I just did a search about LED and learned a lot. Still have a few questions:

1) I should get 1-LED 194 because 4-led cause hot spots, right?.
2) Blue seems kind of dark. I was looking into red but I read that after a while it becomes purplish. Does orange LED fade as well?
3) LED is much brighter than regular bulbs? I am looking into orange LED (if they don't fade) or regular red bulbs. Just want to make sure LED are worth it over regular bulbs.
4) What are good places to buy besides autodynamic and ebay?

My odometer just died so I'll prolly get a 95-97 SE gauge cluster.
Also, could someone post pics of red or amber/orange LEDs? Or blue (besides cumalots pics) Most threads I found were old and the links for pics were dead.


TIA!

 

red won't fade if the voltage and current is the right numbers. If they were to fade they would fade pink.

I would just use red 194's

 

The way that LEDs work causes them NOT to ever fade. LEDs will stay the same color and brightness for 100,000 hrs. If I were you, I would use white or blue LEDs. I just finished converting all of my interior lights to blue and my dome lights and cluster lights to white. It make a BIG difference. I love the way my car looks now. Its alot of work, but if you can get some basic knowledge of how LEDs work then you will be very happy with the results!

 

order your leds from www.superbrightleds.com

great place, and they have cheap priced leds!

 

I have blue push in 1-LEDs in my meter. A bit dim, wish it wee brighter.

 

max2fast4u : Is there any reason you recommend white or blue? Do red or orange look bad? Do white LED make the gauges look electroluminent (something like that, like in the Lexus LS430)?

I looked at some pics using blue LED and its too dim.
Also, can anyone confirm that 4-LED will create hot spots?

I was looking at this LED

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=2430949839

They are only 5.49 shipped for a pair! I think thats the cheapest price I've found so far.

 

nonono

click here:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...gi?product=CAR



.89 cents for one...

here ya go

 

I would use blue for a showy look and white for that (Lexus) electroluminescent look. The white definitely stands out and blue gives more of a show look. Be careful when you are replacing LEDs that you get either ones that replace bulbs, or you go a step further and get ones that you soldier together yourself. The replacement bulbs that you find on superbrightleds.com are great, but keep in mind that they are not nearly as bright as soldiering them together! (hopefully my pics will be up soon!)

 

whats the size for the replacement bulbs in the cluster and how many are there?

By the way, those inverted LEDs are really nice

 

I can't really remember if there are 5 or 6 wedge bulbs in the cluster. The only bad thing about superbrightleds.com is the minimum $30 purchase. If I were you I would get 6 white wedge bulbs, 4 1156 yellow bayonet bulbs, and 4 load resistor kits to make sure that your LED blinkers will blink right. This is very similar to what I did and it looks awesome at night. Gives a very nice luxury look!

 

$30 is the minimun?? I attempted to checkout and it seems to work fine with only 5 dollars worth of merchandise in my cart. I'll try it at home.

Could you show me a link on how to solder LEDs? What makes them brighter if the voltage and power remain the same? If not, would they burn out faster?
I think I will prolly buy a set of white and red LED and see which one I like better

Thanks for all the responses!

 

When you check out, it will take your order, but you will never recieve it. I had this problem. It never charged and was never shipped. .

 

Weird...their website clearly states they don't have a minimun order policy.
multiplexor: Are those direct 194 bulb LED replacements?

max2fast4u: Where did you get your LEDs then?
Could you send me some pics of your gauges to bolido2000@yahoo.com?
I am wondering how different the LEDs would look on a GXE gauges compared to SE gauges.

TIA

 

I bought my 194 from superbrightleds and I love the new blue look in my cluster! They are bright enough for me and I can't wait to do the switches on the doors! Also, I paid 15 including shipping... no 30 dollar minimum!

 

I like the Polarg hyper whites...nice...

 

Are you using the single led? or the 4 led lamp? If using the 4 led lamp, are there hot spots?

 

For the people have change the bulbs in the guages, POST SOME PICTS!! and tell what bulbs you used. that would be very cool if you did!!

 

I tried changing my cluster bulbs into LED's and even regular blue bulbs... and they are sooo dim... even the LED's... I bought the LED's from this site:

http://www.autolumination.com/

Pretty cheap and they don't overcharge for shipping either. <=o)

I changed the bulbs right back to the OEM bulbs... It's a real ***** to change it so I didn't want to try different LED's... but maybe i should... and if you're wondering which LED's I used, it was the oval wide angle ones because I knew since it's LED, there will be spots so I thought w/ the wide angle, it'll be better but it's not... the thing about LED's is that they need space to shine... LED's are not made to be confined into such a small space... no matter what LED's are designed from the get-go to shoot straight, even the wide angle ones...

I would love to see pics of someone's car who can prove me wrong and that LED's would look nice and well spread out on their cluster... be sure to provide what type of LED's you used... cuz if it looks nice, I'm sure the rest of us would want to do it... <=o)

 

yup direct replace

oh someone wanted pics... heres a pic of my cluster when i had only bought 2 blue leds...

http://www.geocities.com/multiplexor...gepages/3.html

 

your dash looks great. nice mod

 

I have 5 194 Incandescent Bulbs in my dash but they are too dim for me. You really can see them red only at night, during evening or day they are pinkish or not visible at all. I will try 194 LED bulbs. Polargs are very expensive ($8,5-10 for pair).

Could anyone post pics with red LEDs
I plan to convert window switches and climate control panel to red LEDs too.

 

anybody else any opinions????????

 

The pics arent that great, sorry. My camera didnt capture them that well. They look a lot nicerand brighter in person. 194 leds from www.superbrightleds.com I've had them well over 6 mo. with no problems

 

Personally, I enjoy the red gauges. There's some reason that red is less distracting to your eyes at night, and I really notice a difference.

The LEDs I have are a little different. You can adjust the 4 LEDs a different angles. I spread them out and it looks good. There is ONE hotspot under the tach needle. http://www.jamstrait.com/products.html#mini I picked them up at the local Autozone.

Third gen gauges, slightly blurry pic, but you get the point.

 

Holy Cow, so bright!!!! Mine are nothing compared to these. I am running to get these
Could you give the bulb part number, if they have any special name besides 194 LED bulb?

 

I think that 194-HR is the part number.

Come to think of it, that pic may have been with the el-cheapo red glass bulbs, but the LED's have the exact same brightness. I have their amber LED 194's in my clear corners and after aiming the LED's in a more spread out fashion, they're really bright too. Link to the corner bulb photo: http://66.213.202.59/gallery/HID/100_1228 If you look closely, you can see 3 of the 4 LED's through the lens.

 

For how much and where did you get them from? (that website sells through a chain of other retailers)

Some websites want $13 for pair. Here is one on ebay $5 for one, same price as Polargs. Which ones would be better then???

 

As I mentioned, I got them at autozone, a total ripoff ~15 a pair.

Definitely go with the Ebay ones. The picture is identical to the ones I bought.

I can't speak for which brand to buy, I have only used the jamstrait ones.

The nice thing is that they are polarity insensitive, and can be plugged in either way.

 

Local shops are usually about $9 a pair and you save shipping. I prefer shopping and buying in person so I'm going to get them there after I install my system.

 

Was in Autozone, they had only whites for ~9 bucks a pair. Will see if I can order red one through them for the same price

 

wait wait hold up... 9$ for the bulbs or for the LED lights?? i can understand for the bulbs maybe... but for the led lights? shoot superbrightleds.com has these for like 1.25 each...