Jim Lane

Does anyone know how many #194 lamps there are in our instrument cluster?

Who has replaced the lamps with LED’s, what color did you use?

Also if you have had it off recently, do the lights protrude past the dial faces behind the bezel or they behind them?

Has anyone heard of an Indiglo dial face for our year truck?

Thanks Jim

angelfire7

Hey Jim,
I believe there are six 194 lamps in the instrument cluster that illuminate the gauges. However, my FSM shows 12 lamps total for the printed circuit board, that's illumination, turn signals, high beam, and idiot lights. The following site has some info:

http://www.whitegauges.net/led_resul...brandID=998510

I am going to use the white gauge coverings with red led's to help with my night vision, I will change the bulbs to red in my AutoMeter gauges as well.

Hope this helps,
Joseph

timb

Wow! Those blue bulbs with the white background look great. I think I will go with that set-up.

RumbleFish

If you are using any color other than blue or green, you need to get rid of the green plastic in the cluster that turns your white light green. Wow, I hope that made sense.

GasganoFJ60

Go with the LED bulbs. I was cheap and picked up regualr 194's that were just painted blue and they are worthless.

At first, they were a nice blue color but they werent bright enough. And over time it seems the blue pain on the bulbs has faded away and now my cluster is just this pale white color now.

Next time I have an urge to rip my dash apart Ill order the blue LEDs.

Jim Lane

I am going to convert them to the LED's, I have seen some that are a lot brighter than the ones they have on that site, but I like the overlays.

I am not sure on what color though, I like the Green and the Blue but sometimes the Blue light messes with your vision and you see spots.

Red is good for the night vision but the new color they use in aircraft is a Blue/Green color.

Another thought is to use the white overlay and then to use an Ultraviolet LED and paint the needles and numbers with a UV reactive paint so the needles and numbers will glow brightly but once again I do not want to mess up my night vision.

I have also experimented using indigo blue LED’s in front of the instrument panel to illuminate the dials from the front, the red dial markings and needles glow brightly but I would have to refine the way to mount them.
I think the old Challengers from the 70’s were lit this way.
I think I can get dangerous when my mind starts to wander.

Has anyone had any experience from the overlays from this website?
http://www.whitegauges.net/led_resul...brandID=998510

I am just in the thinking stages right now.
Thanks Jim

Jim Lane

It sure does, these green plastic lenses for the clear lamps color the light green by filtering out all of the visible frequencies of the spectrum except for the green wavelength.

If you were to install a Red LED behind the green filter you would filter out the Red wavelength and probably see nothing but if you put a Blue LED behind the Green filter you might see a bit of the Blue light but not much.

If you put a Green LED behind the Green filter, hey I see Green light.

Jim

materdiesel

I have best luck with these that put out light in many directions, otherwise you get 'splotchy' lighting...

I've always used red lights because of this theory..

timb

So, let's say that a person is color blind such as myself. Would all of that light spectrum stuff go right out the window? LOL

materdiesel

No, you just shouldn't drive. :P

RumbleFish

The overlays I have in my Ramcharger came from ebay. $15 plus shipping. That was about 3 years ago and they still look good. At the time they only had them for the older 85 mph dashes, but I have since seen them for the newer 100+.

Jim Lane

I have always had red cockpit lighting in my trucks to illuminate the interiors, it is amazing what you are able to see inside and not destroy your normal night vision.
The one I have is from a UH-1 Huey; I had to convert it from the 28-volt aircraft lamp to a 12 volt to match the truck electrical.
I am going to convert this lamp to take a 3 watt Luxeon LED to get rid of the heat the lamp generates, it will burn your hand.

Jim



Some good reading,
http://www.flightsafety.org/hf/hf_sept-oct03.pdf