you can light up your speedo with LEDS

[puzzle man]

hi guys i replaced my speedo lights with LEDS didn't see the problem some of you were having with it lighting up specific areas like a spotlight. I used these LEDS that I found they have concave lenses, which helps disribute the light more evenly then the regular ones that are avaliable. This picture shows the bulb near a piece of perspex, from how I see it the light beam hits the perspex and then is re-directed into the area of the speedo. There are 4 LEDS that can be replaced with 3 that are used to light up the speedo area and a 4th one which is used for the battery light. I only replaced the 3 that are used for the speedo. I used red LEDS but you can also find them in yellow, green and blue I purchased mine from Pep's Auto but you can get them from Autobarn aswell. They are rougly around $10-12 for 2 LEDS, they are like a wedge style globe - the same as the ones that go in your indicators. One point to remember if your thinking of doing this is to undo your speedo cable from the engine bay.



While I had everything out I also decided to paint my speedo surround. I used a plastic primer, then several coats of colour and a clear just to give it a glossier, brighter look.



This is everything all put back together, and lit up at night.

[Toobs]

Do you have any pics of these leds?
Do they have the required bases on them or just 2 legs like your normal leds?

[Joshstix]

Yeah I believe they are standard 194 plugs.

[The Witzl]

Toobs - i will go down to autobarn now and procure some samples. This must be done.

[puzzle man]

Toobs - i will go down to autobarn now and procure some samples. This must be done.

are you takeing the piss out of me Karl????????

[The Witzl]

no... but i'll take the piss out of your spelling though

There are alternative reasons for procurement of this product..... afterall i have already done a conversion like this back in 2002 when ultrabright LEDs first hit the market, and were available in such nice, easy to use plug in packages.... i used hot glue, solder, sandpaper and a transistor dimming circuit.

I was actually going to do this with some Luxeon LEDs with their new "side emitting" lenses in the RA28.... but im a bit lazy after having spent so long doing it before.

[puzzle man]

yes i figged you would have done this or some thing like this all reddy

[Toobs]

I don't know about Witzl but for me it was the following comment:

$10-12 for 2 LEDS

1. Obtain samples from Autobarn.
2. Send to my good friend the LED manufacturer in Taiwan.
3. Purchase eleventy billion led's
4. ....?
5. Profit!

[The Witzl]

Originally Posted by puzzle man
$10-12 for 2 LEDS

yeah was the same here toobs..... fuck paying that much!!

[Toobs]

I was actually going to do this with some Luxeon LEDs with their new "side emitting" lenses in the RA28.... but im a bit lazy after having spent so long doing it before.

Hmm... I think 1, 3 or 5W luxeon led's behind your gauges would burn holes in your retina's!!!!

[puzzle man]

lol ok there like this they are like a wedge style globe
these are convex the ones i used were concave

[Toobs]

Looking at the design of your illumination I doubt it would really matter if you used convex or concave... the reason the older dashes don't light up so well is because the lights point directly onto the rear of the dials not into a "piece of plastic what glows" <--- Insert technical name here

[The Witzl]

the reason the older dashes don't light up so well is because the lights point directly onto the rear of the dials not into a "piece of plastic what glows" <--- Insert technical name here

The Witzl's Technical Name = Light Manipluators, or Illuminative perspex.
Perspex or other predominantly clear plastic which harness a high total internal reflection angle to carry light from a light source to a specific location for the purposes of controlled illumination.

Why are the old instrument clusters so dodgy?? As Toobs said, they use the globe and a light box behind the dial to hopefully throw some illumination onto the dials.

[Lambolica]

They wanted $21.99 a pair at Autobarn.... I like the idea and while I've got the dash out of the Corolla i was going to swap them over to red But not for over $60..

Regardless Puzzleman nice find.... They come in 3 and 7 colour varients as well.

[Alchemist]

Doesn't look too bad mate, very red, I'd probably get too distracted at night.