LED dash lights/parts??

[RoninLB]

from a recent thread I find out that North Hollywood Speedo does a LED dash lite upgrade..and fellow member Scott says they work great..so I e-mail NH Speedo for a KIT to do my dash lites and the reply is ....
A LED kit to upgrade 911 instrument lighting is not offered by us. Our service department retrofits a set of 911 instruments for $ 180.00 plus shipping. We do offer white, red or blue lighting. App. 1 week turnaround time.......

I don't get it.. the dash lite harness is seperate from the gauges..all I really want is a parts list..but I'll spring for a kit..anyone know about this..I over 50 and blind, crippled, and crazy.. so I need all the help I can get...............Ron

[Sean Hamilton]

Originally posted by RoninLB
........over 50 and blind, crippled, and crazy.. so I need all the help I can get...............Ron

So, what you need is BRAIL gauges?

[jkeyzer]

I wonder if there is a market for LED versions of the stock indicator light bulbs.

It would be tricky to do well since LEDs usually have a relatively narrow illumination angle and the watts per LED is pretty low.

[silverc4s]

There are ALL KINDS of LEDs on the market now. Some are used in center rear stop lights (NSX, some Caddys, etc.) in Red. But there are some really bright low current white ones also.
Probably N Hollywood has a sort of "proprietary" solution, and is not anxious to share it with the world....

Capitalist profit scheme, I hate that!!!!

[Tim Polzin]

I doubt that you can get even and bright illumination using only one or two bulbs per gauge regardless of how bright they are. I have not seen their conversion, but if they are asking for all the gauges, my guess is that the conversion includes multiple leds inside the guages themselves.

[Early_S_Man]

Ron,

For older sets of eyes like ours ... I believe the LED 'upgrade' is probably not the right direction to go, as the brightness and diffusion are probably inferior to factory bulbs, even those with a bit of corrosion on the connectors and grounds! But, for those wishing to experiment, Panasonic has some wide-angle LEDs available in red, green and blue from www.digikey.com ... here is the specific catalog page in PDF format, but Adobe Acrobat reader must be installed to view it:

http://info.digikey.com/T023/V5/1040.pdf

An alternative I have been thinking about for quite some time is 'rebuilding' some of the OEM 2 Watt bulbs with some late model vehicle halogen bulbs of the type without bases ... i.e., just wire leads ... that could be soldered to the bayonet base of used OEM bulbs that had been desoldered. The OD dimension would be critical and can't exceed the OD of the factory VW/356-style bulb holders at approx. 0.384". Too bad, but #1816 330 mA bulbs are just a fraction too big to go in the 'old' bulb holder sockets! If I get a chance this weekend ... I will visit Wal-Mart and a couple of parts stores and pick up a few samples of bulbs to test for output with a light meter at 1" ... and post the results later. Luckily, I have a few VW 6 Volt 1.2 Watt bulbs and holders available for experimentation. I will also test used, slightly fogged/glazed 12 Volt 2 Watt bulbs for output to see what the improvement might be against an existing set of 'experienced' bulbs as a benchmark.

Later ...

[silverc4s]

Warren,
I do not know if you have ever tried this, but I think that the reflectivity of the finish on the upper inside edge of each instrument's can has a lot to do with the light diffusion and brightness.
I have heard of people spraying the inside of the can bright white while apart, and improving the lighting considerably...

[MIK911]

I saw these LED gauge lights at the Ventura German-Autofest last weekend, and they are NICE!! NH Speedo had a display box comparing stock lighting and their new LED conversion on a couple gauges, and the LED's are MUCH brighter than the stock incandescents. The salesman said a 'bank' of led's are placed on both sides of each gauge.
The LED's give a slight bluish tinge (not unlike HID headlamps), compared to the yellowish stock gauge. Definitely not blue like on ricers, more of a 'whiter white'. The look is very cool.

I have no affiliation with NHSpeedo, but thought this was an awesome upgrade, and am considering this for my car.

Mike
'86 coupe

[vesnyder]

Mike, Spoke to the guys at NH Speedo, and am considering it as well, just have a long list of other items with higher priority. If you take the plunge be sure to post the results!