ok so i have a question lolz..after reading all this i'm still confused....I have a 98 SE do i use 194 or 74 bulb? Are my needles sandable to make them clear or I wouldn't know until I take out speedo and actually check it out?

 

98 se should be white faced guages, you can sand them. and you should have 194's but I can't say 100% cause Im 97.


I put in green 194's and it looks much better, but as stated, we'll see how they last, I may end up putting LED's in if they fade. But it looks great right now

 

yea inverted LEDs FTL. and theyre supposed to be white, FTMFL

 

I have a 97 GLE. I have two clusters. The one installed now (SE Cluster) has actual red plastic needles and white faced gauges). The one I removed is the regular black faced gauges. Should I modify the SE or the black one? I want to do all LED, including the needles. Can I somehow use a different color LED for the needle? For example, white LED's all around, but a blue or red LED at the base of each needle.

Also, I am unclear on how to wire up and solder the led+ resistor. Each bulb socket puts out the same voltage, and you just solder on the correct resistor and go from there, is this correct?

So it seems success comes from 9000 mcd's sanded down into a cone...anyone have a different experience?

 

SE needles SHOULD be clear with a red/orange coating on the bottom that makes them appear red/orange, it can be sanded off.

As for which one you use, its up to you, but if you want different colours, it would be best to use the black faced, otherwise you will likely see contrasting colours.

The + prong on the LED must be connected to a resistor, then the resistor to the + power source, the - is connected directly to the negative source (ground)

I didn't sand my needle LED's, they turned out fine. The consensus is to sand the LED's that replace the regular bulbs so you don't have hot spots (unless thats what you want).

hope that helps.

 

just out of curiosity for those who did the LED mod.. can you still control the intensity of the light output?

 

^yes

 

^^^ sweet! yay, another project to put on the list of things to do over winter.. hahaah

 

Yeah thanks!! I checked the gauges, you and others were right, it is just a red film underneath them.
As for the led and resistor, I figured that part out I was just making sure. So each bulb socket puts out 4V right?

 

^ to be honest, I don't know the exact voltage, but considering they are 194 bulbs stock, I'd assume its 12V

 

Yes, 12V.

 

i changed mine on a 98, and the bulb size is 74 or something. there are four to change, and it looks a lot better than the stock bulbs. i used a bright white, and it gives a soft blue glow. i had blues in before, but they looked like crap, especially with the orange needles - hard to read. if you want, hit me with a pm for the seller's name on ebay. they were crazy cheap - i got six bulbs for like 3 bucks.

 

Anyone used the flat topped, wide angle LEDs? There's some on eBay, and they say they've got a 120* viewing angle, as opposed to ~20* with regular LEDs.

 

Well once you sand the regular led's into a cone I guess the effect is the same?

 

anyone know the exact # of LED's required for the whole cabin ( dash, doors, switches, etc)..

thanks...

and if it's 1 LED / bulb replaced, since it's 12 V current, and let's say I use 3V LED's, does that mean I need to solder a 9V resistor to each LED?

thanks

KL

 

Hey guys im still a newbie but im a lil bit confused about what to do with my cluster. Ive seen at the junkyard 95-96 maxima's and in the back of their cluster there are 5 big led's that you can change to make your whole cluster light up the color that you what them. Now in the 97-99's I beleave that they are different, they have 6 to 8 lil bulbs that you can change (which I did) but the only thing is that they are very dim and they don't light up the whole cluster like the 95-96 gauges. Whats the best thing I should do if I want to change the led's to a bright red looking color?

 

Add your own Led's if ur not satisfied with the end results.
maybe red indiglo for your red needles to make them brighter??
click on indiglo needles but a 99 can only go RED with the needles
http://www.importcarpartsplus.com/

I just picked up the indiglo needles from import car parts ill post pics in 10 days when they come well 11 days i need to install them...

 

LOOKS GOOD!

 

To those who have sanded the needles, how does it look during the day? Anyone got any pics during the day? I'm having a hard time imagining that there'd be much contrast.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-SMT...WDVWQQtcZphoto

if anyone is planning on trying replacing the 74 bulbs, i think these are the way to go. have'nt tried them out yet, but they look like they fit the bill.

 

i have blue neon gauges.

 

Post some pics are they indiglo or custom neon lights????

 

go with hyper white 194's for the gauge lighting. LEDS are bright but are just too concentrated. For my write-up i used 194 hyperwhites to light the background and LEDs for the needles

 

Any recommendations wariow? I got some a long time ago and used them in my guages but want to replace them. They burn wayyy too hot for me.

 

So instead of starting a new thread, I thought I would share my results with my LED gauges. First of, this took about 5 hours of labor including installation. I used 12000 mcd blue LED's, all 5 mm. I sanded all of them, but not into a cone. There are virtually no hotspots. I did not do my needles because I wanted to see where I need to put more blue leds, and to wait for my UV / purple / red / pink LED assortment to come from hong kong. (It's like 10 bucks for 40 of them shipped with resistors). Also, I sanded the needles a bit to see if the existing orange would look different, but also to see how the clear would look. I also blew a fuse because in my haste I didn't properly electric tape one LED. (be careful). So, during the day, I turn on my auxilaries (daytime running lights), and the blue is actually quite visible, unless the sun is shining on it. Also note that the blue is much more intense than shown in the pictures. I will be adding 2 LED's for the tach, one for the temp, and one for the fuel. In hindsight, I think the best solution is to get the LED bulb screw ins, and just do custom LED needles. You can get the same look without breaking your head over tiny LED bulbs.


shot with CC9390








So guys, what color needles? Just give me a color and I will figure out how to make it work. There is already some blue coming in, so pink would make a more purple type of pink. Red would make purple, and purple would make indigo. And UV? lol I dont even know how that would look.

Also for those who care, at night the black face or white face gauges look the same in this scenario...I tried them out.

 

I've had my camera fixed for a while just forgot to get the pictures. Figured becaues I finally remembered I may as well post them up.

Also, the backlighting is all 194 bulbs, they still have not dimmed at all.

Here we go

 

^^^^ wow....sooo green....like stock.
did you use inverted LEDs for the gauge?

 

Just standard LED's for the needles, and Green 194 bulbs for the
gauges themselves.
Stock was actually white, but my colour scheme was according
to the car colour, its definately grown on me though,
I did all the window switches as well, even the heated seats.
Floor lighting is just about all thats left for the interior.

 

They'll fit just fine.

For the last damn time people (lol).

LISTEN!!!

95-97 = 5 194 bulbs
98-99 = 5 74 bulbs

I have had both cars, I KNOW.

THAT'S IT! lol

 

hes right i just did mine, wish i read this thread before i started my cluster

 

i don't believe you. i think your lying!


j/k

i should be getting some inverted 194 red leds in the mail soon as well

 

To add to this thread I have spent so much time doing my led gauges only to have some burn out on me over time . As a few here have suggested, the best route and time saving route IMO would be to just use either inverted bulbs or regular 194 or 74 bulbs in your stock gauge lighting sockets depending on what year you have and just custom mount leds behind the needles. For power to the needle led I would get power from the dimmer switch. This route has worked out best for me. And the led needles will really stand out over the gauge lighting. I have used 5000 mcd for the needles and they IMO are not bright enough may go up to 9000 mcd and 3 mm works best for the needles if you have analog gauges like I do . Its tuff to position them with 5 mm led way to much crap in the way with analog gauges.

 

Leds are no where rice. U obviously are a newb sir.

 

Yup im fat but leds arent rice.

 

You tell em bro. Leds are sick if they are done right.

 

So you used 194 bulbs for the gauge lighting and leds for the needles? What size led and rating did you use?

 

man i want my gauges to look like all these pictures except with blue led's; however, i have no idea how to wire them in or hook them up?

 

thats where you search

 

i did some Led project let me know what you think guys

 

Looks good.. Did you sand down your leds? I see some hot spots. What color led did you use for you needles? And what spec are they? I need that same color to match my radio. The last time I tried blue leds they came out with a purplish color to them.