m4xwellmurd3r Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Hmmm I jammed in some LED bulbs that we had at the arcade I used to work at into my dash, that ran on 6v (burned them all out of course by ramping the voltage too high) and I could dim them perfectly fine with the stock dimmer in my 78. though I did it all as an experiment and not as a permanent thing. I have found some 12v LED bulbs that are the right size to plug into the socket though (like the ones I had, just rated for a higher voltage) the LED's themselves have some sort of circuitry inside them, consiting of a diode and some little tiny black square. not sure exactly what they were for though. I know the diode was so you don't fry the LED's if you accidentally have a reversed pole, but the little black square i'm not so sure. http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=755&cart_id=485740.13367#BA9s-W4 The wide angle BA9 Single LED's fit pretty well. the ones with a frosted cap on them don't fit that great, and won't snap in, they're just a smidge too tall. I wish I had the 12v ones, guess I'll order some pretty soon, because even in the stock location, the things are so freakin bright that I don't have the need to change anything. They even have festoon bulbs for the maplight (and I think the dome light) which would be REALLY nice to replace~! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 They even have festoon bulbs for the maplight (and I think the dome light) which would be REALLY nice to replace~! Where the heck did they come up with that name, anyhow??? "Festoon..." that one has always had me puzzled..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icehound Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Hey m4xwellmurd3r, is there any chance you can post some pics of the result? Thx D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4xwellmurd3r Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 Hey m4xwellmurd3r, is there any chance you can post some pics of the result? Thx D Will do! I have a little extra cash so I'm buying 10 blue 120* 12v single LED bulbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4xwellmurd3r Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 I bought the LED's They fit in great and are pretty bright (and very blue) You can't really adjust their brightness because of how low of voltage it would take to do so (the stock rheostat or whatever only goes down to something like 8-10v last I remember) but it does mean you can run them with minimal voltage needed to make them bright, which will help them last longer. I do wish they were brighter and had better coverage, but remember, I'm using the stock locations (just replaced the bulbs) AND i still have the green lens filters in, so it does make them dimmer (I may knock them all out one day) They are VERY blue. The tach looks the best because of the bulb layout in it. I wish the speedo had the bulbs closer together so it did the same. Don't mind the image quality, I had to use a cellphone. The tach is fully illuminated with pretty much no dim spots. I'm really tempted to knock the filters out so it shines brighter. the smaller gauges are ok, the volt/fuel could be brighter, but I blame that on the design of the thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icehound Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 Thanks for posting the pics! Interesting, you would think they'd have engineered the gauges better for more even light distribution. It looks good in any case and the photos are probably darker than to the naked eye. Exactly what was the bulbs item number and did you ever try one for the dome light? -D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsicard Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 M4xwell: I did the same thing but did not order enough to do the whole dash. So I got mixed results. The incandescent lamps are brighter but more prone to failure. Ordered the Festoon for the map and overhead light and they work great. Additionally added encased white lights to the door open lighting circuit to shine on the floor and they work great. Am going to add more of same under the arm rest so that as the door is opened there will be light on the ground at the door opening. I want to brighten things up when opening a door or hatch so that things can be seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4xwellmurd3r Posted August 18, 2009 Share Posted August 18, 2009 I never bought the dome light because I dont' know the dimensions of the stock one to replace it. The LED's are actually quite a bit brighter than the incandescent bulbs they replaced, including one that wasn't ment to be ran at car voltages (I think it was ment for more like 8v) However, I'm sure taking out those little filters will help a lot to make them shine better. The exact bulb I got is 2nd on the list http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=755&cart_id=485740.13367 Blue and a 120 degree angle led. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FricFrac Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 I'm converting most of the lighting on my car to LEDs and using the stock bulb sockets so everything can be put back to its original condition. There is one very important thing to note about LED lighting and why I'm doing my conversion. The power used by LEDs is very low in comparison to a normal incandescent bulb and there is no plastic melting/discolouring heat generated. For example I just replaced the 10W festoon bulb above the center console (the one with the hood and push button on the 240Z) with a row of 9 white LEDs. The light is very very slightly blue rather than the very yellow original bulb. The light is much brighter but more importantly rather than running at 10W its now 1/3W. This is very important for the old electrical systems in our cars esp. the connectors and column switches. Running LEDs in the interior and exterior greatly reduces the degredation of the electrical system including the alternator. If you need to adjust the intensity of the bulbs there are chips available that will do PWM (best way to dim an LED) and can use the stock dimmer as an input. You can't adjust the intensity with the voltage since an LED needs to get to a certain voltage to turn on and will not rise above that voltage (which is why you need to drop the rest of the voltage across a resistor or use a constant current source which is fairly easy to build with an LM317). LEDs can also be dimmed by adjusting the current through them but they are not linear. 20mA for most will be full brightness but 10mA will be much more than half the apparent brightness - say around 70%. There are a few companies that have drop in LEDs that go right in the socket. A wise investment not just in a bulb that (typically) doesn't burn out but in preventing wear and tear on your electrical system by greatly reducing power demands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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