Thinking about converting my cluster from the stock 194 bulbs to the super white led's. Other than the slight color change will they be all that much brighter than the stock setup? Brighter is what I'm after, I just don't want to spend so much on bulbs if there is little to no gain from the mod..

 

LED's are bright! Especially in the cabin. It's either love um or not.
I bought a couple and lit them up just to see if I'd like them before installing them. They're now on the self for some other use... each to his / her own.

 

Yeah, they are pretty bright, but on that same intensity note, I've heart that they are "spotty" and do not evenly distribute the light like a normal bulb does. Thats the ONLY reason why I haven't converted to LED... I hate the bright-in-the-middle-dim-on-the-edges look...

 

I purchased some wide angle blue LEDs for my gauges recently. The light distribution is pretty even with the wide angle bulbs. The only thing I noticed is that they are kinda touchy. If you touch the dimmer switch, they will turn off and you have to play with the switch to get them back on. LEDs can't be dimmed. You will definitely get more lighting out of LEDs than stock 194 bulbs.

I personally love the blue lights in my gauge cluster. The light distribution is not as good as the normal bulbs, but it is pretty close. It really depends on how picky you are about the light distribution. I used the 5th ones down here: http://www.superbrightleds.com/mini-wedge.html. It will cost you a small chunk of money to do the conversion, so make sure you want them before throwing down the money. I think mine cost me $72 for all the gauge lights, heater, and shifter lights.

 

You shouldn't get hot spots if you use the 5-way directional 194 LED's. They fire N, S, E, W, as well as straight up. This allows for a more even distribution of light. I used these LED's on the guage cluster in my Intrepid and it works awesome. They even react to the dimmer normally.

 

Before I get into it i have spent over $100 on bulbs just researching what is bright enough, what fits and the such. So it may be a test and tune type of swap....but you could always get these....

Dude try www.AUTOLUMINATION.com they have what you need....check these out. Standard filament but colored bulbs.....for the best in proper light distribution...

NOTE: Bulbs from Autolumination may exceed size of stock, which is where my researching came into a factor. They have measurements for all their bulbs on their site so just make sure you measure stock bulb FIRST. But if you choose whats below these are direct fit exact same size as stock.



This is from www.SUPERBRIGHTLEDS.com

Brightness of LED Car Bulbs
LED bulbs are generally not as bright as standard incandescent bulbs, they have many advantages over filament bulbs (longer life, faster on/off times, lower power consumption, more vivid colors) but brightness is not one of them.
They are generally not as bright but some of them with large numbers of LEDs, will appear brighter than filament bulbs.
As an exception, our new 3 Watt and 5 Watt Luxeon LED car bulbs are as bright or brighter than most standard filament car bulbs.
The light is distributed differently so they can appear brighter in some applications and not as bright in others, it depends on the size and shape of the bulb housing and reflector.
Most LED bulbs emit light like a flashlight, all out the end. Regular filament bulbs emit light from the end and all sides, so they will be better suited for some lighting applications than LED bulbs.
This is the same reason why we do not rate LED car bulbs in lumens or watts, the numbers would be deceptively low because the light is measured from all sides and the end on standard filament bulbs but only from the end on LED bulbs

Although I buy from www.AUTOLUMINATION.com SB LED's were my first choice but AL has many new designs.

 

Yeah, thats what I was looking for. Actually right now a have a couple of LED 194 "wide angle" LED bulbs that I got off ebay. So far I just put them in the kickpanel/courtesy light area... I'm thinking of putting them as my turn signal indicators on the console...

 

The red bulbs above I have in my cruising light in my headlamps...look awesome when on...

I will soon convert my whole car to LEDs....just have to find the right ones...

I am working on my 86 300zx LED conversion....this car has more bulbs than car itself...haha.

Cant wait to see these Instrument panels lit up custom color...HELLZ YEAH.

I am thinking on getting NEW white guages and having UV black light protrude through them, to give them that super bright white glow...haha...this is still undecided.

 

Heres a pic of my wide angle red leds from superbrightleds.com

 

have you ever looked at the two next to each other? I am sorry, but LEDs are way brighter than your average light bulb.

I would caution against getting colored 194s. I have tried that approach and was not happy with the results at all. I put two blue colored bulbs in my turn signal indicator and the first thing that I noticed was that one was a decently dark blue and the other was barely blue at all. It is very hard to get the shades to match and even if they do, the color eventually fades.

 

Alright we are both right depending on application.

Quoted from here

PLEASE READ BOTH PAGES if you really want to learn about LED vs Incandescent

http://www.led.net/pages/Utilizing_L..._or_Incand.htm

"Today, for general lighting (e.g., living areas, factory floors) applications an incandescent bulb generates more visible light-per-watt than an equivalent LED, making an incandescent better suited for this type of job. However, it's in color-specific and power-critical applications (e.g., third brake lights, display panels, industrial controls and traffic signals) that energy-efficient LEDs really outshine incandescents."

Basically saying LEDS are better in color than in an open area such as an incandescent.

 

These are the style i used in my dash. Nice even light. There
are a few US sellers on Ebay that carry them. I would say they're
the way to go...without having done any work on a Camaro dash of course.

 

Can you get pictures of your dash lit up? Please and thank you.

 

In addition to the one i posted above, here are a couple more.


I also did the HVAC controls, switching all the bulbs to LED's and replacing the boring amber AC and DEFROST LED's to blue...as seen here. Prior to the
swap, the dash and HVAC controls matched the color of the radio controls.

 

I didnt even notice that was yours....then I guess the 5 LED looks to be the best bet, damn that looks good in blue...

Well Im going to purchase mine this week...how many are needed?

 

Someone else will have to answer that question for you. I have yet to get into modifying the cluster in my Camaro. Just my DD Intrepid.

 

For a camaro including the shifter panel and hvac controls, a total of 11 are needed.

 

its gonna depend on the LED bulb design and the watt/power rating. more watts obviously the brighter the light will be, but also more heat they will put out.. That being said, i have worked with automotive marker/turn signal LED lights before and must say that a 2-3 watt LED system is BRIGHT. The proper use of bulb shape/design and reflectors will help broadcast the light evenly in all directions.

 

damn. those are some pretty even LEDs... I might just consider the swap...

 

Thanks.

 

I just did mine and it took me 14 for just the gauge cluster (82-89 version including bright indicator and turn signals) and 16 total.

I H8 WWD, I think you will need 16 since you have an 89 according to your information

 

Okay thanks...appreciate it, good thing Im ordering this weekend...haha.

Ill post when I get power to my car (it needs a full MSD upgrade)

 

i just switched over to superbrightleds.com and i don't find them THAT much brighter than the stock 194 bulbs... the green is nice and vivid but not so much the red and blue...