LED head lights

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ginmtb said:
If you want really great gauge lighting you should go with EL wire. It illuminates the gauges very evenly and brightly and the dimmer works on it.

Only drawback is the high pitched whine.

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I had no idea mine might be making any noise, but my high-frequency hearing is pretty shot!

But I love the steady, even, non-glaring illumination of my gauges. I haven't noticed any heat or excessive power consumption, but I have a high-output alternator on mine.


 
djcfj40 said:
Racer 65.. Any chance that you could develop and led kit ??? Offer all the led bulbs at one source,It would make life much easier knowing that you can buy it and it will all work .
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I can't deny you guys the fun of shopping for LED bulbs! :)
I recommend this thread to anyone who hasn't seen it: Light Bulbs for Land Cruisers
 
georgia fj40 said:
Awsome! which diameter did you use on your gauges? .9mm? Did you document how you installed it?
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Here is what I got:

EL wire
High Brightness White Electroluminescent (EL) Wire - 2.5 meters [High brightness, long life] ID: 410 - $12.00 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

Inverter
12V EL wire/tape inverter ID: 448 - $4.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

Hammond 1590A Aluminum Diecast Case (we'll see if this helps) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002BBQYG/?tag=ihco-20

And here are some helpful posts:

EL wire routing
Aftermarket (even mechanical) gauges into STOCK cluster!!!

Inverter connection to cluster
My brother's FJ40 - a possible build

I soldered my connections as I couldn't get them to work like @dasgeek did.

You'll have to scroll to find the correct posts in the above threads as I can't seem to put the exact post on mobile.

Buy good 3M double sided tape to hold the wire in place. Don't skimp on this as you don't want to have to tear into it twice. Also, polarity needs to be correct so test that out before your final connection.

Good luck!
 
Wanted to follow up on the EL wire noise reduction test. I posted this to my build thread:

Okay so decided I would try to reduce the noise that the EL wire makes. High frequency "whine" constantly on. Figured I could move the inverter to the engine bay and all would be good. I got a nice little Hammond aluminum box, painted it Freeborn red and mounted it up. Only one sheetmetal screw is visible in the glove box the other is on the other side of the panel that the utility light outlet is on. Wires are over there too. Used silicone behind the box to keep any potential moisture out and that should help hold it in place and help with rattles. Looks pretty clean if you ask me. All wires fed through the firewall through a grommet. Connections soldered.

Now for the important part - did it work? It helped some that's for sure but with the car off it is definitely still audible. But with car running it is virtually undetectable. And then once the music is on at even a reasonable volume it is not audible. So I think this is a win. Lot of work for incremental improvement...


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ginmtb said:
If you want really great gauge lighting you should go with EL wire. It illuminates the gauges very evenly and brightly and the dimmer works on it.

Only drawback is the high pitched whine. Can't really hear it when car is running since these cruisers are so loud. I'm going to see about moving the inverter to inside the engine bay and put it inside a small insulated box to see if that will help. A lot of people don't even hear the whine apparently. You can do a test to see if you can hear it before installing. Connect inverter to a wall wart to power it up. Also I have seen videos on YouTube that have the sound recorded. You could play it and see if you can hear it.

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Looks great... By chance do you have any pics of the cluster how it was affixed etc??[/
 
I thought about using EL wire, but I wanted to go a little brighter...so I just used LED strips...
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If you turn the interior lights all the way up, its actually too bright. The morning after I did this I was heading to work early in the morning. While I was at a stop light some kids were crossing heading to school, one little girl was staring at me as she crossed the street, the guage cluster must have been giving my face a erie glow lol. I normally don't have it all the way cranked up, but its nice to have to turn it down for a change rather than have it cranked all the way up and still not be satisfied. Here is my little thread on doing this...
Taking Gauges apart
 
That is too cool, it looks great! Thanks for that... Something else I can do now to my 40... lol :):steer:
 
Headlights arrived safe and sound. Thanks for the super speedy service Racer. They were installed today by the hot rod shop I use, along with some other modifications and I get to see them in action tomorrow.
 
Had the hot rod shop install the LED headlights and LED back up lights. Yes, the cost for the headlights was money well spent. Thanks Racer!

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I live in the city so dark streets are impossible to find but I hope this will do.

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The back up lights came from Rigid Ind and the kit was complete. Two LED lights, full wiring harness with relay and instructions. The switch which was installed on the dash has three positions, one allows the lights to work when reverse is selected, two turns off the lights completely and the third position keeps the lights on.

LED headlights, LED wide beam driving lights, LED tail brake lights and now LED back up lights. I will order LED's for the instruments tomorrow from Auto Meter so the gauges will not look so yellow.
 
A commonly asked question is whether LED headlights present a problem for those living in the snow belt due to lack of heat dissipation from these lights, resulting in inability to melt the snow and ice off of the lenses. Just thought it would be useful to copy the following info provided by Weber Sarge:

Weber Sarge said:
Just fyi - I had been down that road with the concern of snow buildup on the lamps when running an led . No heat on the lens and one would think that would cause snow to build up - it doesn't on a Cruiser (at least on a 40) due to the bib and how the lamps stick out a bit . Now , on my old Samurai - it was a huge problem but that was due to how the nose was shaped around the lamps . If it did happen , you'll notice it quick since the lights go dim pretty fast . Last led I ran in my 40 was a set of the H4 conversions from Lifetime or one of those brands - the left when I traded off my Taco last year .
Sarge
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Doh^^^^^

Im wanting a set but the shipping to Canada is a killer $50 US on $129 lights is a bit much. Looking at other options. I really want a set for the 42
 
Racer65 said:
A commonly asked question is whether LED headlights present a problem for those living in the snow belt due to lack of heat dissipation from these lights, resulting in inability to melt the snow and ice off of the lenses. Just thought it would be useful to copy the following info provided by Weber Sarge:
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Not to steal anyones thunder. But If heated led headlights are needed Trucklites makes heated ones.
 
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