Gauges + LED Mod Question

[LordNor]

Hey everyone, just trying to get some opinions on how to do some gauge mods.

Here's what I have, 2 Autometer Sport Comp Gauges. I don't want to use the lightbulb with the red cover because it just doesn't give me the red glow I'm looking for.

So far, these are my 2 options in my mind.

1. Use a super bright red LED (10K mcd) and angle it towards the top. It does a pretty good job of lighting everything up but also lets a lot more light out than I'd like. I'm afraid it would shine too bright in the car.

2. Make some type of mold the size of the light bulb by drilling into a peice of metal or something. Fill that with an epoxy and insert a couple of bright LED's (~5000mcd) at slightly different angles. Once it is dry, remove it and sand all the edges to give it a frosted appearence that should allow it to shine in more directions.


Any other ideas or do you like 1 or 2 of the above better.

I think 1 would be the easiest, but I need to do some more testing with it.

[GAspeed]

i think 1 would definitly be way easyer but it sounds like 2 might work better but i dont know to much about the subject

[ga5speed02]

dude try to buy one of them jap bulbes that are already red. i belive they take 194 bulbs. they are bright. a company calle dihybrid makes them. bunch of chineses writing on them

[ramairgt2]

i used the blue exterior accent LED's that autozone sells,
they come in a pack of two and they fit right inside the light bulb hole in the back of the gauges with no modification needed

if you want to get them from autozone they are molded in a silver looking casing and come in a pack of two

I bought blue ones and used them in all my after market gauges and they aren't two bright or dim, just about the right brightness

I wired the LED's up to my dash lights so when i turn those on all the gauges light up too

hope this helps you out a little and if i get some pics possibly this weekend or before hand i will post them up so you can see what it all looks like

[LordNor]

Originally posted by NiteShadow82
i used the blue exterior accent LED's that autozone sells,
they come in a pack of two and they fit right inside the light bulb hole in the back of the gauges with no modification needed

if you want to get them from autozone they are molded in a silver looking casing and come in a pack of two

I bought blue ones and used them in all my after market gauges and they aren't two bright or dim, just about the right brightness

I wired the LED's up to my dash lights so when i turn those on all the gauges light up too

hope this helps you out a little and if i get some pics possibly this weekend or before hand i will post them up so you can see what it all looks like

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll have to stop by autozone sometime and check them out.


I wanted to stay way from using actual bulbs. They won't give me the deep red color I'm looking for. That and I read somewhere about not using lightbulbs in the gauges for an extended period of time because it could cause problems.

[iceman]

Yep use LED 194 bulbs... your 2 options are way overkill

[jreile]

iceman,
to get your guages to glow blue like that did you just put blue bulbs in or do you have to remove the orange/red color from the guages first?

[jreile]

nm just saw it on a different thread

[Gimli]

Originally posted by LordNor
1. Use a super bright red LED (10K mcd) and angle it towards the top. It does a pretty good job of lighting everything up but also lets a lot more light out than I'd like. I'm afraid it would shine too bright in the car.

Just an idea here but if you think a super bright LED will shine too bright, maybe a regular brightness LED would do...

[LordNor]

Originally posted by Gimli
Just an idea here but if you think a super bright LED will shine too bright, maybe a regular brightness LED would do...

Well I tried one that was half as bright and it hardly lit it up at all. I think it's a combination of things. The superbright one has a better viewing angle (30°) and the 5000 mcd one only had an angle of 20°. That with the fact that it's much brighter, helped a lot.

[magyver]

Originally posted by iceman
Yep use LED 194 bulbs... your 2 options are way overkill

end it here! this is what you should do! dont even waste your time thinking, an led 194 is just the same as what your doing, only better... same thing, a colored bulb is not good, but an led 194 bulb is what ya need, just do it and you'll like it... you could try an inverted 194 led bulb in your color choice... DONE