Bulb or LED's?
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 260
Likes: 0
Bulb or LED's? I"m going to put MacEwen Overlays in my SS, and change the factory bulbs to give the display a blue look...
I've read up and down about some LED's having dark/bright spots,
bulbs over heating
blulbs turning greenish
and on and on...
I just want to see how many people have had good luck with their setup and are happy with their choice of bulb/LED they went with... And list What kind of LED/Bulb you used....
THanks,
ANdrew
I've read up and down about some LED's having dark/bright spots,
bulbs over heating
blulbs turning greenish
and on and on...
I just want to see how many people have had good luck with their setup and are happy with their choice of bulb/LED they went with... And list What kind of LED/Bulb you used....
THanks,
ANdrew
Well, its a good thought, but save yourself the money in changing the bulbs to blue of anytype. I tried the blue led thing and it looked rad...but i couldnt see my needles at night because of the needle/blue color combo...just didnt light up. I thought it was the leds...nope, tried reg blue bulbs also...still no good light through the needles. Sorry dude, if you can figure out a way to set it up, please let me know.
DEFINATELY replace the bulbs for the turn signals, very hard to see them when they are on with that overlay during daytime driving...also use amber if you can, white leds make them light up a light blue...amber gets closer to the factory green look.
I added Blue 6 way LED's. Was all good except for brighter spots. So I took some GEL bulb covers and cut them in small circles to fit top of LED and siliconed them to the top. Evened out the color and now no brighter spots, but took the brightness away from my needles, but you can see them. The blue did make the red on the tach dark purple and very hard to see though. In pic below it looks like there are some hot spots, but is just the way camera took pic.
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/659714/2
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/659714/2
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 370
Likes: 0
From: Oshkosh,WI
Originally Posted by LeddySS98
I've read up and down about some LED's having dark/bright spots,
bulbs over heating
blulbs turning greenish
bulbs over heating
blulbs turning greenish
Originally Posted by rotwiler
I added Blue 6 way LED's. Was all good except for brighter spots. So I took some GEL bulb covers and cut them in small circles to fit top of LED and siliconed them to the top. Evened out the color and now no brighter spots, but took the brightness away from my needles, but you can see them. The blue did make the red on the tach dark purple and very hard to see though. In pic below it looks like there are some hot spots, but is just the way camera took pic.
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/659714/2
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/659714/2
I like the look of yours, question though, where's your total mileage and trip mileage? Does it light up blue/purple also or still red. I'm leaning towards doing what you did, but do you have pics/write up on cutting GEL bulb covers?
Trending Topics
Car was off at time of pic, but trip is same red. Not sure how to change that if even possible. The Gel bulb covers are just some cheap $1.45 thin rubber type things to fit over a regular bulb(bought 1 pack at autozone). I bought the ones for bigger bulbs and just cut them with sissors. The LED's fire forward so I put the GEL things over the top to stop the bright spots and even out the color. The one thing that now bothers me is when I did this it also took some of my needle brightness away. I may be able to cut a small hole in the center of the GEL to let some light through to bring back the brightness. I just did this tonight so haven't had time to experiment. I used silicone to glue down the rubbber(GEL) things on top. Is about a 10 second mod to the LED's. But I seen silver overlay with blue reverse glow at PCP and looked like stock without all the hassle, but still get the blue I want. After buying the LED's and trying to get them just right, it would cost the same to buy the reverse glow one for under $30 and probably look pretty nice.
LS1 Tech Stories
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
6 Common C5 Corvette Failures and What's Involved In Repairing Them
Pouria Savadkouei
Retro Modern Bandit Pontiac Trans AM Comes With Burt Reynolds' Autograph
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Greatest Cadillac V Series Performance Models Ever, Ranked
Pouria Savadkouei
Top 10 Most Powerful Chevy Trucks Ever Made!
Hennessey's New Supercharged Silverado ZR2 Has 700 HP
Verdad Gallardo
Coachbuilt N2A Anteros Is an LS2-Powered C6 Corvette In Italian Clothes
Verdad Gallardo
Awesome K5 Blazer Restomod Comes With C7 Corvette Power
Verdad Gallardo
10 Camaros You Should Never Buy
10 LS Engine Myths That Refuse to Die
Verdad Gallardo Yes I found some that look almost stock at pro car parts. Look under reverse gauges. But what I am not sure of is it says 97-2000 nothing about 01-02 models. I also updated my pic on that link to show what it looks like with the mileage etc...
Last edited by rotwiler; Aug 31, 2004 at 02:51 AM.
I can see the needles, I did some mods to the little rubber pieces today to try to brighten them up some. Will post when I can take a pic in dark to see how it turned out. Is tough to do, because in the day it is hard to see and have to do all the changes in the dark for good results.
Took another pic today, Camera has problems picking up the red with the Blue LED's for some reason, but can see better than last picture. I'm not good with a camera so not sure what I need to do when taking a pic in the dark. There appears in the picture there are lighter and darker areas, but it is just how the camera took the pic. With picture on right the color is more even.
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/659714/2
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/659714/2
Originally Posted by rotwiler
I can see the needles, I did some mods to the little rubber pieces today to try to brighten them up some. Will post when I can take a pic in dark to see how it turned out. Is tough to do, because in the day it is hard to see and have to do all the changes in the dark for good results.
What kind of mods did you do to the needles? I'm sold, I'm gonna try this mod soon. Just to clarify, you did this by just changing you blubs and modding them, right? This is the stock gauge cluster we're looking at, just new bulbs.
Yes it's the stock cluster. I bought (6)6 way blue LED's from ebay with resistor built in. Just installed them as they were and dash was super bright and needles were super bright red. But I had some brighter spots and annoyed me. So went to autozone looking for different leds and seen Blue gel bulb covers, made for a regular car bulb to add color. All they are is a flexible soft rubber type bulb cover you can see through($1.49) in 2 packs. I bought 1 pack of 194 covers and a pack for bigger bulbs. The 194 gel covers made for the bulb fit perfect on the 6 way LEDS and stopped that direct bright spots the LEDs make. But since I only bought 1 pack(2 of them) I decided to take the ones from the other bulbs and cut them the size of the top of the leds and silicone them on top, disipates the light. some LEDS I siliconed 2 pieces on top and found there are 2 clear channels inside the cluster for the speed and rpm needles to get light to the needles. I used the 194 gel covers and siliconed them to the top of the LED, cut a small hole in the top and they extend the LED far enough to direct light into the channel for the needles. I drove around all night last night and no problems they look great. Think my face was glowing blue though, lol. you only need 5 LED's, I did my highbeam too...not needed. Takes some experimenting to get it just right, but isn't hard once you have the things you need.
Leds with a built in resistor? Are they available at say maybe a Checkers? Unfortunatly it's one of the only auto stores in Hawaii. Otherwise, do you know the the ebay seller you bought from and if I can get also?
Or should I just get regular 6point Leds?
Or should I just get regular 6point Leds?
superbrightleds.com has a bunch different kinds
I'de rather make my own and use the brightest LED with the widest viewing angle i can find
ebay's business>industrial>electronic section has a ton of led's you can buy in bulk also
I'de rather make my own and use the brightest LED with the widest viewing angle i can find
ebay's business>industrial>electronic section has a ton of led's you can buy in bulk also
