Friday 15 February 2013

LED Dashboard lights

Yaay, I'm happy to confirm that I fitted the LED bulbs as mentioned previously and they work beautifully!

Yes, am surprised at myself! What I can't understand is people selling 'bulb kits' for a substantial amount of money over the odds compared to how much the LED's actually cost.

New and old bulbs
Obviously the instrument panel has to come out. This has been covered in the blog elsewhere, although it's reasonably easy compared to modern cars and there isn't anything to be scared of here. First timers should be able to take the dash apart in thirty odd minutes.

Rear of instrument cluster
It's the brown bulb holders we want to replace, there are five in total and they simply twist out. the bulbs pull free and the new ones simply push in. Note that LED's are sensitive to polarity, you won't blow the bulb but equally if its in 'arse about face' it won't work either. With this in mind it's 'VITAL' to try the bulbs before you do everything back up! I managed to have one the wrong way round, simply remove and refit.


Let there be light! 
The photo shows the instrument panel in all its new glowing glory. Naturally there is a bit of light creep as it was taken without a flash and on a mobile phone, so the photo appears even brighter than reality. However it is gives off a much brighter, crisp light and beats the old dull glow. 

So there we are, a cheap and easy yet almost pointless improvement!


5 comments:

  1. Nice one Karl, looks good :) Dal

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  2. Looking great Karl - as you say an easy and worthwhile improvement. Not sure about your car, but mine does NOT have a knob to control the brightness, so you would have to put up with how bright it is. On the other hand, these give the car a very modern look...

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  3. Looking good be doing mine soon

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  4. Hi Aki, I have no original light adjustment either and although I could 'see' the instruments they were just dull. This has certainly brought the dash board to life, I should think it highly lightly (lightly!) that less LED's would have as good an impact. So the dials are in a on or off configuration. I must say I like the glow factor, plus the modern feel and for some strange reason I have been looking at some Depo Racing gauges lately..
    Lee, an excellent idea, you will love the effect!

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