LED Dash instrument flood lights?

Posted By: TinCuda

LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/07/11 11:37 PM

1971 'Cuda

I have been kind of kicking around the idea of replacing my dash flood lights with green LEDs. I have heard of some folks doing this and I was wondering if that was a plug and play kit that they got somewhere or if they just wired them in.

Thanks for any info

.,

Posted By: RapidRobert

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/08/11 02:06 AM

Well I bought some blue and green 1157 and 1156 bulbs from www.classicindustries.com. Ain't use them yet (& maybe illegal

) but looking forward to it. Here's a BTT for ya

Posted By: abodyjoe

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/08/11 01:17 PM

can check here... http://whitegauges.net/categories/Dash-Illumination-Parts/LED-Bulb-Lighting/

Posted By: Pyper70

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/08/11 05:52 PM

$5 each? Thats highway robbery. I paid $0.75 each . I bought 10 and it was free shipping from China from you know what site.

Plenty bright. I went for the super white bulbs. You can't dim them but they look pretty sweet in the dash and on the console. If I could find one for my Autometer tach now that would be great

Posted By: screamindriver

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/08/11 06:21 PM

Not sure which LED route you're going but keep in mind...The "green" tint is actually produced by the lightbulb's lense covering...You would'nt actually need a colored bulb unless your original dash lenses are shot...

Posted By: BDW

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/09/11 01:57 AM

Quote:

Not sure which LED route you're going but keep in mind...The "green" tint is actually produced by the lightbulb's lense covering...You would'nt actually need a colored bulb unless your original dash lenses are shot...

Found this out the hard way. I went back to the old standard bulbs and it looks much better. The LEDs just weren't bright enough and way too expensive to keep playing around with to get a color match.

Posted By: Commando1

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/09/11 06:20 PM

Quote:

You can't dim them but...

So you screwed up its proper function....

Posted By: feets

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/09/11 08:33 PM

I put LEDs in my 92 D250 and the Imperial. They dim just like the original lights.
My LEDs came from superbrightleds.com.

Here's a couple shots to show the range.

It's a very linear progression. I very rarely keep the gauge lights all the way up. It's pretty bright.
I will give you a word of warning. Don't use the brightest LEDs for your indicator lights. I did that in my truck. When I hit the turn signal the interior of the truck flashes green. It's way too bright. Using the hazard lights is almost blinding at night.

Use green LEDs for green lights and other colors for other color lenses. If you put a white LED behind a green lens like those turn signal indicators the LED color will blow through the tinted lens. A white LED behind the green lens would be a white light with a slight green tint. White LEDs in tail lights will shine a very pale pink.
Always match the LED color with the lens color.
My truck's gauge lights are cool blue LEDs with the original blue bulb covers.

I put ultraviolet LEDs in the dash flood lights in the Imperial. Since the gauges are lit from the dash pad and not from behind the gauges the UV LEDs reduce glare while really making the gauge markings and needles pop nicely.

Posted By: lahatte

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/09/11 10:22 PM

Do you have a bulb number for those ultraviolet bulbs used in the Imperial? I assume those use the old standard push spring sockets?

Posted By: Pyper70

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/09/11 11:03 PM

Quote:

Quote:

You can't dim them but...

So you screwed up its proper function....

To you I did but I always have my lamps on at their brightest. My LEDs give a turquoise blue accent to the entire dash. I don't even dim the lights in my 2004 Chevy.

Posted By: Commando1

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/09/11 11:25 PM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

You can't dim them but...

So you screwed up its proper function....

To you I did but I always have my lamps on at their brightest. My LEDs give a turquoise blue accent to the entire dash. I don't even dim the lights in my 2004 Chevy.

Yah. I understand you don't mind but they're supposed to dim.
I never let the next owner of one of my cars have to say "What the ^%$# did this guy do???"
Maybe you play the radio loud. Are you going to remove the volume knob?
Small and very petty... YES. But it's the devil in the details that I like attending to.

Posted By: feets

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/10/11 02:31 AM

Quote:

Do you have a bulb number for those ultraviolet bulbs used in the Imperial? I assume those use the old standard push spring sockets?

Clicky here for a list of bulbs to fit your Cuda.

The bulbs I used for the Imperial's dash were these:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/s...2Fba9s_1led.htm

I will warn you... the UV bulbs ARE NOT BRIGHT. If you like a well lit cluster these must be used in direct lighting. In the Imperial it's a little tough to see the gauges if there's much light pollution around. These LEDs are best on the open road with not much ambient lighting.

If you like bright gauges, get the cool blue LEDs and dim them as needed.

I just went outside to take some pics but my camera won't capture the image. I tried popping in the cool blue LEDs and even the incandescent bulbs but none of the images came out. Strange. I used the same settings that took the pics posted of my truck's dash.

My dimmer switch is so bad that I had to jiggle it around and turn it all kinds of ways to get the regular bulbs to come on. They draw more amperage than the switch can handle in it's current fresh-out-of-the-field state. However, switching to the bright cool blue LEDs let me crank up the dash lights bright enough to read the gauges while standing behind the car. The color was a nice cool blue that looks much nicer than the sickly yellow-green color I got from the regular bulbs.

Posted By: lahatte

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/10/11 02:40 AM

Thanks very much.

Posted By: hp383

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/10/11 02:53 AM

Quote:

$5 each? Thats highway robbery. I paid $0.75 each . I bought 10 and it was free shipping from China from you know what site.

Plenty bright. I went for the super white bulbs. You can't dim them but they look pretty sweet in the dash and on the console. If I could find one for my Autometer tach now that would be great

I bought some from the same site, same country, possibly different seller. The first time was a set of 10 for $9.99 shipped. They looked great for a bout a month, then started strobing And then eventually went out.

I recently bought a replacement set, from a different seller, slightly different bulb design, so far so good. Same price, same country. If these fail shortly, I will check into some of the higher priced bulbs. I don't know if the higher price, will bring better quality or not.

I used the bright blue LEDs to match the stereo and CB i have in the truck.

Posted By: 71rm23

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/10/11 04:28 AM

Feets:

The LED's do look nice. Did you have to install a resistor like the site suggetsts? I thought they would be a plug-n-play til I read he part about the resistor for each bulb.

Posted By: feets

Re: LED Dash instrument flood lights? - 12/10/11 05:29 PM

No resistor required on my vehicles.

Cars that have warning lights for burned out bulbs usually require some sort of resistor. If the car doesn't see enough of a current draw it will give you the warning. LEDs draw very little current and will set off those warnings.
Old school thermal flashers (used in all older American cars) will not work properly with LEDs as turn signals. The fix is a cheapie electronic flashed. You're right back to plug and play.