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Desertbusman
Samba Member
Joined: June 03, 2005
Posts: 14655
Location: Arizona
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 Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:57 am Post subject: |
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| SGKent wrote: |
| I am 61 and have been working with computers since the early 1980's. I still can't stand bright gauges in the car on a dark road. |
I am 68 and have been working with computers since the mid 1980's. And my cluster lights are so dim that there is no need for the dimmer. But the VoDOo lights are too bright so I just switched wires on the switch terminals. So the dimmer dims what needs to be dimmed.
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71 Superbug
71 Westy |
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FlowerPowered
Samba Member
Joined: December 22, 2005
Posts: 389
Location: Montana
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 9:03 am Post subject: YES you can dim an LED |
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| telford dorr wrote: |
LM555 - is there anything that you can't do with these things?
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True, the 555 is an incredibly useful chip. I still have some from 20 years ago, as well as the little how-to booklet from Radio Shack on the chip. I built some cool projects using them back in the day.
But I today's world, thanks to cheap Chinese labor, you can just buy this circuit already made for about $10 on ebay.
Here's another that's ready for dash mounting, however it's only 1 amp. (The previous one posted was 6 amp.)
See here:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=led+dimmer+12v...m270.l1313
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76 Westy  "Sunset" |
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telford dorr
Samba Member
Joined: March 11, 2009
Posts: 3551
Location: San Diego (Encinitas)
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 9:50 am Post subject: |
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That's a tough price to beat. Comes down to packaging, and whether you enjoy building stuff, I guess. Mine's built into the light fixture itself, which could be tough to do with a pre-built module.
_________________
'71 panel, now with FI
'Experience' is the ability to recognize a mistake when you're making it again - Franklin P. Jones
In theory, theory works in practice; in practice, it doesn't - William T. Harbaugh
When you're dead, you don't know you're dead. The pain is only felt by others.
Same thing happens when you're stupid. - Philippe Geluck
More VW electrical at http://telforddorr.com/ (available 9am to 9pm PST) |
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jtauxe 
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 5780
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 1:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Casey Ryan wrote: |
here are the light bulbs I bought.
<snip>
Casey |
Oh, very nice. So, those just fit right in the same socket, with no need to install the resistor? Which ones did you end up getting, exactly? The 74-x?
That's easy! And I like the red option. After spending some years at sea, I have come to appreciate the "red lights in the wheelhouse", which does not affect your night vision. I may have to replace all my stock instrument bulbs with red LEDs...
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John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD
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Casey Ryan
Samba Member
Joined: August 06, 2008
Posts: 340
Location: Downers Grove, IL
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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| jtauxe wrote: |
| Casey Ryan wrote: |
here are the light bulbs I bought.
<snip>
Casey |
Oh, very nice. So, those just fit right in the same socket, with no need to install the resistor? Which ones did you end up getting, exactly? The 74-x?
That's easy! And I like the red option. After spending some years at sea, I have come to appreciate the "red lights in the wheelhouse", which does not affect your night vision. I may have to replace all my stock instrument bulbs with red LEDs... |
Yeah, I looked back and found my order info. I bought the 74-xhp. They fit right in as a straight replacement. They will only light inserted one way from what I remember so figure that out and repeat for the rest.
No need for a resistor. Never installed one in mind and they've been working for 2 years now.
They're cheap too so I bought extra.
Casey
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'78 Riviera Camper
Blog: www.facebook.com/VWBusBlog |
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RatCamper
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2008
Posts: 3305
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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I was a bit naughty and made an order from superbrightleds.com
Naughty? because people outside the U.S. need to make a $25 minimum order. Grr. I ended up throwing in a dimmer, like the white one in the pic actually which bumped up the price above and beyond. Like $46 incl. postage. *sigh*. Anyway I got some greens, because I've always liked green backlighting and my fuel gauge is like that anyway, a red for my oil light for the sake of it and a blue for high beam.
I grabbed some of the 9mm bayonet ones, whatever they are called. Partially because the only VDO backlight that isn't missing is one of them. I'm going to use a standard 9mm bayonet and tape or blu tac it to the other gauges for backlighing. LEDs= no appreciable heat. Another step closer 
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Vehicle: 1975 Special order delivery walkthrough panel based pop-top camper (LCA / Sunliner). Motor: Nippon 1.8L Single port Wasserboxer, Transmission: 3 rib 002. |
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Stuartzickefoose
Samba Post Whore
Joined: February 07, 2008
Posts: 10350
Location: SoCal for now...
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| Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:37 am Post subject: |
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| jtauxe wrote: |
| Casey Ryan wrote: |
here are the light bulbs I bought.
<snip>
Casey |
Oh, very nice. So, those just fit right in the same socket, with no need to install the resistor? Which ones did you end up getting, exactly? The 74-x?
That's easy! And I like the red option. After spending some years at sea, I have come to appreciate the "red lights in the wheelhouse", which does not affect your night vision. I may have to replace all my stock instrument bulbs with red LEDs... |
toyota used a similar sized dash lights for all their gauges and such, and they use tiny colored condoms to change the colors....maybe if you found a toyota with red, or green, and i think they did blue at some point, you can just put a condom over the bulb and change all the dash lights to your preference with a easy mod....
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Stuart Zickefoose
2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual
206-841-7324
[email protected] |
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jtauxe
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 5780
Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
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| Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:02 am Post subject: |
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| jtauxe wrote: |
| I may have to replace all my stock instrument bulbs with red LEDs... |
And I did. And they look very cool. They will look even better once I clean the glass, since the red lights showed different dirt than the white ones. These are the 74-x wedge base bulbs on this page, in red:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index...wedge.html
Also - I'd advise against replacing the instrument indicator bulbs (oil P light, alternator light, turn signals, high beam indicator, etc.) with LEDs. I tried that, but there is something about the circuitry and the expected lamp voltages that makes the lights glow a little bit, even when they should be just plain off. So, I had to change those back to the original incandescent bulbs. It is neat that these LEDs come in lots of colors, and I had got green, blue, red, and white. But I ended up just using the red ones. If anyone wants the others to experiment with (blue, or green) let me know via PM, and you can have them.
_________________
John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD
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Stuartzickefoose
Samba Post Whore
Joined: February 07, 2008
Posts: 10350
Location: SoCal for now...
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| Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 7:44 pm Post subject: |
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| jtauxe wrote: |
| jtauxe wrote: |
| I may have to replace all my stock instrument bulbs with red LEDs... |
And I did. And they look very cool. They will look even better once I clean the glass, since the red lights showed different dirt than the white ones. These are the 74-x wedge base bulbs on this page, in red:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index...wedge.html
Also - I'd advise against replacing the instrument indicator bulbs (oil P light, alternator light, turn signals, high beam indicator, etc.) with LEDs. I tried that, but there is something about the circuitry and the expected lamp voltages that makes the lights glow a little bit, even when they should be just plain off. So, I had to change those back to the original incandescent bulbs. It is neat that these LEDs come in lots of colors, and I had got green, blue, red, and white. But I ended up just using the red ones. If anyone wants the others to experiment with (blue, or green) let me know via PM, and you can have them. |
ill take them...haha PM'd
_________________
Stuart Zickefoose
2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual
206-841-7324
[email protected] |
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MaddMatt
Samba Member
Joined: April 25, 2009
Posts: 269
Location: tucson arizona
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| Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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17.00 led light strip from pepboys, wired into the headlight switch.
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It will make it. Trust me.
Owned: 71 Superbeetle, 72 Superbeetle, 63 Baja (on 69 pan) 74 baja, 74 Karmann Ghia
Own: 71 Deluxe Bus |
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WestyMan1971
Samba Member
Joined: March 27, 2008
Posts: 682
Location: The Granite State
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| Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 3:21 pm Post subject: |
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| RatCamper wrote: |
I was a bit naughty and made an order from superbrightleds.com
Naughty? because people outside the U.S. need to make a $25 minimum order. Grr. I ended up throwing in a dimmer, like the white one in the pic actually which bumped up the price above and beyond. Like $46 incl. postage. *sigh*. Anyway I got some greens, because I've always liked green backlighting and my fuel gauge is like that anyway, a red for my oil light for the sake of it and a blue for high beam.
I grabbed some of the 9mm bayonet ones, whatever they are called. Partially because the only VDO backlight that isn't missing is one of them. I'm going to use a standard 9mm bayonet and tape or blu tac it to the other gauges for backlighing. LEDs= no appreciable heat. Another step closer |
Do you have a pic of how the green looks? I'm a fan of green as well.
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Visit the Vintage Volkswagen Parts & Tech Wiki today!
'71 Westy "Maggie" - M-Plate
Parts for sale! |
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RatCamper
Samba Member
Joined: November 13, 2008
Posts: 3305
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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| WestyMan1971 wrote: |
| RatCamper wrote: |
I was a bit naughty and made an order from superbrightleds.com
Naughty? because people outside the U.S. need to make a $25 minimum order. Grr. I ended up throwing in a dimmer, like the white one in the pic actually which bumped up the price above and beyond. Like $46 incl. postage. *sigh*. Anyway I got some greens, because I've always liked green backlighting and my fuel gauge is like that anyway, a red for my oil light for the sake of it and a blue for high beam.
I grabbed some of the 9mm bayonet ones, whatever they are called. Partially because the only VDO backlight that isn't missing is one of them. I'm going to use a standard 9mm bayonet and tape or blu tac it to the other gauges for backlighing. LEDs= no appreciable heat. Another step closer |
Do you have a pic of how the green looks? I'm a fan of green as well. |
It's an older photo before I illuminated the other gauges and modified the PWM controller, but here's one with green.
_________________
Vehicle: 1975 Special order delivery walkthrough panel based pop-top camper (LCA / Sunliner). Motor: Nippon 1.8L Single port Wasserboxer, Transmission: 3 rib 002. |
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thewalrus
Big Jack
Joined: March 27, 2006
Posts: 3014
Location: Belchertown, MA
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| Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 7:14 am Post subject: |
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I did Ratwell's lighting upgrade years ago and it's one of my favorite upgrades (That and the Petronix). Clean, quick and cheap.
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Improved Instrument lighting - The stock lighting is adequate but somewhat dim. Sometimes it's as simple as replacing the old 1.2W bulbs or cleaning the dust off them. The rest of the time the easiest solution is to upgrade to 2723 2.3W bulbs. They are the same size as the original 2721 bulb but twice the wattage at the expense of 1/3rd the lifespan. They make a huge difference to the clock which has it's bulb located at the top. Keep in mind that double wattage means double current draw so limit the bulb replace to 2 or three because the stock wiring can only handle 3A and the headlight switch will have to sink more current when you dim the instrument lighting. You won't see a benefit from replacing the warning lights in the fuel gauge anyway.
The arrows in the photo indicate where the bulbs go to light the speedo and the fuel gauge. Notice there are only two (the clock has it's own bulb). Because the clusters are backlit you aren't going to see as dramatic an improvement as you might expect but the higher wattage bulbs do help. To really brighten up your display you'd have to cut more holes for extra bulb holders to add brightness. |
http://www.ratwell.com/technical/EssentialUpgrades.html
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'73 Transporter 1.7L Dual Carb
| notchboy wrote: |
| You ran over some #Vanlife'ers hopes and dreams? |
| 60vwnewengland wrote: |
| Looking forward to next weekend, weed, krunk juice, hookers, blow, hanging with bums, philly, ...the awards! |
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jeffreyned
Samba Member
Joined: June 23, 2012
Posts: 207
Location: Eugene, OR
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| Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 11:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Emeritusx wrote: |
I used two of those led drawer lights and two separate led's on the outside for a total of 6. - I just epoxy'd the circuit board to a piece of insulation to the back plate..
and a touch of fluorescent blue paint to the speedo needle |
Lights... what concept! I think I'll try your approach. It will be so cool to be able to see how fast I'm going. Right now I don't have any dash lights. |
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Tripndrag
Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2013
Posts: 35
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| Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 1:48 pm Post subject: |
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The 2723 bulb upgrade have been perfect for me.
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