Intermountain GEVO CP #8705 Custom Weathered Improved Lighting


This page was last updated on Sunday, February 27, 2011 03:21:05 AM


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instructions for Improving the Lighting for an Intermountain Gevo

 

Below is the front LED board which controls the ditch lights, headlights, and number board lights. Due to a design flaw, duplicate resistors are on both the soundboard and the LED board making the LED's dimmer than required. To fix this issue, you can do a "simple" improvement which will give acceptable results or a more aggressive improvement which will give outstanding results.

 

Below are photos of the unmodified LED board both top and bottom. In photo 1, LED 1 is for the number boards and LED 2 is for the headlight.

 

 

In photo 2, LED 4 and 6 are for the ditch light.

 

 

Instructions for Simple fix

 

Cut off the two resistors at R1 then solder a piece of brass wire to jump the circuit as shown below. LED 1 is for the number boards. LED 2 is for the headlights, this one is bright enough so leave it along.

 

 

Next, turn the board over and do the same for the R4 and R6 resistors which control the ditch lights. Simply replace the board and you will see much improved lighting although the ditch lights will not be quite bright enough to match the headlight due to the bends in the light boards and will appear more yellow than white as the headlight appears.

 

 

Finally, put a piece of tape over the front or the LED board housing to block the light leak coming from the front of the cap at the platform edge.

 

 

Note: One resistor needs to be cut off and jumped on the rear LED board (no photo shown). 

 

Video below shows results.

 

 

 

Instructions for More Involved Fix

 

The first step is the same for either the simple or more involved process. Cut off the two resistors at R1 and R2 and then solder a piece of brass wire to jump the circuit as shown below. LED 1 is for the number board lights and LED 2 is for the headlight.

 

 

Next, you will need to remove the platform as shown below, cut the light bars which run under the front walkway mid way and sand the plastic flat then glue a micro sunny white LED to each light bar. Cut the black wires from the LED board above to disable the ditch light LED's and solder the negative leads to the black wires and the positive leads to the red wire on the board. The headlight and ditch lights will now match perfectly as seen in the video below.

 

 

Note: One resistor needs to be cut off and jumped on the rear LED board (no photo shown). 

 

Good luck and feel free to ask questions.