So I'm thinking about replacing all the dash lighting in the car. Some are burnt out and I figure they could all use replacing.

Does anyone know off hand how many are in the dash? I'm doing a mental check and have come up with 14 for the three large gauges and the center console gauges. 6 of the smaller ones for the fresh air controls, fog and hazard switches. 1 tiny one for the defrost switch.

I figure someone here knows of a thread where there is a count without me breaking open the schematic and hunting them all down.

I checked a few places online and see that both AA and Pelican have them. The one I pulled from the temp gauge says it's 12V 2W, but AA says they sell 12V, 4W. Pelican shows 12V 2W. I'm guessing that my 2W is correct, but not sure. I know the loacl FLAPS doesn't carry these, but has anyone had luck buying them somewhere unrelated? Volkswagen shop in town, certain lighting stores, etc.

You might also check in the vendors section here. There is a guy that makes really cool intrument lighting that you might like.
Cheers, Elliot

Hey Elliot, yes, I've seen those, they are very nice. Just thought I'd kind of stick to stock for right now. Didn't figure finding these would prove to be so difficult. I mean, I know the cars are old, but I figured someone around town would have them.

You could always look at super bright leds.com I went the led way because i dont want to have to change them again ever. plus there are colors

Hmmm...I checked their site and I don't see anything for the dash lighting. I tried their bulb finder tool, and then also just tried looking for them.

Al Garcia did both my 914's with white led's.

I CANNOT live without them now.

Best thing is I can drive the 6 with them on at a track event and it gives me more to look at.

John

The stock dimming circuit will not work with LEDs. You either have them full brightness, or you work up a dimmer circuit to blink the LEDs.

Then again, how many people run their gauge lighting at anything other than full brightness? And in the 74+ cars, the center console lights don't dim anyway.

--DD

Jeff Bowlsby's Tech Notebook

There is at least some, if not all, of the bulb information you're looking for there.

If you do the led's, they were a BA7
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/sto...BA9S6_specs.htm

Only use them for the back lighting IMO, the charge lamp needs to be a standard bulb, and the turn signal polarity is backwards to run the led's. I bought the white ones, was a good difference. I took pictures of the old vs led ones and posted a couple years ago here.

Dash bulbs in my '70 are 2 watt. I found them locally at a VW/Import parts supplier.

Keith