car interior illumination at night

[jsp56]

Hi,

I am doing some research to find out about car interior lighting (in the dashboard and stereo area of cars).

Some cars I can find out about by doing a google image search, but a lot are very hard to find. I wondered if it might be possible for forum members to post pics of their own cars instrument panels as they appear when illuminated in the dark? (preferably two photos: one with the dashboard illumination set at full brightness and one at minimum brightness). It would really help my research, and would be an amazing resource if we could get a good collection going with the car specs listed.

To give a couple of examples, this is something called a Crosstrek:
http://www.cars101.com/subaru/crosstrek/crosstrek1...

This is a ford Fiesta of extreme cheerfulness:
http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2007/08/25-fo...

I'll add my car as soon as I can get a camera into it in the dark.

Thanks ever so much for thinking about this!

Best wishes,

JSP

[jsp56]

Oh that's good! That means that presumably we could modify the colour or intensity of the illumination just by painting the LEDs.

[AnotherClarkey]

kapiteinlangzaam said:

XC90s are quite unusual in the respect that the dials are not backlit (ive never driven another car with this set up) - they are illuminated by some downward facing SMD LEDs infront of the clusters.

ISTRC that my Saab 900 (classic) had two filament bulbs illuminating the instruments in much the same way.

[kambites]

The Elise is front-lit too.

[jsp56]

Bonus! I had no idea so many were.

[mickyveloce]

My favourite was my 1979 Lotus Eclat. It had a transverse roof beam, just to the rear of the front seats.
Centrally located in this was a tiny bulb which projected forward and bathed the (alcantara-trimmed) centre console in a warm glow at night.
It was useful and atmospheric....

[Triumph Man]

I like the BMW orange backlights, and in later ones (well E39 on anyway) there were LEDs in the main interior light cluster that bathed the cabin in an orange glow.

[TooMany2cvs]

jsp56 said:

Bonus! I had no idea so many were.

Can I take a guess that you don't have much experience of cars pre-about mid 90s?

[jsp56]

Yes that would be right. I passed my test aged 17 in 1992.

[B'stard Child]

I can't remember which car it was that when you dimmed the dash lights down it only left the speedo illuminated - I thought this was excellent as I always have the dash lighting on absolute min on all cars (and on all I'd prefer it lower than I can get it)

[Shaw Tarse]

B'stard Child said:

I can't remember which car it was that when you dimmed the dash lights down it only left the speedo illuminated - I thought this was excellent as I always have the dash lighting on absolute min on all cars (and on all I'd prefer it lower than I can get it)

Saab?

[jsp56]

Yes it's this very dim, or not-lit-at-all look that I'm aiming for. Just at the moment it's very hard to buy a car that does that at all.

The Toyota Avensis does it and the 2011 Ford Focus can be got that way by covering over a couple of small screens with smoked acetate.

The Vauxhall Corsa is fairly muted but is about to be updated to a lot of screens.

My Ford Mondeo 2006 is perfect in this area too. I'm kind of hoping that the current lighting schemes are just a fashion that will come and go within then 5-10 years, and then a more classic look may return.

[Dodsy]

B'stard Child said:

I can't remember which car it was that when you dimmed the dash lights down it only left the speedo illuminated - I thought this was excellent as I always have the dash lighting on absolute min on all cars (and on all I'd prefer it lower than I can get it)

saab 9-3 had a nigt button. It turned all the dash lights off apart from the speedo. But if you went over a certain rev limit the rev counter light would pop on. Same for low fuel or over engine temp. Nice when you are on a long motorway run.

[B'stard Child]

Shaw Tarse said:

B'stard Child said:

I can't remember which car it was that when you dimmed the dash lights down it only left the speedo illuminated - I thought this was excellent as I always have the dash lighting on absolute min on all cars (and on all I'd prefer it lower than I can get it)

Saab?

Could be - it was a rental several years ago and I don't remember - was a great idea tho

[jsp56]

I do also wonder whether it's possible for a competent technical person to just remove the dash cover and interfere with the lights so as to calm them down a bit. I gather that is used to be possible to change the bulbs, but that this is no longer a thing.

The Ford garage told me that for a fee they can sell me a Fiesta with a choice of 6 colours backlighting the keys of the stereo, but the lights still do not seem to be significantly dimmable. I gather that dimming an LED is not currently possible, because the laptop makers are still dimming their screens by just flashing the LEDs of and on more and more slowly to produce less and less light, rather than just turning the power down.

[Eighteeteewhy]

Shaw Tarse said:

Saab?

Stealth mode!

[Triumph Man]

jsp56 said:

Yes it's this very dim, or not-lit-at-all look that I'm aiming for. Just at the moment it's very hard to buy a car that does that at all.

The Toyota Avensis does it and the 2011 Ford Focus can be got that way by covering over a couple of small screens with smoked acetate.

The Vauxhall Corsa is fairly muted but is about to be updated to a lot of screens.

My Ford Mondeo 2006 is perfect in this area too. I'm kind of hoping that the current lighting schemes are just a fashion that will come and go within then 5-10 years, and then a more classic look may return.

May I ask what your research is for? Are you building the perfectly illuminated dashboard for your own car or is this a uni project?

[maffski]

Shaw Tarse said:

B'stard Child said:

I can't remember which car it was that when you dimmed the dash lights down it only left the speedo illuminated - I thought this was excellent as I always have the dash lighting on absolute min on all cars (and on all I'd prefer it lower than I can get it)

Saab?

My old Citroen C2 could do it as well - everything off except the digital speedo, and the radio - which ruined the effect.

[jsp56]

Triumph Man said:

May I ask what your research is for? Are you building the perfectly illuminated dashboard for your own car or is this a uni project?

Thanks for asking. :-) I'm actually just trying to buy a car, and realising that this is an area that isn't well served at all in the market just now. I thought if I could do the research then it might help others too, and maybe send a signal to the car designers that we'd appreciate more effort on the dimming function.

[deltaevo16]

My Delta has unusual cockpit lighting, you look at the dial with the aid of a torch. In short they are dimmer, than a dim person at a hugely dim convention.