First post...here goes nothing.
If you're thinking about the shift light/logo/etc cluster mod but $65 for the required cable seems less than appealing, read on. Total cost including shipping for me was $12.04.
Supplies:
FTDI FT232RL USB to TTL Serial cable - ebay is where I bought mine
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-USB-to-...efaultDomain_0&hash=item3ccadd2a02&rmvSB=true
16 Pin Male OBD2 connector - also ebay
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&LH_BIN=1&_nkw=16+Pin+Male+OBD2+connector&_sop=15
Soldering iron and solder
Wire strippers
Screwdriver
The wires we're going to be dealing with are RXD (receive data), TXD (transmit data), and GND (ground). In my case these were the white, green, and black wires, respectively. I'm not sure if these color codes are an official standard, so check the pinout of the cable you go with.
1. Strip a small amount off the white, green, and black wire. You can cut off the remaining wires or leave them and tape them back - it doesn't really matter.
2. Slide the boot and retainer on now or you won't be able to get them on later.
3. The back of the connector should be labeled 1-8 on the bottom and 9-16 on the top. We'll be using 9 and 5.
4. Safety glasses on, tin the wires by melting a small amount of solder onto them, then trim so there's about 2-3mm of exposed wire left.
5. Solder the white and green wires to pin 9 and and black wire to pin 5. (For what it's worth there's a trace connecting pad 4 and 5 so either would work but I'd just stick with 5).
6. Set the connector and retainer in the housing. The rest is self explanatory.
7. Finished product.
8. Hook to your PC and Windows should download the correct drivers. I then used the VZClusterMod software (which is awesome by the way) to make my changes to the cluster. Here's a heartbeat screenshot to show everything works.
You don't need to be a soldering expert to do this - the chip is far enough down the wire that you won't burn it out, and it'd be hard to mess up anything on the connector end.
So there you have it...5 minutes of work and $50 saved. Big thanks to the guys who did the ground breaking on the cluster programming.
EDIT: I can guarantee that the FTDI FT232 chip/cable I used will function properly. If you want to try another cable that is being sold as USB to TTL Serial, do so at your own risk because we're finding out that some of the chips, especially the PL2303, are being mis-marketed by sellers as TTL when they are really RS-232. A wrong chip has the potential to fry your cluster.
If you're thinking about the shift light/logo/etc cluster mod but $65 for the required cable seems less than appealing, read on. Total cost including shipping for me was $12.04.
Supplies:
FTDI FT232RL USB to TTL Serial cable - ebay is where I bought mine
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-USB-to-...efaultDomain_0&hash=item3ccadd2a02&rmvSB=true
16 Pin Male OBD2 connector - also ebay
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&LH_BIN=1&_nkw=16+Pin+Male+OBD2+connector&_sop=15
Soldering iron and solder
Wire strippers
Screwdriver
The wires we're going to be dealing with are RXD (receive data), TXD (transmit data), and GND (ground). In my case these were the white, green, and black wires, respectively. I'm not sure if these color codes are an official standard, so check the pinout of the cable you go with.
1. Strip a small amount off the white, green, and black wire. You can cut off the remaining wires or leave them and tape them back - it doesn't really matter.
2. Slide the boot and retainer on now or you won't be able to get them on later.
3. The back of the connector should be labeled 1-8 on the bottom and 9-16 on the top. We'll be using 9 and 5.
4. Safety glasses on, tin the wires by melting a small amount of solder onto them, then trim so there's about 2-3mm of exposed wire left.
5. Solder the white and green wires to pin 9 and and black wire to pin 5. (For what it's worth there's a trace connecting pad 4 and 5 so either would work but I'd just stick with 5).
6. Set the connector and retainer in the housing. The rest is self explanatory.
7. Finished product.
8. Hook to your PC and Windows should download the correct drivers. I then used the VZClusterMod software (which is awesome by the way) to make my changes to the cluster. Here's a heartbeat screenshot to show everything works.
You don't need to be a soldering expert to do this - the chip is far enough down the wire that you won't burn it out, and it'd be hard to mess up anything on the connector end.
So there you have it...5 minutes of work and $50 saved. Big thanks to the guys who did the ground breaking on the cluster programming.
EDIT: I can guarantee that the FTDI FT232 chip/cable I used will function properly. If you want to try another cable that is being sold as USB to TTL Serial, do so at your own risk because we're finding out that some of the chips, especially the PL2303, are being mis-marketed by sellers as TTL when they are really RS-232. A wrong chip has the potential to fry your cluster.