Sysgen

Great writeup, hope to do this, this winter.

I do have a question, why didn't you go with leds like this ?

No soldering to do or anything, they are supposed to fit like the old ones.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b....24516&next=50

VWaddict

Well, mainly because I HAD to solve the intermittency issues caused by 'baked' sockets and that meant I couldn't use the twist-in bases any more... but also because I will be doing the climate control, and all the other bulbs which I mentioned. Getting LOTS of the identical LEDs, making them fit everywhere and doing it all for under $14 is a winner, in my book!

-Plus, I use components like these for other projects, and I'll still have lots left over to play with.

Oh, bear in mind also that the twist-base bulb replacement which you show is a SMALLER bulb, and won't fit... it's the same size as the (many other) smaller bulbs used on the cluster... the three main illumination bulbs are MUCH bigger, and use a larger twist-base.

Keith

Zero10

This sounds like a very similar to what I came up with.
When you aim the LEDs, you actually want to give them some tilt backwards to get the full light out of them. If you angle them down and forwards you get like 80% light, but about 30* back of down gets almost all the light. Kind of screwy how these reflectors work. I soldered mine into the bulb sockets. Let me see if I can dig up some pictures of mine. Same idea except I used 470 ohm resistors in a 1/4W variety, and sunk them down inside the bulb sockets.

I am actually getting ready to swap my old cluster into my 951 since the cluster in the 951 has some broken traces (can't shut the oil light off no matter what I do) and the old cluster has my LEDs in it. I also did a swap on the clock using an S-flux LED (4-pin, 45* viewing angle, 8000mcd) from lsdiodes.com. I was going to do the climate control as well just never got around to it.

Zero10

Here is an early version of mine:

a post-install picture, 2 3200mcd 18* viewing angle blue LEDs in each socket:

and outside in some streetlights:


I used 471nm blue LEDs so that they emitted some UV light, it made the needles glow all cool-like, except that the numbers were not UV reactive. In later versions I used 25* viewing angle 473nm blue LEDs to get a more pleasant tone of blue.

I've proly got more pics somewhere but I'm at work and can't track them down right now

S2cab

I bought the regulator, multi-LED, & SW boost gauge from them. It worked out OK. The LED's need to be brighter, but that's evolution.

eniac

Maybe this winter I will pull my cluster out to take some pics of mine. I had incredibly dim lights until I change them over. While looking over the silver tape/tin foil idea I noticed that small cold cathode tubes similar to these http://www.xoxide.com/coldcathodes.html would fit right in place of where the reflective plastic was. This completely eliminated having to worry about a shiny mirror surface.

I installed blue lights last summer and my cluster looks better then I have even seen on some new cars. The lights come in all colors so you have a choice if you want the stock white look or something that matches your favorite sport coat.

ausgeflippt951

Can you take a picture of your cluster, but not taken apart? That's an interesting idea you've got there...

shaheed

so those reflectors look to be about 3 inches long and the smallest cathode tubes i see on that site are 4 inches, how did you get them to fit? where did you wire them into? i assume heat is not a problem with these?

Zero10

I believe he placed a 12" CC tube down infront of where the reflectors emerge, i.e. inside of the clear plastic on the front of the cluster, but far enough down that the black surround trim piece hides the light from direct viewing.

Mark-87-951

Anyone found a wedge LED that will fit in the climate control ****? The one's I have are just a tiny bit to large, though they're supposed to be replacements for that type bulb.

VWaddict

My next step is to attack the climate control and defrost switches etc. I'll be taking pictures and noting polarity etc. I think that 5MM LEDs should be able to fit, although there'll need to be a 500Ω current limiting resistor in line with one of the legs... -The good thing is that they should never burn out, so it would be a one-time deal, rather than occasionally replacing burned-out incandescent bulbs.

Keith

ausgeflippt951

So you're saying you think the 100-pack of LEDs you bought should work in place of the small climate control bulbs?

eniac

I placed them right behind the opening just before where the clear plastic would stick through. So the light will shine through the slots and directly on the guages, exactly the same spot the stock lights would be reflected towards.

The size I would guess is 3" or 4" each and I used 3 of them, one for each slot. I never actually measured the size. I just searched around for some that fit the gap. One long tube would work as well but you would have to trim the cluster some. The lights came with a module that only needed a 12v source so I wired them to one of the wires for the dash lights, or radio, or ashtray light. I don't recall exactly but any of these would work.

Heat does not seem to be any issue after 6 months or so of use. I even had them on for 5 hours straight during a road trip. One of the most pleasant night trips I ever had in my car thanks to this . The only thing that could be an issue for some people is the dimmer switch. It works but due to the design of CC lights they really dont dim much. I haven't ever had any need to dim mine so it's not anything I would be concerned about.

I'll take a pic tonight with the garage lights off and my dash lights on.

danny951

With the LEDs, do you have any control over the brightness using the factory dimmer? Maybe you could do a little video showing the brightness level at full bright and full dim before the LEDs shutoff.

VWaddict

You'd need a 25-watt, 15Ω resistor in order for the factory dimmer to work with no other modifications...

I just bought a dimmer on eBay so that I can bench-test a circuit modification which I have in mind which won't run so warm or be so wasteful, but STILL use the factory dash-dimmer control. It'll be a while until I get it here, but for the moment I'm not worried about dimming. -The design that I have in mind should work for ANY LED/incandescent combination much better than the stock factory dimmer.

Keith