1968 Barracuda Notch - Plano, TX

[mosleyme]

Bench tested cluster lights and gauges

voltage input @ 13.4 Volts to test the voltmeter, various resistors to simulate sending units for oil, fuel, and water.

The stock style bulbs did not put out much light. Since the lenses are blue I opted for blue LED bulbs. Tested between 5 and 13.5 Volts, dimming worked fine. Ran into a funny issue. The “new” holders for the bulbs have a spring clip, when you insert the LEDs all the way in they contact point is above the exposed wires on the bulbs. Because of this they didn’t work. But, pull them out slightly and they are fine. May have to make little plastic spacers.

 

[mosleyme]

Decided against the blue… tested both ways; white LED won out.

Blue:

White:

 

[mygasser]

in the pics at least the blue gives a 'foggy' look, the white is a much 'sharper' cleaner look.
neil.

 

[mosleyme]

Indicator lenses arrived today.

LEDs were way too bright. Just used the 158 incandescent bulbs.

 

[mosleyme]

Test fit OK

 

[DionR]

Test fit OK

View attachment 1716220640

Very nice!

 

[mosleyme]

I figured out why I was having trouble getting the ZEVO bulbs to work. The spring clips in the socket were not grabbing the bulb properly. I used a plastic tool to bend them inward a bit and the LED bulbs then took some effort to push in and they work perfectly now.

left to right
the white is a Zevo 194 LED
black is a AUXITO 194 LED
clear is an incandescent 158 bulb

The ZEVO draws somewhere around 45 mA. I had 4 together drawing about 180 mA total.

The AUXITO pulled about 120 mA each.

The 158 pulled about 160 mA each

Don’t know how accurate the meter is on the power supply, but used same for all three. The reason I checked is because the AUXITO LED was very hot.

The ZEVO are about $20 for a pair and have a lifetime warranty, made by Sylvania.

The AUXITO were about $12 for a box of 10.

Considering I might have to pull the cluster to swap bulbs I would rather have something that will last. Staying with the ZEVO LEDs for the gauge backlights and the factory style 158 bulbs for the four indicator lights.

 

[Biomedtechguy]

The white LEDs do look sharper.
Congratulations on the meticulous work, as usual.
I had the Dakota Digital RTX guages in my 70 Roadrunner, with so many color combinations of needles, backlight, etc I couldn't list them all.
Regarding color, RED at night makes for better night vision for everything around you.