I've tried standard bulbs and blue wideangle ultra bright LEDs now, and there's no competition. Standard bulbs give a better dispersion of light for the dash. LEDs, even the wide angle ones, always give you bright and dark spots. Forget about using them to illuminate the dials, I won't even use them for the A/C buttons.
I took some pictures, but the camera adjusted to the light conditions and actually made them look good. So, not exactly true to life.
Now all that I have left to do it try coloured bulbs. I managed to grab a box of 10 off ebay for $7.95 including delivery. I'll post up some pictures when I'm done.
The bright spots aren't quite as obvious in the pictures, but you can still see them. Don't let the amazing power of the camera phone fool you. It's all bad.
The pictures don't even do it justice, you can barely see the light/dark spots on the speedo... the clock is perfect (voltage one heres still an actual bulb behind it, been meaning to change it) and the aircon is almost perfect. For the bulbs behind the screen i sanded them down to give them a rough, flatter appearance and wrapped them in glad wrap a few times.
I bought some new dials with the group buy, but I don't think I'll put them in unless I can get some good backlighting happening. Maybe one of those 10cm cold cathodes is the way to go. Or perhaps some el wire. :p
I was thinking about reversing the polarity of the screen for the A/C too. Has anyone else done that? Simply turning the thin sheet of plastic around to reverse the black and colour of the display.
Blasphemy wrote:I've tried standard bulbs and blue wideangle ultra bright LEDs now, and there's no competition. Standard bulbs give a better dispersion of light for the dash. LEDs, even the wide angle ones, always give you bright and dark spots. Forget about using them to illuminate the dials, I won't even use them for the A/C buttons.
I took some pictures, but the camera adjusted to the light conditions and actually made them look good. So, not exactly true to life.
Now all that I have left to do it try coloured bulbs. I managed to grab a box of 10 off ebay for $7.95 including delivery. I'll post up some pictures when I'm done.
I have bought new dials, stainless plate, dial cups, rings, etc… recently,
And also decided to upgrade to leds,
Spent close to $200….
Final result is no where near as good as the bulbs, and the fiddling you have to be doing to fit those buggers!!!
Went back to bulbs at the end,
Blasphemy wrote:I was thinking about reversing the polarity of the screen for the A/C too. Has anyone else done that? Simply turning the thin sheet of plastic around to reverse the black and colour of the display.
I was thinking of doing that but then you might end up with a big blob of coloured light there, might be hard to see the display at night.
yeh i dont recomend LED's either mine looks like crap its all patchy and my brightness control wont control how bright they go . so im changin back to bulbs
dj_ules wrote:yeh i dont recomend LED's either mine looks like crap its all patchy and my brightness control wont control how bright they go . so im changin back to bulbs
5mm?? (T5) or did u use a 6.5mm as that will also fit and is a bit brighter. Personally I have T10s in mine as a trial but its a bit too bright for the Fuel and Temp guages.
I just bought std. globes for $2 each...did you buy some special ones???
now when it cam to the aircon unit and the clock...I did u use 5mm again?
I've got the bulbs now. They're blue coated t5 bulbs. I'll throw them in as soon as I get a chance.
And now my airconditioning fan doesn't work on any speed other than full fan speed. All or nothing. The compressor still works, when that air blasts out it's icy cold.
So, not exactly true to life.
