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Swapping out to Led's?

After driving it again in total darkness this morning, I'm thinking of desoldering either 1 or 2 of the leds from the front of the unit (the small 74's). They have 3 smd leds on each and they are just way too bright. I'll take 2 of the units to experiment with and see how it goes. I'll have to rig something up to test outside of the car. I really didn't want to switch everything to red so hopefully this works.

Good luck with that, they do make 1smd lamps...
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/miniature-and-subminiature-bulbs/74-led-bulb-1-smd-led-miniature-wedge-retrofit-car/227/
 
Got the cluster out today and got a lot of the pin-out's figured but still missing some. I also broke one of the "illumination" bulbs trying to remove it. Feeling a little burnt out right now from this!
 
New day, but continuing with with yesterdays headache. Being a Jeep nothing is simple, last night I had to put in rush order for 30 PC74 sockets as all my lamps are permanently mounted. I still have 5 lamps that I haven't been able to identify the polarity on, I bounce back-n-forth between the FSM and my cluster with a ohm meter. Hopefully today will go better!
 
Well, so much for the T3 neo wedge LEDs I ordered...the oem were definitely NOT T3...They must be T5s. I think there must be some light piping going on inside that HVAC panel since there only appear to be 2 bulbs. I removed the leds from the bases I ordered and re-fitted them into the OEM bases. They aren't very bright, I think I need to find an omni directional version for these.
 
I received my PC74 sockets last night and started loading up the cluster. I still had 2 lamps that I could not identify the polarity so I just installed incandescent bulbs in those. I did a test fit last night and it looks great, I will button it all up today!
 
I received my PC74 sockets last night and started loading up the cluster. I still had 2 lamps that I could not identify the polarity so I just installed incandescent bulbs in those. I did a test fit last night and it looks great, I will button it all up today!

I ran into this....did you have to put the leds in the old brown holders? I found that even if you reverse polarity, sometimes they do not light and you have to rotate the holder 180 degrees. it makes no sense, but I had and issue when I was replacing the ones that i put down to 1 led and was able to get everything working that way. The hvac bulbs should come today. The originals I bought were way too small (T3) and only a single led. The new ones are T10 and 3 leds so hopefully they will work better.
 
I installed 21 leds out of the 23 lamps in the cluster (including the 5 brown socket illumination lamps). Everything worked right out of the box like planned. I did try to look at the AC controls but did not enough slack in the wiring to even "see" the lamps, so I bolted it all up and am calling it good for now.
 
I installed 21 leds out of the 23 lamps in the cluster (including the 5 brown socket illumination lamps). Everything worked right out of the box like planned. I did try to look at the AC controls but did not enough slack in the wiring to even "see" the lamps, so I bolted it all up and am calling it good for now.

Pretty simple..reach in on the left and unclip the main connector that carries the power, then it will loosen up enough to see the leds... one is on the top and other on the bottom... they are close to the center knob is the best way I can describe location...gray bases and... GUESS WHAT? LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES.... I bought T3s... too small... was convinced they were T5s... TOO BIG!!!! annoying as &!$%! SO...by process of elimination they must be T4s (pic at this link talking about the neo wedge bases) http://www.wardenjp.com/stores/neowedge.html

Anyway, I was able to tear apart a few 194's and transplant the LEDS into the gray stock bases and it works perfect...very bright. I wasted about $20 on the WRONG base styles! I used to mess around with electronics quite a bit so I'll likely find a use for the LEDs in the future it's just annoying since I could have accomplished what I ended up doing without having bought the T3 and T5 versions.
 
I finished up the resin job on the 1156's and will install them today and then I'm done. I really have no issues with the AC control lighting. More importantly I want to change over to "led indicator fuses" and then I'll be done with everything. At 61 this has really improved the visibility for me! I'll get pics tonight of the finished interior.
 
Both sets of pics were taken at the same time of night with the same camera....
Kick panel before: (barely can see anything)
P1080878.JPG

Kick panel after:
P1080886.JPG

Cluster before:
P1080880.JPG

Cluster after:
P1080887.JPG
 
Nice improvement.

My aging eyes appreciate the difference.
 
So I am confused.
That first shot of the cluster.
Is that with the lights dimmed all the way with the headlights on?

The cluster pics were taken with only the parking lights on, I was getting some glare off the garage wall from the fronts!
 
OK so was it with the parking lights on with the dimmer turned all the way down?

I noticed later that in the original shot the it was not turned "up" all the way (75%).

Obviously the kick panel is not on a dimmer.
 
I noticed later that in the original shot the it was not turned "up" all the way (75%).

Obviously the kick panel is not on a dimmer.

That makes a little sense cause I was wondering why the lighting was so dark in the cluster with the factory bulbs in.
The thing is your second shot with the cluster the LED's looks like what mine looks like at night.
With factory bulbs.
I picked up a Police Version cluster awhile back.
Thinking '97 or '98 cause it says Check Engine instead of it just being a symbol.
So I thought maybe if I ever get to getting it in would swap over to LED's.
Thing is mine look fine at night.
So I question me doing it or not.
Now the interior with the OneWayLight kit. Vast improvement there.
 
id not want dash lights that cant be dimmed. new cars with all their screens and displays are horrible for night vision. I got a car radio with tons of pretty blue accent lighting all over, cant dim the stupid thing at all, so I covered them with black tape. the stupid radio station tune display cant be wired to dim with the gage lights, instead it is a funky ordeal to dim the display via soft keys and menus, and it only has a high and low setting, when dim in daytime you cant see the station display at all, and on bright it blinds me at night, and the pull down menus are so complex, it becomes frustrating and dangerous to adjust the brightness when driving, but no mater what brightness the station display is, the blue accent lights around every knob and button are full brightness if not for the black tape. I hate these damn things blinding me at night, hate them, and the stupidity of soft key or pull down menus for a dimmer control is epic. stupid new generation computer crap is dangerous. give me an old school radio, where the only light is the tunner station display and include a wire to allow it to be hooked to the gage dimmer control, no rotten soft key or freaking menus, gawd I hate that crap.
 
id not want dash lights that cant be dimmed. new cars with all their screens and displays are horrible for night vision. I got a car radio with tons of pretty blue accent lighting all over, cant dim the stupid thing at all, so I covered them with black tape. the stupid radio station tune display cant be wired to dim with the gage lights, instead it is a funky ordeal to dim the display via soft keys and menus, and it only has a high and low setting, when dim in daytime you cant see the station display at all, and on bright it blinds me at night, and the pull down menus are so complex, it becomes frustrating and dangerous to adjust the brightness when driving, but no mater what brightness the station display is, the blue accent lights around every knob and button are full brightness if not for the black tape. I hate these damn things blinding me at night, hate them, and the stupidity of soft key or pull down menus for a dimmer control is epic. stupid new generation computer crap is dangerous. give me an old school radio, where the only light is the tunner station display and include a wire to allow it to be hooked to the gage dimmer control, no rotten soft key or freaking menus, gawd I hate that crap.


Preach it brother!!

I hate menus and silly features. Just a bunch of things to go wrong and no good way to eliminate them and keep the essentials working.
 
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