Illuminating dials

[S3THUNDER]

Hi all, as my dashboard is out,I was wondering if it's possible to improve the dial illumination,as at night it's difficult to see what speed I'm doing.I know v8s4me changed the bulbs from 3 to 5 watts. Will I notice much difference?

[v8s4me]

S3THUNDER said:

........I know v8s4me changed the bulbs from 3 to 5 watts. Will I notice much difference?

I did. But you also need to chuck away the green plastic tube TVR used to colour the light. Get green 5w bulbs or do as I did and paint the bulbs with green ink. That way I got the green tint with minimal light absorption. You could also consider replacing the bulbs with green LED ones. I chose not to do this because the only ones I could find at the time didn't have a very good spread of light, if that makes sense.

[seb400]

A mechanic buddy of mine fitted LEDs to all the switches, clocks and heater controls on my dash. He had to tone/step a couple of them down a bit as they would have been too bright. They look fantastic now, especially with chrome bezels. I did have a photo once but can't find it, sorry.

[S3THUNDER]

Yes that makes sence I wonder how they step/tone them down? Could it be with a plastic shroud?

[DamianS3]

S3THUNDER said:

Yes that makes sence I wonder how they step/tone them down? Could it be with a plastic shroud?

I would use a resistor in line with the led ground

Damian S3

[S3THUNDER]

I've no idea how to do that.

[foot2firewall]

I fitted my dashboard with LEDs a couple of years ago and its all still fine, this is what I did:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Sandgrounder]

I went with the green glass 5w option.

Looks more than bright enough to me, and easiest mod!!

[S3THUNDER]

Thanks all for your advise. I think I will try the 5W green bulbs first

[v8s4me]

DamianS3 said:

I would use a resistor in line with the led ground...

I made up a little circuit board to run LED's for the centre console. Absolute PIA!! If I was doing it again I'd stick with conventional bulbs or the LED which just plug straight into the normal socket.

[greymrj]

I am changing all the bulbs on mine to amber. I understand blue is usually considered the best for visability but it doesnt work for me. Part of the issue for me is the reflection of the speedo/revcounter on the screen at night, the blue gave a harsher reflection that the amber....but maybe that is just my tired old eyes. I am pretty sure I got the bulbs easily from Car Builder Solutions.

[S3THUNDER]

Mmmmmm.... amber would go rather well with my amber burr walnut dash.

[phillpot]

Funnily enough I was up and out before the Sun this morning, I can see the gauges fine, I can read all the speedo and rev counter numbers, but the needles are as good as invisible!

Only time they became vaguely visible was in areas with good street lighting (imitation day light!)


In the "Old Days" I thought Rally cars had something called "Pea Lights"? little lights that mount on the dash and shine onto the instruments, rather than back lighting them?

Bit like this..... clicky