Gauge lighting question

[Rexter9x]

Ok, so I looked through the how to on the lighting for the gauges, and if I'm remembering right, you can use the 194 style led bulbs. Now I've seen people do blue leds, but I'm thinking of doing white leds instead.
Now, first off, what give the gauges their aqua/greenish colour? If I use the white leds, will the actually be white when lit? How many bulbs do I actually need, and are they all the 194's?
Are the rest of the lighting (heater controls, door switches, etc) just as easy to switch out. I'm not exactly good at soldering, so I'm trying to stick with a plug and play solution.

[Vtolds]

I would just get gauge faces, thats the easy solution.

[Rexter9x]

I've though of it, I had them on a previous car, but I'd rather just go with the led route, if I will light up white. Plus I remember them being a real pain to install.

[cherrington17]

i haven't seen white done, but i have blue and red, and both show up exactly as the leds light up. (the greenish tint might come from the green circuit board) i say try it.

and no, the other lights are all mini halogens that are soldered to a board, not just plug and play.

[Rexter9x]

How many leds will I need? I need 194's right?

[Alerosaint]

well any of those bulbs give the needle a healthy red glow?

[jamcllw]

Shameless plug but if you decide to go the white face gauge route I have a set of the original halo white face gauges for $40. They have the even halos unlike the newer ones that have one large halo and one small one.

[cherrington17]

How many leds will I need? I need 194's right? 5

well any of those bulbs give the needle a healthy red glow? they will make everything glow red. if you want JUST the needle to glow, you gotta do what yalero did.

[adam337]

you can also get glow needles. Easier way.

[Alerosaint]

since the overlay covers the guages i guess everything can be red...i should try...where can i get the red bulbs from...they are 194?

[cherrington17]

yes. www.superbrightleds.com has them

[Alerosaint]

awesome....thx

[Rexter9x]

Well, to answer any question, with white leds the gauges light up a soft blue.... now I know abit of the colour is from the leds, but when I had the gauges out, and held them up to the sun, the gauges have an odd blue tint on the backside to give it the aqua colour. It looks pretty good though. Now if only the other bulbs werent soldered on....

[bizarre179]

I have recently tested the gauges with a white led. It is the same as the bulb that you would be replacing... therefore it is going to give off that crappy green/blue color.

Sucks because I really wanted white font on my gauges... looks like speedhut is the only route for that.

[cherrington17]

makes me wonder if there is a way to remove that blue tint. is it thin sheet thats on the plastic (like plexi usually has) or is it the actual plastic that is colored.

someone want to look into that? see if the blue can just be scrapped off? or maybe whipped off with some rubbing alcohol?

[Rexter9x]

From what I saw its hard to say. It looked like the actual plastic was tinted the colour.... I was hoping for it too light up more of a white colour. Ah well, it just give me incentive to try and change the rest of the lighting.

[bizarre179]

From what I saw its hard to say. It looked like the actual plastic was tinted the colour.... I was hoping for it too light up more of a white colour. Ah well, it just give me incentive to try and change the rest of the lighting.

I back him up on this one. Cherrington, I was thinking the same thing, maybe there is just something there to rub off or something along those lines... NOPE. It all blue. :thumbsdown:

[jwateland]

how do you just plug and play with the gauges bulb? mine are soldered just like the dome courtesy lights in dome assembly

[Rexter9x]

For the speedo gauges all you have to do is twist the bulb holder out, pop the bulb out, and replace it with the new led one. Just make sure its the right polarity, or else the led wont light. If it doesnt light just switch the bulb around.

[cherrington17]

you may think they are soldered.... but they aren't. just a REALLY right fit.

[Vinalero]

all five 194 bulbs were soldered in their sockets in my cluster when I replaced them with five 194 red bulbs. I should have gone with leds as they light up red, but with an impression of pink because of the factory blue tint in the cluster.

I soldered the bulbs back in the sockets.

Use an utility knife to remove the soldering before installing the other bulbs.

What I dont know is if 194 leds have the two wires you can twist and solder like I did with the standard 194 bulbs.

[cherrington17]

hmm. i'd like to see where they are soldered... why would they change that year to year???

and yes, absolutely use leds. your guaranteed red light then. :lol:

[Vinalero]

hahaha yeah Ill have to change that.

the bulbs "wires" were both soldered on the socket's metal sides

[jwateland]

so honestly, how difficult is to do the white gauges? cause i've heard people having problems with the wiring and also havein to use double sided tape to attach them? to me, it seems like a giant headache

[Vinalero]

so honestly, how difficult is to do the white gauges? cause i've heard people having problems with the wiring and also havein to use double sided tape to attach them? to me, it seems like a giant headache

it is less a pain than taking the stock bulbs out and soldering new ones in there.

to resume, white face gauge are glued with double sided tape over the cluster, and you have to tap the power and ground wires with existing wires in the car.

[jwateland]

very true, I didn't even want to tackle the replacing the bulbs. So how would i know which wire is the groung and the power? and you're talking about the wires that go to the cluster?

[cherrington17]

use thewires that supply bulbs in the cubby under the radio. they turn on at night, and can handle a decent amount of voltage (i had my entire system setup through those, before something bad happened) :glare: damn gremlins

[jwateland]

well that would suck cause i kinda like that light. is there any place that you can get drop in guages faces or cluster that wire up to thew factory unit?

[cherrington17]

you just tap the wire, not disconnect it. it still powers that light. :lol:

[jaxalero]

White Faces are easy. Just follow the how-to here. If I can do it then anyone can!

[jwateland]

ok cool thanks you guys

[jwateland]

so what happens with the original light from the gauges?

[jaxalero]

if you get the white gauges, then its just covered up and the needle stll lights up. Just make sure to line them up right. I hooked them up and then had to re-do it so that the info lights showed through.

[jwateland]

what mounting a switch? i already have an extra switch for aftermarket fog lights and i don't really want to mount anymore, i think it would tacky

[jeenysrider07]

makes me wonder if there is a way to remove that blue tint. is it thin sheet thats on the plastic (like plexi usually has) or is it the actual plastic that is colored.

someone want to look into that? see if the blue can just be scrapped off? or maybe whipped off with some rubbing alcohol?


i got the blueish tint off the speedo. All you have to do is peel the black piece with the numbers off of the clear plastic (just peel slow) Then You need to get the glue stuff off of the back where the blue is. I used a flathead screwdriver. Then wherever the blueish tint is you have to sand off. Then its cleared. The last pic has a white led flashlight behind it.

[jaxalero]

Nice Work Looks good

[bizarre179]

Mitch, you seriously just made my f-in day!

[cherrington17]

everyone keeps talking about that blue tint stuff... and mine definitely didn't have it in there... :huh: really odd. but GREAT JOB getting it out. now we know it does come out! sweet!!

[bizarre179]

I just took a dremel to mine and took out all the blue. Looks a lot better, except in a spot where I went too far in, and cut though. I will have to try to epoxy fill it.

Anyways, I got a question thats kinda along the same topic... Does anyone know if I can run 26 gauge wire to leds? Or would that be too small? I know the load on leds is close to nothing, but that shtuff is REALLY small.

[cherrington17]

the only thing you'd do is end up with a little more resistance on the line then standard. figure out how far of a run you need, and throw an ohm meter across the line. see what kind of resistance your getting.

it shouldn't be a problem. you might just need to change to a smaller resistor if its a little more resistance on the line then you want. (thus making the led brigher)

[jeenysrider07]

Bizzare when you order some white leds ill split the price with you is you want. Cause I need some too

[Rexter9x]

Ok, so how hard is it to get the gauge face off? Im guessing you have to remove the needles and such, Im just trying to figure out how much work this is, cause that blue tint stuff if comming off. Woot!

[cherrington17]

shouldn't be much work at all. most of it is all "clip together" stuff. the whole gauge assembly comes apart in under 10 mintues. :lol:

[jeenysrider07]

ya then just slowly peel the black piece with the numbers off of the clear plastic. It pretty easy

[Rexter9x]

What about the needles? Any precautions that I should take?

[cherrington17]

just keep track of where they are before, and know it WILL take some tweaking to get them back to where they should be. just leave the plastic off the gauge face and mount it back in... so you can move the needles while the car is on.