Dash LED's (1 Viewer)

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V

vb_keg1

Joined
Sep 2, 2005
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Location
Perth Western Australia
Iam looking at replacing my dash lights with brighter led's very hard to see speedo at night. Just wondering if any one had tips and instructions on how to replace these lights.

cheers
 
Can't answer your question, but are you sure that all your incandescent bulbs are working? When I adjust my dimmer knob to get full brightess, my dash lights are pretty bright.
 
I can see mine fine at night with the stock bulbs, might be cheaper to replace those, but led's would be cool, if you do it let us know how it turns out.
 
You sure must like your dash bright! I have turn mine down otherwise I think it's so bright that it's distracting. However, it would be cool to change the color, maybe a nice orange glow.
___________________
Cruzerman
'85 FJ60
'78 FJ40
 
The dash lights on my 60 are pretty dim too. I didnt suspect that I had any bulbs out, since there are no spots that are necessarily dimmer than others; just uniformly dim across all instruments.

Does anyone know what the bulb number is on these? Would be nice to have them already in hand before I took dash cover off.

Thanks,
Bruce
 
Popping the instrument cluster off and changing the bulbs is super easy. All you need is a philips head screwdriver and then you just turn the bulb holders out with your fingers.
I don't know the bulb #, if nobody else posts it, I carry some spares in the truck and I will check when I go out there. Or you can just pop yours off and check.
 
I think the number is 194. But, 168's work also. That's for my 62--not sure if it's different in 60's.

I replaced a bunch of mine a while back and found that the little green rubber condom-type things were pretty dingy. There are bulbs at Autozone that are colored glass now. I got green ones and it improved the brightness/readability immensely.

Hope that helps.
 
I believe most of LED's illumination would be too focussed/narrow for this application to illuminate what you want in the dash.

Good luck!

Mot
 
Cruzerman said:
You sure must like your dash bright! I have turn mine down otherwise I think it's so bright that it's distracting. However, it would be cool to change the color, maybe a nice orange glow.
___________________
Cruzerman
'85 FJ60
'78 FJ40
Click to expand...

I put red bulbs in mine a while back. Not just regular with red condoms on 'em, but red colored glass. Ordered 'em from www.topbulb.com. I can't remember if they're 168 or 194 bulbs, but they make reds (and greens if you want to stay stock) of both so just order which ones are the right number and you're good. New bulbs are WAY WAY brighter and more vivid that the old bulbs with the green condom on 'em that my truck had from the factory. Very nice improvement.

LEDs won't work in a dash because they can't be dimmed. They're either full on or full off when they're within their voltage range. I emailed LEDtronics some time ago asking if there were any plans to develope a dimmable (is that even a word?) LED for dash applications, and their response was that current LED tech simply couldn't accomodate a dimmer function.
 
SmallManBigMouth said:
I think the number is 194. But, 168's work also...... There are bulbs at Autozone that are colored glass now. I got green ones and it improved the brightness/readability immensely.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Thanks SmallMan and Spook50! Think I'll take care of that tomorrow....

Bruce
 
scrounge said:
Thanks SmallMan and Spook50! Think I'll take care of that tomorrow....

Bruce
Click to expand...


SmallMan, If they're 194, I wouldn't put 168s in. IIRC, the 168s are higher wattage and will put out more heat, possibly warping the surrounding plastic or putting too high of a power draw on the wires. If they're 168s already, I wouldn't put 194s in just because the 194s will be dimmer when put on a circuit intended for 168s :D
 
Thanks for the tip Spook50. Sounds like a cheap way to try something different.
_________
Cruzerman
'85 FJ60
'78 FJ40
 
OK. Which bulb is the correct model - 168 or 194?
__________
Cruzerman
'85 FJ60
'78 FJ40
 
SmallManBigMouth said:
I think the number is 194. But, 168's work also. That's for my 62--not sure if it's different in 60's.
Click to expand...


Just pulled the instrument cluster from my '85 60, and all bulbs are marked "Toshiba 158". FWIW, went to the topbulb.com site and looked at specs for 158, 168, 194:

158 .24A 500hr life
168 .35A 1500hr life
194 .27A 2500hr life

All seem to have the same "wedge" base.

All of mine were illuminating, and the green condom didnt look that bad. However, may stick in some of the incandescent colored bulbs, or order some of the cool LEDs previously mentioned. Since the superbrightled.com site says they are dimmable, maybe Ill get the 4 or 5 LED versions and dial em back if their too much.

Hey Rockcrawler, are you currently using these, and are the single LED versions enough??

Thanks....
 
I just put new bulbs in today, got them from napa. Red colored glass no condom. Anyways, they were 194's and worked perfect.
 
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