LED Dashboard lights

[GDII]

Has anyone used LED replacements for dashboard bulbs like these?

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/ ... ument.html

I know that LEDs don't direct light the same as incandescent bulbs. My dash uses the standard plastic optics to distribute the light to the guages. Not too sure if these would work well enough.

[loudstealthGT-Four]

yip ive swapped all the lights in my dash with LED's ill take some photos and post them up

these are the bulbs that i used - http://ledstuff.co.nz/product_info.php?products_id=274

[loudstealthGT-Four]

[AE82 FXGT]

that turned out mean, would defo do that to my gtz if i still had it.

[GDII]

That looks good. The LEDs you used would have a better effect than the ones I was looking at. Except they don't have a large range of colours.

[Girvs]

We just did a small group buy (Snaps ordered these) for some of the MKIV owners. I think everyone so far is quite impressed with them. I'm yet to upgrade my reverse lights to LED's. If I remember I'll put up photos once done.

[Snaps]

^ Yep, mine turned out amazing (well, for the gauge cluster anyway), and Luke seemed extremely happy with his.

I'm not sure I would recommend using the Neowedge bulbs in anything like the Air Conditioning controller backlighting - the light just comes out uneven. The Edge base bulbs work perfectly in the places they fit, though.

I haven't got any good pictures of the finished product of mine, but I'll try and snap some pics tonight and get the up here.

[GDII]

It would be cool to see more photos of them. Now I just have to pick a colour I like.

I painted the incandescent bulbs red in my EE90 corolla and it came out pretty good. But LEDs might look better.

[loudstealthGT-Four]

My lights in my dash are actually a darker blue, but for some reason couldn't get the camera to get the right colour

[GDII]

Cameras don't always get the same image as what you see with your eyes. Can you see the slight green between 6-7krpm and 40-60kph in the first photo you posted or is that just what the camera picked up?

[loudstealthGT-Four]

yip its green in that section

[KwS]

Cameras don't always get the same image as what you see with your eyes. Can you see the slight green between 6-7krpm and 40-60kph in the first photo you posted or is that just what the camera picked up?

Thats the "sweet as speed bro" section.

[gt4dude]

ive looked into this, the ones from the ledbulbs guy are of decent quality, not the best for light spread, but they seem to last a while before they blow.

a trick is sometimes the pins are bent the wrong way, if u correct them, they line up well and make a better seal inside the contact, this fixes flickering ones.

probably the best ones in nz, ive tried all the china crap, they all either blow or they are too dim

that superbrightleds site though, the americans in their forums seem to recommend them, but ive never bothered to import any to see

[sergei]

ive looked into this, the ones from the ledbulbs guy are of decent quality, not the best for light spread, but they seem to last a while before they blow.

a trick is sometimes the pins are bent the wrong way, if u correct them, they line up well and make a better seal inside the contact, this fixes flickering ones.

probably the best ones in nz, ive tried all the china crap, they all either blow or they are too dim

that superbrightleds site though, the americans in their forums seem to recommend them, but ive never bothered to import any to see

LEDs blowing is big sign of something really wrong (they using wrong resistors or not using any current limiting and wiring whole bunch in series). A LED should last you decades if not centuries.

[GDII]

ive looked into this, the ones from the ledbulbs guy are of decent quality, not the best for light spread, but they seem to last a while before they blow.

a trick is sometimes the pins are bent the wrong way, if u correct them, they line up well and make a better seal inside the contact, this fixes flickering ones.

probably the best ones in nz, ive tried all the china crap, they all either blow or they are too dim

that superbrightleds site though, the americans in their forums seem to recommend them, but ive never bothered to import any to see

LEDs blowing is big sign of something really wrong (they using wrong resistors or not using any current limiting and wiring whole bunch in series). A LED should last you decades if not centuries.

That's what I thought. LEDs last for a very long time if they are used correctly. That's one of the reasons I want to use them. I don't feel like having to remove the gauges every time a bulb goes out.

The bulb that lights up the temp gauge and half the tacho has been dead for 3 years and when I took the gauges out to fix my lazy tacho I completely forgot to get a new bulb. Grrr

I like the American LEDs I linked to better than the NZ ones. I think I will go with Red as I have been going with a Black and Red theme for the car lately.

[gt4dude]

I think it has to do with the heat sinks, the ones from the ledbulbs guy have heatsinks and the plastic is hard,

with the chinese ones from trademe and various places when they've blown, generally when you pull them from the socket half the bulb is melted around the contact pins, if its a multiled generally the SMT will be fried, the regular leds will be dim, etc

[GDII]

After replacing the dead bulb with a 5W I think I will just buy 3 more 5W bulbs for the rest of the dash. I can't tell what the old bulbs are, all the say on them is Toshiba but they are quite dull and the 5W bulb makes the gauges and needles brighter more crisp.

Also on a side note the repco brand bulbs seem to go black on the inside after a sort while. Especially in the front park lights. When I install them they are clear. Is this normal or could there be something wrong?

[sergei]

After replacing the dead bulb with a 5W I think I will just buy 3 more 5W bulbs for the rest of the dash. I can't tell what the old bulbs are, all the say on them is Toshiba but they are quite dull and the 5W bulb makes the gauges and needles brighter more crisp.

Also on a side note the repco brand bulbs seem to go black on the inside after a sort while. Especially in the front park lights. When I install them they are clear. Is this normal or could there be something wrong?

It is a sign of really cheap bulb - the black is oxide deposits, which means there is oxygen in the gas inside of the bulb.

[Mr Ree]

You can see the blue bulbs struggle to light the redline section of the tacho in this shot.



The AC buttons are far more blue in the flesh



A bit blurry but shows the difference between the T10 wedge blue, and the blue of the soldered in AC buttons

[GDII]

After replacing the dead bulb with a 5W I think I will just buy 3 more 5W bulbs for the rest of the dash. I can't tell what the old bulbs are, all the say on them is Toshiba but they are quite dull and the 5W bulb makes the gauges and needles brighter more crisp.

Also on a side note the repco brand bulbs seem to go black on the inside after a sort while. Especially in the front park lights. When I install them they are clear. Is this normal or could there be something wrong?

It is a sign of really cheap bulb - the black is oxide deposits, which means there is oxygen in the gas inside of the bulb.

Haha. What brand would you recommend to use? I would like bulbs that don't do that. They also don't seem to last very long.