Anyone running LED's in their IP/cluster?

[95z28]

Just this fall I put red Led's from superbrightleds and it turned out pretty good, one thing I did notice though is they don't seem to dim like the stock bulbs would, but the red isn't blinding at all so its not a problem.

[Atrus]

Just this fall I put red Led's from superbrightleds and it turned out pretty good, one thing I did notice though is they don't seem to dim like the stock bulbs would, but the red isn't blinding at all so its not a problem.

I've converted the HVAC over with superbrightleds - using WWHP-74 bulbs and they really dim just as well as the stock bulbs did. I am hoping to tackle the gauge cluster tonight or this weekend and see how those look and work. Thus far, if the HVAC is a good indicator, the superbrightleds SMD "bulbs" give a really nice bright white color behind the stock faces. I really didn't want the blue look.

[Atrus]

So, brief boring update with no pics...

Much like the rest of my projects, this is going slowly. I got the HVAC swapped over, and like I mentioned, the Warm White LEDs seem to work really well. No discernible blue tint, looks nice and white. I swapped over the gauge cluster, and that too looks good. I do have a couple of "cold" spots in the lighting, but that was present with the stock bulbs too. I hope to supplement it somehow to remediate that. I have a couple of other plans for the cluster, so I haven't put it back in permanently.

The part I am hung up on is the headlight/IP dimmer switch. The overlay seems to have far more blue "filter" applied to it than the HVAC/cluster. My assumption is that the NEO3 incandescent bulb just throws off a different shade of light than the stock 174's and 194's. Anyway, I tried both the SMD and standard "cool white" NEO3 bulbs from superbrightleds, but they were VERY blue. I tried to strip the blue filter, but the entire face of the switch is painted on - literally, the black background, white lettering, and blue filter all came off. I was left with a crappy looking clear piece of plastic film.

So, I've been brainstorming and working on my own overlay as I am not about to pay McNord $125 or anything near it for the overlay to look stock. If I am lucky, I can get mine made with about $10-$15 worth of materials. Anyway, that's where I am at. I'll put periodic updates with my findings in here, and when it's all said and done I'll document how I did everything in my project thread. I wanted to update this thread as it seems there's a lot of people working on or considering a swap, and I wanted to let you all know the challenge with the headlight/dimmer switch.

[93formulalt1]

I currently have some work being done to my spare instrument cluster, HVAC controls, and Headlight/Dimmer, as well as the rest of my interior lighting (dome light, map lights, footwell lights, map pocket lights, etc.), and I'll gladly share pics and details when the work is done.

[Atrus]

That'd be great, Nick! I am appreciative of all the information others post on various topics that have helped me out, and I'd like to share what I learn to save others a few $'s worth of mistakes and some time.

Common convention seems to be the only options are cool white (making a blue or aqua color) or to buy McNord gauges. I am hoping I can prove there are other options!

[93formulalt1]

That'd be great, Nick! I am appreciative of all the information others post on various topics that have helped me out, and I'd like to share what I learn to save others a few $'s worth of mistakes and some time.

Common convention seems to be the only options are cool white (making a blue or aqua color) or to buy McNord gauges. I am hoping I can prove there are other options!

McNord Gauge overlays are no longer available, last I heard. . . Not profitable enough, so the machine to make them, which was leased/borrowed, was returned.

Mike and I are working on a couple of options though, so we may be able to help you out on that front. Firebirds have the same problem, only with red being the only color you can use. I'd like to go with a custom color.

[Madman337]

You can dim an LED either through PWM controls - turning them on and off very fast to maintain a constant color temperature or forward-current dimming (analog), which merely reduces the current flowing through an LED. This results in more heat expelled through the system since the LED isn't using that power, as well as the LED's color temperature shifting (when dimmed). I notice a slight change in color, but nothing that is an issue - they still stay blue. I rarely dim my interior lights, though, but I've done it a few times for a hour or so at a time and had no problems.

A good quick read I found on this subject: http://www.digikey.com/us/en/techzon...im-an-led.html

I just read this because I am also interested in doing an led conversion on my car and truck so I wanted to say thank you it is a very good read.

[Atrus]

McNord Gauge overlays are no longer available, last I heard. . . Not profitable enough, so the machine to make them, which was leased/borrowed, was returned.

Mike and I are working on a couple of options though, so we may be able to help you out on that front. Firebirds have the same problem, only with red being the only color you can use. I'd like to go with a custom color.

Oh, interesting - everything was still active on the 6LE/McNord website last I checked. Either way, I don't want to go this route for a couple of reasons.

[Atrus]

So, I have MOST things the way I want...

The HVAC is pretty much money. I liked the way it looked, but it was very bright white on the "fan" switch icon, and it made the gauges look even worse.
The headlight/dimmer switch lights well and evenly, and matches all the "buttons" now. I am just not happy with the way my overlay looks, I think a V2.0 is in order.
The buttons look great! Very white with just very slight hint of blue, almost negligible.
The gauges, I am not thrilled with...they look better, but still look dingy. Instead of dingy green, they are dingy aqua. I am also pretty bummed out about the light bleedthrough into the idiot lights.

I am using superbrightLEDs warm white LED "bulbs" in the HVAC and cluster. I am using plain old "white" component LEDs - bright white with just a hint of blue. These pics make the gauge cluster look far more white than it actually is...




See the bleedthrough? More noticeable in person than in pics.




Maybe I need to consider the McNord pieces. I just want everything to look as OEM as possible. I also see uneven lighting in some of the McNord pics... maybe I need to really go all out and do some custom lighting with component LEDs (instead of the "bulbs") and McNord cluster/HVAC/headlight overlays to get what I actually want.

[meissen]

Looks great man

[Atrus]

I am actually kinda disappointed in it actually.

[Atrus]

So, another update. Just want to document what I've found in the event it helps someone else out and saves some time, money, and headache.

I picked up a cheap Z28 155mph cluster. I removed the blue film off the back of the face using "Goof Off" and using a rag/scuff pad. On it's own, the OEM gauge face looks great now - no more blue tint. The problem is, there's a lot of shading on the back that evens out the light - while the HP6 LEDs provide uniform light so that the shading is really no longer needed, the issue is that they are so bright they kind of shine through the black now. If the lights are dimmed, they seem OK. Either way, the warm white LEDs still look terrible, so I am going to pick up a set of cool whites and see how they look behind this cleared face. I am thinking it'll still bleed through.

So, I'll have to choose between three alternatives:

1) Go cool white/OEM face with the blue tint...means a very aqua color. Actually looks nice, but just not the clean modern white I really aimed for. Could be a good compromise though
2) Go cool white/OEM faces cleared of blue tint...again, means a bright white color, but possible bleedthrough on the black gauge background
3) Spend the coin on McNords

Also, I learned something about the whitish gauge housing. On my original one, there were some casting "walls" on the left side between the "Service Engine" and "Highbeam" idiot lights and the cluster of idiot lights to the left. It created a "cold spot" even with incandescents at around 1k RPM. On the right side, the odometer wiring was blocking light and causing a cold spot near the 150mph mark. I relocated the wire (just tucked it better) and it cleared up that spot...on the left side I actually hacked out the partition and it evened up the lighting. On this extra Z28 cluster I purchased, I discovered that there were no "partition walls" on the left side. So, if in some people's pics pics you notice the cold spot at about 1k RPM and at about 150mph, these two items are the causes and they are easily fixed. Some clusters don't have this issue at all.

Lastly, I've tried two housings and I am still getting massive bleed through on the idiot lights. I don't understand how nobody else has this issue. The only explanation I can come up with is very far-fetched...maybe the warm white LED coloring matches the housing well and it allows light to bleed through more than cool whites? I don't really know, but I've tried a bunch of different approaches to no avail. I am on my last ditch effort right now - taped up the inside of the housing and I painted the sides of the idiot light compartments with black Krylon. I am hoping this blocks whatever light is bleeding through, and by taping up the rest of the housing, it'll still be that white color to better reflect/disburse lighting.

Anyway, I hope this all made sense. I am thinking at the end of the day, I'll end up with an Aqua colored cluster (OEM with blue tint intact and Cool White LEDs). The hardest part is showing you guys what I am seeing as the camera just picks up everything as "white". Warm White behind a stock gauge face with the blue filter intact makes a kind of dirty aqua color. Cool whites make a very bright aqua, almost blue color. To me, the aqua looks very bright and clean at least.