LED dash lights and upgraded headlights

[Pags44]

Hey guys,

Looking at lots of threads about LEDs. Seems like there are a lot of cheap LEDs out there that some people have luck with but others don't. I'm looking to convert the car to all LEDs. I bought a complete exterior kit and doors and domes interior kit from DMCMW because I figure they're tried & true and not made in China, but the kits do not include any LEDs for behind the dash or upgraded headlights. I haven't installed anything yet.

Any established LEDs for the dash that I could order? I hear that we'd have to watch the brightness as it could blind you while driving...maybe there is one that doesn't? Or some kind of frosted led?

Same with headlights (I'd love to keep a warm white color for the headlights to keep the incandescent look). Doesn't have to be led, maybe HID or xenon?

Thanks!

[Christian Dietrich]

Hey guys,

Looking at lots of threads about LEDs. Seems like there are a lot of cheap LEDs out there that some people have luck with but others don't. I'm looking to convert the car to all LEDs. I bought a complete exterior kit and doors and domes interior kit from DMCMW because I figure they're tried & true and not made in China, but the kits do not include any LEDs for behind the dash or upgraded headlights. I haven't installed anything yet.

Any established LEDs for the dash that I could order? I hear that we'd have to watch the brightness as it could blind you while driving...maybe there is one that doesn't? Or some kind of frosted led?

Same with headlights (I'd love to keep a warm white color for the headlights to keep the incandescent look). Doesn't have to be led, maybe HID or xenon?

Thanks!
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Here are few pictures of mine and you can see a lot more in my photo album. I ordered all my LEDs from super bright LEDs. Com the lights of the shifter gate pattern and the DMC logo on the passenger side knee pad is electroluminescent panels that I got from adafruit.com. I modified my instrument cluster to fit a larger size LEDs. Everything in the cluster is Led except for the alternator bolts which you want to leave as an incandescent. The panel for the HVAC controls is a custom circuit board made in either blue or green that I got from Dave McKeen and he is on here also as Bitsyncmaster.

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[RIUM+]

Headlights are tricky things because they need to be far brighter than a little indicator light like in our dashes. And they have to meet the light intensity falloff pattern requirements to be road-legal. The only drop-in replacement, road-legal LED headlights for our car that I'm aware of are still very expensive compared to normal headlights, for instance these ones (https://www.amazon.com/JW-Speaker-8800-Evolution-Headlight/dp/B00X6BYMIQ).

[Michael]

Dave's led panel installed along with LED window switches and my own mod, a RGB LED strip in the binnacle which gives me any color and any brightness level with a hidden controller under the dash.
Since LED'S are not dimmable with the factory rheostat, the white OE bulbs remain and give me some interesting color mixing options (like green lights w/white odometer and trip meter numbers)

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The LED strip attaches on the cluster pointing up to the light diffuser. The scattered light then points down to the gauges which keeps it from becoming to much of distraction. Intensity of Dave's unit and my mod are user selectable. Here is a video of both of them running at 60%

https://youtu.be/_RldVtNNBJU

[mr_maxime]

The issue might run into with HIDs is the build quality of the semi sealed 4x6 headlights. If you can get decent ones you can buy either Kensun hids or leds for them off of Amazon.

[DMC-81]

+ 1 on SuperBright LEDs. Same/ similar as you, I got the exterior, doors & dome, headlight & hazard switch from DMC. They were very reasonable and I'm happy with the quality. I'm currently doing the A/C panel /console and I got those from SBL. I bought from them previously for my Camaro and I was happy with both the price and quality.

There is a helpful guide (http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?7154-DeLoran-DMC-12-Incandescent-and-LED-Bulb-Reference) from Ozzie on the various bulb part numbers that you need in the Resource section.

[DMC5180]

A Tip for those that like to go overboard and convert the indication bulbs. Using LED in the Hi/Lo headlight indicators is a BAD Idea. They are annoyingly bright for night driving as either one is always on. Instead just use a standard 161 bulb. It is the lowest wattage of those style bulbs @ 2.7 Watts. Your eyes will thank you. You must stick with the original bulb in the BATT light. Everything else is fair game.

[Christian Dietrich]

Im fine with my high low indicator bulbs and I'm not bothered by the light at all but I guess it all depends on people's vision and stuff like that.

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[Christian Dietrich]

Dave's led panel installed along with LED window switches and my own mod, a RGB LED strip in the binnacle which gives me any color and any brightness level with a hidden controller under the dash.
Since LED'S are not dimmable with the factory rheostat, the white OE bulbs remain and give me some interesting color mixing options (like green lights w/white odometer and trip meter numbers)

43637

43635

43636

The LED strip attaches on the cluster pointing up to the light diffuser. The scattered light then points down to the gauges which keeps it from becoming to much of distraction. Intensity of Dave's unit and my mod are user selectable. Here is a video of both of them running at 60%

https://youtu.be/_RldVtNNBJU
Looks great in green. I went with blue on mine. Nice pictures!

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[Michael]

Looks great in green. I went with blue on mine. Nice pictures!

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I like green the best but the warm white is trick too. It looks OE except you can make it as bright as you want and it's evenly distributed.



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[Christian Dietrich]

I like green the best but the warm white is trick too. It looks OE except you can make it as bright as you want and it's evenly distributed.



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Looks great Michael! Very nicely done! You see the pics i put up? I modified my 4 holes from the cluster lights to fit a larger 194 bulb that consists of 17 leds per bulb. My phone makes it look brighter than it appears but it distributes the color evenly and it's not too bright or glaring that and I like blue.

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[Christian Dietrich]

Looks great Michael! Very nicely done! You see the pics i put up? I modified my 4 holes from the cluster lights to fit a larger 194 bulb that consists of 17 leds per bulb. My phone makes it look brighter than it appears but it distributes the color evenly and it's not too bright or glaring that and I like blue.

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I remember seeing you do this a while back.. also have a few things with electroluminescent panels in my car as well.

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[Chris4099]

Regarding the headlight/turn signal indicators, I went with the 32 degree beam at 15 lumens on Superbrightleds.com. Provides a nice solid color but isn't any brighter than the originals. These are also nice in that they have a rectifier in each bulb which means they can go in either way. Cheaper bulbs are polarity sensitive and you have to plug them in and test to see if they work. If not, you then have to turn them 180 degrees and reinstall. It may be rough spending so much on LED bulbs from Superbrightleds.com compared to cheap eBay ones, but for some applications they are the way to go.

As for the headlights, I don't know of any LED replacements that are at the same color temp as the halogens. The lowest temp I found was the JW Speaker 8800 at 5k. Personally, I find the cooler temps do a much better job of illuminating the roadway and reflecting off of signs. There's a reason why modern cars are moving away from halogen and switching to HID/LED projectors.

[Christian Dietrich]

Agreed! I dont feel guilty spending good money on led bulbs from superbright and i never had one fail me yet. Every bulb in the tail lamps is a tower style high power bulb and very very bright! There expensive but kick ass! My reverse lights alone blast out light when backing up at night! Sounds like you did a good choice! I converted my 2011 Civic to all led's from them in 2012 and there still going stong and my lights are on all the time cause i work night.

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[Pags44]

Thanks, guys. I spent some good time going through your links and the super bright website. Bought several different options to see how thy would turn out. I'd like to keep as retro as possible so I bought the warm whites, natural whites, and cool whites along with the associated colors.

I even bought the replacement incandescent bulb that has to remain in there to start the car. That's really unfortunate...must be tied to the alternator. But hey, if our cars didn't have some little quirks to them, it wouldn't be a DeLorean!

[Christian Dietrich]

That is normal that have the incandescent bulb as the alternator light because how it works is it the alternator stops charging the incandescent bulb now is grounded and comes on to let you know that the alternator is bad. It's interesting how it works but a lot of cars from that era were like that. If you ever go to replace the glove box light that's going to be a fun time because those bulbs are very hard to come by and you literally have to get them from overseas so I went ahead and bought 10 of them from China so now I have a high intensity bright LED light in the glove box.

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[Christian Dietrich]

It is the only light bulb in the car that actually screws in instead of just simply pushes in. I believe it is called 12v E10

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[Pags44]

I've been doing some research and am coming across questions. I've found some less expensive LED headlights on Amazon but they're a cool white at 8000k and I'm looking to duplicate the retro look as best I can.

I've found HID bulbs that have a warmer tone at 4300k but am not sure if I can replace just the bulbs or if some kind of conversion kit is necessary. I've also read and heard about a ton of road safety rules and HID lights being too bright for the law (and other drivers being blinded).

Can anyone weigh in here? I'd love to have warmer tones at the easiest and cheapest route.

Thanks, guys...

[Chris4099]

Can anyone weigh in here? I'd love to have warmer tones at the easiest and cheapest route.

First of all, the headlights are the last thing you should go cheap on. They are so critical to not only your safety but other cars on the road as well.

Just about any method requires a conversion kit that replaces the sealed beams with a housing that accepts modern bulbs (typically H4). See my thread here on when I did a LED conversion:
http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?13455-LED-Headlight-Conversion

Please note that these conversion kits are meant for halogen H4 bulbs and the optics are designed accordingly. You can't just swap in an HID or LED bulb and expect it to work properly. As you can see in my thread, I had to do some modifications to get the optics to work well and both provide good light and not blind oncoming traffic.

[DMC-81]

Can anyone weigh in here? I'd love to have warmer tones at the easiest and cheapest route.


I'd love to have LED headlights, but for me, I want a plug and play unit that doesn't require mods to the buckets or wiring. So, I'm waiting/hoping for the technology/ innovation to improve.

In the meantime, I installed Sylvania SilverStar headlights. They give whiter light than stock incandescent and they are a reasonably priced upgrade.

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[Pags44]

The DMC LEDs turned out to be a cool white so I guess that's what we'll go with inside the dash too with super bright LEDs. I also picked up the Sylvania halogens that look the same. Should look pretty awesome when we get finished! Thanks for the advice!