led bulbs in the dash

[cherokeechief79]

i already have the superbright bulbs.i thought i could do it without removing the cluster but my fat ands make it impossible.
can i just tilt the cluster forward without removing the wires?
if i did take the cluster out which terminald would i apply power and ground to to make sure the lights all work?

 

[Ron H]

On another thread I mentioned installing LED’s in my modified console light bar that worked nice. Was thinking of doing this for the cluster gauges, but a member said he tried it and didn’t like the results being too much bright – washout effect. I decided to follow his advice. Just me, I dim the cluster lights driving at night as they are.

As for checking when the cluster is partially removed under power, yes, be wary as it might short out something, I found this out the bad way frying a circuit for my temp/gas gauges. And had left an added ground wire intact I put in some years before. Repaired the damage using a rear-defogger kit and fortunately that worked. Since then, I’m more careful with this than I was...

 

[cherokeechief79]

the superbright claim to be dimmable.
they are unlike any other led bulbs ive seen.they look just like the originals even the glass covering.
the only difference is the element inside looks different.
i did test one to see if they are reversible and they are not though.

 

[bobs63wagon]

Here is an led bulb story. We had an older Pontiac Firebird in the shop for no cruise control. The tech kept checking electronic stuff on the car. Customer agrees to replace the ECM, no change. I am not sure what they all replaced on the car, but the end result was the previous owner put in led stop and turn bulbs. Took them out and installed non led bulbs and the cruise worked again. The led's made the electronics in the car not work properly. True story. I watched the progress on the car. Sometimes led's are ok, but sometimes not.

 

[Ron H]

Here is an led bulb story. We had an older Pontiac Firebird in the shop for no cruise control. The tech kept checking electronic stuff on the car. Customer agrees to replace the ECM, no change. I am not sure what they all replaced on the car, but the end result was the previous owner put in led stop and turn bulbs. Took them out and installed non led bulbs and the cruise worked again. The led's made the electronics in the car not work properly. True story. I watched the progress on the car. Sometimes led's are ok, but sometimes not.

A mystery! I had an OEM bulb burn out in the idiot light bar on my modified console after doing a long car cruise where I was on the brakes a lot for over an hour. (Had wired it to show left & right brake lights). I disassembled the console, a bee-itch to do, finding that socket looked overheated. Of course, the OEM bulbs get hot. Thinking I could remove the burned-out socket and move it to the desired position on the bar proved to be rather ahh, complicated, like really complicated. I decided I would just move the light to the unused socket and live with that.

Somehow along the way, got the idea of installing LED bulbs thinking heat build up would be gone. Go figure, when I put the LED bulb in the burned socket it WORKED. There’s more about how this worked using an LED bulb I don’t fully get, but hey, it worked.

Installed LED brake & tail lights making a huge difference with illumination; but couldn't make those work for the front turn signals. When I would hit the blinker lever l or r, lever BOTH sides would blink. Grounding? Had installed the required flasher for LEDs but couldn't figure out the gremlin and gave it up as my main concern was the rear lights to thwart some dip rear-ending me.