Dashboard LEDs
Discussion
As I have the dash off at the moment I thought I might as well replace the bulbs with blue LED's on all the instruments. Anyone done this and recommend a good supplier on the net ? also, the switches have green LEDs which are soldered on, has anyone replaced these with blue ? WIll any old 12V blue LED or do they need to be a specific type
Heres the top one for the heater blower switch
Cheers
Dodsy
ETA: as ever search is my friend, found everything I need here
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
Heres the top one for the heater blower switch
Cheers
Dodsy
ETA: as ever search is my friend, found everything I need here
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
Edited by bigdods on Saturday 12th January 17:23
Sounds like a plan, I'll just get a few 12v leds and wire them into the lighting circuit.
I wasnt going to do the bulbs but as I have the dash off it made sense to look at it, blue to match the paint..... hope it doesnt look too chav. But I guess if it does I can easily change them back
I wasnt going to do the bulbs but as I have the dash off it made sense to look at it, blue to match the paint..... hope it doesnt look too chav. But I guess if it does I can easily change them back
Hi mate, did the guage bulbs on mine over xmas. Its an easy job and you're best off getting BA9 replacement superbright wideangle 6 leds from www.ultraleds.co.uk. - I used these for all guages, and shift light: http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/uba96ww-leds-white-bulb...
Unfortunately I found that they've dropped some product lines so you can't get a full set in any one colour. This is because Chims (and probably all other models) use a combination of BA9 bayonett and 501 Wedge type bulbs (mine had BA9 in the small guages and speedo and 501 wedge in the Rev counter though I have seen different combos). I wanted to replace mine with white lights and found that they did a BA9 version, but nothing in the wedge base so I had a quick google and found these: http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product/699
They're the same as the other BA9 holders used in the car so fit pretty much perfectly in place of the wedge holders. Some female spade connectors are required to connect the old wire but they're only a few pence from Halfords. All in all they took about 10 minutes to fit (the dash was already off!) and now look fantastic. An added bonus is that they are all now using the same type of bulb for a bit of convenience... Now if only I could get the engine to work properly i'd be away!
Nick
Unfortunately I found that they've dropped some product lines so you can't get a full set in any one colour. This is because Chims (and probably all other models) use a combination of BA9 bayonett and 501 Wedge type bulbs (mine had BA9 in the small guages and speedo and 501 wedge in the Rev counter though I have seen different combos). I wanted to replace mine with white lights and found that they did a BA9 version, but nothing in the wedge base so I had a quick google and found these: http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product/699
They're the same as the other BA9 holders used in the car so fit pretty much perfectly in place of the wedge holders. Some female spade connectors are required to connect the old wire but they're only a few pence from Halfords. All in all they took about 10 minutes to fit (the dash was already off!) and now look fantastic. An added bonus is that they are all now using the same type of bulb for a bit of convenience... Now if only I could get the engine to work properly i'd be away!
Nick
Edited by thenick on Saturday 12th January 19:14
Hi Nick,
How do you find the brightness of the LEDs , I thought it might be a problem with the smaller gauges looking very bright when compared to the speedo if they are all using the same type of 6 segment LED. I found a place in the US that does 4 segment LEDs and also single LEDs in blue. I was thinking of putting either 4 or 6 segment LEDs in the speedo and rev counter, then just singles in the smaller instruments. or maybe 6's is in the big ones then 4's in the smaller.
did you change the green LEDs on the heater blower, headlight switch etc for blues as well and if so how did you do it ?
How do you find the brightness of the LEDs , I thought it might be a problem with the smaller gauges looking very bright when compared to the speedo if they are all using the same type of 6 segment LED. I found a place in the US that does 4 segment LEDs and also single LEDs in blue. I was thinking of putting either 4 or 6 segment LEDs in the speedo and rev counter, then just singles in the smaller instruments. or maybe 6's is in the big ones then 4's in the smaller.
did you change the green LEDs on the heater blower, headlight switch etc for blues as well and if so how did you do it ?
Edited by bigdods on Saturday 12th January 20:16
Haven't done the heater and stuff yet so i'm not sure, but I would probably just solder in a new 12v led and see how it looks!
On the instrument side, I just used the same 6 led wideangle white ones from that link above for all of the dials. They're not as bright as you might think after they go through the backing. Mine seem to be a little brighter than before but not by a lot but are a lot clearer to look at. I haven't driven with them on yet but they look great and I wouldn't think they'd be too bright at all on the road. On the brightness side, they all seem to balance out ok as the small instruments have one bulb and the rev counter has two. The speedo only has one and consequently looks less bright than the rev counter as before but I can't see how I would make it brighter. The only way to even them out would be to only run one bulb in the rev counter and thereby have them both a little dimmer than normal unless the speedo could be modified to take another bulb?
Edit: Or you could always run 4 led bulbs in the instruments and one 6 in the two large dials... It might even them all out but they might end up a little dim, worth a try though if they're cheap?
On the instrument side, I just used the same 6 led wideangle white ones from that link above for all of the dials. They're not as bright as you might think after they go through the backing. Mine seem to be a little brighter than before but not by a lot but are a lot clearer to look at. I haven't driven with them on yet but they look great and I wouldn't think they'd be too bright at all on the road. On the brightness side, they all seem to balance out ok as the small instruments have one bulb and the rev counter has two. The speedo only has one and consequently looks less bright than the rev counter as before but I can't see how I would make it brighter. The only way to even them out would be to only run one bulb in the rev counter and thereby have them both a little dimmer than normal unless the speedo could be modified to take another bulb?
Edit: Or you could always run 4 led bulbs in the instruments and one 6 in the two large dials... It might even them all out but they might end up a little dim, worth a try though if they're cheap?
Edited by thenick on Saturday 12th January 22:06
You're exactly right, there is an unused light in the bottom of the speedo with a 501 wedge bulb holder wired up and ready to go. So I binned this and replaced it with a new Ba9 holder and wired it up to the Emerald ECU i've just installed. So it does now have one!
Edited by thenick on Sunday 13th January 23:48
Sorry the pics aren't great but here's a couple of shots of mine that I did the other year.
Yes, in the images they come across as being distractively bright, but in reality they are pretty good, and personally I prefer them to the old yellow and green ones.
You may get the odd comment of it looking chav, I know I did, but you can always change them back in the future.
Plus with the old colours, who uses green for cold? Everyone knows that that the internationally recognised colour for cold is blue.
Yes, in the images they come across as being distractively bright, but in reality they are pretty good, and personally I prefer them to the old yellow and green ones.
You may get the odd comment of it looking chav, I know I did, but you can always change them back in the future.
Plus with the old colours, who uses green for cold? Everyone knows that that the internationally recognised colour for cold is blue.
bigdods said:
Crazycraig, did you just solder new blue LEDs onto the switches (the fan switch for example) and if so is is just an ordinary 12V LED or did you put a seperate LED with wiring into the lighting circuit ?
Now I'm thinking about doing all the heater panel LEDs too , that looks good
Now I'm thinking about doing all the heater panel LEDs too , that looks good
thenick said:
Agreed, this looks good... I may have a crack at it when the car's on the road again!
Thanks for your comments.The limiting factor I found with the blue is that you can't get the full range as with the other colours such as red, orange, green and yellow. Ideally you need 2mm flat tops for the heater dials, 3mm flat tops for the hot and cold indicators, 5mm triangular ones for the heater direction indicators, and 3mm standards in the fan blower and headlight switch. All are available from either RS or Maplins, unless of course you want them in blue, where they don't make any of them, except for the 3mm standard ones.
As mentioned previously, you don't want them hideously bright so your best bet would be to get the low intensity diffused ones I did from RS which are rated at 40 mcd with a 60' view angle, as oppose to the Maplin ones which are 2300 mcd @ 15' angle, unless of course you like burning you retinas out every time you turn your ignition on
. No only joking I also preferred the RS ones as you can match the intensity and view angle of the blue with an equivalent red.
In the end I went for the following -
Fan blower and headlight switch - Replaced the original 3mm greens with 5 no. 3mm blues - 247-1561
Heater dials - Replaced the original 2mm yellow flat tops with 2 no. 3mm blues - 247-1561 (holes had to be bored out from 2 to 3mm)
Hot and cold indicators - Replaced the original 3mm red and green flat tops with 1 no. 3mm blue - 247-1561 and 1 no. 3mm red - 228-5916
Heater direction indicators - Replaced the original 5mm yellow triangular with 2 no. 5mm blue - 247-1690 held in position with 5mm recessed LED clips 262-3009
So in total you'd need -
2 x pack of 5 - 3mm blue led - 247-1561
1 x pack of 5 - 3mm red - 228-5916
1 x pack of 5 - 5mm blue - 247-1690
1 x pack of 5 - 5mm clips - 262-3009
All of them can be soldered on as direct replacements for the original leds so there's no need to mess around with the resistors, you just have to make sure you solder them on the right way around.
Craig
Edited by Crazycraig on Monday 14th January 16:31
barryhercules said:
Does anybody know if you can still get the triangular leds? Mine cracked in half when fitting my new dash and i really like the classic look!
Cheers.
You can get a set off ebay although they are rather expensive, but are heatshrunk with the resistors ready to go. Cheers.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TVR-Heater-LED-Chimaera-Dash...
dogbucket said:
barryhercules said:
Does anybody know if you can still get the triangular leds? Mine cracked in half when fitting my new dash and i really like the classic look!
Cheers.
You can get a set off ebay although they are rather expensive, but are heatshrunk with the resistors ready to go. Cheers.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TVR-Heater-LED-Chimaera-Dash...
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