IML: Jim Gathmann asked me to forward this to 1992 1993 owners

[Kenyon Wills <imperialist1960@xxxxxxxxx>]

Jim is at: evilshelbydodgeimp@xxxxxxxxx and is NOT on
the list.  Life ended for me when they phased out
electro-luminescent dashes, so please don't write to
me - I'll just advise that you take two fins and call
back in the morning.  

The following comes from Jim:

------------------------------------------------

I have been working with digital clusters with my
Dynasty.

So far I have used:
-1990-1993 analog cluster
-1988 New Yorker digital cluster
-1992 Imperial digital cluster
-1994 AA lebaron digital cluster

That being said I have made a discovery that those
with 1992-1993 Imperials with the digital cluster may
want to take note on.

The old Mopar digital clusters were all flourscent
lights, but when they released the newer cluster style
"sweep" (vs the old "bar") they switched to LCD
technology.

Note this cluster is what I mean by "sweep":
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a163/evilshelbydodgeimp/Assorted/newdigital.jpg

See how the oil/temp/fuel/volt gauges emulate an
analog "sweep" in appearance? This is unlike the old
80s clusters which used a "bar" style appearance.

Essentially they took two pannels of plexiglass and
put a razor thin LCD inbetween them.

They painted the general background of the display
black.

They then took a plastic film and painted it varrious
colors for the displays (say the digits, bars, etc)
that "light up" on the cluster's display.

They then put a pilot lamp behind the assembly to
"back light it"

Essentially the LCDs go "black" for parts of a gauge
or digit that are not supposed to show up/light up.

Now for the bad:

Razor thin lcds are horrible in auto applications-
they decompose when exposed to high heat, and don't
work when cold.

By watching eBay I have noticed that the newer style
digital clusters commonly have the speedo display, and
sometimes the oil/fuel/volt/temp "sweep" gauges stay
black (aka not light up).

Basically what is going on is that these LCDs are
literally decomposing by the heat and age, and staying
black!

I suspect this will eventually happen to all the
1992/1993 clusters as they age, eventually and may be
a problem for restorations years down the road.

The AA body cluster I pulled (same design
electronically) has this problem and it came out of a
1994!

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a163/evilshelbydodgeimp/sdimp/digitalpart3.jpg

That being said, if you have a 1992 or a 1993 you cant
use a older digital cluster (since they are CCD
dependant) however you can use a 1988 NYer cluster
(old bar style) since no data bus required- would
require adding abt 15 wires (taps into sensors which
the newer clusters tap into via the ccd bus).

Anyway if you come across a 1988 NYer cluster (must be
a 1988) and you have a '92 or '93 cluster with this
problem you may want to consider the swap to the older
version to "restore" its apperance.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a163/evilshelbydodgeimp/sdimp/DSCN0118.jpg

Sadly you can not repair the LCD style displays by
throwing new displays in the cluster since the
display's/LCDs are literally attached to the ribbon
which is attached to the PCB in a non-removiable
fashion (aka no connectors like for the idiot lights).
My guess is that they attached the ribbons to the LCDs
before molding the two plexiglass pannels together. I
suppose it *might* be possible to unsoder the other
end of the ribbons from the cluster's PCB and then
swap them that way, but that assumes you have a
cluster of the same "style" that has a good display
which you'd not mind taking apart.


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