And exactly the reason I only focused on the 194's (5 of them?) which I am presuming is for gauge illumination

Toward dimming, I had installed red LED's in the gauge cluster in the vehicle that hated them. The LED's actually worked fine and dimmed normally, but something about the cluster's components did not like the LED's as weird things happened when any of the indicator lights came 'On'. So, filaments went back in


Toward the indicator / warning / idiot lighting, (as already noted) LED conversion might not prove worth the squeeze as they are rarely 'On'. Well, perhaps with the exception of the high beam, but even this scenario is a small fraction of driving time. So LED conversion for the idiot / indicator lights might fall into the bling territory.

FWIW, there is a 74 base LED (https://www.vleds.com/shop-bulb-numb...ed/74-6-c.html), but only one lumen spec of 36LM which seems too bright for the application. Also, seems to me that the lumen would change based on color (white range higher than other colors), but I only know what the vendor shows on their web site, and it shows a single spec of 36LM...


Aside and outside the scope of the original question, I did use 5K Kelvin for in-cab lighting for another vehicle and that color was good for that use. 5K is a nice crisp white. No blue, no yellow, just white.

 

I find this topic interesting, but feel it's a lot of work/research, for little gain. Get after it though!

 

I agree. And it's one of the reasons I will have multiple how-to's covering the same subject.

I was just wanting to make sure you didn't miss those threads in the Ex forum. I didn't want to assume you had found them.

Stewart

 

Yeah... this can be filed under OCD. Saying that, I see a lot of people doing the latest thing without the research, then tearing the dash apart again to UNdo it.

Given that the normal bulbs last as long as they do, the "smart" or "safe" play is to just use the original incandescents. I'm going in for a dim dash, so something new is getting installed. I had an incident not long ago where the alternator gave up, and the idiot light was not exactly a shooting star. While this is easily considered bling, I'll do my homework, conduct a few experiments, and share what I learn for those who like dash bling.

 

There was no homework to be done or trial/error Tug because the ones that did it either, still thinknits cool or like SouSXE mentioned, tore it apart and never followed up.
Im in the concentration camp with Soud. Its hortible. Come nighttime, everythings' bleeding, making me think the SES lights on, Batt light on on some other crap illuminated. Only cool thing was, my daughter when younger, said the jellyfish was bright(high beam indicator)...now, where the AC controls are, thats cool looking. The blue is like ice. Red is dominant but not annoying...good luck mang.

 

Gave the project some thought time last night.

Given the goal of having an idiot lighting pronounce itself more prominently than the incandescent bulb, LED's for this application in the cluster will probably work well. As noted though, am not sure that I'd go for it in the high beam (or turn signal).

It is possible to make a boutique bulb by getting a generic 74 base and separately buying the LED. So, might consider a small proof-of-concept by getting one off-the-shelf 74 base and making one boutique 74 to see which one you like better / if at all. Towards a mock-up, something as simple as a battery and dark room will work well rather than go through the effort of installing in the cluster and installing the cluster in the truck.

One thing to watch if deciding to try the boutique path is that not all 12v LED's can handle 14.8v.



FWIW, I have had systems fail and not trip the idiot light (most commonly the charging system). Although, there are some systems which do not use a gauge or send useful telemetry other than it works, or it died. Point is that corroborating instruments are helpful for systems that do send telemetry and your dash is definitely full of them Besides, any pilot in the group will know that periodically scanning the instruments is a good thing

 

^THIS^ bears repeating.

I've been watching this happen, with these trucks, since 1998.