dash lights reworked (again)

[GregCrabb]

Hi All,
A year or so ago I posted about changing my dash light bulbs out with LED bulbs from eBay. I think my circuit board is wearing out due to all the vibration over the past 21 years. They started flickering again, I could hit the top of the cluster and they would come on again, and go off again while driving. Anyway,
I bought some 3 inch LED strip lights on ebay, 4 of them, and just hard wired them into the gray wire going to the cluster and removed all the bulbs. Worked like a charm. The dimmer won't work on them though, but I keep them bright all the time anyway. I didn't even have to paint the reflector silver, left it original. The bulbs are supposed to be white, but they have a violet cast which has a slight black light effect...the numbers sort of glow now. Really a big difference, even better than when the led bulbs were ALL working, and since the strips are hard wired in, they won't vibrate loose. My cheap digital camera won't make a good pic or I'd post one. I can actually see everything now. If anyone is looking for a relatively cheap fix without having to go to digital gauges this works great. Just thought I'd share.

[warwagon]

greg good advice, i have a 1977 gmc & the dash lights do wicked things over bumps! personally i don't like my dash all lit up like you do, i either turn on the inside cab light or use my flashlight, which is on my belt @ all times! however the next time i am in to ripping my dash out for some ? repair i will take your good advice & put it to use!!!!!!!!! carry-on

[WeaselWerks]

FYI, digikey.com sells plug-in LED lamps for various automotive lamp types. Just search for "LED replacements" then select the base style (found in the vehicle manual) and the color you're looking for. Most are rated for 12V systems, are and plug-and-play, so you should be able to dim them using factory wiring. I've had good results with using them for running lights... there's practically no delay in the on/off times.... I'm sure soon we'll start seeing OEM replacement LED lamps... they're already available for aircraft.... ;)

[GregCrabb]

I had the plug in LED bulbs...I think my circuit board is shot or all the sockets are loose, or maybe a combination of both. That's why I removed them and just hardwired the strip lights in. Problem solved.