I bought some red #194's to put into my gauges after seeing how good they looked in ny96maxse's car.

I bought them online at http://www.street-beat.com for $5.95 a pair.

Here is what they look like. The orange is a standard #194 and the one on the left is the 194 LED. The brand of the LED is APC


I received only two because the rest are backordered, but decided to put them into my gauges anyways.

This is a picture of them with the the time exposed longer. This means that this is not what it looks like in person. This is to show the color. The fuel guage has a regular bulb with a blue condom on it (shines white). The speedo guage has hyperwhites bulbs with a blue condom on it (shines with a slight slight blue tint). The tach and the temp gauges obviously have the red LED.
You'll notice that the red is not evenly distributed like ny96maxse's gauges. And they are nowhere near as bright as either the regular bulb, the hyperwhites, or ny96maxse's LED bulb. There are two bright spots in the guage (around 2K rpm and 7K rpm). They are the center points where the LED shines the brightest.

Here is a picture of the gauges without time lapse.
You can barely see the guage with the LED bulbs inside (the only way you know it's there is the bright focal spot of the LED) nor the guage with the regular bulb. But the guage with the hyperwhites can be seen.

So the quest for brigther guages continue.

Conclusion: APC LED 194 bulbs - no good. There are several factors that have to be taken into consideration however:
1) ny96maxse has white faced gauges. I have black gauges.
2) ny96maxse had blue LEDS. I have red.
3) ny96maxse had a Japanese brand LED. I have APC.
4) ny96maxse has a 96 Max. I have a 95. (Most likely inconsequential.)

I am going to buy another set of red LEDs from another source and hopefully, they will be better than the APC bulbs. Updates will follow.

 

Good write-up.

 

Well with the time lapse it looks pretty sweet.... Keep us posted!

 

Great review. Where did ny96maxse get his bulbs? Oh, and please do keep us posted. I loved the way the blue LED's looked. Too bad he had some problems with them.

 

good write up!!
I was considering the red ones instead of blue but now I'ma sit back on that idea for a while and see what you get next
is there only one bulb behind each gauge?

 

I think it looks nice with the red. Too bad it isnt really going to work out all that great it seems though. Do you think it would be better with the white gauges going with the red color?

SuDZ

 

Ravq: ny96maxse got them from his local store. The guy at the store ordered them. Don't know from where.

animal72: There are 5 bulbs for the gauges. And they are in weird areas. One is for the fuel, two for the speedo and two for the tach and temp.

SuDZ: I really don't know. Somehow I doubt it though. The LED doesn't shine that brightly. I have 35% tint. And when I was standing outside looking in, I could see my speedo - the one with the hyperwhites but I couldn't see the tach/temp at all.

 

well, i still have no idea what brand bulbs i bought, but i will find out monday exactly who makes them. Just a WARNING: they will start to flicker after a few days and then go completely dim.... So after about 8x of tearing apart my gauge cluster to swap out LED's, i just returned them and got PolarG hyper whites.

They light up very nicely and i havent had a problem with them since thank god! "knock on wood" but atleast they match up to my climate controls perfectly,lol!

 

So far, my LEDs have been fine. But maybe it's also due to the fact that I don't drive at night a lot anymore.

It's been nearly one week and they are still shining.

 

So if i'm correct the speedo was the hyperwhite... I think through your demonstration they looked the hottest, What was you opinion of them? Did the seem to be as nice or do they look different in the picture. I was thinking getting them, they are 194's right? Oh yeah how much did you pay for the?
Sorry if I asked to many questions!
And thanks 4 Your info!

 

Speedo is hyperwhite, correct. They're bright... and I guess if I can't find red LEDs that are good enough, I might change everything to hyperwhite. The non-timed lapsed picture gives you a good indication of how bright the hyperwhites really are. They are the only bulbs that you can see.

194s, correct again. The stupid and sucky thing is that I don't remember what brand they are. I bought them from another Max owner on the board who I hang out with... and he gave them to me for $5.

 

CATZ seems to have good 194 LED bulbs. I'm planning on putting their blues ones in my girls gauges. Their shape in the lense seems to disperse the light a little better than the bulb in the top post. Take a look at them in the following eBay link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cg...item=595922561

 

Seems interesting ... keep us posted. If they are better, I might try them out.

 

What bulbs did you use in the climate control? Did you also change the bulbs in the BOSE unit? Curious

 

There is a CATZ dealer near where I live. I will be picking some 194's up on Thursday and I will post pics when it is done. I am looking to put the blue or red in.

 

Hit my homepage to see how my guages look with regular Autozone red bulbs. Also, i have painted red in the A/C controls and red LEDs in the doors...

 

ah the good old wal-mart.
If anyone didn't know they have colored 194s don't know what brand. They come in red, green, and hyper white. for around $2.00 for a set. I took my indiglos out and put hyper whites in and they seem brighter and whiter than factory. I tried the red and green, and green looked the best (evenly distributed) but it really looks ricey. Red was too dim. I love the hyper-whites, try them out.

 

what do u mean "painted red" in the A/C controls and door LEDs? They look damn tight!!! This is how i want my dash to look.... right now, the stock bulbs lack any brightness at all.... blah.. my 3rd gen had stock bulbs nice and bright..

 

can i replace bulbs in my bose? because one button seems that light there is dead.

 

L.E.D.'S to get are from

-BLUE L.E.D. Bulbs(#194)Behind White Face Guage Overlays(5)=$10 A Pair,3 Pair(6)=$30.00-Bought New From Autodynamic.com.

http://www.autodynamic.com/

I put them in last night and they look really good...they make the needles glow and everything...sorry I have no pics but they look good....

http://maxima.cardomain.com/id/williamg

 

need pics must see!!

 

starting to miss the stock look on the gauges. already got the indiglo..

 

can anyone answer my question if i can replace bulbs inside of my stock bose headunit? because one button does not light up looks like its burnt up.