Dash Panel LED Bulbs

[maccus]

Good lens Bjorn. Let me know if you find any as I would like to have a handful or so also.

 

[Amram]

...also tried the LED strip, but found it too intense and removed it.

Another option is an external light source, circled in the image below.

I was going to use the LED strip idea. I currently can't see my guages at all even with the ports cleaned. Can LED's have a dimmer knob installed to turn their intensity down. If that is the case I may do the LED strip with a dimmer knob that limits the ammount of juice the LED's get.

 

[Amram]

So after some further research I have came up with a plan to make my instrument cluster visible at night.
First up to the plate is this dimmer switch:
Amazon.com: 24 Volt LED PWM Dimmer DC Lighting Dimmer Controller for LED Incandescent Auto RV Marine Aircraft Interior Lighting: Automotive
I am going to piggy back this off of one of the existing light sockets in the instrument panel to provide the power source. After running all the wires out of the switch I plan on shrink wrapping the entire assembly to keep out moisture.
Next up to plate is the LED lamps I am going to mount under each gauge on the back side of the panel.
LED Lamp, White, T2, 24 Volt - Miniature Lamps - Lamps - 3FRH4 : Grainger Industrial Supply
After soldering the wires to the LED lamp I am going to shrink wrap them as well. For now I am going to attach the LED lamps to the back of the panel using liquid nail being careful not to get any on the lens itself. I will post step by step pictures when I do this project. Been raining too much for me to get out and work on it.

 

[Repo3004]

I had the same problem, I needed to see my gauges since it's my daily driver. I was looking for a place to put my led strips (Walmart) and I had temporarilly set them on the ledge under the dash. When I sat up I noticed I could see all of my gauges With that widow under the back of the gauges the LED strip shined up inside, illuminating all the gauges. Originally, I just wanted a light shining down on the floor board. I solved both my lightning problems. I took some pics, they're in my photo albums. One set of LED strips shines on the floor boards when the doors open and the other set lights up my gauges at night. I see in CRANETRUCK's picture he had the LED strips illuminating each qauge, that would be super bright.

 

[Pablo66]

Thanks Repo......
I'm going to try that one.......

 

[Repo3004]

AMRAM: how did the dimmer switch go?

 

[ducer]

Check with a company on the web called Super Bright Leds. They usualy have pretty good prices and a large selection wheather it is for your house or vehicles.

Denny

 

[Cleveland Iron]

Almost all LED bulbs are dimmable.

The problem tends to be in support circuitry. The 120 volt LEDs for example sometimes have voltage regulation circuitry that tries hold a certain voltage to the LED group/cluster until the dimmer starves the voltage regulator and it just shuts off. That is why those don't dim or dim very little.

The DC stuff will dim but you need to account for the lower current flow to make it noticeable. A regular light bulb draws far more current for the light it gives off, so you will need a higher resistance to dim a LED.

 

[OPCOM]

if you do your own electronics, STMicroelectronics makes many LED power supply, DC-DC converter, and PWM-able integrated circuits. I had been using a buck converter (normally these convert example 24V to 12V, etc.) with a resistor in the GND leg of the LED to provide the feedback voltage, which convertes the circuit to current regulation instead of voltage regulation. Little demo boards are available from digi-key. - be prepared to work with a few surface mount resistors.. But there's nothing to beat this kind of setup if a box-store does not have what you want.