LED gauge lights?

[gearheadE30]

Before everyone tells me to search, I did and I didn't find anything.

My gauges are very dim, and when I go in and do the red needles, I'd like to update the bulbs. I've seen various threads where people say that they have put in LEDs, but no details or pics anywhere. Would there be much of a gain? Also, the stock rheostat wouldn't work for dimming so far as Io know, but is there a way around this. Last, what bulbs have been/can be used. I don't know how much space is back there (didn't think to look when I had it all apart earlier....) so I want to make sure the bulbs would fit. superbrightleds.com seems to be the place to get LEDs. Pics of LEDs in the cluster would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[drift]

i just bought some led bulbs at local truck parts store, but for my trucks and trailer lights

[handysmurf59]

Just installed a LED light board in my OBC, very nice!! Factory rheostat works great to dim the lights. It looks far better than the original and it cost under $30. There are several sites that sell LED conversions for every light in your E30. Just do a little searching.

Jason

Oh, buy the way it's a total myth that the rheostat won't work to dim the LED's. Don't know who started this but probably have shit for brains. Without going into all the electrical theory behind the LED, suffice it to say that their light output is proportional to the applied voltage. Got it? Good.

[soviet1942]

Just installed a LED light board in my OBC, very nice!! Factory rheostat works great to dim the lights. It looks far better than the original and it cost under $30. There are several sites that sell LED conversions for every light in your E30. Just do a little searching.

Jason

Oh, buy the way it's a total myth that the rheostat won't work to dim the LED's. Don't know who started this but probably have shit for brains. Without going into all the electrical theory behind the LED, suffice it to say that their light output is proportional to the applied voltage. Got it? Good.

He said he did search. I want to know info about this too. I want to see installed pics and such.:hitler:

[silversleeper]

jus remember, LEDs are a bit diff than reg bulbs when choosing the color of bulb to buy. if u have factory red gauges, i would buy red LEDs. (This is assuming the gauge face has a red lens on it, which I don't know for sure, as I have never pulled my gauges apart.)

Unlike incandescent bulbs which represent the full color spectrum, red is not represented in white LEDs, they can only be used behind a clear or milky white lens or panel. Placing a white LED behind a red lens produces pink, a green lens shifts to aqua, and so on.

[mikeedler]

be careful making your dash LED light. I did this in my C1500 with blue LEDs (ya, its ricer, but it flows with the theme of the truck) and I needed about 25 LEDs to make it look ok. the light from the LED is very pinpoint, the light doesnt spread nearly as well as a reg. bulb. I also did the control panel for my AC and it turned out VERY nice- way nicer than the orig. pale green crap in the older chevys.

[emi325i]

LED's have no internal resistance.. that means you can't hook it up directly to 12V. you'll need a resistor to limit the current. It'll fry immediately if you don't. Some manufacturers embed a resistor into the LED; that's probably what you want.

[NC325iC]

http://www.superbrightleds.com/mini-wedge.html

scroll down

i dont know if these are the correct size but its a starting point

[silversleeper]

also, try out inverted LEDs... they seem to spread light a bit better than the standard dome shaped ones.

[E30SPDFRK]

Ask eyagel, he had some leds in his dash.;)

[BDSax]

i just bought 12 little bulbs and 2 wedge bulbs from superbrightled.com
i will snap some pictures when i get them. i did make my own led lights for the cluster turn signals but i dont have time to make them and for $1.29 each ill try it

[gearheadE30]

Cool, thanks for all the info. Looking foreward to the pics. I know about how LEDs work as opposed to incandesants (sp?) but I heard a few people say that you have to use a pulse width modulator. I figured this was only needed if you try to run LEDs on AC current.

I have superbrightleds.com in my original post, unfortunately I have no idea which bulb would fit in the back of the cluster. As for the color of the lights, the plastic "light tunnels" are amber/red.

[SamE30e]

Quick little thing to make the LED not so pin pointed.
Take a nail file and file down the rounded part at the top just a tiny bit, it helps spread the light out a bit.

Quickly drew this up. I've done it before in my other car, worked out pretty well.

[silversleeper]

Take a nail file and file down the rounded part at the top just a tiny bit, it helps spread the light out a bit.

The inverted LEDs have this already done, thus the "inverted". check em out online.

i bought a ton of LED christmas lights for my house and they used the inverted type LED and it lights up really nicely.

[gearheadE30]

so what size LEDs did you use for the backlight?