Changing bulbs in insturment panel

03sxt · Post by **03sxt** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 3:31 pm

SteelBluePearl wrote:Well we got em all in and it looks great.. Now my bf wants to change the HVAC lights over..

Post pics!! You happy with them? Where'd you end up getting the LEDs?

SteelBlue · Post by **SteelBlue** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 3:43 pm

I got the leds from that ebay link you gave me. Id' post pics but am not sure how. And yes, I absolutely love them and now cant wait for the rest of the car to light up blue.

03sxt · Post by **03sxt** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 3:48 pm

SteelBluePearl wrote:I got the leds from that ebay link you gave me. Id' post pics but am not sure how. And yes, I absolutely love them and now cant wait for the rest of the car to light up blue.

Awesome! That's great to hear... Posting pics is pretty simple, photobucket.com is probably the easiest place to upload pictures and they give you the code to put in your post to add pictures... Quite helpful! I'd love to see pics.

SteelBlue · Post by **SteelBlue** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 4:25 pm

Here is the only good picture I have of it. Sorry the pic is so big, I'll eventually learn to shrink them.

I'll get a few more put up later after I get back from the store.

03sxt · Post by **03sxt** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 4:53 pm

Wow! Those do look nice! And I see you caught on to the Photobucket thing already.

Good job! Again, those look real nice!

I wonder how red LEDs would turn out....

SteelBlue · Post by **SteelBlue** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:26 pm

I don't know how red would look.. it would be bright but also it probably would blend in with the needles and make it a bit harder to see...

I have to tear my entire dash apart again, found out a few days ago that one of the blinkers doesn't light up on the panel..

I will take plenty of pics if anyone is interested... How hard is it to change the lighting in the HVAC? I am wanting to do this, and the lights down in the shifter panel, within a few weeks so any info will be helpful. Thanks again.

Post by **jonnymopar** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:18 pm

Hey looking good there SteelBlue! I swear, I wish they made a cluster with black gauges plus a tach. I like the black better.

The sockets for the bulbs really suck (as you probably already found out). Just move it around a little and that dead blinker should come back. I drove mine for a few weeks before 2 out of the 6 illumination bulb sockets loosened on me.

Watch out trying to do red. The gauge overlay is tinted green, and I'm almost positive that red won't show through that (or it will, just a dull brownish color). Green is made from yellow and blue, so blue shines through it. I would hate for someone to spend all the money on red LEDs, just to turn it on and have only the needles light up. I could be wrong though, so don't take this as etched in stone.

03sxt · Post by **03sxt** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:32 pm

jonnymopar wrote:Watch out trying to do red. The gauge overlay is tinted green, and I'm almost positive that red won't show through that (or it will, just a dull brownish color). Green is made from yellow and blue, so blue shines through it. I would hate for someone to spend all the money on red LEDs, just to turn it on and have only the needles light up. I could be wrong though, so don't take this as etched in stone.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing as far as the gauges being tinted green... I dunno... I'll probably just do blue since we know that works.

Nick Drake · Post by **Nick Drake** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:15 pm

Hey guys, about getting the bulbs out:

You don't have to chew them out

, just poke something into the hole at the bottom of the socket. I don't have a picture sorry, but there's a very noticable hole at the bottom. Just get the socket in a vice (not squeezing, just so that you could push on the bottom of the socket and it won't move) and shove your instrument of choice in the hole. Sounds dirty...

Anyways. The bulbs should just pop right out. Also just be sure that the two wires coming off your led replacements come in contact with the two pieces of metal on either side of the socket. Otherwise...well duh. No worky.

And that musicians gel is a great find, thanks. Anybody wanna ship me their leftovers? Maybe a 5in square?

reppinthe2.0 · Post by **reppinthe2.0** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:02 pm

how many are in the cluster? can anyone tell me?

SteelBlue · Post by **SteelBlue** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:36 pm

I used 8 for the basic lights. I left the emergency lights alone since i wanted them to stand out if there is a problem...

have you taken your cluster out yet? the lights just need a firm grip (or pliers) and a slow turn and they should pop right out..

reppinthe2.0 · Post by **reppinthe2.0** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:57 pm

no i havnt taken it out yet, i just want to know how many LEDs i needed so that i have them before i even take out my cluster. I think im gonna do like and amber cause my car is OB and my HU has a multicolor display and i set it to orange. SO im kinda going with the orange theme.

Post by **jonnymopar** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 8:49 am

reppinthe2.0 wrote:no i havnt taken it out yet, i just want to know how many LEDs i needed so that i have them before i even take out my cluster. I think im gonna do like and amber cause my car is OB and my HU has a multicolor display and i set it to orange. SO im kinda going with the orange theme.

See above response about trying to do red. Amber might not produce the results you're looking for.

shneeko · Post by **shneeko** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:16 pm

I went ahead and tried to do red. Big mistake, like stated above, they cant glow through the green thats already overlayed on the gauges. So dont waste your money lol.

But another question, what size bulbs are used for the radio lights?

Post by **jonnymopar** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 6:08 pm

shneeko wrote:I went ahead and tried to do red. Big mistake, like stated above, they cant glow through the green thats already overlayed on the gauges. So dont waste your money lol.

But another question, what size bulbs are used for the radio lights?

Sorry to hear that, but I'm glad this has been confirmed. I think that I might get some LEDs and put them one by one behind the green overlay to take pics of how each of them shine through.

The radio... heh... I put ALOT into that... I think I'm just gonna leave that one alone. I can guarantee you that if I spelled out my entire method of doing this, you'd be reading a post that wouldn't even come close to fitting on your screen and people would think I was completely nuts. I'm an electronics engineer and even I was laughing at myself for the amount of time and effort I put into it. There is ONE and ONE ONLY positive to doing the radio, and that is the face is NOT tinted green, so you could make it light up whatever color you like.

*sigh*... right now I'm just trying to decide on a final option to get my HVAC lights to match. SteelBlue, I'll send you a message if I come across a decent way of doing it.

shneeko · Post by **shneeko** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 6:42 pm

jonnymopar wrote:
shneeko wrote:I went ahead and tried to do red. Big mistake, like stated above, they cant glow through the green thats already overlayed on the gauges. So dont waste your money lol.

But another question, what size bulbs are used for the radio lights?
Sorry to hear that, but I'm glad this has been confirmed. I think that I might get some LEDs and put them one by one behind the green overlay to take pics of how each of them shine through.

The radio... heh... I put ALOT into that... I think I'm just gonna leave that one alone. I can guarantee you that if I spelled out my entire method of doing this, you'd be reading a post that wouldn't even come close to fitting on your screen and people would think I was completely nuts. I'm an electronics engineer and even I was laughing at myself for the amount of time and effort I put into it. There is ONE and ONE ONLY positive to doing the radio, and that is the face is NOT tinted green, so you could make it light up whatever color you like.

*sigh*... right now I'm just trying to decide on a final option to get my HVAC lights to match. SteelBlue, I'll send you a message if I come across a decent way of doing it.

so it would be easier to just use color tape then you think?

SteelBlue · Post by **SteelBlue** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 8:32 pm

Ok thanks Jonny!

MoparNeonMan · Post by **MoparNeonMan** » Fri May 19, 2006 11:04 pm

What about Red for the guage? Will it work? Also does Jenni post on here anymore?

SteelBlue · Post by **SteelBlue** » Fri May 19, 2006 11:50 pm

like said before.. if you do red you won't be able to see the needle on the gass guage as easily plus think of how the red leds and the green tint on the cluster will mix. Jenni posts occasionally.

Post by **jonnymopar** » Sat May 20, 2006 12:47 pm

MoparNeonMan wrote:What about Red for the guage? Will it work?

Re-read this entire thread and you'll have your answer.

Crystal, is it the needle you can't see on the gas gauge or were you talking about just the part under a quarter tank where it's tinted red?

SteelBlue · Post by **SteelBlue** » Sat May 20, 2006 7:04 pm

Just where the red 'almost empty' part is on the gas guage. sorry for the confusion.

Post by **jonnymopar** » Sat May 20, 2006 7:24 pm

SteelBluePearl wrote:Just where the red 'almost empty' part is on the gas guage. sorry for the confusion.

Ok

. I know you used smaller bulbs and you also have the no-tach cluster, so I didn't know if something funky was up. You get that PM about the HVAC lights a while ago?

SteelBlue · Post by **SteelBlue** » Sat May 20, 2006 11:44 pm

Yes I did, I got busy and forgot to respond. I'm very sorry.

That link you sent me errored (think its my laptop) but the info you gave was really helpful. I'm hoping to tear apart the shift console tomorrow while I'm cleaning out the car. Hopefully I can get an idea of what LED's to use on the shifter so I can order them all at once. So 3-5mm inverted would work best for the HVAC? I'll probably just get 5-6 of those suckers and see what I can do. Thanks!

fireantz · Post by **fireantz** » Mon May 22, 2006 10:18 pm

I'm thinking about changing my interior lights soon aswell. It's the 194's for the dash and I think 3-5mm for the hvac but what bulbs for like the window switches?

Also, even with a tach will 10 of those 194 bulbs be enough? I don't plan on changing my engine lights and whatnot either.

TNK · Post by **TNK** » Mon May 22, 2006 10:31 pm

is it better to yuse the standard bullet shaped LEDs or the inverted ones?

Post by **jonnymopar** » Mon May 22, 2006 11:43 pm

fireantz, for the gauge illumination on the tach cluster, you need six 194 bulbs. Hell, 10 would do all your illumination, your directionals, your high beam indicator, and the boost gauge on an SRT-4.

The window switches, you might have to get creative with. The one that lights up is a 3mm that you can un-solder and solder in a different color. I'm not sure about other people's cars, but my driver's window switch is the only one that lights up on my car. Both passenger switches do not, nor do they have the two illumination wires running to the connector. HVAC is another thing you'll need to customize. I have looked everywhere and I can't find a drop-in replacement for them at all. I made mine from 10mm inverted LEDs I got cheap on eBay. A 5mm will work better though.

TNK, if you use the bullet-style bulbs for gauge illumination, you'll get what's called a "spotlighting" effect, where certain spots are brighter than others. With the inverted lens, it spreads the light out at a wide angle, plus it reflects more off of the white plastic backing on the cluster, creating more even light.

TNK · Post by **TNK** » Tue May 23, 2006 10:14 pm

badass. thanks. thats what i figured. but i wanted to double check.

MorganCroft · Post by **MorganCroft** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:50 am

Hey,

Here is what is looked like when I used the 194 eBay LEDs that was mentioned earlier in the thread...

Sorry about the horrible quality of the pictures.. my camera sucks ass at night... well.. actually... at all...

Overall it looks pretty good. The needles are quite dim... I might have to get some better bulbs.. Maybe the Superstar bulbs from autolumination...

I think I am going to order some bulbs from Super Bright LEDs...

Jonnymopar, did you just get the blue colour for yours? That is what I am thinking of doing... And, are you able to see the needles fine with it? I read in your other thread that the Super Bright LEDs were better then the ones you got at Autolumination... If possible, could you post a pic?

Post by **jonnymopar** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:20 am

I will try to make time to put up a pic tonight. Oh man do they look beautiful. Needles show up just as bright as with the regular incandescent bulbs and the blue glow is awesome.

TNK · Post by **TNK** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 8:01 pm

i hate how dim the ebay bulbs make the needles, but the numbers look really nice, my cluister looks just like yours does MorganCroft.