Chuck Schreiber

May have to have POD off to replace ign switch on Friday w Sean and while we were in there, wanted to replace the Guage illumination w LEDs.

I've done the search on Keith's, Ed's, etc, but still a little unclear as to the # on the bulbs. I've replaced pretty much everything else in the GTS with #74's and they work great. The last of the illumination are the 4 bulbs in the rear of the gauge cluster that light the Tach, Speedo, oil press/fuel, and alt/temp gauges.

Keith's writeup says WLED's which I would assume are these:

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...%2FWLED-x5.htm
Which from the webpage would be #194 bulbs.

I've always gotten bulbs from Autoillumination and want to make sure I get the same "color" white. I like the "Bright white", So equating #194 bulbs, I got this page.

http://www.autolumination.com/194.htm

Can anyone confirm that this is the correct bulb type for this application.

I appreciate it!!

Tony

Cant help you but...document and let us know when you do it

This is on my list as well...a few costmetic items Id like to do..

928ntslow

Chuck...you are correct. I used the WLED5. I just replaced the 4 last week in my car. I had one of the bulbs go bad, so I bought 4 fresh ones. I got the cool white, not the other white which is too creamy colored. The cool white is a better color I think. They just plug into the OEM cap. You will probably have to wiggle, starting at an angle to get the bulbs into the holes so that you can twist and lock. Taking them out, hold the cluster so that the gauges face up. Because the bulb head is a little bigger, they may separate from the cap when removing and then fall back into the cluster. This way, you can grab a hold of the base of the bulb and twist it out. Good luck!

Chuck Schreiber

Thx Keith!!

#194's it is.

I had the same issue w a few of the autoillumination bulbs being DOA, so I'll get a few extra. I'm happy with the bright whites that they have so I'm going to stick with that color so I'm not mixing and matching. Thx for the tips on removal as well.

One more question, is the plastic face (clear) removable on the gauge cluster itself? I want to remove and use plastic polish on it. I did this on the 79 and it almost looks like there is NO plastic there at all. Came out very clear, but I had to virtually "break" off the whole piece w an exacto knife around the edges and re-epoxy the whole thing on. Thought I remember the later gauges being able to be "popped" off.

Again, appreciate the info!!

NoVector

Chuck - What Tony said, would love to see pics as I'll be doing this too this winter. Was waiting to see Ed's update with a dimmer. I also need to remove the plastic face on the cluster. I have a 1/2-moon tear in the flat-black (flocked?) stuff on the spedometer at the 120 MPH position. I believe it was caused by a PO putting too hot a bulb in and it melted it back. My plan is to cut out the bad section (about the size of a penny) and using some flat-black flocking from a hobby shop to try and patch it. Thanks! / Bruce

Chuck Schreiber

Tony,
Send me a PM and I've got it documented for the earlier cars already. Did all this stuff with the Jager Kit several years ago on the 79. Looks awesome now.

Bruce,
I have the same thing next to the Fuel Gauge. Its like a 1/2 inch scratch in the black stuff that lets light through next to the gauge itself. I was going to take the plastic lense off to get to it and just touch it up w some flat black paint. Should be unnoticeable (I hope) when done.

You can see the scratch in pic one.

The other 2 show the difference in LED vs regular bulbs. Not great pics, but they do show the contrast. IT is NIGHT AND DAY in person!!

Chuck Schreiber

Keith,
Did you have natural, or Warm white before. Looks like the closer you go to cool, the bluer it gets.

Looks like
warm is yellowish
natural is actually white
cool is more blueish

I have superwhite in the center console, but there is no 5 head wedge on autoillumination website that match.

I'm probably picking fly**** out of pepper at this point and just need to pick natural or cool.

Ed Scherer

All my interior LED bulb recommendations (I think I've got every single bulb in the interior, unless I missed something) for '89 and later are documented near the end of Converting Porsche 928 Interior Lighting to LEDs. Document is still incomplete, but the bulb recommendations summary section is complete. Note that most of the photos in the document are clickable (it'll take you to a nice big photo that you can zoom in on and view in all its high-res glory. )

For the 4 cluster backlights, I recommended Super Bright LEDs WLED-WHP5. Those are the 5100 K "natural white"; I wouldn't recommend going any warmer (lower Kelvin number) than that or things will start to look too yellow (IMHO). Try to avoid mixing warm white with anything cooler (cool/super/natural white).

FWIW, Super Bright LEDs generally does a better job of providing real specs (like actual color temperature in Kelvins) than Auto/Superlumination.


I just ordered more parts for additional PWM dimmers today; hope to have some units available within a few weeks. Made a few more mods to the circuit to improve robustness (trying to do a good job designing in things like output short-circuit/current limiting protection, voltage spike immunity, etc.) as well as a few more things to try to reduce size and cost.

It's pretty easy to field strip the whole cluster down to parts.

I've got a ton of photos on cluster-related stuff, but haven't made all that many public yet.





The plastic in the cluster is like much of the other plastic in our cars: brittle. Check out the crack in the middle of this photo (might need to click the pic and inspect the high-res version):






IMHO, the LED-lamped dash is a thing of beauty.

Herman K

My Dear Ed letter,

Your "Converting Porsche 928 Interior Lighting to LEDs." =

"FAWSOME" = Fabulous Awesome presentation

NoVector

Thanks Ed and Chuck - And dito what Herman said--the LEDs look outstanding! Here's a picture of why my cluster needs surgery.
I assume it's from too hot a bulb somewhere by a PO. I have noticed that the longer the car/dash is on, the more the stuff curls back--and
when it cools, it un-curls. I'm just sick of looking at it. Figure while the cluster is out, there's no better time to convert to LED.

Thanks again / Bruce

Tom in Austin

Chuck, look forward to seeing the LEDs at 3rd coast ...

Chuck Schreiber

Ed,

Fantastic writeup on this already, and it sounds like alot more to come!!
You've already cleared up a few things I was going to ask you.

Looking forward to reading your "book" on getting to know the later model gauge/pod/illumination setup!!!

Chuck Schreiber

Tom,

Hope I can get these things knocked out before the event.

Time is tickin!!

77tony

Chuck, not to put any additonal pressure on you to get this done for 3rd Coast, but do look forward to viewing the results. Superb writeup Ed. 77Tony

ALKada

Chuck and Ed, thank you for breaking ground for the rest of us. This will be in the very near future and I'm looking forward to getting this upgrade done. You just made my job a lot easier.

Alex-