Speedo question

BLAKLISTED · 14-09-2006, 08:34 PM

Hey guys

I have an EA S-Pac and i want to change the lights in the speedo cluster to white led's. I've been trawling the forums for ways of going about this, and found some links but none worked. Can anyone answer the following:

1.How many will i need to ensure adequate lumination?
2.How do I attach them (will i need to solder wires?)
3.Do I need resistors?
4.Anyone have a current link with full instruction on how to do this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

cheers!

ilsautomotive · 14-09-2006, 08:38 PM

The easiest way is simply replacing the existing bulbs with 5-LED 194s. Warden is my trusted seller for these items.

Be aware that your cluster may have yellow print, so a white LED would look far from white...

BLAKLISTED · 14-09-2006, 08:50 PM

what about red or blue ones? And how many would i need. I was planning on buying them tomorrow from autobarn or something but don't really have the time to take my car apart to find out how many i need.

sven · 18-09-2006, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by King Carcus

what about red or blue ones? And how many would i need. I was planning on buying them tomorrow from autobarn or something but don't really have the time to take my car apart to find out how many i need.

the problem with blue is the needles are really had to see at night. i painted them yellow and that worked fine but very fiddlely... red you can just use small red side repeater globes. just pull them out and swap them over. the thing with these is it'll be very bright. i now have a white dash with blue lighting that looks mad.

since you have the s-pac i assume its the one with oil pressure, temp, battery, fuel, tacho and speedo in which case you'll need to change over 4 globes. if you want pics or anything let me know and i'll post up a pic of what to change over.

steve

DEVL-XR · 15-09-2006, 12:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilsautomotive

The easiest way is simply replacing the existing bulbs with 5-LED 194s. Warden is my trusted seller for these items.

Be aware that your cluster may have yellow print, so a white LED would look far from white...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB..._BIN_Stores_IT

would these work in my eb cluster?

by the way, from the original post, you will need just 4 wedge bulbs for the cluster, parkers fit straight into them and do work.

ilsautomotive · 15-09-2006, 08:19 PM

Bradens: 4 bulbs sounds about right. Those bulbs would work, however the 5-LED is a superior design giving sideways as well as forward lighting (just like the stock bulb). Here is an example.

The biggest problem with blue lighting is that the red part of the tacho (redline) will not be illuminated well, and I have no idea how it will look shining through a yellow lense - but if you are willing to live with this compromise then go for it.

The rule of thumb is that the LED should be matched as closely as possible to the lense it shines through. I have always used white LED as an 'all purpose' solution for clusters. Red and amber would work fine, if it's to your taste.

Also FYI, the type of bulb we are talking about is called the '194'. It is also commonly used in parkers, side indicators and miscellaneous interior bulbs.

DEVL-XR · 16-09-2006, 03:22 AM

hey thanks for that. i want it blue because i resently did the blue LED mod in the clock, air con/heater, ignition, ash tray and ciggie lighter. so now the only orange lights are the cluster! i think it should work ok through the orange filter as the red filter on the thermostat on the heater shines blue at night now, and red is a lot stonger colour that orange. also i plan to get white or silver tacho faces soon with a blue filter, i want the blue led's now for the time being and also so when i do get my new tacho faces the incriments will shine up even bluer!!!..................deep breath!!!!

so would i be best ordering 4 of those blue LED bulbs of ebay or going to autobarn and ordering in the part from Narva?

http://www.narva.com.au/Globes_Dash_Panel_1.html
part number: 47892

cheers

ilsautomotive · 17-09-2006, 09:57 PM

Automotive LED bulbs seem to be the one industry where generic Ebay items are typically better than brand name (Narva/Raybrig etc) bulbs and cost about a 3rd of the price. I'd still go with the Ebay seller.

Let us know how you go!

DEVL-XR · 18-09-2006, 07:59 PM

went into jarcar about this today, they dont have NARVA parts but the guy showed me blue bulbs for $2 each. he tested it for me just by itself, but it didnt seem very bright so i didnt get them. autobarn said they wouldnt order in stuff either?!

so with those ones on ebay, how do i use that "PAYPAL" thing? i set up an account but how do i get money put into it? the guy only uses this method of paying.

ilsautomotive · 20-09-2006, 01:27 PM

You do need a credit card but once the account is set up, payment can be done in a matter of seconds.

http://www.paypal.com.au/au

MotherNatureVer2 · 20-09-2006, 03:49 PM

Mmmmmmm..... Why is it I come up with ideas & tell no one & then someone else comes up with it :P hehehehehe

Although mine will look different (hopefully fully sik blue ) as I now have the White Dash inserts in the Sprint :P

SB4 · 20-09-2006, 09:47 PM

Quote:

ilsautomotive - Also FYI, the type of bulb we are talking about is called the '194'. It is also commonly used in parkers, side indicators and miscellaneous interior bulbs.

I wouldn't mind brighter white lights for my ed xr headlights if it was possible. Just wondering what size/type ones I'd have to purchase if i was to buy a pair off 'warden' on ebay??
Cheers
Sam

ilsautomotive · 21-09-2006, 03:41 PM

G'day Sam, The 194 there would be suitable for parkers. In a non-XR ED I wouldn't necessarily recommend LED parkers due to heat. If they are too close to a hot headlamp bulb they die very quickly. In an ED XR the parkers are in the indicators so there is no such problem.

As for headlamps, a basic HID kit would work well in XR projectors. Warden does not sell these but have a word to MADNC_8 as he was quite happy with his. I'm not sure what type of bulbs the low beam is on an ED XR, but just for an example:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Xenon-HID-Con...QQcmdZViewItem

(for the record, 4300k is the brightest - the very blue ones are pure rice)