I installed LEDs in my digital dash and I'm not sure what I think yet .
The dimmer doesn't work with the leds it is just one brightness all the time and its not quite as bright as it was with the factory bulbs.
My main concern is longevity for my headlamp switch .
I have a relay harness for the headlights in the works also .
Opinions please
I don't mean to sound like a jerk here, but if the LED's aren't as bright, what was the point?
No offense taken, It's actually a good question .
The reason for using LEDs in the first place is they use less power , so they supposedly put less strain on the headlight switch .
And I didn't know that the LEDs were not as bright until I put them in . :hick:
They are by no means dim . They are just not quite as bright as the regular bulbs .
They do however change the color slightly to a more blueish tint which I think is slightly more appealing :D
It's probably not as bright as LEDs have a much more focused light than bulbs.
BTW you check engine light is on;)
Which pic is "before" and "after" ?
bottom is before ..top is after
Car was not running , the light goes out when it starts up :D
LED's require much less power and will do no harm to the headlamp switch.
I tried blue LED's in the Mustang cluster I swapped into the Tbird. The lighting was uneven creating hot spots on certain parts of the gauge faces. They will also not dim very much with a standard old headlamp switch.
The new Mustangs use all LED's from the factory. However I installed my own ambient lighting package and all the LED's dim just like the dash lights so the dimmer switches in the new Fords must be more advanced.
I'm just waiting for the sun to go down today so I can see how it looks at night .
I am also waiting for my #37 LED bulbs to arrive in the next day or so to be used for the warning and turn signal indicator lamps
Looks good so far. :D
On my Sport's cluster, I've removed the green filters, and swapped in red bulbs, gives it a reddish orangish light now, although I may pony up and try red LED's one of these days myself.
I like the softer color that is projected now , but I'm not overly impressed with the so called "brightness" of LED bulbs .
This is one thing I noticed, I installed some in my high mounted stop light and now when I step on the brake in my car at an idle I no longer drop a bar on my amp gauge, which it was doing even after my 3G swap ...(I should mention my battery is on the older side , and I have done the socket modification on my inner most taillight bulbs so they are dual filament 3157s)
I went all-LED also, and I had similar results. I like how they give a less harsh green at night, though the dimmer performance in sunlight takes some getting used to. Still, my voltage output went up by 0.5v when the accessories are on, which was the main reason for the switch. I also switched the taillight bulbs to red LED's, which look terrific and also save a lot of power, but they're hideously expensive.
They do make multiple-diode emitters that will utilize the stock reflectors somewhat - that is where the incandescent bulbs are surpassing the LED's in light output. Of course using a green filter with a red bulb will give you basically no output also - the filters are pretty much worthless unless you're using white-ish bulbs.
I have used a few different types of LED and I generally like them
The multi diode ones do work much better though
On my Mark VII i changed all 12 interior lights to super white LEDS and it looked really cool at night when you opened the door :D
My Bird only has 3 interior lights though so I think the effect would not quite be the same:hick:
Here is what it looks like complete .
The color looks nice. I also like what you did with the gauge surround by painting the raised squares silver. When I had my 1985 Tbird I had done the same thing in white because ya know in the late 1990's white gauge faces were in. Nowdays I would do them silver like you did.
Thanks , I like the way the silver looks too.
I was goofing around while I was waiting for the cluster from Vinnie so I tried it .
I actually now have 3 clusters for my car but only one working speedometer :hick:
yeah I have been reading about LED's in my Mae Electronics book and you have to do some trickery to get them to dim. Just like in our house. We can only put the LED's(which are dimmer) on non dimming switches. We also have to buy dimmable CFLs. Point is they need some mods to work well
LED's themselves yes but many automotive ones dim just fine. When I was messing with dash LED's a few years ago, probably only one or two that I had wouldn't dim (all were different manufacturers and sellers - I was trying to find the best to purchase) but the rest (80+%?) changed in intensity from off to full brightness, most without any gaps, without a problem.
I would say that in terms of automotive 37/74 and 168/192 bulbs, it'shiznit and miss based on the design of the circuitry in each product. LED's by themselves do not properly "dim" without pwm, but they will still change depending on the voltage that they're bed. 18650 lithium batteries put out a lot more light than two AA NIMH batteries in unregulated LED flashlights - it's controlled (or rather, not) the same way. Now many will turn off when they hit too low of a voltage though - this is what I assume most of you are seeing.
When I turn the thumb wheel on my headlamp switch the LEDs in my digital dash stay the same they do not get dimmer like my climate control or the ashtray light.
I don't mind it being that way as I normally keep my dash at full bright anyway :D
Of course I am not using high dollar LEDs either :hick:
Waste of money. Tried them and there are cheaper ones that perform better (such as the ones that aim forward and have additional emitters aiming sideways). The high power ones I used years ago, that were like $30, proved to me that they don't work and that I should talk everyone out of using them.
I had the best luck with some random $1 shipped LED's from eBay. Again, this was years ago so who knows what's out there today.
LOL.......... I'm using the $1 shipped from ebay ones
Honestly I have no complaints about them merely observations
I actually had a seller ship me blue ones by accident , I contacted him and he sent me white ones and told me to keep the 10 blue ones
There are many free shipping LED's on eBay - some which may still dim. Anyways, it's impossible to know what's what since even Chinese sellers may randomly swap manufacturers or they cheapen the parts even further. It's not like we can recommend a brand and part number to use...
That looks really good.
I put 194R LED's in my base cluster. They were the cheapo ones that only have one diode in them, they were so dim, I couldn't even see my speedo at night. I took them out ofcourse. But, that I think also has to do with the red light trying to pass through the green filters too, because I tried it with traditional 194R's, and only a little better.
I never tried it with white led's though. Now I wish I had.:D
When I go full custom in a couple mos, the guages I am getting are backlit via 194 bulbs, they will be getting LED's for sure.
here is a better pic.