LED Dash Lights Crap

[JakeSRIT]

Hey guys

I got 7 of those Narva LED blue dash lights today and fitted them to my tachos and stuff, and the display in my turbs, now i thought they were led but they are the are just a blue blub and they are siht hose so dont buy them i just pulled em back out and chucked em

only cost me $12 but the time and effort you go through to change the originals isnt worth it

just a heads up for yas

[Turblue]

What was so bad about them..???

[Namus]

LED's should cost more than that anyways...?

[JasonGilholme]

i got led's from UK for 35 bucks and they are bright as. You get what you pay for.

Thats all im gonna say

[oneightoo]

how much should 1 LED cost?

i saw them at Disck Smith for about $1.35 each?? are they different LED's to the ones you need to use??

[JasonGilholme]

the ones used in the dash are standard LED's that have been placed in a specific housing and had a resistor soldered in line with it. Theis enables the led to be placed in the dash exactly how the originals came out.

[pred8r]

You could probably get away with dismantling yor globes to get the 'special' housing, buy $10 worth of leds and resistors and DIY. All you need is the housings which you cant buy anyway.

Jaycar would probably be the best bet, d1ckies dont have the range/knowledge.

[R3N]

There are diff LEDs rated at different brightness (mcds), you can get really cheap ones for like $0.30 but they might not be as bright

[low astra]

and you could also probably use the housing out of another car, like a 92 corolla they use a similar mount but a bulb that pushes into a holder, just solder and hot glue your led and resistor into that and it should be fine,

( just go to the wreckers and steal a handfull of the bulb holders from other cars that use the older style bulbs)

[JasonGilholme]

seriously guys its only 30 bucks plus 5 bucks postage from the uk. makes life alot easier and saves you havin to pull the dash apart multiple times when the bodgy method finally phucks up.

[low astra]

that is so true, hehee i pulled my dash out again on the weekend and forgot 2 put a bulb in my odometer, i was in a rush 2 get it back 2gether, ahh well looks better than having it scream 68000km at me

[pred8r]

But then you dont have the challenge of doing it and the satisfaction of having it work correctly having done it yourself.

Theres 13 LEDs of various types in a barina, assuming $2ea for the leds and 50c for the resistors (not all need them) , thats only $33.50 for the whole lot, including the window switches and headlight switch.

Still cheaper than getting them from the UK. (and twice the fun)

[JakeSRIT]

i never did a dodgy job guys i followed a how 2 off another site, cant remember it. but the blubs were just crap. someone on here told me about them they just replace the old 1s. just warnin u guys not to bother with em

[BA55UP]

where exactly can these be bought??? thanks jason :P just saved me lots of time hehe

PS. cheers R3N did a search all found thanks for the reminder

[R3N]

Alex??? .....


Ps - mate do a search on where to buy them, been covered about 4 times now

[JasonGilholme]

the companies name on ebay is ACEParts. search for one of the 4 or 5 threads that i have posted the link in.

[Pred] i don't think you'll be able to get the headlight switch apart to fit the led's in. It's hard enough just to get the switch assembly out. Behind there will also be a 12v bulb so you'll need to use a resistor inline with the led.

those ones that someone bought from narva must be a standard bulb that has blue glass.

led dash lights rock!!!

[pred8r]

[Pred] i don't think you'll be able to get the headlight switch apart to fit the led's in. It's hard enough just to get the switch assembly out. Behind there will also be a 12v bulb so you'll need to use a resistor inline with the led.

You need to replace 1xtwist fit bulb and remove/resolder 1x3mm led
I never said it would be *easy*

[JasonGilholme]

have fun. give us all a look when its done.

[EL BURITO]

i saw the part replacment on ebay about a week ago it was the entire light switch with blue bulbs already replace and the window buttons as well i think they were in Germany.

[pred8r]

As requested

http://www.brown3000.plus.com/pb/c/ls1.jpg

http://www.brown3000.plus.com/pb/c/ls2.jpg

http://www.brown3000.plus.com/pb/LSw.jpg

http://www.brown3000.plus.com/pb/LSw2.JPG

See easy :)

[EL BURITO]

can you give us a look of it in the car.

[JasonGilholme]

i don't think he's done it yet. that might have been a tutorial on how to do it.

if you have done i give us a look tho.

[pred8r]

No, havent done it yet, before i do i want a better dial background and the illuminated needles.

Im tossing up over which colours as I dont like the way the SRI dash is illuminated. It will most likely be either red, white, green or blue.

Ill do an ideas post later but the idea/design bit is the easy part, hard will be getting one made, because if its like an OEM one theres 3-4 layers for the different colours so each would need a different screen for printing.

THEN come the Illuminated needles, which SRis' dont have. I may scrap a high spec commodore dash for the needles and repaint their backs, this would assume they are the same size. Either that or contact VDO or something, not sure.

Does the SXi have Illuminated needles?

[EL BURITO]

If youve seen the dash on the XR8 they are fully sick. My mates mum has one its purple light on a blue backing with red needles. No idear if this is standard or Mod but it looks so cool.
If you do it. it will prob cost you arm and 1/2 a leg. Is it really worth it. Lockwood dials are like $150 and you can only get em in white for the the C i was looking into thm but i am not spending that much on some plastic backing. Good luck any ways

[pred8r]

Ive just spent the past few hours making the LED/resistor bulbs to replace the factory ones, some things ive learnt;

1/ It is NOT cheaper ($4.80ish each, 18000mcd White) than buying them from O/S complete
2/ It is not 'quick and easy' - you need to dissassemble a working globe to get the holder, then drill it out to fit it all inside it.
3/ The drivers side window switches are surface-mount, passenger is not.
4/ you cannot solder to the lugs on the OEM globe holder for the headlight switch (funny alloy)
5/ waterclear red and white LEDS look the same when off :confused:
6/ if you follow step 2 you need to drill out behind the switch to fit the headlight switch back in.
7/ the heater controls will light yellowish with white leds because its slightly yellow inside :mad:
8/ theres a tiny hole under the left rail of the driverseat that is just the right size for a $5 led to fall into, never to be seen again.
9/ the 'normal' leds inside the headlight and window switches are spotwelded in.
10/ the heater ones are a BASTARD and you need cardboard to stop them shorting out.

so far so good, next step, MFD, Speedo and odometer.