Dash lights dim fix

[onrails]

Just converted my 944S to LED dash lights, awesome!! The technology of foil/silver paint on the reflectors is out. White deffinately reflects more light! My idiot lights, signals, and dash look clearer and cleaner than my new car. I'm working on some instruction and pics to post. Cost was less than 30$. And of course your time, it takes a bit. Have pics but for some reason can't post um'. Hmmmm

[Aussie944S]

wicked man, i'm in the stage of getting all the gear to upgrade my lighting as well would love to see the pics

[Norm101469]

That sounds cool!! How long did it take you to get the instrument cluster out and about how much time did you spend on it??

[flash968]

i tried the LED thing, just to even out the light more. unfortunately 2 things happened:

1. the dimmer stopped being very effective

2. the light was WAY too bright. you want your dash lights as dim as possible, while still being able to read the lights. otherwise, your eyes cannot adjust as easily and your night vision suffers. peripheral vision is the first to be diminished by dash lights. there is a 400 page study on this. rough reading, but it really tells the tale. bright dash lights may look cool, but you can see better with them dimmed way down. i now run all of my cars with them almost off.

[redstrosekNic]

Originally Posted by flash968

i tried the LED thing, just to even out the light more. unfortunately 2 things happened:

1. the dimmer stopped being very effective

2. the light was WAY too bright. you want your dash lights as dim as possible, while still being able to read the lights. otherwise, your eyes cannot adjust as easily and your night vision suffers. peripheral vision is the first to be diminished by dash lights. there is a 400 page study on this. rough reading, but it really tells the tale. bright dash lights may look cool, but you can see better with them dimmed way down. i now run all of my cars with them almost off.

Interesting. I'll have to dim mine down and see how I like it...

[looneybin]

I'm still trying to figure out how to install a black light bulb to make the white #'s and the red needles really pop at night

[flash968]

red - definitely try it - you'll immediately start to see things better, especially in your peripheral vision. you'll find your distance judging becomes better too.

[onrails]

See "LED results" pics don't do justice. Trust me

[wild man]

Originally Posted by flash968

red - definitely try it - you'll immediately start to see things better, especially in your peripheral vision. you'll find your distance judging becomes better too.

I have always run ALL of my vehicles with the dash lights dimmed ALL of the way down (but not completely out).

Are you saying to use RED LEDs instead of white?

I am a firm believer that a dull red would not reduce your night vision as much as white would. But the thing I wonder about is, with the back-lighting now being red, wouldn't that make the orange painted tips of the indicator needles more difficult to see? I AM a fan of being able to see what is outside of the car at night better. But I also don't want have to spend more time trying to make out my gauge readings than a quick glance.

[MPitt]

I don't think that should be a problem wild man. I have a pair of sunglasses with red lenses I wore for a bit and it was still pretty easy to distinguish between shades of red. Green traffic lights/arrows is another story though.