A dashboard bulb question...

[Topdownman]

Can anyone tell me which of the bulkholders is supposed to be empty on the manual car as I appear to have 11!

Thanks.



(No spinal tap quotes please !!).

[Topdownman]

So, here is my guess;

1 Temp gauge
2 Main beam
3 Fuel gauge
4 SMT - empty in manual cars
5 Rev counter
6 Indicator
7 Indicator
8 Rev counter
9 Speedo
10 Speedo
11 Speedo

What do you think?

[Ardent]

Just compared.
No bulb in mine as per your number 4.

[Topdownman]

That is great, thanks for taking your car apart for me!

So, 10 leds to put back, should have a sweepstake what percentage will be the right way round!

I am going to guess 60%.....

[The Other Stu]

Out of interest, are you replacing like for like?
Some of mine are either gone or dim. I can't decide whether to fully replace or go for one of those "plasma" replacements.

[Joesson]

Out of interest, are you replacing like for like?
Some of mine are either gone or dim. I can't decide whether to fully replace or go for one of those "plasma" replacements.

I suppose you could call whatever decision you make a light bulb moment!

[Topdownman]

Out of interest, are you replacing like for like?
Some of mine are either gone or dim. I can't decide whether to fully replace or go for one of those "plasma" replacements.

I changed to leds as the old style didnt look right with the dials. This is the new ones in bright sunligt on max!


I went for these;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253255188615

Camil recommended their 8 piece kit as he had found them to give the best spread of light of those he had tried. I contacted the seller and they said the ones I wanted to buy were the same bulb but as a pack of 10 (ie the number you need). The packs of 8 and 10 were the same price so took a chance on the untried 10 pack. When they arrived they were in a loose bag with x10 on so that does look like the same led so that was reassuring.

Havent tried them at night yet but no doubt will have to turn the brightness down when I do!

I wrapped a bit of masking tape round the old bulbs and pulled them out of the holder with pliers. I put the leds in the holders and then tested them with a pp3 battery and a pair of minature crocodile clips to make sure they were seated correctly and working. I think I got 60% the right way round first time when I put them into the dash but its not always easy to tell which is working so took a few out to turn them round before I think I have them all working. I used the pliers on a multitool to put the bulb holders in and out. You need to connect the 2 large connectors each time to test the results of your swops! The small one seems to control the dimmer function.

[Topdownman]

I suppose you could call whatever decision you make a light bulb moment!

Or a facepalm moment!

[The Other Stu]

I changed to leds as the old style didnt look right with the dials. This is the new ones in bright sunligt on max!


I went for these;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253255188615

Camil recommended their 8 piece kit as he had found them to give the best spread of light of those he had tried. I contacted the seller and they said the ones I wanted to buy were the same bulb but as a pack of 10 (ie the number you need). The packs of 8 and 10 were the same price so took a chance on the untried 10 pack. When they arrived they were in a loose bag with x10 on so that does look like the same led so that was reassuring.

Havent tried them at night yet but no doubt will have to turn the brightness down when I do!

I wrapped a bit of masking tape round the old bulbs and pulled them out of the holder with pliers. I put the leds in the holders and then tested them with a pp3 battery and a pair of minature crocodile clips to make sure they were seated correctly and working. I think I got 60% the right way round first time when I put them into the dash but its not always easy to tell which is working so took a few out to turn them round before I think I have them all working. I used the pliers on a multitool to put the bulb holders in and out. You need to connect the 2 large connectors each time to test the results of your swops! The small one seems to control the dimmer function.

For sick squid, that looks well worth a try (if nothing else, because LEDs are always useful - I do have buckets of them, but none in white).

They are interesting dials

[The Other Stu]

For sick squid, that looks well worth a try (if nothing else, because LEDs are always useful - I do have buckets of them, but none in white).

They are interesting dials

So i learned something today. As per your post, those LEDs do indeed need to go in the right way round - the old bulbs aren't LED, so don't care which way round they go.

I've marked the circuit board with + and - on them now.

What should have been a 20 minute job turned into a 3 hour one.

It appears that the reason my dash wasn't lighting up was because on the backlight, there was a dry joint to the earth.

I couldn't find it for love nor money. In the end, I've soldered a thin earth strap straight to the dash (using a spade joint so that I can take it out again if I need to).

It's now really, really bright! Problem is, the LEDs aren't dimmable, so it's rather binary and the dimmer is now rather redundant.

I might get some dimmable ones at some stage, but not now. They look great!

THanks for the heads up for the bulbs.

[TheTigerUK]

I changed to leds as the old style didnt look right with the dials. This is the new ones in bright sunligt on max!


I went for these;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253255188615

Have the LEDs performed ok ?

[Topdownman]

The leds are more directional than filament bulbs as you can see from the 2 bright spots on the rev counter.

They stopped working so I took off the cluster and one of the 3 plugs had come undone so that sorted that.

They have since all stopped working again but this time the plugs were still connected so not got round to trying to sort that out (any suggestions welcome)!

[TheTigerUK]

Thanks I will give them a miss then in that case