Maybe I need to do a how to. It won't be on a Mopar, but on my 75 F250, Gladys. I need to do some work on her cluster anyway and was going to swap in LEDs then.
Redline GaugeWorks in Santa Clarita did a full restoration on my gauges and these are the bulbs he agreed would be just fine.If you look you can find NON_POLARIZED LED BULBS. This process, without taking the cluster out, is difficult at best. Non-polarized bulbs can be installed in either direction and reduce the frustration factor significantly. If you leave one incandescent bulb in the set the dimmer will work most of the time. Pick one that is not that important.
Yup. Those are the ones I put in Vixen. Very effective.Redline GaugeWorks in Santa Clarita did a full restoration on my gauges and these are the bulbs he agreed would be just fine.
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Redline GaugeWorks in Santa Clarita did a full restoration on my gauges and these are the bulbs he agreed would be just fine.
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Thanks Steven. Yes I’ll get another one for the dome light as well.You've done an incredible job on her Saul! Love the gills too!
Oh get a led equivalent for the dome light, those babies get warm lol.
If you leave one incandescent bulb in somewhere, the dimmer will work. I left them in my aftermarket gauges.I agree. I can hardly call losing the dimmer function a drawback, since the cluster lights in these cars were about like miniature candles anyway. lol
That's an interesting idea.If you leave one incandescent bulb in somewhere, the dimmer will work. I left them in my aftermarket gauges.
I really hope that’s not the case. It was rebuilt a year ago and has been sitting out of the car unused until this year. I never thought about putting LED’s in while it was still out because honestly I thought the brand new bulbs put in during restoration were going to be more than good enough. Well now, I see they’re not. Lesson learned. These pictures were taken during the restoration process
I’ll make sure to double check all this. Thank you.Well if its one bulb, study the illumination pattern it should be obvious which area is shadowed.
The difference in voltage is unquestionably an influence on brightness.
In addition to the diffenence in uspply voltage between running on battery and running on alternator, there is the differnce across the bulb. In practical terms, if there is poor grounding, then the voltage across the bulb will be reduced.
I bring this up because I don't see the ground wire in your cluster photo. Is in neccessary? Probably not. Does it help, surely yes.
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Also , your panel may have one or two bulbs out.
Are the Non polarized bulbs as bright as the polarized ones? In order to get the non polarized feature, you need two more diodes, which is another ~1.5 volt drop. I have never fooled with any, just curious.I got my non-polarized bulbs from a company called SuperBrite
I’ll make sure to double check all this. Thank you.Well if its one bulb, study the illumination pattern it should be obvious which area is shadowed.
The difference in voltage is unquestionably an influence on brightness.
In addition to the diffenence in uspply voltage between running on battery and running on alternator, there is the differnce across the bulb. In practical terms, if there is poor grounding, then the voltage across the bulb will be reduced.
I bring this up because I don't see the ground wire in your cluster photo. Is in neccessary? Probably not. Does it help, surely yes.
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Here is what I get with clean/polished lenses and standard 5W bulbs in a '68 Valiant cluster.
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It's a bench test so no dimmer and this is max power bright.
IMO, no need for leds, lighting is more than enough with bulbs.I wouldn’t have posted this thread.
Ok. So what exactly is your point? That I need to see it while car is running? Make sure it’s grounded correctly?I think we get that. Our point is that the bulb itself may not be the reason it appears dim.
Yes yes and yes.Ok. So what exactly is your point? That I need to see it while car is running? Make sure it’s grounded correctly?
I meant to say if mine looked like that I wouldn’t have posted this thread.
Ok. So what exactly is your point? That I need to see it while car is running? Make sure it’s grounded correctly?