Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

anyone know if there are brighter bulbs available, that'll plug right in and work, for say the instrument cluster and such? We have a dimmer  so being overly bright wouldnt' be a problem but there's times I wish the bulbs were capable of putting out about double the lumens (and yes, double the heat but at their size/power usage, this shouldn't matter). All my bulbs are starting to go out so I'm curious if you guys know of any brighter alternatives.

i havnt found brighter alternatives, but what i did, is i made reflectors out of aluminum foil for the inside of my cluster

you could probably also use some of that shiny aluminum tape

hmm...make much of a difference? Most of the bulbs point outward so it seems like gains would be minimal (compared to if the bulb was sideways). Too lazy to take the cluster apart now, but I'll give it a try later (just had it out a few days ago - now the battery gauge is working ;) )

it seemed to help, but it could have been one of those "mental mods"

i might try some of that aluminum tape next time i have my cluster out, especially when i go 140mph speedo and 7K tach in my red bird

They make led 194 bulbs that are super bright and in a whole bunch of different colors.

how well do those distribute the light compared to normal led's? There's http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7964344660&category=33713 who is local (but I'll be needing green or white)

edit:
guessing we'd need the ones with the inverted tips

Very well actually,they project quite a beam,have them for my lisc plate lights.

Yes there are brighter lamps that will replace the std #194, #168 being one of them. But before you go stickin' in a bunch of different bulbs remember these two things...

1.. Since they are starting to fail, your original lamps have likely aged to the point they are not as bright as they once were(especially if they are blackened).

2.. Brighter bulbs generally draw more current(not leds), so your dimmer reostat will likely over heat and possibly burn out...

the one that went out 2 nights ago (dimmer nob/headlight switch) didn't get any brighter with a new bulb

is the rheostat that weak that it can't handle a few brighter bulbs?  :shakehead

Tom, I think most of the current that passes through the rheostat is due to that coil on the back of the cluster. IIRC, there are only four cluster illumination bulbs (in a TC cluster, anyway). Even doubling the current draw probably wouldn't make much of a difference.

That being said, the cluster is made of a plastic that melts at just above the temperature of a 194 bulb. If you've ever had one apart you'll see that they are quite often actually melted in some places where bulbs are used frequently (around the turn signal indicators, high beam indicator, and check engine light if this has been on for a long time). I don't know if I'd put anything hotter in there, but LED's would be good.

Cold,low current draw,never burn out,what more can you ask for.

a light pattern similar to bulbs

Carm, i just rechecked The '88 EVTM and it shows the current path directly from the dimmer, to the lamps then ground(OK it feeds through fuse #13). All together there are 13 lamps so if all were replaced, I'm doubting the dimmer could handle it(then there is the issue of heat from the lamps as you mentioned) Maybe the dimmer can handle more current, I dunno. I'm happy with the stock bulbs in mine...

I've noticed before that the EVTM does not seem to acknowledge that coil thing, but as you're well aware, the coil thing is there. It's there because the bulbs alone would not draw enough current to allow the wirewound dimmer to work. The current would be small enough that no matter what position the dimmer is in the bulbs would be at close to full brightness.
 
I'm looking at the EVTM now, and there are only three illumination bulbs in the base cluster and two in the Sport/TC cluster, according to it. This isn't right, of course - there are five in the Sport/TC cluster. I know this because I happen to gave a gutted cluster right here, a victim of one of my many ongoing and unfinished projects:
 

All of the other bulbs in the cluster are for indicators, not illumination. The other bulbs you're seeing in the EVTM are for illumination outside the cluster, such as for the headlight switch, radio, HVAC controls, etc.
 
Here's a pic of the coil I'm talking about:
 

Yea Carm you're correct.... I had a brain lapse and kinda forgot about the load resistor...

Sinility is gonna be great, I'll get to learn these things all over again.. :D

Back on topic... Since the original purpose of this post was to have brighter lamps, removing the resistor would allow a little more voltage, as there would be no voltage drop through the wiring to the lamps. A switch could be added to open the resistor, reducing the load on the circuit.

Gotta dig this thread back up.

Anyone have experience (good or bad) with this place? http://www.superbrightleds.com/

I'm thinking of ordering from them, to replace most of the bulbs in my full digital cluster while I have it apart. (199 mod, painted it to make it a little more reflective, etc.)

Cluster's back together.. still nothing on that website, I guess.

Maybe I'll make a small order from 'em just to give 'em a try. No experiences with that site means at least there are no BAD experiences with it.

Some of the guys at the old Chevy trucks board have brightened their notoriously dim dash lights by spraying the inside of the dash panel (where the light reflects) with Duplicolor Bumper Chrome paint.

http://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard

Possibly stupid question, but.. looking over that post about the coil on the buttstuffog cluster, am I going to have dimming problems if I replace all the general illumination lights (in other words, not the indicators) in the full digital cluster (w/ no coil like that) with LEDs?

You might well - the only way to be sure is to try it.

Thinking about running 3 green LEDs and 3 regular bulbs for the digital parts, (one of each per section) and a pair of green LEDs for the illumination for the buttons. Also thinking about getting the appropriate color of LED for each of the functioning idiot lights. Does "lamp out" actually function on many of these? (realizing that yes, the LEDs themselves might trigger lamp out) If it does, I'm looking at 2 yellow, 1 blue, 2 green, and the rest red.

That brings up another point.. I've never had this car fully functional/driveable before.. which of the red idiot lights on the full cluster should actually work? I mean like check oil, washer fluid, etc. It's an '88 LX, has the auto-dim or whatever.

I'm getting close enough to having this thing running after almost six months that I'm almost looking for excuses NOT to fire it up, like I might screw it up or something.. heh. But anyway, I'd like to have all this stuff in place.. the LEDs, cluster back in and freshly 199-modded, (done) precats cleaned out, (about 90% done) etc.

OK, that's the worst of the hijack for now. All I have to do is remember which color bulb holders go where.. :D

You can get the washer fluid one to work if you get the washer fluid reservior from a TC (which has the sensor) and run the wire to the instrument cluster (easy mod, but have to pull the fender to do it -- make sure you put it back on properly aligned!)

You can get the door ajar one working by putting in the door ajar sensors in your doors (easy) and running the wire to your warning chime (and from there to your instrument cluster). Once again, an easy mod.

Both mods are easy only if you have the metal clips that snap into the cluster connectors. You can get these from a donor cluster from the yard.

About your question regerding the loss of your Dimmer, you should retain that function.  All it is is reducing the power flow to the LEDs, not actually interrupting it. I had my Autometer guages lighted  by LEDs and hooked into the cluster wiring. They dimmed with the rest of the cluster lights. If you do decide to go with LEDs, go with the Varad brand ones. I think that they offer gallium Nitride LEDs for direct bulb replacement. Superior products at about the same price. 


http://www.varad.com

They have an application chart somewhere on this page LOL Under Automotive.

Thanks for the responses.. but I decided in the interests of getting the car running and back together again quickly that I would just pick up 4 more mini-37s in addition to the one remaining good one I had already. I decided to fill the turn signals, high beam indicator, brake indicator, and the check oil indicator in case it actually worked. The other five (door ajar, check turbo, washer fluid low, and two others I can't recall offhand) were deemed unnecessary to operation of the car while diagnosing the engine problems.