Brightening up my gauge cluster
 

Kind of random but my gauge cluster (speedo, tach, etc behind the steering wheel) isn't very bright. It's visible and everything, I have no trouble reading any of it, I was just wondering about brightening it up. Would a new set of bulbs help? Maybe the old ones have gone a bit dim? Or can I get a higher wattage? Or maybe LED or something?

I don't wanna get those eBay indiglo things or anything, just looking to brighten it up a bit. It looks way dim compared to newer cars. (Like my friend's new A4 Jetta or my sister's protege.)

(And before anyone states the obvious... yeah I have the dimmer all the way up. :P )

iSP33D-for-J3SUS :bigthumb:

isn't there a brighness control knob for dash illumination ?

does the dimmer control work?? if it doesnt work maybe its stuck at half brightness or something??

little knob inside the big headlight knob. anti clockwise :-D

As he stated before his dimmer is all the way up. Ive seen a write up on LEDs but never seen how they look. I would think thats the way to go. I did something similar on my old SE-R and it looked awsome.

Yes, as mentioned in the first post, the dimmer knob works fine.

Hmm... I'll search around on google and the boards here. I may be able to grab a pic of the brightness sometime later tonight. Like I said before, there's nothing wrong with it, per se... it's just kinda dim and dreary and ... "OLD" looking.

Thanks,
iSP33D-for-J3SUS :bigthumb:

replace it with white LED's

Will I lose the orange look? Cause I wanna keep the stock orange color, just brighter.

iSP33D-for-J3SUS :bigthumb:

the orange color is made into the gauges, you should be fine

ooooh JEBUS SAVE ME JEBUS!!!

roffle tacos?

What was that in reference to?

That's what I was hoping. Cool, thanks so much!

iSP33D-for-J3SUS :bigthumb:

Where in Dallas are you? I'm in fort worth. I would be interested in seeing how this works out for you. I will probably do the same thing.

You're about 30 - 45 minutes away from me. I live in Cedar Hill. Depends on where exactly in Ft. Worth you are.

(Also note, I don't have spare change to dump into LED lights at the moment. All my spare cash is going into a CAI for my baby ASAP. But if you wanna see, I'll keep you updated.)

iSP33D-for-J3SUS :bigthumb:

Doesa anyone know, are the lights in the cluster are 12v, or are they something else?

LEDs at frys start at 10cents a peice. at most your looking at less than $10

in about a month I'm going to do LED so keep your eyes peeled for my thread

hey im not sure if your electrical system is up to par or not, but you might want to check to make sure you have a good new battery and alt. in there. since i have put an 800 cold cranking amp battery and a reman alt in my car all my gauge lights are working brighter. im probably going to use an fd alt soon, but i would also like to go led soon. so let us know how it turns out. thanks.

Brian

the bulbs could just be dirty or have dust on them, i have had bulbs dim in the dash due to it before but it isn't all that common to see a noticable dimness to them.

New battery and the alt has been checked and said to be in good working condition. Everything else works fine, stereo / amp, as well as the lights on the A/C unit. Here's a picture.

Now, understand the limitations of the camera when viewing this picture, the gauges are more visible in person. But still...

I mean.. it's an 18 year old car.. who knows when those bulbs were last replaced and or cleaned.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...gesrx70890.jpg

Anyway, thanks for the heads up on LEDs at Frys, for some reason I thought they were more expensive.

I just put in LED bulbs for my tails and they look great (and I got 'em for free, friend didn't want 'em anymore.) they look more clear and bright. I like. ^_^

iSP33D-for-J3SUS :bigthumb:

its doubtful that everysingel bulb is dirty/dim at the same time is your int. lighting system getting enough juice? you said you batt and alt are fine, maybe its a switch?

It isn't every single bulb, it's just my gauge cluster, the AC UNIT has fine illumination as does my amp / stereo / misc. lights on the warning display or whatever it is in the middle of the dash.

I'm just gonna replace those bulbs with LEDs when I can.

iSP33D-for-J3SUS :bigthumb:

Well I found when I got my fd alt the gauges were allot brighter (but they were brighter then your to begin with)

Oh and for the sake of not opening a new thread, here's a little question...

My hazard light button doesn't stay in, I have to hold it. What's up? Is it just broken or not installed / secured properly?

iSP33D-for-J3SUS :bigthumb:

From the looks of it, it looks like you have a few bulbs out. OH I want the toolbox, I be by later tonight to pick it up. :naughty:

it does look like you have a few burnt out bulbs

Yes, the speedo side looks like it's missing a bulb or two as does the far bottom left-hand side.

The tach is well lit up though... well... more than anything else.

iSP33D-for-J3SUS :bigthumb: