mytrplseven

Think I'm onto something here. I'm tired of the crappy gauge lights on these cars. I've done the foil and new bulb route but it's still marginal. Last week I found some LED light strips that use ultraviolet (black light) LED's. Not knowing how the stock or white panel gauges would reflect the UV LED's, I had an extra gauge cluster and used that for my test rig. The picture below is the panel with 12v applied and two layers of blue painters tape over the LED's just to tone them down (temporary fix for now).

Please disregard the little flash-ups on the bottom. They don't really exist in real life but my smart phone doesn't know that and amplifies them regardless. The picture is without the bottom stock lights fired up so there will likely be some extra illumination of the white lettering/numbers, if they are included in the final installation.

Please respond with your opinions of this approach. The fix basically costs $15 in materials, a 1/4" drilled hole and a little wiring. Let me know what you guys think.

thomasmryan

krylon sells some glow in the dark paint which would be cool for the needle tips.

looks good

mytrplseven

You won't need it. the orange lines on the gauges and needles really pop. Just like black light enhances those colors. The picture doesn't do them justice. Anything brighter would be a major distraction. That's why I have to cover the LED's with tape to tone them down.

FIA-F1

Yep, I have done the foil bulb thing and it wasn't quite the answer so I tried the LED route. Mine is 3 lights in "blue" that get inserted in the slots where the traditional bulbs were. I had to remove the black triangular pieces to make it work. It is brighter than I thought it would be and the blue is growing on me.

Dougs951S

Nice. I like the blacklights. How does it effect your night vision? I redid the early dash on my old 84' with white LED's and it looked great, this looks more simpler and I might give it a try since the lighting on my 86' NA is a joke. The dash is brighter for some reason on my 87 951, so I'll likely leave it alone.

mytrplseven

Some of the features I like about the project so far is that the light level is more subtle and not distracting. That, plus the absence of "white" light makes your overall night vision more effective. Another is that it's relatively inexpensive. So far I've only invested $15 for the LED's plus a litte shipping. The install is fairly simple as well. The part that I'm trying to resolve at this point, is toning down the effect of the LED's because they create a lot more panel light than I'm personally uncomfortable with. I've used blue painter's tape as a temporary test and that brings the level down to where I prefer it. I need to find a solution to that for the long term but I'm very sastified with how cool the gauges look so far.

odurandina

I did this same LED string mod six years ago, (and posted it a few times).

https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...refresh-2.html


i tucked them in the same location behind the 'sill' as you have done.

+1 in fully recommending this mod to everyone. nicely done.





I added also 1 more.....


the top photo, below is rather difficult to capture on camera,

a few years ago, someone else decided to try going front lit, and posted a photo the captures the result quite well, imo.



.

odurandina

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fiily

Write-up's?

I would love to do this to mine.

BoulderGeek

I have been considering the same thing (with white). I have about thirty feet of white LED Strip and connectors.

My cluster front lens is plastic welded to the housing, and I cracked it in trying to separate them.

I would like to know how you placed the LED strip. I take it you drilled a hole in the housing and threaded the strip through, somehow securing it to the bottom of the cluster aperture.

I replaced the silver reflectors with bright aluminum foil, and used LED bulbs in the cluster sockets. But, it is still weak.

I replaced the cluster housing in my Volvo a couple of years ago, with that of a higher model (to the the 'R'-look metal gauges). The new housing had gallery lights above, which I needed to wire into an add-a-circuit. It also really helps. I was thinking of similar; drilling a few holds into the top of the cluster housing and letting LED strip lights line up and shine into the cluster face.

If I do that, I will probably also cut off some of the foil reflector and use LED strips across them, for a direct injection of light.

PS. Oh, has anyone tried to make footwell entry lights with LED strip? I have been meaning to do that. My driver's door open/closed switch may or may not work properly, to use as a trigger. My interior dome light does not activate on door opens, but does work in both switch positions.

odurandina

simply, remove the glass,

access a hot wire,

fit your lights,

cut off the excess (I think I had 1 or 2 excess led's that I cut off),

tuck them in,

and you're home.

BoulderGeek

Yeah, that's what I imagined, aside from the "glass" face being glued on and irremovable.

I would have to do it outside of the sealed chamber.

mytrplseven

The front clear plastic housing removes in total with the black housing by removing a bunch of screws on the back of the instrument cluster. I then located where the hole was to be drilled by estimating where the end of the strip would be and that's where I drilled it (1/4" hole). I then threaded the strip through the 3 big holes and then placed the strip on the bottom of the housing behind the last rib on the bottom. It'll be more clear when I publish the project soon.


I think these strips have a lot of possibilities. They come in colors as well.

morghen

Each to their own i guess but i dont see the point in having a bright light right up your face while driving in the dark. If the dash lighting is working as it should, i'm more than happy with the amount of light being shoved in my face by the 924/early 944 dash.
On modern cars i have to tone them down, otherwise it tires my eyes.

This is my 924 turbo S1 with green dials, and one dead dash light

odurandina

I'm with you..... but where you're mistaken is assuming the resulting panel is too bright.

but, it's not at all bright......

speaking specifically to the late dash... like everyone else,

when you get into my car and pop on the lights you don't notice anything out of the ordinary....

–unless of course you're an experienced 924/944/968 owner ....you might accidentally, and pleasantly notice

the heavens have opened – and the instruments are illuminated in such a way as to be just about perfect.

the Porsche crap back in the day wasn't that good to begin..... but as the years have gone by,

some combination of a layer of dust builds up in the silly reflectors – or the silver coating oxidizes – or maybe the crappy lights simply dim.

whatever it is, IT FREAKING SUCKS.

which is why I decided to do the same thing the op has done.

the natural reaction is a complete state of euphoria over his mod..... and for good reason.

with my setup – the only difference – is that my light string (from Autozone) came with a couple fewer lights.




let me add one thing.... the reason the resulting panel isn't too bright is quite simple.

look at it. it's black !!! the whole damn thing is black. not easy to light up something that doesn't reflect any light.

the only thing that reflects the light off the LED's tucked properly behind the sill/coping is the white lettering of the instruments, and the needles.

so you all, get up off your lazy asses...... stop being SERFS to LIFE IN BOSCH – and do this mod!!