capn

hey all

this was something i wanted to do in my old car but its wrecked so no dice there, i want to change out the bulbs in the gauge cluster from incandesant to LED.

so how had is it to take the gauge cluster out? on a scale of 1-10?

also has anyone done this before? if so how did it turn out?
[signature removed- failed to resize, and the signature is way too big]

Wanked_FC

iTrader: (1)

The hardest part is unclipping the harnesses and speedo cable because there is so little room around the cluster. Its not hard to take out, probably a 3/10 for difficulty.

I removed my bulbs that light up the cluster because I have indiglo gauges, so I can't comment on swapping to led lgihts.

RETed

Um, why?
The instrument cluster is backlighted, so the colors are determined by the panel itself.
Changing to a colored LED will not really change the colors like you may think.
Or are you going to change them to white LED's for less current draw?


-Ted

capn

non onn onononononon

im not doing it for color or lower amp draw but for sharpness of the light and how the light comes on and generates less heat

gxlbiscuit

i cant resist being a jackass to this one... yeah man tell me about it my gauge bulbs overheated my top mount too. i lost about 10 hp until change to the rice led bulbs... my spark also got stronger:-P to each his or her own...........

capn

its cool man i just like the sharper and brighter light cause you know the brighter the light it gives like 10 extra hp easy

if any one wants to know the two bulbs used are 158 and 74 style bulbs the 158 bulbs can be replaced with 194 wedge LEDs and the 74s are just 74 LED

RETed

You forgot the part about they will probably never die on you versus the stock incandescent lights and probably outlive the life of the car!


-Ted

capn

very true, and plus it gives the cool factor and unique touch

and this is the sight where im getting my LEDs from

www.autolumination.com

V8RX7com

The FC gauge cluster's illumination is more complicated than you might think.

The faces of the gauges have light filters on the backside that spread the light from the light bulbs equally across the face of the gauge.

There is also a slit at the bottom of the instrument cluster that allows the lights in the cluster to illuminate the gauge needles.

since LEDs tend to have a focus light pattern, you'll likely end up will an instrument cluster that has uneven illumination (dark spots) and this is the opposite of what you are trying to accomplish.

capn

actually thats not true with these LEDs these LEDs are flat



this design gives the LED a lARGE sweep for the light so it accomplishes the same job as an incandesant

capn

heres where i am with this, the cluster is OUT and man was it kinda hard, but if you have small girlish like hands it will be much easier.

but heres the bulb count:
9 - 158 bulbs
1 - 74 bulb

the 158 bulbs can be interchanged with 194 wedge LEDs and the 74 is just a 74, now the only choice is seeing if i wanna go with super white for the back light or red... i'll have to test

capn

ok i traced ALL the illumination lights on the cluster and heres the picture/diagram for you


its important for you to know these polarities because....well your working with diodes, and if you get the polarity wrong it WILL NOT WORK, and in electrical circuits like this may even cause feed back in some unwanted even sensitive areas. so if you do plan to do the please opserve these polarities!

TweakGames

iTrader: (3)

ok, so 2 of my lights just died (and my oil gauge seemed to have died at the same time *weird*) But I need to replace all my lights. What ones do I need to order off here for the best results? I want it to be able to be super SUPER bright.

http://autolumination.com/194.htm

and because the gauges are tinted red, it wouldnt help to make it blue right? Or would it?


These are "194 Inverted Lenses" is supposed to spread the lights out of the side.
like this:




194 Super Wide Angle Superstar Bulbs
""The Widest, Brightest and Best 194 Leds Ever Made!

Outfitted with the latest Super Wide High-Flux low profile Leds

Designed especially for gauges, & applications requiring a super-wide large uniform field of bright light

Only 10mm diameter x 26mm overall""

or some oval ones?


Top view:


""Oval Lens: This is a wide angle 100 degree beam.""




This looks pretty interesting, gets the sides and the front?
Its called matrix.



The matrix style has 270 degree viewing angle. Thats got to be good.

ericgrau

iTrader: (1)

With LEDs you want to look for lumens output, brightness (in cd or mcd) and viewing angle.

LEDs often advertise high mcd's but from focusing onto teeny tiny viewing angles, which leads to problems. Seems like you might run into the opposite problem: wide viewing angle but unstated brightness (low). A lumens number is the only sure way to know how much light you are getting, but they often don't tell you the number of lumens. Otherwise find one with both a high brightness and good viewing angle. I'd guess ~1000mcd.

You'd want a red LED for a red color filter, green for green, etc. Using a white LED will just waste a lot of light. White LEDs are expensive too.

I don't know anything about automotive LEDs. Do they have direct replacements for standard incandescent bulbs?

TweakGames

iTrader: (3)

These are all
"AXIAL LUMINOUS
INTENSITY (Iv)
UNIT: mcd"
between 12000, and 46000

Then matrix one seems to be the best, 46,000 lumens, 270 degree viewing angle, and 12 volts.
(here for specs): http://autolumination.com/specifications.html

What? Our gauges are going threw a redish orange "filter" I Guess, making the color redish orange. I dont see how a red or orange LED would help any? Could you pleaes expand on your idea? Any from what I see they are all the same price. :P

(here for prices) : http://autolumination.com/194.htm

Like .... the 10+ posts above mine, we are looking for an idea to get our custer brighter.....

NZConvertible

If you replace all the incandescent bulbs with new ones you will notice a signitifcant increase in brightness. Over their life (probably 15+ years for most) they loose a fair bit of their output. Since any autoparts store will carry these, it's a lot cheaper and easier than messing around with LED's. For all the claims, I've yet to see an LED throw light as evenly as an incandescent bulb. My cluster with it's new bulbs is more than clear enough at night, so I'm not seeing much point.

Somebody else can buy them and prove me right or wrong.

TweakGames

iTrader: (3)

If we wanted it to be cheaper and easier, we would buy honda civics.
I do think I got something with the matrix LEDs. Does anybody have a picture with LEDs instead of incandescents?

NZConvertible

Not only is that comment completely wrong, it's also totally irrelevant.

Dr4900n

Holy crap expensive... just goto Radio Shack. $5 for a pack of LEDs (Blue, White, Reds are cheaper, etc).

DIY FTW.

TweakGames

iTrader: (3)

They arn't bright enough, and they dont spread the light. They would leave dark spots on the gauges.

staticguitar313

iTrader: (2)

thought about doing this couldnt get them to light up, goddamn diodesone of you guys finish it already so i can just copy you and get it right this time.

NZConvertible

You'd be lucky if you just had dark spots with cheap LED's. More likely you would just have seven spots of light where the LED's were and barely any light anywhere else.