LED dash lights that actualy work?

[rthy]

I am thinking of making my dash lights red, I know that there are sleeves for my current globes and there are also LEDs with concave lenses available. I want something that actually brighter than standard. I am thinking of using some of these:

http://www.sure-electronics.net/englishsite/led/full60.jpg

Its a 3 watt LED, I would most likely use a glue gun to glue it close to the hole of the old globe. Would this work?


.

[ru486]

Is the light from those diffuse enough? Or does it come out as a beam that will make bright spots on your dash?

I have tried various direct replacement LEDs - the concave lens ones aren't too bad, but still give uneven illumination.

[DRFT - 86]

Ive got blue led ones.. its a cluster of 3 leds which work ok.... its brighter directly where they are but still ok in the less bright areas...

[ke70dave]

those leds you have shown will be vveerryyy expensive....

i bought some of these leds from ebay a while ago, they have unbelivebalely bright, and have a massive angle of light

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-50X-Superflux-Red-...1QQcmdZViewItem (http://cgi.ebay.com/New-50X-Superflux-Red-5mm-R-H-LEDLamp-13-000mcd-F-R_W0QQitemZ250044397758QQihZ015QQcategoryZ26207QQr dZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

i have white ones and blue ones and are bright as, so i reckon if you put a heap of those behind youll be right

ps. i think im gonna have to flog your idea http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/forums/emoticons/tongue.gif

[Cerby]

i have been thinking about this too. But since i'm to lazy to chop and change i was thinknig about just painting the existing globes with glass stain! It would get a colour change and it would be cheap too!
Cheers
Cerby

[Cerby]

well tried staining the globes and it's shite! THey are as blue as anything but when you actually get them going the light is white!! Oh well
Now i was wondering if someone could tell me how you attach proper leds ont the cluster! DO you just solder the leds into the green plastic things that the wedge globes press into?
Cheers
Cerby

[ke70dave]

im not exacltly sure what the globe holder things look like, but you may be able to use the existing globes to solder the leds to. ie smash/dismanlte the original globes and then solder leds onto that. or as you said solder straight to the dash

[DavisJD]

Now i was wondering if someone could tell me how you attach proper leds ont the cluster! DO you just solder the leds into the green plastic things that the wedge globes press into?[/b]

i just used LED's with the right fitting on them, was a direct pull out, put in replacement. I used a blue wedge LED to spread the light as much as possible, and sanded it a little to spread it a bit more.

Just take out your dash globes, and take it down to Autobarn or supercheap to get the replacement LED's, just test them to see which is the brightest and most spread light.

Mine has turned out well. Everything lights blue, not as bright as before, but plenty bright enough, and there no longer dimmer adjustable. Just on or off.

Theve been in for nearly a year now, in a daily driver, and ive had no problems with them not working

[Cerby]

Oh ok i didn't realise they made wedge type leds! Well thats what i going to have to do then!!
One question tho why doesn't the dimmer adjustment work? Did you remove it from the circuit or do the leds just dim completely when you movce the adjuster down??
Cheer
Cerby

[dustyae86]

Oh ok i didn't realise they made wedge type leds! Well thats what i going to have to do then!!
One question tho why doesn't the dimmer adjustment work? Did you remove it from the circuit or do the leds just dim completely when you movce the adjuster down??
Cheer
Cerby[/b]



mine are narva leds and you need a good contact or else they will flicker and stop workin they are also directional and yeh mine are really direct and cost about $50 bucks all up and i am not sure if its really worth it

[puzzle man]

hi guys i replaced my speedo lights with LEDS didn't see the problem some of
you were having with it lighting up specific areas like a spotlight.
I used these LEDS that I found they have concave lenses, which helps disribute the light more evenly then the regular ones that are avaliable.
This picture shows the bulb near a piece of perspex, from how I see it the light beam hits the perspex and then is re-directed into the area of the speedo.
There are 4 LEDS that can be replaced with 3 that are used to light up the speedo area and a 4th one which is used for the battery light. I only replaced the 3 that are used for the speedo.
I used red LEDS but you can also find them in yellow, green and blue I purchased mine from Pep's Auto but you can get them from Autobarn aswell.
They are rougly around $10-12 for 2 LEDS, they are like a wedge style globe - the same as the ones that go in your indicators. One point to remember if your thinking of doing this is to undo your speedo cable from the engine bay.

<span style="font-family:Verdana"><span style="font-family:Palatino Linotype">here is a pic of a convex one
i got some 80 grit sand paper and ruffed it up (so the light would distribute better)
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2360/dscf00102ds.jpg
</span>then put it all back 1 point i will make is when you put the LEDS in BEFORE you put all the dash back together make shore the LEDS work if there not working all you have to do is turn them around.
all finished and only took about 1/2 hr
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/109/dscf00130kq.jpg


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