SMD LEDs for the Binnacle/Dash Lights

[BigBenb84]

Need a pic? Looks like my odometer light was not in when I took this. All the green ones are the for gauge illumination.

IMG_1587.jpg

[jawn101]

Need a pic? Looks like my odometer light was not in when I took this. All the green ones are the for gauge illumination.

IMG_1587.jpg

Awesome, thanks! Now we just need one with polarity markings...

[sdg3205]

J,

Are these too bright at night? Say if you're out in the country in the pitch black...

My only concern is not being able to dim them if I need to, otherwise I'd be all over it, like a.... well... you know!

[DeLorean03]

J,

Are these too bright at night? Say if you're out in the country in the pitch black...

My only concern is not being able to dim them if I need to, otherwise I'd be all over it, like a.... well... you know!

This is subjective. I'll admit, they are pretty darn bright. I'm considering making a video for this soon - maybe the video would get the light better than the camera. I'd say for city driving they are great. I would say - for out in the middle of nowhere driving - they would be a distraction. I love them so much I just don't care, but if the light might be a distraction or "too bright" - I'd consider the wedge bulbs that have been mentioned by Jawn.

Ben's picture is great. Just flip it 180 degrees, as in his picture all the "indicator" lamps are on the left - the door ajar needs to be on the left if you're using the writeup I posted.

[DeLorean03]

As promised:



Even the video doesn't really get the full extent of the light given off by the LEDs. Hope it gives an idea of how it looks though!

[BigBenb84]

I have the older LEDs, and I don't like how they light up my knees at night. They also slightly flicker at low idle. Not being able to dim them sucks.

[jawn101]

Hey Jer and maybe Dave (fingers crossed) -

I started my LED install this afternoon and ran into a problem. I figured I'd start easy and do the HVAC panel, headlight/hazard switches and the lighter ring. The HVAC bubls worked and look great. Then I moved on to the headlamp switch (bulb was working) and the hazard (bulb was burned out). I put in the LEDs and turned the headlights on, but neither lit. So I flipped them. Still nothing. Then I noticed that the backlight bulbs in the binnacle weren't lighting either. I know they were before I started, because I took a 'before' picture.

I removed all the LEDs from the HVAC panel and put back all the original incandescent bulbs. So what I'm seeing now is that there's no illumination in either switch, the lighter ring, or the dash backlighting. But, the headlights work fine, as do the green/blue indicators in the dashboard. Turn signals, dash warning lamps are all fine as well. I checked the connections to the rheostat and they're fine. I checked the fuses for dash services and the lighter/clock and they are fine. I

What's going on? Everything in the binnacle is still incandescent, I didn't even touch that area of the car. All I did was pull off the HVAC panel and put in those 7 LEDs.

[Ozzie]

Yeah, this happens with the Type 85 (aka: "wedge") LEDS, there's a little trick involved to get them to work in our car's sockets.

Check the new LEDs, do they have the wire leads on both sides? If so, notice how each lead starts on one side of the LED, and wraps to the other side. If you leave them like that, the tiny little contacts on the Type 85 sockets used in this application, will then electrically contact both sides, and thus they will not light up. The incandescent bulb that you took out doesn't care about polarity so a wrap around lead was previously not an issue with the old bulb.

The solution is that you want to have the top and bottom contacts of the socket (they are very small), only contact the separate sides of the LEDs. Check out this picture of the socket (and of my fingerprints) on the Hazard Switch.

Notice that the top contacts are separate from the bottom contacts - so if you have an LED w/ wrap around leads and plug it here, you're actually both feeding them 12V and Ground on both sides. Not going to work that way.

The simple fix is to unwrap each of the LED's wires, and clip them so they do not wrap around. Once you do that, they'll match the socket's polarity requirement, but only in one direction (try one first, if not spin it).

You'll need to this for both light and hazard switch lights, and the cig lighter light.

[jawn101]

Yeah, this happens with the Type 85 (aka: "wedge") LEDS, there's a little trick involved to get them to work in our car's sockets.

Check the new LEDs, do they have the wire leads on both sides? If so, notice how each lead starts on one side of the LED, and wraps to the other side. If you leave them like that, the tiny little contacts on the Type 85 sockets used in this application, will then electrically contact both sides, and thus they will not light up. The incandescent bulb that you took out doesn't care about polarity so a wrap around lead was previously not an issue with the old bulb.

The solution is that you want to have the top and bottom contacts of the socket (they are very small), only contact the separate sides of the LEDs. Check out this picture of the socket (and of my fingerprints) on the Hazard Switch.

Notice that the top contacts are separate from the bottom contacts - so if you have an LED w/ wrap around leads and plug it here, you're actually both feeding them 12V and Ground on both sides. Not going to work that way.

The simple fix is to unwrap each of the LED's wires, and clip them so they do not wrap around. Once you do that, they'll match the socket's polarity requirement, but only in one direction (try one first, if not spin it).

You'll need to this for both light and hazard switch lights, and the cig lighter light.

I noticed that and did clip one of the LEDs before I installed it - specifically the headlamp switch bulb. But, that doesn't explain why the dash lights went out or why things are still messed up even though I've put things back to incandescent. Also, even the LED whose leads I clipped didn't work in either orientation.

It does seem like everything is related to the headlamp switch - since the dash illumination only comes on when the headlights are on, as do the lamps in the headlight and hazard switches and cigar lighter. Could having the LED leads shorted or polarity reversed (even for just a moment) have damaged the switch somehow?

[Ozzie]

Check Fuse #6.

I kept blowing it and found that my Hazard Switch was loose internally and was creating a short. The faulty switch would also take out fuse #4 as well.

A reverse polarity insertion has yet to take out either a fuse or an LED for me.