L.E.D.'s for my Speedometer Options

[SveNRG]

Fitted my gauge cluster with three LEDs just last week. Bought some 4-LED bulbs from eBay. Superwhite. Looks a lot better now, but I'm not totally satisfied. You see, they're pretty good and bright, but I can still see greenish blur here and there. It's not a nice clean white like the SLM gauges in my pillar. Is there some sort of transparent plastic in the gauges that I should remove or something?

I also would like red needles but am afraid to paint them, should the result disappoint. Are 5W sidemarker bulbs really better? They should spread a more even lightm I'm sure... but they can't give the truly white light that I want.

I'll post a picture here soon of my gauges.

[tomazws]

Greenish is unavoidable. It's part of the plastic. :\

[My2Celi]

I would have a pic of my cluster with my superstar i bought but my cam got stolen.

[SveNRG]

Pics!

Before...


After!






This post has been edited by SveNRG: Oct 4, 2006 - 4:22 PM

[WannabeGT4]

^^^^^^^^^^^ That, my friends, is why you have to buy the "matrix" LEDs

These are brighter in person but you can see that the light is spread just as evenly as with incandescent bulbs.

[SveNRG]

I diasgree, yours appear to have a similar spread. Only it doesn't show as much because of the blue color LED you are using. Did some more research into this and found some other people on MR2OC forum also working on DEFI/TRD style gauges. It seems that what you have to do is sand the back of the gauge faces to get rid of the greenish material. Light will then travel through much easier for brighter color of the LEDs you're using. Problem remains hotspots in places where the LEDs are positioned, but this is a minor problem. Also, I'm going to get some red paint for the needles.

This post has been edited by SveNRG: Oct 5, 2006 - 7:50 AM

[WannabeGT4]

Are we looking at the same pictures?, your's look like shtt. I've seen the same "matrix" LEDs in white that look 10 times better than what you have. Sorry, it's the truth. Sanding the back of the gauges is a good idea though... I can see how it would help get rid of the green.

[SveNRG]

Are we looking at the same pictures?, your's look like shtt. I've seen the same "matrix" LEDs in white that look 10 times better than what you have. Sorry, it's the truth. Sanding the back of the gauges is a good idea though... I can see how it would help get rid of the green.

You're right, the sanding has helped loads and I can really see the white now in the spots where the leds are actually positioned. However, the spread is not good enough. I've ordered some chinese replicas of those matrixx leds, they're called 'refractor' leds. $5 for 2pcs. Let's see if that will be better

[P5ycho]

before i fit my custom dials and bulbs i was using the matrix type led's in my dash, here's a pic of what they looked like.....

[Predator]

seems to me that the greenish look is just due to improper illumination and not a plasic film

[P5ycho]

if u look at the refracter/matrix type led bulbs they are designed ith 1 led on top and 4 around the sides, now when u put those in the holders and into the dash the light spread sometimes is uneven due to the direction the bulbs might be pointing in,
i found i had to switch the bulbs around from one holder to the next to get the spread of light i was happy with, the end result is above for all to see, and my bulbs worked for over a year without failure. i just replced them when i fit my new dials,

[nixxx]

Man.....this tread should have been written earlier, ive just bought blue leds for my gauges and im not really happy with them. As some says, light is not spread everywhere.....

[celiracer]

Well My new idea with my guages are gonna be just get a plain bright white bulb. Paint all my numbers with a translusent red paint. And i'm going to keep my needles white. So the numbers are going to be bright red, and the needle white. I've been trying to get mine perfect. But what i was trying before wasn't working so i came up with a new idea. The best bet would be to get regular bulbs not LED's They don't spread very good.

[SveNRG]

Work in progress!



The sanding really paid off. I'm putting in the refractor leds next week and painting the needles red

[chacha]

sanded? how do you do that? sand the dials with sand paper?

[celiracer]

yea thats how you get the green off the back i guess. If i go to paint the numbers red. What kind of paint do i use to make it glow when the lights turn on?

SvenRG when you sanded them. Did you take all the needles off? if so i know how to reset the spadometer and the RPM but how would you reset the gas and heat needles? Let me know thanks.


This post has been edited by celiracer: Oct 9, 2006 - 5:13 PM

[SveNRG]

yea thats how you get the green off the back i guess. If i go to paint the numbers red. What kind of paint do i use to make it glow when the lights turn on?

SvenRG when you sanded them. Did you take all the needles off? if so i know how to reset the spadometer and the RPM but how would you reset the gas and heat needles? Let me know thanks.

I'm thinking of using deep red, mixed with clear finishing paint for more transarancy. When I sanded the back of the dials, I did not take them off.. but bended them slightly. Slowly working around it. You will hear the glue pop off now and then, but that's ok. Just be careful not to bend too far. I've had no problems there, and the faces did not stay bended or anything when i finished.

[celiracer]

Thanks what is the paint called? And how are you going to paint it with it still on there with the needles?

[tomazws]

yea thats how you get the green off the back i guess. If i go to paint the numbers red. What kind of paint do i use to make it glow when the lights turn on?

SvenRG when you sanded them. Did you take all the needles off? if so i know how to reset the spadometer and the RPM but how would you reset the gas and heat needles? Let me know thanks.

I'm thinking of using deep red, mixed with clear finishing paint for more transarancy. When I sanded the back of the dials, I did not take them off.. but bended them slightly. Slowly working around it. You will hear the glue pop off now and then, but that's ok. Just be careful not to bend too far. I've had no problems there, and the faces did not stay bended or anything when i finished.

Nice! You got the solution to our concerns!

[SveNRG]

Fitted some refractor leds to fix the hotspots. It sure helps!
I was hoping on some more overall brightness, but this is still pretty damn cool!