What Are You Doing To/With Your Car Today?
Got tired of not being able to see my gauges due to the lights being too dim in my 71 Demon 340. Then one evening i had NO dash lights so it forced my hand. Tested it out and the headlight switch was the culprit. So I got a new switch and decided to install LEDs for the gauge lights. Got them from SuperBrightLEDS.com.
Pulling a rallye dash cluster is no fun! They are too long and too many other things have to come out to get them out...like the radio and ashtray. And these of course bring their own issues like the defrost ducts, etc, etc. Taped up the dash to protect it and got the cluster out. I tested each bulb in its socket using a 12v power supply. These LEDs are nice in that polarity does not matter plus they are dimmable. Installed them, put power to the dash on the bench and confirmed everything worked. Then reinstalled with the new headlight switch. Also added an additional ground wire to the back of the circuit board for good measure.
WOW - what a difference. I can see the gauges now!! I need to swap out some more of these for sure. I do have one issue and that is the dome light now wants to randomly stay on. If I reach under there and wiggle some wires near the headlight switch, it goes off. I think it is just a wire too close to the dome light wire but until I get back upside down under the dash, I won't know for sure. Aarrgghhhh!!!
Got tired of not being able to see my gauges due to the lights being too dim in my 71 Demon 340. Then one evening i had NO dash lights so it forced my hand. Tested it out and the headlight switch was the culprit. So I got a new switch and decided to install LEDs for the gauge lights. Got them from SuperBrightLEDS.com.
Pulling a rallye dash cluster is no fun! They are too long and too many other things have to come out to get them out...like the radio and ashtray. And these of course bring their own issues like the defrost ducts, etc, etc. Taped up the dash to protect it and got the cluster out. I tested each bulb in its socket using a 12v power supply. These LEDs are nice in that polarity does not matter plus they are dimmable. Installed them, put power to the dash on the bench and confirmed everything worked. Then reinstalled with the new headlight switch. Also added an additional ground wire to the back of the circuit board for good measure.
WOW - what a difference. I can see the gauges now!! I need to swap out some more of these for sure. I do have one issue and that is the dome light now wants to randomly stay on. If I reach under there and wiggle some wires near the headlight switch, it goes off. I think it is just a wire too close to the dome light wire but until I get back upside down under the dash, I won't know for sure. Aarrgghhhh!!!
