What is the best way to increase brightness in gauges?

[911 in SC]

Sal,

I completely understand. As of now, I'm sliding the copper tube into the holder about a 1/4". It seems to suffice - holds the new bulb in place and creates a ground. Not a problem at all as far as the bulb staying in place and the correct ground.

On the speedo and the tach, I have had to build up some solder on the 'bulb' end of the tubes too, in order for the tubing to be snug in the gauge. I have to do the tachometer bulbs and I will be done. I need to build up the solder on the last three bulbs now.

As far as bulb count goes, I need 8 to do all of the gauges. The gas/oil level gauge and clock requires one bulb, the speedo and tach require two each, and the other gauges require 2 each.

The speedo and tach also have a third bulb that is for the high beam indicator and lights on indicator. These bulbs have either a white wire with a green or blue stripe. These do not need to be converted to use the 5W bulb.

Sorry for the confusion on the factory wiring. I was hoping there was a way for me to not cut the factory end off of the wiring. As it stands, I had to cut the factory connector off and use a female end to connect to the male end coming from the bulbs.

Hope this makes sense! If not, please ask and I'll try to explain in more detail.

As far as light output, it's clear that there is an improvement! However, my car is in the garage and there is sunlight coming in through the windows.

Concerning the tach, you are absolutely correct that it is very difficult to get it out without damaging anything! Luckily, I will be replacing the steering wheel next week sometime, so that won't be an issue for me.

Thanks again!,
Mike

[scarceller]

Originally posted by 911 in SC
Sal,
As far as bulb count goes, I need 10 to do all of the gauges. The gas/oil level gauge and clock requires one bulb, the speedo and tach require three each, and the other gauges require 2 each.

Mike,
As per our phone I call want to clarify this thread. The Tach and Speedo each do have 3 bulbs but you only need to update 2 of them in each gauge. Only update the bulbs with the Black/Blue wires. The extra bulb in each gauge is for Hi-Beams (Tach I think) and Parking lights (Speedo I think, could have them reversed). Bottom line is you only wish to update the bulbs that are responsible for lighting the gauge and not the extra indicator bulbs. Unless you feel the hi-beam bulb is not bright enough, wich I doubt is the case.

Good luck, keep us posted.

[911 in SC]

That is correct Sal. The tach has the high beam indicator and the speedo has the lights on indicator. These have a white wire with either a blue stripe or a white with with a green stripe. These do not need to be updated, IMO. I am going to edit my original post to reflect this in an attempt to void confusion.

Thanks again,
Mike

[rbuswell]

This is from the Pelican Parts Tech Articles section:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/bob_tindel/brighter_instruments.htm

[911 in SC]

I read that some time ago and forgot about it. Thanks for the link (although a little late for me... )

I didn't get to take it out for a drive tonight, but plan on taking it out over the weekend sometime. I can't wait to drive it at night with the much improved lighting!

Mike

[scarceller]

Originally posted by rbuswell
This is from the Pelican Parts Tech Articles section:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/bob_tindel/brighter_instruments.htm

Have seen this before and it's a great write up, anyone who has a gauge lighting issue such as dim gauges should start here first! I started here myself but after cleaning contacts and installing new stock bulbs I still thought the gauges where dim. I will add this link to my gauge lighting modification document and insist that folks start with this procedure before jumping into the 5W buld modification.

Thanks.

[safe]

Originally posted by scarceller
Mike,
Unless you feel the hi-beam bulb is not bright enough, wich I doubt is the case.

That is the only light that I wish was brighter
It's hard to see in day light.

[scarceller]

Originally posted by safe
That is the only light that I wish was brighter
It's hard to see in day light.

HMM? My Hi-Beam light is very visible, wonder if maybe you have a bad ground or bulb. If this is your only complaint about the dash lighting pull that bulb out clean the bulb holder housing and the tube in the gauge it slides into then replace the bulb.

Any others think the hi-beam bulb is dim?

[911 in SC]

When I first bought mine it seemed a little dim to me, but since my high beams would 'flip' on when I used my turn signal, I got used to it very quickly That has since been fixed (another thread) and I don't have a problem with the brightness of it now. I'm glad I don't have to see it all of the time now...

Sal, I'm not sure if you agree, but I'd think safe could build one bulb and replace the one in the high beam socket. That is, of course, if that is the only 5W bulb he installs. Safe, I don't think you'll have any problems with the factory dimmer switch if you only replace one bulb with the 5W either.

Mike

[scarceller]

Originally posted by 911 in SC
When I first bought mine it seemed a little dim to me, but since my high beams would 'flip' on when I used my turn signal, I got used to it very quickly That has since been fixed (another thread) and I don't have a problem with the brightness of it now. I'm glad I don't have to see it all of the time now...

Sal, I'm not sure if you agree, but I'd think safe could build one bulb and replace the one in the high beam socket. That is, of course, if that is the only 5W bulb he installs. Safe, I don't think you'll have any problems with the factory dimmer switch if you only replace one bulb with the 5W either.

Mike

Sure you could just replace that one bulb with a 5W xenon as per our modification. You don't need to worry about the dimmer if you replace the hi-beam bulb since it's not connected to the dimmer. That bulb just gets full 12V when you turn the hi-beams on.

[911 in SC]

Here's a couple of pics of my updated gauge lighting. I'm very pleased with it. Sorry, no before pics (I forgot - suprise, suprise )

BTW, Sal, did you get a pic of the back of the dimmer switch? No big hurry, as I don't plan on letting anyone else drive my car any time soon. That is, unless it's another Porsche guy, and I'll make sure they know NOT to turn the dimmer switch.

[RSBob]

Since there is some potential risk to overloading old wires here is some cheap insurance even if you are not modifying your gage lights. Dieter's

[Walt Fricke]

Futzing around with small objects was a good way to deal with being snowed in (and an unheated garage on top of it). My forays to stores produced no Xenon bulbs, or 191 bulbs.

I ended up with a lot of different bulbs of the 194 variety, all of which were tantalizingly just too large and wouldn't fit. The 194s all checked out at .25A=3W (with a measured 12V as the input to the ammeter). The 168 I bought was .32A=4W, but it too was also too fat, blast it. I dug out a couple of my spare instruments so I could do this checking at my desk. I don't know how anyone could get a bulb of this size in there, and I ended up with 4 or 5 bulbs of this glass diameter (hope sprung eternal when in a store guessing).

But two seemed promising. One, labled "24," checked out at 0.22A @ 12V = 2.64W. This had the "two bent over wires sticking out of the glass" style connector like the 194s (I think this is a T something base), and fit with plenty of room to spare.

A second came in at 0.28A= 3.36W: NAPA Wagner 17131, marked:
14W Phillips 12V 4W (symbol) MO
[E1] 2BU France.

This had a round metal can mount with two round pegs to hold it. With the pegs ground off it fit nicely into the instrument hole, but too loosely to be used without more.

After some trial and error I decided that the thing to do was to convert these bulbs to use the stock mounting. That way no wires had to be cut.

I crushed four bulbs and broke out their remaining innards, leaving the center wire and the dark glass separate bottom intact. I then heated the bottom button and pulled the center wire out. Then I ran a larger wire through the hole while heating with the soldering iron - the wire for these bulbs is quite small.

The wire based bulbs were easy. Cut the non-connected ends and straighten wires. Run one wire through center of base, and another to the outside for a ground. Run some epoxy in to help hold things. Solder the wires externally. Voila - a 2.64W bulb with a 6BA7S base. Not ideal, but better than the old. Of the two I made, one needed reworking as I hadn't gotten the ground properly soldered.

I ended up simply soldering the old base onto the new bulb's base, with a soldered on wire connecting the positive poles. This produced an extended length 3.36W bulb with a 6BA7S base. Of these two, one was internally shorted, requiring disassembly and reassembly. (I don't think I want to go into production with a 50% initial success rate.)





If I get my hands on some more powerful bulbs of suitable size I'll crush a few more old bulbs and make up some more. But these are a marked improvement over stock, and reside in my speedo (3.36W) and tach. And they plug right into the stock connector. I tried them in the pitch dark, and tonight will try them on the road when I go to our local PCA region's board meeting.

Walt Fricke

[scarceller]

Originally posted by Walt Fricke
Futzing around with small objects was a good way to deal with being snowed in (and an unheated garage on top of it). My forays to stores produced no Xenon bulbs, or 191 bulbs.

Walt, I have only found the Xenon 5W bulbs at bulbs.com. Great work on yet another approach to getting bigger bulbs into the gauges, I may try it your way as well when I have time. I like your approach since it requires no mods to the factory wiring.

Thanks for your work and time.

[911 in SC]

Sal, did you get a pic of the back side of the dimmer? Just a friendly reminder...

I just don't want to chance starting a fire! I did buy a fusable link and will install it at the same time as RSBob noted. I understand that it wouldn't be needed running the instruments off of the 'hot' side, but better to be safe than sorry. I'd much rather replace a fuse...

Hope you guys had a Happy New Year!

Mike

[safe]

Originally posted by 911 in SC
When I first bought mine it seemed a little dim to me, but since my high beams would 'flip' on when I used my turn signal, I got used to it very quickly That has since been fixed (another thread) and I don't have a problem with the brightness of it now. I'm glad I don't have to see it all of the time now...

Sal, I'm not sure if you agree, but I'd think safe could build one bulb and replace the one in the high beam socket. That is, of course, if that is the only 5W bulb he installs. Safe, I don't think you'll have any problems with the factory dimmer switch if you only replace one bulb with the 5W either.

Mike

Mike,
Your original problem sounds a little similar to mine. Do you have a link to the thread you are referring to?

[911 in SC]

I assume you're referring to the high beam 'problem'? If so, sure, here's the link:

turn signal quick fix

Hope that helps!
Mike

[safe]

Great thread Mike, I gonna take mine apart and have a look. I have never had a working flasher, and recently my low and high beam have been funky.

Sorry for the hijack Sal.

[scarceller]

Folks had asked for picture of the Headlight switch and howto relocate the gauge lighting wires to a constant 12V instead of the dimmer output. Basically you will locate the terminal on the back of the switch with the Black/Blue wires and remove these wires from the terminal. You will relocate these to the terminal right next to it with the solid white wire so that you have the black/blue wires on the same terminal with the white wire. This is also a good time to put a 5amp inline fuse on this terminal so that you have the terminal wired to the fuse and the other side of the fuse to the white wire as well as the black/blue wires.

Here's a picture to help:

Stole the pic from another post.

The above modification will eliminate the use of the stock dimmer.

[911 in SC]

Thanks for the pic and description Sal. I appreciate it.

To clear everything up for those of us that do not intend to use the dimmer switch, could you post and clarify why you would need to use a 10a fusible link instead of a 3a fusible link that was posted by RSBob?

I simply don't want any confusion for future searches on this thread.

Thanks,
Mike