Speebs

iTrader: (2)

Anyone have any recommendations on good quality LED 194 bulbs and where to get them? I heard a while ago about some of them not working (shortly after people started selling them)... are there still problems?

TIA...

Doug

1FSTMAX

iTrader: (29)

Dude, don't get Matrix 194 blue LED'z, mine only lasted about a week be4 they burned out.

Later

Speebs

iTrader: (2)

ok.. so no Matrix LEDs, thanks... anything else I should avoid or pursue?

ny96max

i had these in my gauges a while back, thye looked exactly like the VW's. Too bad they last like a week before they burned out on me too. Now im running PolarG Hyper Whites and they are fine

Ant

clee130

My APC LEDS lasted me about three months.

Then one of them burned out and I changed them to all orange regular 194s ... very Bimmer-like.

Speebs

iTrader: (2)

I don't get it.. why don't they last? LEDs have greater longevity than filament bulbs, so what's the deal?

big_dawg

iTrader: (2)

NO ****!!!! Why don't LED's last longer?????

Ramius83

Getting the resistance dead on seems to be difficult for the LED manufcacturers. They will last LONG if they have the proper resistance going to them. Most LEDs are 2-5 volts, and the 12V going to them has to be "tuned" down with resistors. BTW, have you tried making your own?

Speebs

iTrader: (2)

I figured it had to do with resistance, but I didn't think it would be so hard to nail down. I mean you have a constant +12V, you should have almost exactly the same amperage in every car (I'm not sure what else is on that circuit), so why can't you calculate the optimal resistance? Even if they didn't get it exactly right, they shouldn't burn out so quickly!


I wonder how much success I would have if I bought some, measured the amperage and voltage in there, and changed out the resistors myself...

Ramius83

One word Speebs, stupidity. They want you to buy their products, the products fail, then you buy more since you "might" like the look......go figure...

Speebs

iTrader: (2)

Are you sure? It just seems to me that burning out after a few weeks or a month would mean a really defective product. But if all brands have this problem, maybe there's something I'm missing...

clee130

Like Ramius83 said, it's probably resistance. 2-5 volt LEDS have been around a while. 12v LEDS have not.

I don't think I even seen 12v LEDS before last year.

And then you have weird LED colors like green and purple and the like and it's even more murky water.

I got some nice normal red LEDs and they lasted me close to 3 months before one of them blew. And I got tired of the "red gauge" look and changed them to orange.

Stayed that way right up to my accident.

Speebs

iTrader: (2)

Hmm.. I wonder what VW did to keep theirs running so well. I'm thinking of just buying 4 LEDs from Radio Shack and fashioning my own. a $5 project... if it works though I will have to buy 20 more LEDs so it might run me a few bucks!

iregula

anyone know a site

StaindMaxima

Though the rest of the stuff I have gotten from Catz has been pretty much garbage, the 194 Blue LED's that I got in October are still going strong in my guages. The only thing I don't like is that they don't illuminate the guages evenly or as bright as the stock bulbs do. The LED's aren't Catz brand, they are manufactured by the parent Co. FET Inc., under a different brand, the name I forget, but the brand we carried at the store was Catz. I am sure you could track them down on the FET website though.

syc

most LED are manufactured in Taiwan and China. They are easy to make (but doesn't mean they are good). Not many company are spending money for research on LED (cuz they are not as widely used as light bulbs yet, law of supply and demand). But light bulbs have been for a while and named brand are known last much longer than those cheap one cuz the company have done their research. those LEDs on VW are probably one of the few that are good. It's all about Quality. Just like those bulbs on ebay sucks and those from PIAA last longer (and light better). Just like those cheap 194 color bulbs fade and those PolarG 194 color bulbs never fade (well, at least my blue ones last for a year now).

Speebs

iTrader: (2)

Well, I tried making my own (tried yellow because they were cheap and kind of bright... 1100mcd) and while it plugged in fine, worked, and seemed to be the right brightness, I totally forgot about the fact that regular incandescent bulbs throw light out from the sides in addition to the top of the bulb. Since the surfaces being illuminated were so close to the top of the bulb (I just tried it in the courtesy light and under the shifter), they barely illuminated any area even though they appeared to work fine. So, $5 down the drain...




...make that $35. I ordered some OptiBlue blue LED 194/168 bulbs from www.autodynamic.com - I'll put them in as soon as I get them next week and let you know how they look and how long they last. Btw... they have them for $10/pair for the single wide-angle LED bulb and $12.75 (or something like that) per pair for the extra bright 4-LED bulbs.