I just got my led lights in for my dash conversion and cannot figure out what sides are pos and neg.'

I have read the write ups but they are for later instrument clusters without the thin plastic sheet printed circuit board.

I have looked at the wiring diagram, but all the sending units run through the central warning box, and i loose them there. since the leds are polar sensitive i need to id the sides that are + and-.

does anyone have the pinouts for the connectors, i can trace from there... thanks a ton.....

I will add this information to the other led conversion threads if anyone can help me with it..

thanks.

 

First check that the wires on the leds DO NOT wrap around the base and up the other side!!! This produces a SHORT!
Do you mean which side of the led is + and -, or which side of the sockets is + and - ? Find a brown wire coming into one of the connectors, and locate which side of the light sockets are common with the dash connector for the brown wire....should be negative. There may be more than one brown wire on the connectors - there is on the earlier dashes.
jp 83 Euro S AT 55k

 

I assume you are using the standard twist-lock B8.5D lamps. Take a 9V battery and a couple of leads and apply voltage to the lamp terminals, they will only illuminate when the polarity is correct. Use a marker to mark the lamp (convention is to mark the neg. side) and then have fun going through the wiring diagrams... I have a polarity map for the 86.5 dash, but it's not ready for prime time- I'm waiting for a break in some other work to remove the pod and check/correct my work (the issues are the high-beam indicator and the three larger panel illuminating lamps at the bottom). I don't want to publish it here since it's not finished, but I'll be glad to PM you a copy with this caveat noted.

 

i have established the polarity of the lights themselves, what i need is help with the ploarity of the circuit board. I have looked at the wiring diagram and traced the wires from light to sender and they go into the central warning unit. this is where i loose the trace as there is no label indicating what wire going in corresponds with what wire going out.

I loose which wire is ground and which is +

so what i am looking for is what wire on the connectors to the panel are + and which are- so i can orient the the plugs correctly.

the picture on ed's writeup is for a newer year with a solid back, not the blue plastic material.

i would love the polarity map...

and, as a side note to others.....

I did NOT get the bulbs you list. i got seperate bulbs and bases from autoillumination... they supposedly had no polarity, but they do... so it ended up being a mistake.

 

so i got most of this figured out yesterday.

i printed the wiring diagrams and taped the pages together to make one page per section as it originally came. this made it easier to follow wiring
i was able to trace down most of the + and - for the lights using which wires on the diagram had common connections.

there were a few on the board that confused me as both sides were common with other lights.. then i had a "shoulda had a V 8" moment... BOTH of the lights illuminated the same thing and came on together..... DOOOOOHHHH.

so i get the lights in (i was short a few reds and now have to wait on them) and take the board out to the car and plug it in and turn on the key to test my tracing.

MOST were correct. i had screwed up the polarity on a few bulbs. the trace i had was correct, i just put the bulb in the base backwards.

So i fixed the ones that were out.

I do however have a question.

the turn signal indicator that is on the side gague will not come on... bulb is good, tried both orientations... NADA...

i know there is a turn signal indicator in the middle of the dash, is this the only one that is SUPPOSED to illuminate when the key is on?

I know there are a few other lights that illuminate things that my car is not equiped with like "Servo"... i am assuming that they will not light. (the servo is one i do not have installed as i am short a few reds).

 

Sorry I missed your post about the polarity map, but sounds like you got it going! The turn signal lamp in the center of the left gauge is for use when you have trailer wiring in place, so no problems there. The "servo" is a bit of a mystery. I tried to figure it out, but it appears unused in every wiring diagram I have looked at. It was also suggested that 944's use it, but I could not find anything on the 944 forum that helped, either. Looks like a good lamp to use for something else, should you ever need one.

 

sweet... thanks
looks like all is good then..

i am waiting on the 194's for the dash lights.. i went white and will be doing the RNR on the reflectors tonight. I am not planning on using the mylar, etc.. just a gloss white.. that should prove plenty reflective.. more than the scratched up reflective coating that is there now, also the cavity that the light recesses into is an off white, a high gloss white should help tremendously.

last issue is the warning lights for the gauges.. the fuel, oil, volt, etc...

these are a totally different light and have proven VERY hard to find.from my measurements they are a
t1-3/4 bipin. these are scarcer than hens teeth...

dialight is one of the few manufacturers and have not made a run since 09.....

i managed to find a few white and yellow, but no red.... bummer....

any ideas on other alternatives for these?

 

I am happy you mentioned the type of LED because I have been looking for them but couldn't find them. Now I found them in a local webshop:
http://www.leds-buy.nl/voertuig-verl...nger-wit.html#

Our cars need 19 of them?

For the dashboard illumination I found another solution:
See my report and view the youtube demo:
https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...el-lights.html

 

nice writeup... had not thought about doing it that way