A brighter instrument gauge light bulb

[AUSMHLY]

If anyone is interested in this project, then PM me.
There are two ways to do this.

1) If your car is positive ground.
2) If Your car is negative ground.

Cheers,
Roger

 

[BOBBYR]

Hey Roger,
You did a great job.Having a set of gauges like that,would be great.
Bobby R

 

[AUSMHLY]

Hey guys, and I mean the guys that have PM me. WoW. I did not know I would get so many. I can't keep up. So, forgive me for not replying to everyone.

I think it's better that I make a new thread. On how to for a positive and how to for a negative.

I'll include some photos and links to where to buy what you'll need. I'll see if I can put it all together by the weekend.

I'm glad that I can help, my Healey brothers.
Roger

 

[Patton]

Roger,

Thanks for putting this together.

Patton

 

[longbridgehealey]

Thanks for going to all of this work. My dash is coming out in a couple of weeks, so it's the perfect time to tackle it.

Larry

 

[Lin]

Roger,
I want to add my thanks as well. You have certainly come up with some useful modifications.

Lin
1960 BT7 in restoration
1959 Bugeye

 

[MarkA]

Ditto here too!

Mark

 

[AUSMHLY]

Hello my Healey brothers,

I posted another thread with the heading:

How to: Brighter gauge face with LED’s

I've explained in detail how to convert to led's in both a positive and negative car. You'll find links to where to purchase what products are needed. I've also included some photos of the process.

Happy Motoring!
Roger

 

[healeynut]

You can try this company, I have had pretty good luck with them:

https://autolumination.com/otherleds.htm

Note that for the ignition light I would keep an incandescent bulb there - it needs to be able to have partial on or off capability to help you diagnose whether your charging circuit is working properly or not.

 

[GregW]

I'd think an LED would work there. I've used potentiometers to dim 'em.

 

[Ed_K]

Greg,
Do you remember what value pot you used to dim the led(s). And were you dimming just one LED or how many ?
The panel toggle switch could be replaced by a pot/switch-off combo. Or just installed somewhere not easily seen.
Ed

 

[AUSMHLY]

You can try this company, I have had pretty good luck with them:

https://autolumination.com/otherleds.htm

Note that for the ignition light I would keep an incandescent bulb there - it needs to be able to have partial on or off capability to help you diagnose whether your charging circuit is working properly or not.

Hi Alan,
Great minds think alike /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
Are you coping of my test paper....Funny guy.

That is the same link, same page I used in my "How to illuminate your gauges with LED’s" I referenced, right above your reply.

And to answer you concern about the ignition light bulb, I replaced that with the led too. It's more sensitve than the filament bulb and lights up brighter. All Good.

Happy motoring!
Roger

 

[GregW]

Hi Ed,
I was using unknown parts off a flashlight. I had to make a ring light for a lipstick camera and just used what was on hand.

 

[BUNDYRUM]

Hi GregW,

What type of pictures were you taking with the "lipstick camera" apart from lips with lipstick on them.

bundyrum.

 

[Dave Richards]

It sounds like Greg has a cool job. It just occurred to me that we've done posts about our age, have we ever done one on occupations?

 

[TodE]

Is there any harm using 8 volt bulbs as far as melting something thats not suppost to melt? I am used to Chestnuts roasting over a Healey exhaust whats a few more degrees. I like the idea of the LED'S, but for us purists and I paid $4 something a bulb for 8 of those off Ebay it sounded like a good idea!

Somebody said "There's one born every minute!"

 

[Ed_K]

Hi,
If you mean 8 watts then they will be too hot and probably melt something. Also, installing these will draw 4 times the amount of current than the standard bulbs. You may get away with the extra current draw or ... you may let some of the Lucas smoke escape out of your wires or switch somewhere...
It is really difficult to " reinstall " the Lucas smoke once it escapes from your car ! If you are considering using 8 watt bulbs then originality cannot be high on your list of concerns. The LEDs that Roger found do not get hot at all, thus it is the best solution IMHO. Your opinion may vary .
Ed

 

[GregW]

Hey Guys,
I did a little bench experiment this evening with a 500Ω pot. upstream of a 12 volt LED. I took some brightness measurements with a light meter and got a 2 stop difference between 0 and the 500. So at 500Ω the light output would be 25% of full.

 

[Ed_K]

Greg,
Good information. If one LED goes from full to 1/4 brightness with a 500 ohm pot, then four leds would need a 125 ohm pot to do the same thing. Five leds would need 100 ohms. Six would need 85 ohms. 100 ohms would be a good compromise for any number of leds ( 4 - 6 ) In case you add an extra one to the tach and speedo like Roger did.
Ed

 

[GregW]

BTW, here is the bulb I used. It's a running/brake light. It's what I had in 12v.