Improving dash light brightness? Options

[914werke]

I had the opportunity to use the products from carmagic (both LEDs & trim rings) & had a less that favorable experience from both the products & the customer service. FYI

[bandjoey]

My reason for using Tim's service is for a completely illuminated gauge. Look at the bulb placement now...see dark areas not illuminated? it'll still be the same with LED's. Brighter LEDs don't spread into the entire gauge imho

[Steve]

Hey all,

My one (and only) complaint with my 914 is that the dash lights are very faint and very hard to see at night (speedometer, etc.).

Someone told me that brighter LED bulbs are available. Is that correct? If so, can someone provide me with:

1. What bulbs?
2. What source to buy them?
3. How many do I need?
4. Are they direct replacements (i.e. no other modifications need to install them)
5. To replace them, do I take out the 5 or so screws on the dash faceplate to access them?

Thanks, guys!

The bulbs, designation BA7s-W, can be obtained from superbrightleds.com http://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/ba9s-ba7s/

I bought a pack of 15, which is plenty to replace all of the incandescent bulbs in the
instrument cluster. They are direct plug-ins. Their is no need to remove any screws. Just pull the gauges directly out from the instrument cluster, remove the light receptacles from the rear of the gauges, remove the incandescent bulbs and replace with the LEDs.

It makes a huge difference in illumination.

This is what i did for my car. The bulbs are direct replacement. I had to take off my steering wheel to pull the gauges. The only downside is the bulbs are not brightness adjustable, but the brightness is just right, so I wouldn't want to adjust them anyway.
I only did the illumination bulbs. I left the stock bulbs for the idiot lights. I also have quite a stash of 914 parts, so I was able to change all the illumination bulb holders to the BA7 type.

[drem914]

This is what i did for my car. The bulbs are direct replacement. I had to take off my steering wheel to pull the gauges. The only downside is the bulbs are not brightness adjustable, but the brightness is just right, so I wouldn't want to adjust them anyway.
I only did the illumination bulbs. I left the stock bulbs for the idiot lights. I also have quite a stash of 914 parts, so I was able to change all the illumination bulb holders to the BA7 type.

@Steve that's good to hear since the BA7 bulbs I found on amazon are supposed to be 200LM and the BA9 you swapped out for are listed at 150LM. The lower powered LEDS provided by carmagic and 914Ruber are listed for 50LM so I will be curious to see how the swap goes. I did them a few years back, it was a relatively easy swap, but not a big boost in brightness.

[drem914]

This is what i did for my car. The bulbs are direct replacement. I had to take off my steering wheel to pull the gauges. The only downside is the bulbs are not brightness adjustable, but the brightness is just right, so I wouldn't want to adjust them anyway.
I only did the illumination bulbs. I left the stock bulbs for the idiot lights. I also have quite a stash of 914 parts, so I was able to change all the illumination bulb holders to the BA7 type.

@Steve that's good to hear since the BA7 bulbs I found on amazon are supposed to be 200LM and the BA9 you swapped out for are listed at 150LM. The lower powered LEDS provided by carmagic and 914Ruber are listed for 50LM so I will be curious to see how the swap goes. I did them a few years back, it was a relatively easy swap, but not a big boost in brightness.

Okay, so here is the result.
(brightness with shop lights on in the garage directly overhead)



and lights off except for running lights
(Spokeworks LED front European style turn signals. They are bright enough to use them a driving lights.)


I did not take a photo before. I should have to show the huge difference. I'll have to see if I have a before shot somewhere.
50lm vs 200lm, I would say so.

I found these on amazon
BA7 LED bulbs

They come in a 10 pack for about $22.

I will have to see how long they last. I was going to change the colored bulbs also, but so far what I have not seen any reason.

The only downside to this is I now I cannot find one of my steering wheel screws.(IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)
I'll have to look during the day and see where it has run off to.

[R Dub]

I had the opportunity to use the products from carmagic (both LEDs & trim rings) & had a less that favorable experience from both the products & the customer service. FYI

I used Carmagic LEDs for my gauges as Timothy was backed up. So this was a cheap and easy alternative. I am quite happy with the results and customer service. Are they as bright as a LED strip? Heck no. Do they look as cool as a LED strip? Heck no. Are they way better than stock? Of God yes!

Sorry you had a poor experience with them though

[drem914]

No direct replacements that I know of. You can take the gauges apart and put LED strips inside. You can build a timer circuit to flicker them to make them seem dimer or brighter.

Or, you can:
- Clean all ground connections for the gauge lights
- Clean all power connections from the battery, to the ignition switch, to the headlight switch, to the dimmer, to the lights
- Replace the bulbs with new ones
- Clean the glass in the gauge
- Re-paint the inside of the gauge to reflect the light around better

Each of the above should help a bit. When all done together, you'll have lights that are OK but not super bright.

--DD

Well, Now there are.

[barefoot]

My new LED lamps for instrument backlighting DO dim with with the headlight switch rotation.

Before installation, I tested them with either terminal positive and they worked either way.

@barefoot

Can you expand on how these LEDs can be dimmed with the OEM headlight rheostat?

Didn't do anything, they just worked. I can send you a few to try as i got more than needed.

Barefoot