I've been thinking about this a long time now and have finally decided to follow the guys who have already done this.
The last time I thought about converting a dashboard to LEDs is more than 10 years ago and back then the choice was limited. It certainly required some soldering and the LEDs had a very directional and not the brightest light output.
There has been quite a development since then
The choice is big from LEDs in different sizes and qualities, round, square, concave to SMD LEDs with one, two or three dies ... there are 1210, 5050, 1206 etc LEDs and it is confusing.While standard bulbs are marked in watts the brightness of an LED is specified in lumen or sometimes even candela which makes it difficult to compare.
According to an online conversion calculator 1,2W corresponds to 11lm, 3W to 27lm, 5W to 45lm.
A simple standard LED would have about 2lm which converts to only ca 0,3W.
I`ve decided to go with 5050 SMD LEDs which seem to be the largest type SMD LED. With 20lm one single 5050 SMD LED is a lot brighter than a standard LED and also brighter than a 1,2W bulb.
I got single LEDs for the warning lights and lamps with five 5050 LEDs for the dashboard illumination. (These have around 40lm output. If I`m not mistaking the original bulbs are 2W)
I`ve got LEDs with B8.5d sockets for the warning lights which are not the correct socket as you can see on the pictures below. The correct socket must be B8.7d.
I only find LEDs with B8.7d sockets in very few colours so I`ll be returning the purchased ones and get 5050 SMD LEDs (type T5) to fit in the original sockets.
There`s a larger colour choice here and I`d like the LEDs to be in the same colour as the warning lights instead of replacing them all with white ones which would be a little cheaper and work as well. (The colour might be a little more intense if getting the LEDs matching the warning light colour, that`s about it)
The LEDs to fit in the original dashboard illumination bulb sockets are type T10. I`ve got them in white, red and blue just for testing.
Specs like 5000-6000K only describe the colour temperature and not the brightness. i.e. a white 6000K LED would have a cold white/blueish light while one with 3000K would have a more orange/yellowish light. This is not really that relevant for small LEDs.
The dashboard needs to be stripped carefully as the clips of the clear dashboard cover are brittle and break easily.
Removing the rpm dial is just the two screws of the angle drive. To get the speedometer out the cable of the milage resetter needs to be removed. There`s a miniature screw where it connects to the speedometer.
Better do this work inhouse on a clean table and on a soft towel just to prevent anything to fall down bounce off the table and disappear forever on the garage floor.
Below the dials there`s a white cover on each side which should create an indirect illumination.
On one side it`s held by a screw, the other side is glued.
Below it there`s a red plastic dome which gives the dashboard illumination its colour. The plastic is rather thick and I guess this reduces the brightness of whatever lamp is below it.
I decided to remove the red domes but keep the white covers to prevent to get a large bright spot on the upper part of the dials.
First testing
Left side standard bulb (W4W/W5W - can´t say if it`s the original 2W bulb) with red dome, right side LED with red dome removed.
darkened room (no flash used)
bulb left - white LED right
only bulb
only white LED (left bulb removed)
Also with the white plastic covers in place the upper part is still brighter than the rest.
now both red domes removed, white covers still on. LEDs on both sides
white LEDs
red LEDs
blue LEDs
in the dark
white LEDs
red LEDs
blue LEDs
from a distance
white
red
blue
To even the illumination I've got myself 2 sample sheets of self adhesive chrome foil which I will lay out inside the dashboard to see if it makes a difference. The foil is actually to wrap cars or car parts and being a sample I got them for 1 Euro ea. Pictures will follow.
Spraying the instrument panel with chrome paint is imo not reasonable as you`ll have to primer the white plastic first. That`s not worth the effort and afterall I`m just playing around.
I`ve been discussing this with Derek and Nick offline who I thank for their input.
Nick is probably trying something different and I`m looking forward to see his results.
This is a long text for such a simple topic
G.
