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Thu Oct 13, 2011 4:24 pm

My dash lights and auto shifter indicator light are very dim when the lights are turned on. I did clean the shifter which was dirty, both the bulbs and plastic but are these lights not all that bright from new. Is there something you can do to improve the brightness. I am old and blind and need more brightness from these instruments.... :D

Thu Oct 13, 2011 4:35 pm

We generally use a "wheat bulb" style Sylvania 2723 IIRC. I think they are about twice the candlepower output. My bus uses 4 of them.

I don't know what bulb the auto trans uses though.

Thu Oct 13, 2011 7:01 pm

I switched to LED replacement bulbs and put a bunch of reflective tape inside of the non-visible portion of the panel basically trying to reflect the light into the viewable gauge area.

Mine are now pretty bright.

Fri Oct 14, 2011 2:37 pm

Casey Ryan wrote: I switched to LED replacement bulbs and put a bunch of reflective tape inside of the non-visible portion of the panel basically trying to reflect the light into the viewable gauge area.

Mine are now pretty bright.

What sort of reflective tape? The kind people like sticking to their bumpers for higher visibility with the prism or whatever it's called?

Where'd you actually find the LED bulbs? I've looked at them online and couldn't figure out if they were the little ones or the bigger ones used in indicators etc. sometimes.
I need to go to LEDs because I don't feel happy with all the extra gauge backlights hanging off the same circuit.

Fri Oct 14, 2011 4:58 pm

RatCamper wrote:

What sort of reflective tape? The kind people like sticking to their bumpers for higher visibility with the prism or whatever it's called?

Where'd you actually find the LED bulbs? I've looked at them online and couldn't figure out if they were the little ones or the bigger ones used in indicators etc. sometimes.
I need to go to LEDs because I don't feel happy with all the extra gauge backlights hanging off the same circuit.

here are the light bulbs I bought. There's another option for a higher power one.

The tape i used was white reflective tape like you describe. I just put it everywhere inside of it so there's as much potential for light reflecting where it should.

Another option ive considered but not done is to buy an led flexible light strip and wrap it around the gauge opening where the light usually comes through. Just a thought right now.

Casey

Fri Oct 14, 2011 5:05 pm

Casey Ryan wrote: RatCamper wrote:

What sort of reflective tape? The kind people like sticking to their bumpers for higher visibility with the prism or whatever it's called?

Where'd you actually find the LED bulbs? I've looked at them online and couldn't figure out if they were the little ones or the bigger ones used in indicators etc. sometimes.
I need to go to LEDs because I don't feel happy with all the extra gauge backlights hanging off the same circuit.

here are the light bulbs I bought. There's another option for a higher power one.

The tape i used was white reflective tape like you describe. I just put it everywhere inside of it so there's as much potential for light reflecting where it should.

Another option ive considered but not done is to buy an led flexible light strip and wrap it around the gauge opening where the light usually comes through. Just a thought right now.

Casey

Where?

Fri Oct 14, 2011 5:17 pm

don't melt your dash or start burning up the light dimmer switch. They aren't designed for lots of current. We felt the instrument lights were fine but the VDO gauges were too bright. Telford designed a circuit I built that acts as a seperate dimmer for the VDO gauges so they are the same brightness as the regular gauge lights - and then the dimmer takes all of them up and down equally.

Fri Oct 14, 2011 5:55 pm

SGKent wrote: don't melt your dash or start burning up the light dimmer switch. They aren't designed for lots of current. We felt the instrument lights were fine but the VDO gauges were too bright. Telford designed a circuit I built that acts as a seperate dimmer for the VDO gauges so they are the same brightness as the regular gauge lights - and then the dimmer takes all of them up and down equally.

The led bulbs actually use way way less energy (measuredin milliamperes instead of amps) than the incandescent. No chance of them burning up anything. They don't really dim that well but that doesn't bother me.

Fri Oct 14, 2011 6:04 pm

Wild Bill wrote: Casey Ryan wrote: RatCamper wrote:

What sort of reflective tape? The kind people like sticking to their bumpers for higher visibility with the prism or whatever it's called?

Where'd you actually find the LED bulbs? I've looked at them online and couldn't figure out if they were the little ones or the bigger ones used in indicators etc. sometimes.
I need to go to LEDs because I don't feel happy with all the extra gauge backlights hanging off the same circuit.

here are the light bulbs I bought. There's another option for a higher power one.

The tape i used was white reflective tape like you describe. I just put it everywhere inside of it so there's as much potential for light reflecting where it should.

Another option ive considered but not done is to buy an led flexible light strip and wrap it around the gauge opening where the light usually comes through. Just a thought right now.

Casey

Where?

The "here" above is a link to superbrightleds.com where you can buy the bulbs.

For the tape, remove the whole gauge cluster so you're looking at the back where the lights twist-lock into it. Remove the metal backing to the gauge panel and you'll see that the bulbs actually shine into these dark voids between the gauges. I put the reflective tape in there all over the inside of the void... Maybe overkill, but I figured make them as reflective as possible to get the right in the correct place.

Another thing you can do is to clean the surface of the gauge cluster back where the bulbs twist-lock and get their ground. I used some fine grit sand paper to just make sure the connections were really good.

Casey

Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:10 pm

Casey Ryan wrote: SGKent wrote: don't melt your dash or start burning up the light dimmer switch. They aren't designed for lots of current. We felt the instrument lights were fine but the VDO gauges were too bright. Telford designed a circuit I built that acts as a seperate dimmer for the VDO gauges so they are the same brightness as the regular gauge lights - and then the dimmer takes all of them up and down equally.

The led bulbs actually use way way less energy (measuredin milliamperes instead of amps) than the incandescent. No chance of them burning up anything. They don't really dim that well but that doesn't bother me.

I am 61 years old and the stock bulbs are way too bright at night. I have to dim them. What have you guys done in your youmg lifetimes to destroy your eyesight?

Fri Oct 14, 2011 10:41 pm

Now if you can show me where to get replacement bezels for VDO gauges I'll be over the moon. I'm missing a couple and have absolutely no idea where to sources ones that fit.

as for light brightness, I'm night blind. My bay has 55/100 halogens and a 100...or is it 120W driving light.
I like my gauges around "mid" bright if that makes sense. too bright and I have trouble seeing the road. Too dim and I can't see them.

Sat Oct 15, 2011 12:00 am

SGKent wrote: Casey Ryan wrote: SGKent wrote: don't melt your dash or start burning up the light dimmer switch. They aren't designed for lots of current. We felt the instrument lights were fine but the VDO gauges were too bright. Telford designed a circuit I built that acts as a seperate dimmer for the VDO gauges so they are the same brightness as the regular gauge lights - and then the dimmer takes all of them up and down equally.

The led bulbs actually use way way less energy (measuredin milliamperes instead of amps) than the incandescent. No chance of them burning up anything. They don't really dim that well but that doesn't bother me.

I am 61 years old and the stock bulbs are way too bright at night. I have to dim them. What have you guys done in your youmg lifetimes to destroy your eyesight?

computers man.... who knew they'd end up in me needing brighter bulbs. :)

Sat Oct 15, 2011 1:04 pm

Casey Ryan wrote: SGKent wrote: Casey Ryan wrote: SGKent wrote: don't melt your dash or start burning up the light dimmer switch. They aren't designed for lots of current. We felt the instrument lights were fine but the VDO gauges were too bright. Telford designed a circuit I built that acts as a seperate dimmer for the VDO gauges so they are the same brightness as the regular gauge lights - and then the dimmer takes all of them up and down equally.

The led bulbs actually use way way less energy (measuredin milliamperes instead of amps) than the incandescent. No chance of them burning up anything. They don't really dim that well but that doesn't bother me.

I am 61 years old and the stock bulbs are way too bright at night. I have to dim them. What have you guys done in your youmg lifetimes to destroy your eyesight?

computers man.... who knew they'd end up in me needing brighter bulbs. :)

Ok - that makes sense cause 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. It blinds me too much. When younger I used to paint the bulbs red to cut down on the effect even more.

Get a sheet of plexi-glass and cut your own replacements. That would be the easiest and least costly solution.

Sat Oct 15, 2011 1:15 pm

SGKent wrote: Casey Ryan wrote: SGKent wrote: Casey Ryan wrote: SGKent wrote: don't melt your dash or start burning up the light dimmer switch. They aren't designed for lots of current. We felt the instrument lights were fine but the VDO gauges were too bright. Telford designed a circuit I built that acts as a seperate dimmer for the VDO gauges so they are the same brightness as the regular gauge lights - and then the dimmer takes all of them up and down equally.

The led bulbs actually use way way less energy (measuredin milliamperes instead of amps) than the incandescent. No chance of them burning up anything. They don't really dim that well but that doesn't bother me.

I am 61 years old and the stock bulbs are way too bright at night. I have to dim them. What have you guys done in your youmg lifetimes to destroy your eyesight?

computers man.... who knew they'd end up in me needing brighter bulbs. :)

Ok - that makes sense cause 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. It blinds me too much. When younger I used to paint the bulbs red to cut down on the effect even more.

Get a sheet of plexi-glass and cut your own replacements. That would be the easiest and least costly solution.

Maybe it's just personal preference then. OR something weird with you 61 year olds.

Sat Oct 15, 2011 2:04 pm

Casey Ryan wrote: SGKent wrote: Casey Ryan wrote: SGKent wrote: Casey Ryan wrote: SGKent wrote: don't melt your dash or start burning up the light dimmer switch. They aren't designed for lots of current. We felt the instrument lights were fine but the VDO gauges were too bright. Telford designed a circuit I built that acts as a seperate dimmer for the VDO gauges so they are the same brightness as the regular gauge lights - and then the dimmer takes all of them up and down equally.

The led bulbs actually use way way less energy (measuredin milliamperes instead of amps) than the incandescent. No chance of them burning up anything. They don't really dim that well but that doesn't bother me.

I am 61 years old and the stock bulbs are way too bright at night. I have to dim them. What have you guys done in your youmg lifetimes to destroy your eyesight?

computers man.... who knew they'd end up in me needing brighter bulbs. :)

Ok - that makes sense cause 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. It blinds me too much. When younger I used to paint the bulbs red to cut down on the effect even more.

Get a sheet of plexi-glass and cut your own replacements. That would be the easiest and least costly solution.

Maybe it's just personal preference then. OR something weird with you 61 year olds.

Could be. We work harder too. :wink:

Sat Oct 15, 2011 9:52 pm

SGKent wrote:
I am 61 years old and the stock bulbs are way too bright at night. I have to dim them.

Sat Oct 15, 2011 11:10 pm

LED light is softer, even though it is brighter... I much prefer this over the bulb in the tach (still incandescent) The don't dim very well is true, but the light does not hurt your eyes, or make your eyelids heavy at 3 am when your crossing kansas with the tumbleweeds and an occasional pheasant...

Sat Oct 15, 2011 11:47 pm

Here's a do-it-yourself circuit which I use to dim the interior lighting in my bus when camping. It's used with incandescent lamps, but should work just fine with LEDs, as it is a PWM switching type dimmer. What this means is that the lamp sees (close to) full battery voltage, but the amount of time that it receives this voltage is variable. Thus, it should work fine dimming LED dash lamps.

"I1" represents the lamp or LED modules.

Mount Q1 on a heat sink using suitable insulating mounting kit, if dimming incandescent lamps. The transistor power dissipation is approximately 1.5 volts x total lamp current x duty cycle, in watts. Shouldn't need a whole lot of heat sink. Small piece of sheet metal should do it.

This circuit switches at audio frequencies, so some incandescent lamp filaments may 'sing' a little. If annoying, you can make C1 smaller (say, 10 nf) to raise the frequency above audible. LEDs won't have that issue.

When running at full battery voltage (14.4 volts), the maximum the lamp will see is a little above 12 volts, due to the output voltage of the 555 and the Vbe drop of the output transistor. Thus, the bulb won't quite reach full brightness, but I haven't found it to be a problem.

Not shown is a fuse on the 12 volt input. Either have one on the circuit board, or make sure it's supplied by fused power. (Power directly from the light switch is unfused.)

LM555 - is there anything that you can't do with these things?

Sun Oct 16, 2011 5:25 am

Emeritusx wrote: LED light is softer, even though it is brighter... I much prefer this over the bulb in the tach (still incandescent) The don't dim very well is true, but the light does not hurt your eyes, or make your eyelids heavy at 3 am when your crossing kansas with the tumbleweeds and an occasional pheasant...

This looks great, after a short roadtrip last night it`s a must do.
How many bulbs are replaced for this change...

After removing one dash screw and having the clip just drop somewhere in the dash, finally feeling around back there and finding it not to mention the 20 minutes to but the screw back in the dash I am more than dreading this upgrade.

Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:24 am

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