My Custom Gauge Lighting, Just thought I'd share... Options

[946thGenGT]

So I took a look at the how-to on replacing the gauge lights. I proceeded to order some LED's off eBay, they arrived, so I installed them... wasn't all that impressed, they made the gauges look sort of blurry and weren't bright at all. So I decided I'd try a different route. I drilled 3 holes in the bottom of the bezel and popped the LED's in. I just wired it into the bezel itself 'cause I didn't really want to splice into the harness or anything else. I just did it this afternoon so I haven't seen it at night yet but from what I can tell inside my garage it looks pretty good. I now have no lights behind the gauges themselves but the LED's I installed are UV so I'm hoping it makes the gauges glow pretty nice. Here's some pics:



The lights look blue in the picture but they're not really at all blue.


I thought I had measured the spacing out pretty good but as you can see the rightmost LED is a little too far to the right... I'll live with it for now but if it starts to annoy me later I'll probably fix it. Let me know what you guys think...

[Blakout16]

how about some pictures in the dark

[946thGenGT]

To come.

Like I said, I just did it this afternoon so there hasn't been much dark yet.

[C3L1CA]

I want some night pictures

[tim86]

they look cool from what i can see now... all futuristic looking

[6gcs3nz]

Hey that looks awesome! Will definately love to see the night pics when you u/ld them. I also recently changed the interior bulbs to blue, but its come out exactly as you said "blurry and dull"...

I was planning to feed 2 led bulbs through the top 2 holes you can see in your second pic and point them towards the guages. Will post pics when I get around to doing it - hopefully this weekend.

[946thGenGT]

Hey that looks awesome!  Will definately love to see the night pics when you u/ld them.  I also recently changed the interior bulbs to blue, but its come out exactly as you said "blurry and dull"...

I was planning to feed 2 led bulbs through the top 2 holes you can see in your second pic and point them towards the guages.  Will post pics when I get around to doing it - hopefully this weekend.
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Hmm... I wonder what putting two bulbs through those screw holes on top would look like. I'd be worried that there would be too much glare off of the plastic piece covering the gauges, but definitely give it a try. I don't know what's wrong with my camera, but apparently UV purple comes out as blue when I take a picture of it. The picture is a bit blurry but I think you get the general idea of what it's like. The tops of the gauges are still a little dark so I think I may throw back in two of the stock bulbs (one left one right) just to give it a little more illumination. Oh and the LEDs aren't actually as blindingly bright as they seem in the picture, but I think I might put some sort of curved plastic piece in front of each bulb so that it reflects the light back towards the gauges and doesn't blind me. Anyways thanks for the feedback and here's my night pic:

[tim86]

wow i like the look of them... but yea id maybe put a couple stock bulbs in to light em up a little better... looks like youd get used to it after awhile though, also if u put that plastic piece infront of the bulbs, maybe the tops would light up better and itd reflect better on them, which means you might not need the stock bulbs? interesting man... i like what you did a lot

[chucho]

I think led's right there would be too bright for me. But looks cool

[946thGenGT]

I think led's right there would be too bright for me.  But looks cool
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They don't seem all that bright while driving, but like I said I might put a rounded piece of plastic in front of each one so that it reflects the light back towards the gauges better instead of in my eyes. I'm starting to think I should add two more LEDs (on top or on the sides maybe) to it. The look is really growing on me.

[6gcs3nz]

I had a question... how did you wire the led's?? I'm wondering if I should wire them to the cables going into the dash or just solder into the bulb holders.

BTW: Which is the positive connection and which is the negative?? I traced the bulb circuits back to the socket. The 3 main dash bulbs go into 1x into the centre socket and 1x into the right socket.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

[Digndoug]

Man, I think that would piss me off when i were driving at night, but if you like them, thats all that matters..

[946thGenGT]

I actually just soldered into the bulb holder (ran all 3 off of one). Just make sure that each LED is wired up the same and you don't have to worry about positive/negative... just flip the holder around if they don't light up.

I'll post some pics tomorrow of how they look now that I have put the stock bulbs back in behind the gauges. Sort of looks like a combination of purple/orange/blue... I've yet to receive a negative comment about it and I think it looks pretty good.

[946thGenGT]

Ok so here are the gauges as I have them now with the stock bulbs put back in as well as the LEDs...



Not sure if it's as obvious in the picture but everything has a sort of purple glow around it, and I think the needles look pretty neat too. The one guy (my cousin) who had said he didn't like them before with just the LEDs said he really likes the orangey/purple combination now.

[C3L1CA]

Like it

[6gcs3nz]

Hey! Finished mine... I can see what you mean by the camera only able to see UV as blue... anywayz - the glow is more purple UV rather than blue.

Here's my morning/evening shots



...and...



I took what you said and the plastic cover would have reflected the UV, so I mounted 3mm UV LED's into an angle bezel and installed it facing the guages.

Thanks 946thGenGT - I wired them to the bulb connectors at the back like you said.

[doGGy]

The Old gold pic.... this picsture is like 2 years old of my celi interior, this was my first mod i think

[946thGenGT]

Looks pretty good 6gcs3nz.

And I like yours too doGGy, what exactly are you using there? Looks like you have some ultra-bright white bulbs behind the gauges with a blue light underneath the gauges somehow?

[doGGy]

I dont have this lightning anymore Cuz it was like 2 years before

About bulbs, i used Philips Ultra White bulbs, and about front light, i used small neon light in front of my gauges. Just cutted small line to fit the neon, in front of it i made small wall out of plastic (you can actually see it in this picture). and thats it better then any leds

Looks pretty good 6gcs3nz.

And I like yours too doGGy, what exactly are you using there?  Looks like you have some ultra-bright white bulbs behind the gauges with a blue light underneath the gauges somehow?
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This post has been edited by doGGy: Nov 24, 2004 - 12:51 PM

[playr158]

i woulda put the LEDs in the top of the bezel wouldn't be blinding at all....
and still give good light