LED Hotspots
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LED Hotspots
I've FINALLY installed blue LEDs for my gauges. I used the "wide-angle LEDs" sold by a nonsponsor (and to the best of my knowledge, only one company sells these) and upon toggling the lights on, to my dismay, I noticed horrible hotspots and dim needles. I didn't think that it would be this drastic! I thought that the wLED-5s would have enough brightness and dispersal to avoid this problem!
Sticking with an LED solution, what options do I have to minimize or remove although the hotspots? I was thinking of installing white LEDs on the non-gauged areas (for the bulbs that light the turn signals, ABS, SES light, etc). I think that the white light would spill over and blend some of the hotspots better AND light the needle.
I don't have pics, but it looks the same as any other gauge with hotspots from LEDs - like colored ***!
Opinions/suggestions?
Sticking with an LED solution, what options do I have to minimize or remove although the hotspots? I was thinking of installing white LEDs on the non-gauged areas (for the bulbs that light the turn signals, ABS, SES light, etc). I think that the white light would spill over and blend some of the hotspots better AND light the needle.
I don't have pics, but it looks the same as any other gauge with hotspots from LEDs - like colored ***!
Opinions/suggestions?
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with the blue it's hard to get light into red needles, what company did you buy them from? There are some other style "wide angle" leds out there that take car of this. THey are 194 bulbs with 5 leds in it. Center led is the brightest and there are 4 other leds all shooting at diffrerent angles and spreading the light pretty evenly.
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Originally Posted by DirtyBird222
with the blue it's hard to get light into red needles, what company did you buy them from? There are some other style "wide angle" leds out there that take car of this. THey are 194 bulbs with 5 leds in it. Center led is the brightest and there are 4 other leds all shooting at diffrerent angles and spreading the light pretty evenly.
I did use the wide-angle LEDs, but they don't disperse the light evenly. I think they MIGHT, if I replaced ALL bulbs with them. However, I only wanted to change the ones pertaining to the clusters.
Thanks for your reply though!
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Originally Posted by Silver UltraZ
If you have hot spots take the leds that are not as bright and flip them, Some of these the polarity does matter, At least thats what happend to me!
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Even after flipping my LEDs (which are nonpolarized, by the way ) I still have the same hotspots. They aren't horrendous like some non-wLED solutions, but as you can see it's a far cry from even distribution of light.
Points to look at:
- Temp gauge: 260 is brighter
- Oil pressure gauge: 80 is dimmer
- Fuel gauge: F is dimmer
And of course, I've got poor needle visibility. I'm thinking of dumping the LEDs for setup involving blue film on the gauges paired with white light.
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Your hotspots are similar to mine, but your distribution is WAY better. The white LEDs don't seem to cut through to your needles very well though. Nice gauge!
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Originally Posted by Brian2006
That's weird here's my wledx5s in blue:
Nice!
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Originally Posted by NightWindDriftr
Did you replace all the 194s in your cluster with them? I only did the lights that affect the clusters, but I might have the do the other two or three if that's how it'll look.
Nice!
Nice!
I've now got all the LEDs to swap to red cause I changed my mind. Send me a PM if you're interested in the kit