instrument lighting upgrade

chromedog · Nov 29, 2009

well, im on my second upgrade for my dash lights, and i can say im finally happy with this one... first time around, i did the led set up from ebay (you loose the blue-green filters, and replace them with blue leds) i ended up with a dim, BLUE lit cluster,that didnt come close to the illumintion in my gauge pod, and, worst of all, you couldnt read the fuel gauge at night. this time around, i went with a 3 candlepower 1816 bulb, instead of the 2 c.p. 1895 bulbs the factory installed, and used the boots over the bulbs as used by autometer.the result is a nice, bright cluster that looks identical to my autometers in the 'pod. life is finally good...

1992MustangGT · Nov 29, 2009

Who did you buy your LED dashlights from? I just bought some LED's from Mustang Project, but haven't put them in yet. Reading the info and looking at the pictures on the website they're supposed be brighter by 5 or 6 times compared to stock. We'll see if it's true or not. I hope I didn't just waste $40.

tx65coupe · Nov 30, 2009

I personally do not like the weird color of LED.

Are you concerned that the brighter bulbs will run hotter?

Shakin66 · Nov 30, 2009

I bought my LEDs on Ebay and was totally unhappy with fitment issues. Their socket sizes was smaller than stock so they didnt fit well and therfore some didnt work. I called the guy to get some replacements and he said that it was my cars sloppy old sockets which sent me right over the top. I told him my originals fit perfectly to which he replied "That just shows you that back then nothing was exact".....?
I also wasnt happy with the look and you cant adjust the brightness.
I am back to my old sloppy bulbs and wouldnt suggest these even if the fitment issue was fixed.

chromedog · Nov 30, 2009

i dont think the 1816 bulb is going to be any hotter than the 1895... if they are, i think the silicone boots will hold up better than the plastic filters...

pyroman · Nov 30, 2009

LEDs don't run hot at all, probably alot cooler than even the stock bulbs.

rebel65 · Nov 30, 2009

don't hold it against me if i'm wrong but i am pretty sure the OP said they are now lightbulbs and not LEDs anymore. mostly since he said he didn't like the LED's and went to back to Bulbs.

1992MustangGT · Nov 30, 2009

Shakin66 said:
I bought my LEDs on Ebay and was totally unhappy with fitment issues. Their socket sizes was smaller than stock so they didnt fit well and therfore some didnt work. I called the guy to get some replacements and he said that it was my cars sloppy old sockets which sent me right over the top. I told him my originals fit perfectly to which he replied "That just shows you that back then nothing was exact".....?
I also wasnt happy with the look and you cant adjust the brightness.
I am back to my old sloppy bulbs and wouldnt suggest these even if the fitment issue was fixed.

Do you know what brand of LED bulbs you bought from E-Bay? Not sure if it matters cuz I don't know much about LED bulbs. Another thing that has me a little confused...the bulbs I bought are supposed to be blue; however, the lense on the bulb is clear. Shouldn't the lense be blue or are the internals of the bulb blue and it shines a blue light through the clear lense? I know I can answer this question as soon as I get them plugged in and turned on, but I haven't got that far yet. Was hoping you could answer my questions....

tx65coupe · Dec 1, 2009

He was saying that he didn't like the LEDs he got and went with a brighter regular bulb.

I don't like the LEDs because they do not seem to light up the gauges evenly at all. At least the ones I have seen didn't. Also, the colors look artificial. The dimmer adjustment also becomes inoperative.

pyroman · Dec 1, 2009

Whoops reading comprehension fail.

65ShelbyClone · Dec 1, 2009

If you're handy with a soldering iron and want to save some money, you can put high intensity/wide angle LEDs and resistors in the 1895 bulb sockets yourself. You can also adjust resistor values to get the desired brightness.

On a side note, that "artifical" light they emit looks strange because colored LEDs emit only a very narrow wavelength compared to incandescent bulbs that emit relatively white light(which is composed of many wavelengths). This also means that LED light reflects off of objects only in shades of the same color, which can look unnatural.

66 Restomod · Dec 1, 2009

Sounds good! Got a pic?

Here's my ebay LEDs without diffusers, funny that the fuel gauge is tough to read too.

But I think the light itself looks pretty good, matches the blue lights on the Pioneer stereo now. Also put a blue LED in the tach on the steering column to match.

6+dash+blue.jpg (image)

chromedog said:
well, im on my second upgrade for my dash lights, and i can say im finally happy with this one... first time around, i did the led set up from ebay (you loose the blue-green filters, and replace them with blue leds) i ended up with a dim, BLUE lit cluster,that didnt come close to the illumintion in my gauge pod, and, worst of all, you couldnt read the fuel gauge at night. this time around, i went with a 3 candlepower 1816 bulb, instead of the 2 c.p. 1895 bulbs the factory installed, and used the boots over the bulbs as used by autometer.the result is a nice, bright cluster that looks identical to my autometers in the 'pod. life is finally good...

tx65coupe · Dec 2, 2009

65ShelbyClone said:
If you're handy with a soldering iron and want to save some money, you can put high intensity/wide angle LEDs and resistors in the 1895 bulb sockets yourself. You can also adjust resistor values to get the desired brightness.

On a side note, that "artifical" light they emit looks strange because colored LEDs emit only a very narrow wavelength compared to incandescent bulbs that emit relatively white light(which is composed of many wavelengths). This also means that LED light reflects off of objects only in shades of the same color, which can look unnatural.

Thats interesting. I figured there was some type of scientific explanation for it.

riche · Dec 2, 2009

1992MustangGT said:
Who did you buy your LED dashlights from? I just bought some LED's from Mustang Project, but haven't put them in yet. Reading the info and looking at the pictures on the website they're supposed be brighter by 5 or 6 times compared to stock. We'll see if it's true or not. I hope I didn't just waste $40.

I`m also in the same boat as you. My 93GT inst. panel lights never were to my liking, so I went to a white face reverse-glo kit, even at it`s lowest setting lights were too bright at night. Now bought a white face kit with warning light strip, & a/c control face, $90.98..Looks good, from latemodelrestoration.com
Just ordered 90 degree white WLED-W-x and some Warm White WLED-WW5 from superbrightleds.com. They claim that dimmer switch works with this led`s. Hope I didnot waste $47.54.

Blu-Steel · Dec 2, 2009

I've been looking at getting LED lights as well and have noticed in the Mustangs Unlimited catalog they offer two types; one that is 2 x brighter and cannot be adjusted and another that is 5x brighter and works with the rheostat which should mean that you can adjust the brightness. There is also a large price difference between around $20 - $50.

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