Another alternative to getting brighter gauges

[sc_rufctr]

Damn...

There is so much info here I just have to do my gauges this winter.
My to do list is getting longer and longer the more time I spend here.lol

[911st]

Maybe this might help: http://www.villagehatshop.com/miners_helmet_light.html

[SpeedracerIndy]

Here's my quick 5 minute install on the spare clock:

Here is the guts of the clock with the tape installed. The wire is going out of the original light bulb socket hole. You can see my botched attempt at adding additional LED bulbs on my first experiment.


Here it is with the face installed. You can see there is a thin strip of light all the way around the face of the clock:


Here it is with the inner bezel in place. Just enough so that some of the strip is visible. This is why I think the wire would actually work better here:


Here is the whole package with the inverter hooked up:



Hope that helps answer some of the questions I got.

[DRACO A5OG]

Hey Speed,

The wire is 2.3 MM and liken to a normal electical wire that is semi rigid so it can be formed.

I quickly measured the opened clock and the space between the black face and the rim appears to be the same size so one can feed it thru the original hole for the bulb then out the front and shape the circle and rtv it down. This way we don't have drill or cut the guages. (like your 3rd pic)

I think for crimping, you can use one of those narrow hand rollers like those used formica workers.

We can use RTV and spot glue it to the rim of the guages.

[SpeedracerIndy]

Originally Posted by DRACO A5OG

Hey Speed,

The wire is 2.3 MM and liken to a normal electical wire that is semi rigid so it can be formed.

I quickly measured the opened clock and the space between the black face and the rim appears to be the same size so one can feed it thru the original hole for the bulb then out the front and shape the circle and rtv it down. This way we don't have drill or cut the guages. (like your 3rd pic)

I think for crimping, you can use one of those narrow hand rollers like those used formica workers.

We can use RTV and spot glue it to the rim of the guages.

Very good idea, that way you wouldn't have to take the needles or faces off of the gauges. No chance of messing up the calibration that way. I have an order of 5' of the wire on it's way, so I'll play with it when it gets here. Can't wait to start popping open all my gauges .

[DRACO A5OG]

An idea on making our own 5 way splitters:

Place male connectors to ends of the El-Wires that will be coming out of the ports where the existing light bulbs go in.

Solder 5 plain wires to the Inverter leads and place Female Connectors on the other end.

This would allow for servicing of the guages one at a time with the quick disconnect connectors.

Does anyone know if 2K or 3K Hertz is better? I assume 3K would be better but not sure.

[sc_rufctr]

Someone should put together a complete "kit" designed for the 911...

People will pay a little more for a kit that works and is simple to install.

It would include "5 light" rings, wiring, inverters, some simple instructions and an appropriate glue... You'd sell heaps...

[DRACO A5OG]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Someone should put together a complete "kit" designed for the 911...

People will pay a little more for a kit that works and is simple to install.

It would include "5 light" rings, wiring, inverters, some simple instructions and an appropriate glue... You'd sell heaps...

Hell there is a company Down Under that has great EL products. Maybe you should . Unforutnaely I deleted the link because the shipping to the states was horrendous.

[DRACO A5OG]

Here is the 5-way EZ connector I was talking about. Just left a message for VibeLight.com to let me know how we can order the 2.3MM EL-Wire, their site is broken



Top left Corner ( it looks like all they did is solder then heat shrinked 6 wires )

Whoa, I just noticed their Inverters are 3500 Hertz



Connectors for the EL-Wire ( with these connectors one can solder to the inverter directly, No Splitter needed )



El-Wire 2.3 MM

[carslutt]

good info guys,

for attaching the "EL-Wire" to the case of the gauge, i have been pondering doing it w/ small pieces of stainless steel wire. i have seen people make there own "angle eye" set ups for head lights using small sections of wire to hold them in place cleanly. im thinking that if u get the "EL-Wire" to fit snugly into the gauge housing (aka having the start and end of it press against each other pushing it into the gauge housing) then restringing the "EL-Wire" in place w/ strategically placing thin strands of stainless steel wire should equate out to a clean permanent install of the "EL-Wire" with no worries of it coming loose from what ever "chemical bond" used to hold it in place coming free. the idea of having to drill holes into the case to run the wire will cause damage but, all this renders the gauges non OE style so im not too worried about it. im thinking of adding a "dimple" into the housing where the wire will go thur so the outside of the gauge housing is basically still "smooth" and easy to slide back into the dash. things may change when it comes time to install but so far this seems to be the way i hope to do mine.

[Lukesportsman]

Wow, you guys have moved fast and really expanded on the idea nicely. It looks like this may be THE solution many of us have wanted! Nice job SpeedRacer.

[DRACO A5OG]

Originally Posted by Lukesportsman

Wow, you guys have moved fast and really expanded on the idea nicely. It looks like this may be THE solution many of us have wanted! Nice job SpeedRacer.

Thanks to you Luke. You get the Blame, OK? LOL

I think for safe measure we need to place a Fuse before the inverters, what say you guys? What size?

[DRACO A5OG]

Originally Posted by carslutt

good info guys,

for attaching the "EL-Wire" to the case of the gauge, i have been pondering doing it w/ small pieces of stainless steel wire. i have seen people make there own "angle eye" set ups for head lights using small sections of wire to hold them in place cleanly. im thinking that if u get the "EL-Wire" to fit snugly into the gauge housing (aka having the start and end of it press against each other pushing it into the gauge housing) then restringing the "EL-Wire" in place w/ strategically placing thin strands of stainless steel wire should equate out to a clean permanent install of the "EL-Wire" with no worries of it coming loose from what ever "chemical bond" used to hold it in place coming free. the idea of having to drill holes into the case to run the wire will cause damage but, all this renders the gauges non OE style so im not too worried about it. im thinking of adding a "dimple" into the housing where the wire will go thur so the outside of the gauge housing is basically still "smooth" and easy to slide back into the dash. things may change when it comes time to install but so far this seems to be the way i hope to do mine.

Very interesting, please post pics

[ossiblue]

This thread is just too cool not to follow--brainstorms happening by the second!
One question to the experimenters: on the speedo, you have the odometer numbers which are illuminated from behind the face. If you use just the wire, would that still light the numbers or would it be better to use the ELtape for that application?

[DRACO A5OG]

My understanding is, if we route the EL WIRE thru the existing ports where the OEM light bulbs go then the lumination of the ELWIRE should emit light every where the OEM blub would have lit up.

This is why I am planning on using the EL WIRE instead of the EL Tape. I am sure the EL Tape could work but I am worried about the 90 bend it will need to take to wrap around and through the 3MM opening then bend to adhere to the walls of the guage without breaking or shorting due to possibly creasing/snapping at the bend.

My 2 cents.

[DRACO A5OG]

OK Fellas,

I found one more site http://www.thatscoolwire.com/store/cart_view.asp

These guys have everything and shipping out of Texas:

6' EL-WIRE White 2.2MM Standard
5-Way Connector (1 Male 5 Female)
5 Male Connector
1 10-Pack End Cap (Clear)
12V Inverter for 1-8' Service (Raw, No adapter for Cig/Wall in Clear)

$25.06 before S&H (Sorry Cali no Tax in Texas )

I decided on 6 feet of wire due to the fact we'll need extra length to take up the depth of the guages. I roughly measured the spare clock's diameter and depth and got around 9". So just to insure I have enough EL-Wire. It would suck to be short on the last guage.

You guys thinking of not using a inverter can but it will not be as bright. The exampe video is of an AC Direct Connect but you will get the idea:

[gsmith660]

AHH now you guys come up with this! This looks like it would have been alot easier than what I did but hey I like how mine turned out and if I have to redo later I will follow this and proly go this route. looks nice and is alot cheaper than I thought it was what were those other guys charging for this mod and why arent they chiming in here like they were hijacking the other threads.

[dw1]

Very good - potentially a great solution.

I haven't received by EL wire yet, so I have (2) questions:

1. How much current does this draw?

2. How small a bend radius can the 2.3 mm EL wire tolerate? Is some kind of reinforcement possible (e.g. tight-fitting polymer tubing)?

[rick-l]

Originally Posted by DRACO A5OG

Does anyone know if 2K or 3K Hertz is better? I assume 3K would be better but not sure.

As a result of this thread I have been doing some research. The tape is just a capacitor and when you charge it the electrons scurrying from side to side hit manganese atoms and emit light.

These splitters just hook the capacitors up in parallel. Of course when you do that you add the capacitances and the current goes up proportionally.

Of course with higher frequency more current will be flowing and the light will be brighter.

Edit: Is the tape you guys are buying rated (Vmax) to just plug in the wall socket to play with?

[rick-l]

Originally Posted by SpeedracerIndy

DRACO: I think your spot on. I tinkered with the tape, and it would be destroyed if you tried to solder it.

Do you think you could get at the front and back electrodes with copper tape and clamp it together?

Originally Posted by SpeedracerIndy

As far as brightness: after my experiment, my concern is that they would be TOO bright. The pictures I took were in my garage in daylight. The lights were off, but it was still pretty bright in the garage, and the gauge was VERY bright. It will dim just fine though. When I hooked it up to a 9v battery it was at least half intensity. I still need to try it with a rheostat though.

Current is proportional to brightness

Xc = 1 / 2 pi f C
I = V / Xc
Now if we could find out what C is per square inch.