chitown928s4

Eniac,

I've tried the 12" UV cathode tubes and they worked and looked awesome for 2 days them they burned out. My current fix is a LED strip light mounted just above the reflectors.


heres the old post of my blue LED strips...

https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-944-951-968-forum/351460-led-cluster-mod.html


heres my catahode thread

https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-944-951-968-forum/304375-instrument-dim-light-cluster-fix-for-under-11-a.html

I should take a pic of my current white LED strip that looks better than the blue.

krazE

So you can just buy 3 of the following and be good? (for the instrument panel)

T1.5 Instrument LED bulb
1-LED Instrument Cluster and Gauge illumination bulb. #74 LED bulb installed in twist-lock socket base Available with White,Blue,Green,Red and Amber Wide Angle LED

eniac

Sorry for the delay but I got really busy the last fews days. Here are a couple pics. Excuse the poor quality as even the best digital camera will not do well in the dark with low batteries. lol

Ill have to find the store I bought my lights from to see exactly what they are. Something like what you would find in the ricer isle at pepboys would be likely to be the same. I have 3 small tubes so the light is evenly distributed and also isn't too bright as some LED I have seen. A bonus effect is this also makes the orange needles glow as if they were illuminated from the back.

These lights need a regulator which was included. If you connect 13.5v to the lights directly they will be very bright, overheat, and burn out quickly.

The pic is blurry because my camera battery is almost dead




Here is a pic with the flash on and the lights off for comparison.

IanS

When I did this, I found that adding the reflective tape to the underside of the pathways doubled the light output, and was really worthwhile. I was using 'bulbs' from superbrightleds.com, and without the double-silvering, it wasn't bright enough for my taste.

ausgeflippt951

Anyone have an idea how it'd look w/ red LEDs?

Cory9584

how many bulb locations are there to do the cluster?

aribop

There are 3.

aribop

Look here:
http://www.flamingeye.co.uk/coloursred.htm

PorscheDude1

Have you done this yet? This is the only thing keeping from the LED upgrade. I want all of the dash lights to be uniform.

vdub

+1

Keith, any update on led-ing the remainder of your dash?

VWaddict

Ah not yet, sorry.

Actually, I need to dig the 951 out and put some miles on it... Will do that tomorrow morning, I'm ashamed to confess that it's been languishing in the garage while I've been unfaithful to it...

Keith

Robby

Keith-

Have you had a chance to mess w/your climate control yet? I had my instrument cluster converted to LED's by NH Speedo- I think they used 7 bulbs & am not sure where they put them, etc- I thnk Brian (Perry951) used 7 too. Anyway, my NH Speedo's are too bright, even w/the rheostat set to full dim. When it's at full bright, other cars can shut off their headlights & use my car to illuminate the street ahead of them How bright are your's? Will the rheostat shut them off completely when you turn it all the way down? I'd like for this to happen- have them blacked out entirely at lowest setting & have them a touch brighter than stock, at brightest...

My main interest in LEDs was to have a cleaner looking cluster w/maybe a tiny bit more brightness. Now I'm trying to pick the right resistor, but I'd prefer to have the entire climate control converted to LEDs & then worry about dialing the perfect brightness range in. IF you're doing the climate control &/or clock, etc, would you be willing to convert other people's cars? I'd be glad to pay to have mine done. Good job on the write-up- the instrument cluster doesn't look horribly tough, but from what I understand, the climate control is more difficult & it's also pretty easy to break & quite expensive...

gpan951

Hi.
Did the reflectors and changed the bulbs. Good but could be brighter.
Am considering these - 2pcs 501 W5W High Power LED (White) Dash Wedge Bulbs. I saw them on ebay. Loads of different LEDs, colours, LED shapes and prices!
Will post pictures when done.
Gerald

Luis de Prat

Hi Robby,

I really think it's better to focus your efforts on the reflectors in the cluster housing, rather than on the source of light itself.

By freshening up the reflectant material in the housing with aluminum foil or similar, and upgrading to 3W bulbs (Porsche parts has superseded the 2W to 3W now, and they won't melt the housing), you'll have more than enough brightness and still retain the rheostat dimmer function.

Keep in mind that bright instrument panel lighting can be tiresome during night driving. You want only enough lighting to be able to read the gauges and minimize your eyesight's adjustment to dark driving conditions.

Robby

Hey Luis- sorry it's taken me so long to reply- in regards to lighting, it's too late. I already have LED's- I'm still not sure why people say the rheostat (dimmer) does not work w/LEDs though- mine works fine- just like stock, only the dimmest setting is still WAY TOO BRIGHT! I completely agree about the brightness situation- I like to be able to raise it up a little sometimes & then tone it way down others- unfortunately, Porsche did not set our rheostat so that it could completely black everything out. Is there a way to do this?

Still, my situation- I've been told two dif resistors to use & am not sure which to try OR if there's a better way...? I'd just like to reduce the brightness by ~40% or so, across the entire range....