Timmie

got another nice one.
recently I had to remove the cigaret light ( the 1 in the middle under the dashboard wich I changed for a led on the first page on this topic)
because I needed to place hole for the wires of 2 extra gauges. ( nordskog digital fuel gauge for my propane tank and nordskog air fuel bar graph )

anyway, I found it a bit dark in my car again ( no more red light over my shifter )


I used this gaugepod under the dash http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G2878/
but I first drilled 2 holes in the bottom of that pod. and put 2 red leds in it.
so I now have 2 red led lights that lid up my console when I put on my lights.
at nights its a pretty awesome sight.


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nkatch22

Just started my own gauge cluster LED update with blue 194 bulbs from superbrightleds.com

- They look pretty good except the cluster is so bright that the turn signals appear to be on at all times...

anyone encounter this problem? I am stumped... I will post pics soon.

I painted the back side of the panel silver as well to help with illumination.

- I also replaced the courtesy lights with blue 194's LED's and they look great.

-I just purchased two more 194 LEDS for the map light in the rearview mirror and 1 for the shifter.

-Also replacing the dome light with 44mm festoon because someone mentioned that a 42mm festoon wouldn't work for them. I am just going to make it a tight fit

- how many bulbs are in the HVAC unit? I only saw one when I dismantled it... I am replacing that with a 194 LED as well.

I figured I would ask if anyone has tried modding the switch under the cigarette lighter to LEDS? it is within the casing attached to the switch. There are two small bulbs soddered into a circuit board... I am afraid to mess with it.

Any thoughts? I will post pics soon.

Timmie

you mean the turn signals light is coming from the leds from the gauges.

a simple solution.
you take off the front panel of the cluster where the headlight and turn light front is.
you will see ( atleast in a 90-92 gauge cluster ), that in the yellow plastic there is a round hole for every signal light with in the back of the panel a small lamp.

take some black paper, roll it up like a sigaret en putt it in every hole.
the paper needs to run from the back of the panel to right behind the gauge cluster.
this way, the light from the other leds can't reach the signals. and the other way around.


btw, you an also change those turn signal and headlight signal lamp, to a bright white led+resistor for 15V, but you will have to do the soldering yourself
changed those in mine because the blackout panel made those to a we little bit to dark.







there is only 1.


normally you just have to change the lamp with a led + resistor for 15V, and make shure the led is in the right direction ( else it wont light up ) but you probably figured that wone out yourself

it is doable, but remember that sometimes its better to keep some lights in another color. this makes them stand out so that your eye fals faster on them ( stupid lights for instance )

nkatch22

So after the installation of my LED's in my dash, I managed to mess up a few things...


I have the standard gauge cluster, not the digital.

-firstly, my fuel gauge is lacking power

-my odometer is reading 5500 rpm's when I have my car in idle

-my temp gauge is off the charts in idle

-my oil temp is having no reading (lack of power?)

- my blinkers are on constantly lit when car is on (not blinking, just lit)

- the right turn signal blinks when activated, but my left turn signal just stays lit and does not blink when activated.



Each of the gauges worked before my installation of the LED's

Anybody think they might know what is going on?

Timmie

make shure the ash when you reinstall it again is hitting the 2 connectors on the back of the dash. else strange things could happen

KITT1983

iTrader: (3)

Has the car been struck by lighting?

it seems you have short or bad ground some where

did you accidenlty rip out or cross any wires during installation

nkatch22

NO! my camaro not the victim of lightning :-Pwhen



A bad ground seems possible, but I didn't fuss with any wires in the process, just moved them out of the way to see better when detaching the speedo cable...

Is there any place you might start when looking for crossed wires or a bad ground?


what is the ash?

nkatch22

Well! problem solved.

It turns out that after dropping the column a bit and taking out the cluster that several wires within the plastic laminate were either broken or worked loose and crossed with other wires.

answer?

- duct tape and a bit of solder solved the problem.

now I have a car full of fully functioning blue leds that look awesome. I will post pics when I find a functioning camera. turns out that my camera got dunked in some water...

Iroc'nthe87

iTrader: (5)

My problem: Installed leds into the dash, have not removed clear shield to access the gauge just a strict bulb swap. Now when the key is in 'on' mode and I turn on the left blinker, right side of dash (led's) pulsate to the blinker sound and conversly when I turn on the right side blinker no lights pulsate on the dash. Neither blinker lights work either when doing this..

Edit: Once tightened onto back connectors, everything worked fine.

l0stpuppy

What angles work? I'm looking at doing something like this in a set of 4 gauges (not the 2 + dummy lights), and I'm going from the stock red to a more red look. So, what angles will work best?

Timmie

wider is better


anyway.

day


night

1sckrs

ok guys i have a 91 camaro i was just wonder you said it only takes 4 bulbs to light the gauges ? but what about all the black socket bulbs that are also in my cluster ? also what degree of lighting should i got with 90 or 120 ?

Timmie

I would go for 120 for the backlighting, and 90 for the "stupid" lights

1sckrs

ok timmie what r u reffering to as the stupid lights ? lol and which bulbs the 194 wled x4 or 194 wled x ?

Timmie

the 4 grey bulbholders are those that light up the back of the panel ( when you put your lights on ) 120 degrees for those because the lights has to spread all over the instrument light.

the black ones are the SES light, seatbeld licht, brake light, shift light, infation rest light,...... I would go for 90 degrees or even narrower, because these lights just have to shine forward to the driver.

1sckrs

ok and which of the bulbs that i posted should i order ?


thanks alot timmie

Timmie

I just told you, atleast 4 120 degrees lights, and the others 90 degrees lights.

1sckrs

no i mean this wled x4 194 or wled x 194

Timmie

you mean those with 4 leds/bulb or the ones with 1 led/ bulb.

I would go with 4 leds or even more/ bulb for the backlightning

f18pilot5

where can i get somethin like that?

aqualordx93

[quote=Al Hasse;4425067]I've got an updated picture of mine. Not a whole lot of difference, maybe a bit truer red now that I've painted the back of the metal bezel a flat white. I've also painted the front of the bezel red to match the car.

Pay no attention to the dirty interior (work in progress )



Where did you get that cigarette cover? it looks really good.

Al Hasse

Local parts store, which is now a NAPA store.

jchaussee

That marks custom kits is smoking crack. 10,000 dollars for some dash that looks a movie set prop from the eighties. HAHA

red/white04

[quote=aqualordx93;4705966][quote=Al Hasse;4425067]I've got an updated picture of mine. Not a whole lot of difference, maybe a bit truer red now that I've painted the back of the metal bezel a flat white. I've also painted the front of the bezel red to match the car.

Pay no attention to the dirty interior (work in progress )



How did you get the stereo to be red as well...i know thats not a pontiac stereo...i have the same radio in my camaro..i pulled it from a 2002 sierra from the bone yard

jchaussee

Also when people talk about doing stuff to make it show better, I understand the painting of the mtal part white, but what do they mean by using foil?

palmer90rs

ok guys here is my problem, i hope yall can help me just like everyone else lol.

ok i just did a simple 4 bulb led swap on my 90 rs. i took two test lights (one a ground and the other hot) and made sure the new bulbs were working in the sockets, and also put them in the gauge cluster and did the same, everything worked fine.
when i reinstalled everything i only have the right side (2 of the new bulbs) lighting up, i tried wiggling it a little and reaching my hand around and pushing the left side connector in but still nothing, all 4 of those bulbs worked before but now just the right side two, whats up with it?
o and also the lettering on the gauges look a little greenish but i have white led bulbs, whats up?

Al Hasse

I took it apart and removed the faceplate to access the back side of the buttons. Then I used some red Testors model paint on the back side of the buttons. Straight red paint, not the translucent tail light paint. I did the same to the defrost switch.

aqualordx93

when you put the LED lights behind the gauges do you have to take the gauge cluster out? or can you put the bulbs in with just the cover off. i have the cover off and there is no way in hell that you can grab the bulbs so im wondering if there is more to take off.

jchaussee

You don't neccesarily haved to take gauge cluster out but you do have to take gauges out

Timmie

depends on type and year of the car.
in my 91 RS, I have to loosen 8 bolts total.
1) remove the dashpad ad your knees ( 2 torq bolts )
2) remove 2 7mm bolts that hold the plate with the switches ( foglight, defrost, sigaret lighter )
3) remoe 4 bolts 7mm that hold the cluster in
4) pull the cluster forward and change the bulbs.

palmer90rs

ummmm anybody gonna answer my question? hahahaha lmao

Al Hasse

Might want to check the twist/lock sockets the lights are in and/or the mylar circuit board and make sure contact is being made.

If you got cool white LEDs, the color output is almost blue, that might explain the greenish tint of your yellow letters with the light behind them.

palmer90rs

i know the bulbs are working in the twist lock sockets cuz i can put power and ground to them in my hand and they work.
same with the cluster i can put it in my lap and take two test lights one a ground and other a hot power and make them work.
so you think maybe the connector isnt contacting good in the back of the cluster. i mean everything else works

Al Hasse

Exactly what I was thinking. Take a good look at the copper trace where the socket twists in, you might also slightly bend up the two tabs on the socket itself where it contacts the copper trace. Also, if the cluster is like the one I was working on a couple of weeks ago, there are two pins on the harness for lighting, one on each side of the column, make sure all the pins are making contact with the connector as they can get pushed back with removal/installation of the cluster.

Scorpner

iTrader: (4)

Could try cleaning the all of the contacts as well.

89redliningRS

Anybody tried the black light led's with white face gauges? Just wondering if they would light up nice or not.

aqualordx93

question, i just got iin the mail 18 superbright LED's. red 4 LED with 90 angle. i put some of them in and tested them out, when i have my parking lights on there bright as can be, but when i put the headlights on they go almost completly out. also some of them only light up when i wiggle them. any ideas?
in the last picture the gauge face is split into 3 pieces, the middle one i cant get those 2 bulbs out, and the speedo i cant get out either.
i cant take the whole white plate out either, idk what im doing wrong.

Al Hasse

Your speedometer cable is still connected to the back, you might have to lower your steering column to get to the clip holding it on. Also, there is a pair of 10mm sheet nuts in two of the holes along the bottom, they hold the gauge panel secure to the connector behind the dash. Once you're able to remove the whole gauge pod, you can remove the bulbs with their twist-lock sockets.

aqualordx93

stupid question, i think i know the 2 screws your talking about, how do i get them out, i tryed today if there the ones im thinking about and they wudnt budge

Scorpner

iTrader: (4)

Here's an image of what the back of the speedo looks like. The clip with the tab needs to be depressed to release the cable. You may need to allow some slack so that the cable end doesn't get in the way of the the clip movement. Once the assembly is removed the base for the bulbs are removable by turning 1/4 turn IIRC.

DSC02189.jpg?t=1290174721

88camaroluvr

Okay, I swapped out every single one of the bulbs out to led. 11 cool white for the guages, 1 blue for the high beam indicator, 1 yellow for the SES, 2 red for the idiot lights and 2 green for the turn signal indicators.

The problem is that when I bolted it all back up together the greens stay lit. They still blink and work but stay on. So, I took them out and reinserted them 180 degrees and it still did it. I then put the original bulbs in and they worked fine. Any help?

I'm starting to lose my mind with this. Those are the only bulbs I have left except my head lights. IT IS BULLSHIT!

jchaussee

Did you get the special box thingy for the signals. If not then they may not work right.

Timmie

leakcurrent.
I had this 2 with the highbeam indicator.
it sometimes happens.

88camaroluvr

You mean the special electric flasher so the turn signals work? Ya, I got that. But that only makes them flash with leds in the turn signals. I'm talking about the turn signal indicators in the dash.

And my high beam indicator stayed on at first too, but then I switched it around 180 degrees and fixed it with no problem.

chevysurfer

I have a 91 camaro instrument cluster isnt the same as the 89 as most of you know. You all with 89 have done some really cool stuff, with the lights and all. What I want to know is on my 91 the numbers are a yellowish tint, can I change the color. Blue leds is what I wanted to use, but I dont know how they will look thru the yellow tint. Also has anyone removed the needles? I did but am now worried about accuracy, I marked where they were, but it all seems a little sketchy. I took the paint off needles, hoping they would be clear during the day/and blue at night.

Timmie

I did it on a 91 camaro, and it wil look pretty cool.
I did it with red leds and at night my complete cluster had a red glow.
if you put them on in the daytime only the needles would glow red.

so yes, try it, it will look cool.

chevysurfer

Thats cool, where did you get the bulbs? I have been looking on a couple of web sites. Any particular angle, and number of leds per bulb. Thanks...

Timmie

your local tuningshop would help you. I picked some up on my local tuningshop 4 leds/ bulb ( in belgium )
the wider the angle the better for this application since you only have 4 bulbs to light the complete panel.
while your ad it, pic up some white bulbs to put in your mirror and try to find some to put in your dome light

MSRed91Camaro

iTrader: (2)

read the first couple pages of this thread it will answer all your questions

chevysurfer

Appreciate the suggestion, I read all the post on here before I posted and I have been on that superbrightled web sight, and others before I ever read about it on here. The problem I had was is the pictures are all of different gauge than 91 on this thread and the guy with the link to cardomain has overlays. Also the guy who helped me said he had them but has digi's now(which are awesome). I still might of missed something but I just went back over the post again. The real thing in question was the yellow numbering, I personally was going to go with the bulbs with the brightest, widest light.
Also how hard is it to replace the actual guage face and replace it with a inlay/overlay whatever there called. I have my gauge out and apart, needles off, but im scared to pry on the gauge face plate. I know the after markets go over top but what if you want numbering different colors. The guy on cardomains look awsome, but I thought I read somewhere else that they were dim? The guy with the digis said they werent. So thats good to hear.