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3.15 - White or Indiglo(tm) style Gauges (All)




Description

This article is from the Toyota Tundra FAQ, by Steve Yee with numerous contributions by others.

3.15 - White or Indiglo(tm) style Gauges (All)

Some owners have considered modifying their Tundra stock gauges with one that
is either White faced or contains an Indiglo(tm) blue electroluminescent color
at night.

NR Automotive has been the only source willing to provide Tundra Gauge
upgrades. You can contact them at www.nrauto.com .

For those of you that are curious as to how the Indiglo(tm) electroluminescent
process works, here is the explanation from Marshall Brain's (yes, that is his
real name) web site, www.howstuffworks.com. The exact URL is
http://www.howstuffworks.com/question296.htm .

"In an Indiglo watch a very thin panel uses high voltage to energize phosphor
atoms that produce light. The panel itself is extremely simple. As described in
the Timex patent (see the first link below), you take a thin glass or plastic
layer, coat it with a clear conductor, coat that with a very thin layer of
phosphor, coat the phosphor with a thin plastic and then add another electrode.
Essentially what you have is two conductors (a capacitor) with phosphor in
between. When you apply 100 to 200 volts AC to the conductors, the phosphor
energizes and begins emitting photons.

"Creating the high voltage can be a problem in a wristwatch. The watch has only
a small 1.5 volt battery. To produce the 100-200 volts, the 1:100 transformer
is used. By charging the primary coil of the transformer with a transistor that
is switching on and off, the secondary rises to 150 volts or so."



 

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