gauge lights Options

[Raves44]

ok so im in the process of changing my dash lights and for the gauge lights i was looking in the how tos and it says use a 194 led and i am not sure where a good place to get them is so if someone could send me a link to order these i would greatly appreciate it. and hopefully 194 is the right size if not tell me haha thanks

[garin]

get 3mm leds. i would get them off ebay. you can usually score a nice deal.

[solidxsnake]

get 3mm leds. i would get them off ebay. you can usually score a nice deal.

3mm LEDs? I feel as if 3mm LEDs would be way too small and not give off a wide-enough light source. The normal bulbs are at least 5mm in diameter (I think even more, possibly 8-9.5mm) and in addition have a 360° viewing angle, as opposed to the very narrow viewing angle of a standard LED. I've also seen pictures of single LEDs in the gauge cluster as the backlighting to a sub-par result where there is spotty and patchy weak lighting.

I'd suggest getting a 5-7 LED 194 replacement, they don't come cheap though. They're a pre-made package of 5-7 SMD LEDs clustered to give a very wide and bright illumination area, and they're drop-in replacements for the stock 194 bulbs (and take up the same space). They run around $8 a piece, which I personally think is a ripoff and is why I didn't buy them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...em=250400783053

Something like that.

[Raves44]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/T10-168-194...p4506.m20.l1116

well what about somehting like this or is the one with them all over better? but if i use the one with the 5 lights on it would i ony need that 1 or what? haha sorry im really trying to figure this out thanks for the help btw


http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi

i also found this website i just dont know what to order lol

[vi-tuyen]

don't do blue because you can not see at night, I have it and so regret. do white or so. but don't try to buy the blue Led.

[richee3]

don't do blue because you can not see at night, I have it and so regret. do white or so. but don't try to buy the blue Led.

You must have a better blue LED than I did lol. Mine turned out to be only barely brighter than stock. But they were cheap LED's and they all died. So now I have white LED's and due to the gauges themselves, there's still sort of a light green tint to the numbers. You can get around that by taking your gauges out and scraping the back off very carefully though. I'm just not brave enough to do it. Go with v-leds.com. I'm very happy with the bulbs I got from there.

EDIT: Probably shouldn't get the blue LED's from there... That wouldn't be the first time I've heard they are too bright. I was jsut saying that I had crappy blue LED's so mine weren't too bright, and to get white LED's from v-led's.

This post has been edited by richee3: Jul 26, 2009 - 5:38 PM

[Ruroniarc]

I just bought a bunch of LEDs from ebay for my dash. I'm a little worried they may be too bright, but we'll see... This is what I ordered.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...em=320402457239

[95CelicaST]

You guys having problems with blue is odd. I have a picture of my cluster at home that is lit with eBay LED's and it's really bright. I'm surfing at work on my cell phone, so I can't link you to it. I know I've posted it on here before. Let me see if I can't track it down...

Edit: found it.

I've got the 3 5LED's in my cluster and it is beautiful! I would recommend it to anyone. I think it cost me 10.99 shipped for 4 LED's. They are bright (brighter than what could ever be shown on here) and spread the light evenly. Let me dig up a pic...

This post has been edited by 95CelicaST: Jul 27, 2009 - 12:25 PM

[Ruroniarc]

That looks real good. I'm not worried about mine being dark, I'm worried about it being too bright and blinding me. =P

[richee3]

You guys having problems with blue is odd. I have a picture of my cluster at home that is lit with eBay LED's and it's really bright. I'm surfing at work on my cell phone, so I can't link you to it. I know I've posted it on here before. Let me see if I can't track it down...

Edit: found it.

I've got the 3 5LED's in my cluster and it is beautiful! I would recommend it to anyone. I think it cost me 10.99 shipped for 4 LED's. They are bright (brighter than what could ever be shown on here) and spread the light evenly. Let me dig up a pic...

That's what mine looked like with Ebay LED's. Not blinding at all. Of course, they also burned out after a month. That's what I get being being a tight-wad.

[95CelicaST]

The style LED I had isn't on eBay anymore, so I ordered some from autolumination.com. hopefully they'll be here this week and I'll put up some more photos.

[Welsh-Celica]

Just my 2p worth (2 cents)...well I am in Wales! I converted all my dash to BLUE LEDs last year and found them great, very clear in fact.

Whatever LED colour you do decide to go for...try for a multi-LED setup to spread the light in several directions behind your dash.

This post has been edited by Welsh-Celica: Jul 28, 2009 - 2:03 PM

[95CelicaST]

^ correct. That way you don't get hot spots in your lights. The ones I had (and getting again) have 5 LED's per wedge, one pointed forwards, and four lighting up the sides. This spreads even light over a wider area, and gave the lighing a uniform look. No sanding of the back of the gauges or anything.


When they come in I will snap a picture of the actual bulb for reference.

[Raves44]

http://v-leds.com/Exterior-LED/CornerSide-...835705-1-2.html

well here is the lights i was about to order so for you all that have done this do these look like the right thing? cuz i dont want mine to turn out like crap haha and if not send me a link for some better ones. man thanks you guys are a lot of help lol

[solidxsnake]

http://v-leds.com/Exterior-LED/CornerSide-...835705-1-2.html

well here is the lights i was about to order so for you all that have done this do these look like the right thing? cuz i dont want mine to turn out like crap haha and if not send me a link for some better ones. man thanks you guys are a lot of help lol

That's correct. It's a drop-in replacement

[Raves44]

so like those are ok with like the lighting as in they are not going to be dull and whatnot?

[Random_Stranger]

You guys having problems with blue is odd. I have a picture of my cluster at home that is lit with eBay LED's and it's really bright. I'm surfing at work on my cell phone, so I can't link you to it. I know I've posted it on here before. Let me see if I can't track it down...

Edit: found it.

I've got the 3 5LED's in my cluster and it is beautiful! I would recommend it to anyone. I think it cost me 10.99 shipped for 4 LED's. They are bright (brighter than what could ever be shown on here) and spread the light evenly. Let me dig up a pic...

What brand are those? I bought some off someone from here and they were wedged and they sucked! Instead I just bought regular red bulbs and that lit up well, but I would want whatever is in this photo but in red! Those are brilliant!

Send me that exact seller please, I want those LEDs. Did you have to modify anything or they are just plug and play? I hear of people messing with resistors, which is why I ask.

[95CelicaST]

The seller I originally purchased from doesn't have that style of LED anymore.

Go to autolumination and search for their T10 5 LED Wedge Matrix. That is essentially what mine were, and that is what I have ordered again.

[Random_Stranger]

The seller I originally purchased from doesn't have that style of LED anymore.

Go to autolumination and search for their T10 5 LED Wedge Matrix. That is essentially what mine were, and that is what I have ordered again.

Sweet! Thanks.

[Raves44]

should i get these http://www.autolumination.com/194.htm (first one on the page or

http://v-leds.com/Exterior-LED/CornerSide-...835705-1-2.html
these because it says these are more for outside use but idk if that means they would be hella bright or what haha some imput please