Inverting an LCD

[Sodium Duck]

I've seen a few tutorials on how to do this online, anyone done it?

I'd like to invert the gas gauge.

[GeneralDon7]

There was one member on here, who got it done by someone, else, and all they used was a film that you could buy that inverted it, ill post the link if i can find it.

[Sodium Duck]

Yes, I believe you can just buy any LCD polarizing film. I've found a few places that sell it, sorta expensive.

[wsladaritz]

That's interesting....

[Sodium Duck]

Yea, I found that site last night. I think I may go to the dollar store and buy some calculators to practice on.

[Sodium Duck]

Umm, I'm no electrician. How would I go about reversing the cathode input? Would that be easier or give a better result?

[bzinn 1]

contact this person from Scion Life www.garage1217.com he does all this kind of stuf for the Scions and has all the materials you will need and can give you a how to do it as well...he is really cool.

[the_boss]

i have done that when in was in primary school with a calculator, i was able to take the lens in front of the lcd display and turn it (side facing lcd display goes outside and outside goes inside) and the color was inverted white digits and black background

not sure how the gas gauge is but would probably work too

[enobmort42]

isn't it factory on some models? i'd like to do it, myself. this and the radio color were the two biggest "cons" in getting the car i did.

[Meteorite_Marty]

Where do you get the LCD polarizing film to even take on this job?

[CTScott]

When I've inverted LCDs, I bought the film from Edmund Scientific:

http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlineca...productid=1912

[Sodium Duck]

Ha, I just bought a 1$ calculator at Walmart to try it out, very easy to do. I'm going to buy a sheet of polarizing film to do this.

Is there a way to know what the orientation of the film is so I don't need to temporarily plug the gauges back in to the car?

[CTScott]

Theoretically, you could use your $1 calculator as a test fixture for the orientation. After removing its film, place the original Yaris film over it, and note the effect, then remove it and rotate the new film over it until you see the opposite effect as the Yaris film.

[Sodium Duck]

Found this on the site you posted before Scott:

How can I tell what the polarization axis is for a linear polarizer?
The axis of a linear polarizer determines the plane of polarization that the polarizer passes. There are two ways of finding the axis of a polarizer. A simple method is to start with a known polarizer with a marked axis. Place both the known and unknown polarizer together and transmit light through them. Rotate the unknown polarizer until no light passes through the pair of polarizers. In this orientation, the unknown polarizer's axis is 90° from the axis of the known polarizer.

If a known polarizer with a marked axis cannot be found, the axis can be found by taking advantage of the Brewster effect. When light reflects at glancing incidence off of a non-metallic surface, the S-polarization is reflected more than the P-polarization. A quick way to do this is to look at the glare off of a tiled floor or another non-metallic surface. Rotate the polarizer until the glare is minimized. In this position, the polarizer is oriented so that the axis is vertical. As an example, sunglasses use polarizers that have the polarization axis vertically oriented.

[Sodium Duck]

I think the 2"X2" sheet there will just almost perfectly fit the LCD btw. I just ran down and did a quick measurement on the car, and it looks like it's just a bit under 2" wide. For 9$ you can't go wrong.

[Sodium Duck]

Or I could take a chance here, lol.

http://www.sciplus.com/singleItem.cf...ogFrom/froogle

[Sodium Duck]

Or they're really big and cheap here.

http://www.3dlens.com/shop/polarizer.php

[Sodium Duck]

Edmunds Optics does not have an adhesive backing on them.