-speed so I used the space in the tach face to mount the display. I desoldered the original LCD from my Spiffie MPGuino and mounted (crudely, I might add) the board to the back of the instrument cluster. I powered the LCD backlight directly from the instrument cluster lighting through a 270 ohm resistor so the MPGuino display would dim with the rest of the gauges. Finally, I ran a trio of pushbutton switches in parallel with the tactile switches on the board itself and mounted these under the steering wheel. I'm fairly pleased with the results overall. The small display has a fairly large space between the top and bottom rows of text which hampers readability somewhat, but not too bad. Also, I was hoping for a better match of the LCD backlight with that of the existing gauges. But it all works as it should and it's been a fun learning experience. Last edited by yetimus; 05-17-2009 at 11:40 PM..