LED vs Light

[BillC]

My missus told me that the dash had gone dull. On closer inspection I found that the light behind the digital readout on one side of the dash has blown. My question to all in the know is, can I replace the bulb with a LED? Will there be any hot spots if I use the LED instead of the bulb. And finally is the bulb the same as the ones that light up the dials? Oh, and one more. would blue LEDS work on the digital part ?

[XR6_4EVA]

Yes of coarse you can, you can get LED's in either wedge or round based to suit...

Led's give a much nicer look, especially if you go with some different colours!

[MGGT RAA]

Im looking at replacing my dash lights in my car with LED's, from what i can gather they are t5 wedge type globes yeah? and how many would i need???

[WindsorXR]

You should need to worry about heat with LED's. LED's run a lot cooler than normal type lights, they are a more direct light and a bit brighter. Should look good mate.

[MGGT RAA]

thats cool, just wanna make sure ive got everything right before i pull the dash out...

but how many do i need??

[MNM96]

Originally Posted by MGGT RAA

thats cool, just wanna make sure ive got everything right before i pull the dash out...

but how many do i need??

IIRC there is 6 T5 size. However, this is only at the instrument cluster. There are a few at the centre ac panel also, and the clock uses a smaller size.

Mike

[MGGT RAA]

cheers mate, ill have a snoop around for the clock bulb size..

[gregtomfred]

Originally Posted by MGGT RAA

cheers mate, ill have a snoop around for the clock bulb size..

Clock globe is a very odd globe. In an AU3 Part No ER 10B765D approx. $5.00 ea
Could not find an LED or a coloured one to fit but good luck in your search

[ronwest]

I've got a globe out in the centre panel (maybe the door unlock button - the far left hand side one, anyway) and had a look through Jaycar and DSE for the auto leds.
Didn't have any luck but found this site. Are these the globes we're talking about or is it the "T5 Dashboard Globes" immediately underneath? Either, or?

http://www.ledshoponline.com/automot...rd_bulb.htm#T5

[blackers10]

just ensure they are the concave (dippy) tipped items... these disperse the light rather than focus it like the convex (standard lookin LED) end..
otherwise the light will appear spotty

[blackers10]

pretty sure your after the 2nd ones

[Umineko]

You'll find there are 7 T5 wedge type in the cluster for instrument illumination the ones in the clock and digital display are a T4 "neo wedge" type, it is possible to remove the bulbs from the holders and fit LEDs into these which is the easiest option as I have only ever seen one source for these with LEDs fitted and only available in white and blue

[Uncle_Ken]

Has anyone done a how to for this?

UK

[Umineko]

Not as far as I know but would be happy to oblige if desired. It's a pretty easy mod which I've done a hundred times

[Uncle_Ken]

Originally Posted by Umineko

Not as far as I know but would be happy to oblige if desired. It's a pretty easy mod which I've done a hundred times

Yes please

UK

[Uncle_Ken]

Originally Posted by Umineko

Not as far as I know but would be happy to oblige if desired. It's a pretty easy mod which I've done a hundred times

Yes please

UK

[ronwest]

Originally Posted by Umineko

You'll find there are 7 T5 wedge type in the cluster for instrument illumination the ones in the clock and digital display are a T4 "neo wedge" type, it is possible to remove the bulbs from the holders and fit LEDs into these which is the easiest option as I have only ever seen one source for these with LEDs fitted and only available in white and blue

That's a good bit of info...

Is the source you know of on ebay?

http://tinyurl.com/a4gck2

[Umineko]

Yep that'd be the one, His product is good but a bit on the expensive side considering you can do it yourself for a fraction of the price.
and Uncle Ken I'll throw something together for you tomorrow with some pics of how it's done

[THR347]

I'd be interested in a write up about this too!

[Umineko]

Ok Guys you asked for it so here it is
How to put LEDs into T4 Neo Wedge holders.
Firstly you'll need the LEDs, and these come in a wide variety of colours, sizes and types. for the T4 Holders the largest you'll be able to fit through the hole is 5mm. From personal experiance I can tell you that you'll need LEDs that are Hi Intensity and at least 7000 Mcd, anything less and the display will be too dull in daylight. also because of the Orange filter in the displays you are pretty much limited to white, yellow, orange and red for the colours. It is possible to remove the filters and substitute other colour filters but as the displays are static sensitive and tricky to take apart it's not recomended. The best style of LEDs for use here are those known as "Inverted Wedge" types (fig 1). These have a concave impression in the top which acts as a reflector to disperse some of the light to the sides. These are difficult to find in sizes below 10mm though so the next best option is flat topped LEDs (fig 2) To help eliminate the "Spotlight" effect common to LEDs you can sand the top with 400 grit wet and dry paper which will diffuse the light somewhat, I have also painted the tops with white paint which works quite well too.
Once you have your LEDs you'll also need resistors to lower the 12 - 14Vdc of your car to the voltage the LEDs can handle.. 470 Ohm will do the job nicely, you can get these in various styles, I use .5W metal film types generally but the smaller .25W carbon film types will fit better in the T4 holders (see fig 2, the metal film resistor is blue while the carbon film is brown and about half the size)
Ok on to the conversion.
1/ remove the holder from the cluster and carefully unthread the wires from the holder(fig 3 and 4)
2/ Pull the bulb from the holder (fig 5)
3/ Take your LED and clip the anode (long Wire) about 2 to 3mm from the base of the LED and bend outwards at 90 degrees to the base.
4/ Clip one end of the resistor to about the same length and carefuly solder the two together. Be very carefull here as most LEDs can only stand solder temperatures for about 5 seconds, any longer than that and you risk destroying the LED (fig 7)
5/ Bend the Resistor upwards to lay along side the LED, This is necessary to keep the height of the LED to roughly that of the bulb it replaces, note if you use the carbon film resistors you can leave it facing to the rear as their smaller size will fit inside the T4 holder. having the resistor lying against the LED will have little effect on the light given off as most of the light given off by LEDs is projected upwards with very little going to the sides.(fig 8)
6/ Insulate the anode with plastic tube to prevent short circuit (fig 9)
7/ Cut the cathode (short wire) the same as the anode and solder the wire clipped from the resistor on. (this is not strictly necessary but as the tags on LEDs are quite brittle you will only be able to bend them 2 or 3 times before they'll snap off.(fig 9)
8/ insert the LED assembly into the holder and bend the wires around the holder the same way they were with the original bulb (fig 10 and 11)
9/ replace holder into cluster. Note, LEDs are sensitive to polarity, if the bulb does not light up remove it, rotate it 180 degrees and replace it and it should work, if it doesn't the unit is defective.
you can test them before you insert them by putting a 9V battery across the terminals, it won't be anything near as bright but it'll at least confirm it works.
As I mentioned before you can buy T4 Neo wedge holders with LEDs (fig 12)but as I found out last night they won't fit into Ford clusters anyway, so you are pretty much stuck with making your own.
As I said before you can get a neater finish using .25W carbon film resistors and to illustrate this I put one together (fig 13)
The whole process only takes about 5 to 10 minutes and at least you'll never have to change them again.

Hope this helps Cheers averyone, Have a merry Xmas and a happy and prosperous new year

[ronwest]

Hey, great write up. Thanks... appreciate it.

I was hoping to use blue leds as I like the blue in the front panel of my headunit. As that is not an option I guess red is my next choice (my headunit has a choice of 10 or so colours and the red isn't bad either)

If you've used red leds could you tell me how red they are - bright red... pink... or somewhere in between?

Also, is there a chance you could upload larger pics to photobucket (or wherever) and link to them? Or alternatively could you send them to me via email?

I'll definitely be doing this mod so thanks again.

[Umineko]

Hi Ron
I'll see what I can do witht he pics, I had to cut the size down or I ran out of space to upload them, if you PM me your email addy I'll send them to you direct.
The red does light up very red. The orange filters only block green, blue etc but allow red light to pass, imagine putting red bulbs in your cars indicators, they will not show up orange. that said you'll need very bright red LEDs or you won't see them in daylight conditions. you'll want something in the 10,000 Mcd range with as wide a viewing angle as possible.
cheers.

[ronwest]

Thanks mate; pm sent.

[ronwest]

Pics received; thanks again.

[GS608]

im looking at changing over the 7 bulbs that have the grey plastic screw bit, these are the backing lights yeah? how do i go about taking them out?
my fingers are too big to get em out..

[Umineko]

I use a pair of small surgical forceps works a treat

[ebv8]

i just replaced mine with blue leds and now i can't see the needle so at night i have to guess how fast i'm going so i'm taking them out and replacing them with std lights
I have 10 t5 blue leds forsale now

[KR1STO]

did the same thing about 4 years ago... had same problem with the needles..

not worth the hassle IMO..

[Dave_Obsession]

Love the threadmining!!

White LED's FTW......got some super white LED parker bulbs.....they give off a bluish tinge without being too much the boys in blue want to get involved.....

[ronwest]

oops, wrong thread...