Blue Leds In The Gauges...

PlainOldOlds · 01-06-2006, 12:43 PM

Ok, so I ordered some blue inverted lens LEDs off eBay, to throw in the gauge cluster. I wasn't sure if I'd like it or not, but I only paid about $11 for them, so why not.

[attachmentid=9462]

A loose LED 194, a stock condom wraped 194, and one fitted with my trusty butane powered soldering iron...

I had to really work to get the 194s out of the condoms, the rest was easy. The plastic bases of the LEDs slid right in, and I just bent the wires over and dropped a little solder on them.

PlainOldOlds · 01-06-2006, 12:48 PM

[attachmentid=9464]

Here is one going in my center console, to show what they look like lit up. They light a deeper blue than they look in the picture, more on that later.

PlainOldOlds · 01-06-2006, 12:49 PM

[attachmentid=9465]

Here is a side by side.

PlainOldOlds · 01-06-2006, 12:50 PM

[attachmentid=9466]

Here's the end result.

PlainOldOlds · 01-06-2006, 12:58 PM

[attachmentid=9467]

And a wide shot. The red glow is from the 3 red 9 LED arrays I have in the dome and mirror. I got them months ago, they (and 2 red 194s on the floor) came from superlumination.com, who I would buy from again. Not the cheapest, but reasonable and with quick shipping. These blue 194's came from "besthongkong" on eBay, and he took his sweet ass time shipping them, but they were cheap and worked very well.

Overall I'm happy. They are a little bit of a deeper blue than most LEDs I've seen, and going through the blue filter built in to the cluster the color is a little deeper than I'd like, but it looks real tight. Well worth my $11 and the hour it took to do it. The pictures really don't do it justice.

Opinions?

2fst4u · 01-06-2006, 01:03 PM

yeah, the inverted tip seems to spread the light well. i'm likin it. easy mod, nice look.

Cyber Knight · 01-06-2006, 01:05 PM

That turned out beautifully, well worth the time and money (even tho it wasn't much).

Pilate · 01-06-2006, 01:48 PM

Looks sweet...definately cheaper than buying new gauge faces. Are your stock needles orange??? Mine are white.

PlainOldOlds · 01-06-2006, 02:06 PM

Thanks guys!

My needles are orange, but as you can see with blue lights they end up the same color blue as everything else. I'd love to have them light up white. I'm considering messing with them a little, but it looks like a real PITA. I think I'm going to focus on the A/C controls next.

cherrington17 · 01-06-2006, 04:46 PM

definitely seems to spread the light really well.

now you got me thinking if i want to do this.... hmm....

nice job. thanks for the pics too. i've heard alot of people do this, but not many take pics to show what it ends up like.

PlainOldOlds · 01-06-2006, 06:35 PM

It's only 6 small bolts. 2 holding the plastic shroud, 4 holding the cluster down. The bulbs twist right out.

Here is the how-to I got my inspiration from:
http://invision.aleromod.com/index.php?showtopic=3387

PlainOldOlds · 01-06-2006, 10:14 PM

Oh! I just realized I should add... when you try to remove the 194s from the bases, the thin glass "plug" on the back of the bulbs will break apart by where the wires come out... but most of it won't fall out until you finally get the bulb free. So do it over a workbench and make sure you don't get little shards of glass all over the floor, on your pizza, etc.

whiteliquid · 01-06-2006, 11:14 PM

Here are my guages, i changed my lights out a while back, i didnt know that you could change the ones out from under your shifter tho, thx for the idea.

Pics are crappy quality had to put a neon tube close to the dash just to get the guages to show in the pic(guages are very bright in person, camera just sux)

PlainOldOlds · 01-06-2006, 11:58 PM

Woah... your post sucks, so long as I have to side scroll to see each line of yours and mine... fix your damn images... It was all properly formatted until you posted! I hate to say it, but I hope an aleromod.com mod deletes your post , and this response to it, to fix my thread...

freakout · 01-07-2006, 12:53 AM

Looks damn good. So they make an inverted tip for leds now? Gotta get me some and get rid of the circles on the floor.

El Pablo · 01-07-2006, 12:10 PM

thats pimp dood

cherrington17 · 01-07-2006, 02:17 PM

freakout, just take a dremel and sand down the tips of your current ones. just make it flat... that'll get rid of your "spots"

PlainOldOlds · 01-07-2006, 03:42 PM

Sorry for biting your head off, [/drunk]
You do need to resize that though. :P

freakout · 01-07-2006, 07:19 PM

thanks

PlainOldOlds · 01-09-2006, 11:42 PM

After a few days of driving with my blue cluster, I have to say I LOVE IT!
But the A/C and Radio next to it, it looks out of place...

My next focus is the A/C controls, which I hear are soldered to the control unit.

I haven't taken mine apart yet, so I don't know... But I'd like to color match the
blue 194s in my cluster and see what it looks like, they seemed too blue but now
that I've gotten used to them, I like it!

Only thing left after that, is the radio!