L.E.D. Dashboard lights

[sleeptalker]

Hi all,

Just wondering what to tackle next...and seeing as the walnut dash and centre console need to come off for a re-veneer I was wondering if it was possible to upgrade the normal bulbs in the dash to LEDs - they are brighter and more reliable don't you think?

Anyone ever done this and got any tips?

[orange_dodo]

If you can find some that fit and you can mount them OK it should work. You will need resistors in line though otherwise the LED will kill itself by drawing too much current.

(Saying that I think electricity is witchcraft and avoid tinkering with it at all costs so I could be wrong about that!)

[Longers]

On my S2 there is a switch to allow the dash lights to be off, on dim or on very bright. Even though they are more difficult to see when dim I never have them on very bright because of the reflections on the windscreen. Because I spend more time looking through the windscreen than I do looking at the dials so that approach works for me

My point is I'd be careful about making them too bright, although the above may not be an issue with the S3 dash.

[sleeptalker]

On the S2 I believe there is a bit of a design 'overlook' that left a reflection in the windscreen from the dials. On the S3 this isn't a problem - however my dials are quite dim and even when on the brightest setting are still a little on the low side.

I just thought that as I need to remove the dash panel and centre console it might be a worthwhile upgrade to consider at the time.

[techbotics]

What colour are going to go for..?

I say go for it if you fancy.. Blue would be nice.. or some wizardry with RGB LED's to get any colour.. mmm.. may do that myself one day..

Cheers

Damian Blue S3 (Back in 7 days)

[orange_dodo]

If you put RGB LEDs in you would never be able to choose a colour!

I was thinking of replacing the switch with a pot' so I could have infinite adjustment on the brightness. Anyone have any idea on the value of the resistor for the dim setting?

Sleeptalker, one thing I was thinking about was that the LEDs will be bright but they are usually very directional so you may have problems illuminating the whole dial evenly.

[paul.deitch]

I did this a while ago and incorporated the console switches replacing the ineffective glassfibre switch lighting. its pretty easy to calculate the required resisters and i used green leds to match.

[techbotics]

Check Out: http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz for a LED resistor calculator for multiple LED's
it even draws a schematic for you.

Paul did you just mount an LED per switch and get rid of the fibre optic or did you use LED to drive the Fibre optic..?

Cheers

Damian

[paul.deitch]

I drilled out the white plastic holders for the fibre optics about +-0.25mm more and the leds slid in from the back. I also ran a led (same colour green) up to a small hole under the dash/above the heater control which was left after removing the non working alarm sensor. This gives a downward glow onto the centre console and heater controls and I'm very pleased with it. As they were high brightness leds, I had to 'paint' that one a bit to reduce the light level.

[GreenV8S]

I would suggest simply using 12V LEDs, or (if the style you want aren't available in a 12V package) use a separate current-limiting resister per LED. The extra cost is negligible and it means you're protected against any problems with individual LEDs failing and then taking others out.