Gauge Lights - Are LED substitutes available?
 

Just burned out a tach bulb and looks like a PITA to replace. I wondered if LED's substitiutes are available instead of incandesent bulbs that don't last as long.

Yes and No.
No direct plug in LED to replace the incandesent bulbs. But, North Hollywood Speedometer shop here in L.A. will replace all your gauge lights with rows of LEDs for a truly spectacular (read: bright!!) upgrade. I haven't done this upgrade, but saw a demo from NoHoSpeedometer, and it really lights up the gauges well.

A search on this board will show that some guys on this board are working on this project.

Mike
'86 coupe with stock (read: dull) gauge lights.

Movin, they are not that tough to replace if you know how to push the gauges out via the firewall. Do a search on "rotating gauges".

What you think iglo inverted faces for you 911?
My personal opinion is that it will can be good.

Luis

What size are the originals? These look kind of similar...

By "inverted faces" do you mean white face gauges? I think they look good.

Iglo faces=electroluminescent inverted faces.
I think that it exist for 944.

www.stylinconcepts.com
interior>gauges>electroluminescent
reverse gauge
>lighted speed glo
gauges

Thanks, looks like LedTronics is on top of this issue. I don't know what type is in my '87 dash. Only reservation I have is are the LED's as bright as the originals? Second, I'll bet the dimmer switch function will be limited or not effective, either the LED's will be on or off (below a min. voltage). Any thoughts?

This website is a perfect example of one of my pet peeves. What the hell is up with all these Iron Crosses I keep saying lately. I mean why not just plaster swasticas all over the place. I guess it just bothers me to see Nazi paraphenalia used so casually. I try to assume the best, that the people who sport this s#!t are just ignorant of history. Now I'll get off my soapbox, sorry.

As for the guages, but when someone comes up with an easy. cheap, and effective upgrade to LEDs I'm there. I don't realy like the look of the EL gauge faces.

Yes, it's my understanding that the dimmer switch won't really work for LEDs.

ditto

do what VW does, i know they do led guages and they dim


at least our 99 passat dims

besides, why do you need a dimmer. isnt the point of this to make them brighter?

They're not anything to do with the Nazi party. They were around long before that. I believe it was started in the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century.

Yes, they were around long before that (probably dating back to the 15th century or earlier) However, the symbol and the term "iron cross" are certainly tied to the 3rd Reich. I'm not positive, but I still think it's unlawful to publicly display that symbol (along with the swastika) in Germany.

I think all them you see lately are due to the recent "chopper" fad. It's really the Discovery Channel's fualt for exposing the "rebel" bike builder Jesse James and his shop: West Coast Choppers. The power of the idiot box. :rolleyes:

If for nothing more than a striking advertising tool or company logo, the Maltese cross variation would be a better alternative.

A much easier solution, and brighter, too ... take the old bulb out of the holder, desolder the exiting useless capsule, then solder a new GE 891 Halogen bulb (7 mm O.D.) in its' place. Then you have a brighter, dimmer-friendly bulb in place that will last a long, long time!

Swastika's? Don't go to indonesia - they have them everywhere it's a symbol of good luck and has been for God knows how long.

We stayed next door to a hotel on the island of Bali called "Swastika Bungalows". Do a google, should turn up results. Funny stuff.

I am presently working on a bulb adapter that will be a plug and play set up. I will keep advised. So far, I have been doing a continious burn test to test bulb integrety with a vibration platform. Looks hopefull.

Whats wrong with a quality replacement bulbs? My car still has most of its original 17 year old bulbs with over 130,000 miles of clock time on them.

When you realize your gauges just pop out with careful extraction forces you realize its not an awful task to perform once every several years.

With a pair of the OEM GE bulbs currently $1.59 at the local NAPA store ... that's not a bad fix for glazed, smoky bulbs!

The GE 891 Halogen bulbs are a bit higher at $6.99 per ... but they are an 8 Watt bulb!!!