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Dash light upgrade

Posted: 16 Jul 2014 21:02
by TRJIMBO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVJrCpByRLk

Not for the purist but for those interested you need to pop out the green domes, remove the standard bulbs and insert T10 9SMD LED green wedges

Posted: 20 Jul 2014 06:01
by manny
i'll reply then....

looks good....can you still use the dimmer?

Manny

TR7 V8 1982
Reliant Scimitar GTE 6a 78
Kawasaki ZX636R
Piaggio fly 125
RIP Stick 2013

Posted: 20 Jul 2014 16:46
by saabfast
Does anybody use the dimmer? I have never found the lighting bright enough to need dimming.

Alan
Saab 9000 Stg 1 (now passed to son for his family car)
Saab 9000 2.3 FPT Auto (now gone that others might live)
Saab 9000 2.3 LPT Auto (sold on, wish I had it back)
Saab 9-5 2.3 Vector Auto Estate
'81 TR7 DHC
Image

Posted: 20 Jul 2014 19:08
by FI Spyder
I always dim mine when out in the country as my dash lights are quite bright. You want a dim cockpit in night driving so you can see better at night. Not so in town with all the street lights.

- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT
Image

Posted: 21 Jul 2014 11:25
by manny
i tend to switch off mine completely...freaks out the passenger

TR7 V8 1982
Reliant Scimitar GTE 6a 78
Kawasaki ZX636R
Piaggio fly 125
RIP Stick 2013

Posted: 22 Jul 2014 18:05
by TRJIMBO
Thanks Manny[:)]

No you can't use the dimmer except for off on (dashlights that is).

With incandescent bulbs it's either very dim or not visible.

Posted: 19 Feb 2015 23:01
by unicorn
That looks great exactly what I want to do to mine as can hardly see the clocks properly even at full brightness I thought I would have to solder normal LEDs in as couldn't find a reference from the original bulb codes. I found 2 different lengths on eBay so need to take a bulb out to measure thanks for the info much appreciated :-)

If it makes you smile it's the right car :-)

Posted: 20 Feb 2015 00:45
by silverseven
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by saabfast</i>

Does anybody use the dimmer? I have never found the lighting bright enough to need dimming.



<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

same here !

Ron.
ImageImageImage

Posted: 20 Feb 2015 05:16
by john 215
Hi,

Very effective and on my ' To Do List ' as far dimmer concerned, mine behaves like it already has LED's fitted breathe on it and lights go off anyway !!!

Stevie A has blue LEDs fitted to his and very effective they are too, although looking at his last post dash lights could be a touchy subject [B)]

Cheers John

ImageImageImage Image
LIVE LIFE A QUARTER OF A MILE AT A TIME!

1976 Speke FHC BEAUTY FITTED WITH OVERDRIVE GEARBOX

1979 3.5 FHC CURRENTLY GARDEN ART !

1982 2.0 DHC NOW A 4.6, BUILT NOT BROUGHT !!!!

Posted: 20 Feb 2015 09:48
by unicorn
Hi john I seen the post this morning ( and comments lol ) I am staying with green but as I live and prob do most of my driving in a built up area the lights are often too dim to make out what speed I'm doing without a struggle and that's after I have cleaned the domes and cleaned the bulbs even tried to byepass the dimmer switch so they are always on full it's not original I agree but neither is a lot of mods a lot of tr7 have on them

If it makes you smile it's the right car :-)

Posted: 20 Feb 2015 13:26
by FI Spyder
I find that most modern cars have dash lights that are too bright and hurts my eyes plus when you are out on the road (out of the city) the brighter the dash lights the less you can see out in the darkness. That's why a lot of aircraft dash panels are lit with red as that's the colour that lets the eyes see out into the darkness.

- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT
Image

Posted: 20 Feb 2015 17:42
by silverseven
on both my two Pontiacs the gauges are backlite in red .. it is nice.

Ron.
ImageImageImage

Posted: 20 Feb 2015 18:42
by saabfast
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by unicorn</i>

Hi john I seen the post this morning ( and comments lol ) I am staying with green but as I live and prob do most of my driving in a built up area the lights are often too dim to make out what speed I'm doing without a struggle and that's after I have cleaned the domes and cleaned the bulbs even tried to byepass the dimmer switch so they are always on full it's not original I agree but neither is a lot of mods a lot of tr7 have on them

If it makes you smile it's the right car :-)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Bear in mind that you will need green LED's to keep green lighting. I made the mistake of getting white and leaving the green domes in thinking I would get green but it is a sort of blue and not very bright. You may also find that the hard plastic under the printed circuit where the holder twists in has melted (common). I used a small piece of stick on door draught excluder under the printer circuit to pack it out and give some spring to the circuit.

Alan
Saab 9-5 2.3t Vector Auto Estate
'81 TR7 DHC
Image

Posted: 20 Feb 2015 19:48
by whitenviro
I did this about a year ago and like the results. The dimmer just becomes an on/off switch. The bulbs are brighter than the old incandescent, but I wouldn't mind even a little more light at times. They are making larger bulbs that can be dimmed by turning off some of the LEDs in the cluster. Don't know if they will ever be able to do that on tiny little bulbs like these.

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1980 Pageant Blue DHC with removable hardtop.

Posted: 20 Feb 2015 20:10
by stevie_a
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by john 215</i>

<b>Stevie A has blue LEDs fitted to his and very effective they are too, although looking at his last post dash lights could be a touchy subject</b> [B)]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

<font color="teal"><b>John the blue led's are great and they are the only dash lights that have never gave me a problem as for the rest....</b></font id="teal"> [}:)]

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<font size="4"><font color="green"><i>If it's not broke don't fix it.</i></font id="green"></font id="size4">

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