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I also would go with the LED's but be careful, I am on my second set. Do not buy the cheap ones on ebay or amazon. They will start to flicker and be extremely annoying in a few months. I can actually post a video of my wife's licence plate bulbs which i need to change after a 4 month run with the cheap LED's. If anyone knows of some good ones please let us know.
I know its kind of intensive but I just swapped out All my instrument bulbs with "Ice Blue" LED replacements I found on eBay for a very reasonable price. It looks great
I've heard lots of guys complain about the lights not being dim able.. Didn't know there was an LED out there that could do this.
I wish that I could provide a link, but I can't. Four years ago I bought the LEDs from Amazon. I bought four different from three different manufacturers (or at least 3 different names) in one order. Finding bulb intensity values were difficult at the time, especially the way Amazon writes up the specs. Since they were relatively inexpensive, I got the 4 in the hope that at least one would work well. All were Chinese (including Taiwan). Right now I can't say which I installed. Memory is another thing that diminishes with age. These are not as strong as the ones dekeman has. They are more like the ones shown by Shortbox4x4 but without the green tint. They work well and are fully dimable (just like the incandescent ones they replaced) using the dimmer on the truck's light switch on the dash. The names were Zone Tech sold by Comfort Wheels, JTech sold by JTechnow (2 varieties from them), and a "Brand X" sold by Taiwan Mall. Amazon's sources come and go. Some of these might have disappeared already.
Columbia1spring I apologize for the highjack but I too am interested in the Dash-light upgrade.
Dekeman and Shortbox4x4, tell us what LED bulbs you used. If you have the brand and/or part number please post. Thank you, highjack over.
These are not the exact ones (I got them off of Ebay and I looked them up but cannot find the ones I got) but they look like this. Mine are shorter looking.
I can take a picture of mine if it helps as I have like 4 spares. The only complaint on the ones I have is the really thin wire where it contacts the socket can be touchy. I had to play with a couple of them (moving the wire) so it stays in contact with the connector. Other than that I like how bright the dash is etc....
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Does anyone have any comments about the efficiency the of colored lights. Is the clarity of the colored LED as good or better than OEM? Now, my dash is easy to read at night (sun down), however at dusk or before sundown it is very hard to make out the gauges. Any advise on color?
I'm pretty picky about lighting, I went with these from Superbright.
Colors are cool and all that but this old dash and these old eyes were made for plain natural white light.
I've never felt a need to use the dimmer on any car I've ever driven but the 194-NWHP5 are dimmable. They don't react to the full span of the dimmer the same as incandescent but do dim fairly smoothly before just going out.
JDQ, I had the same issue and the 194-NWHP5 LEDs made a huge difference in visibility. I hated driving at dusk and dawn due to the dim lighting but now I kinda get a kick out of how visible the gauges are and spend a few seconds admiring the glow.
Michael
PS. I also have LMC's LED dome light. HUGE improvement! And it won't melt the lens or run the battery down when I leave it on overnight.
Thank you to everyone that has replied to this thread. I feel that I need to make an upgrade on the dash lighting and will do so soon. I have ordered the
from amazon. Ill give a before and after comment. thanks again.
Thanks to columbia1spring, which by the way, where you able to replace your dash bulbs?
Get 168s for the two which illuminate the gauges. 168s produce 3 lumens, whereas 194s produce only 2.
I put some 168s in mine, and they are as bright at idle, as the 194s were at 2000 RPM!