legacycentral bbs

Hey, would putting blue LED's in the dash for the guages, instead of the lights be easy or really hard, concerning wiring them. Would I need to put resistors in? I think this would look AWESOME if I could pull it off.

The bulbs in the guage cluster are clear with green "bulb condoms" on them. You could probably just find some blue bulb condoms, no?

I think the ones in the HVAC assembly are actually LEDs which could be replaced with blue ones soldered in where the green ones are now.


... or did I miss the whole point?

ask laurel about this. She's also had the "bright" idea of changing the bulb color. Red, i think was what she wanted to change them to, but found it was just too much work. Yes, i believe they are bulb condoms back there, but to change all of them, you have to take just about the entire dash out. What's it worth to you just for a color mod? Like i said, ask laurelthequeen about it, she knows whats involved, and IIRC, she hasn't done it yet. Can LEDs even work with the rheostat(?) --the ICU that controls the dimming and whatnot... I don't think i've ever seen an LED that can be dimmed. I'm sure it's possible, i'm just saying that i've never seen it.
-=tris

I thought I remember Laurel mentioning that someone (maybe Youkonart) soldered the Red LEDs in to her HVAC unit for her, but maybe she was referring to the lights that indicate which heat button is currently selected (Defrost, Bi-lev, heat, AC, etc). Obviously, those don't dim with the rest of the dash.

The guage cluster is not too much of a pain in the ass to get out, I have had mine out a couple times now. I have no Idea what it's like to get to the bulbs in the HVAC area though, I never had that out before.
Finding the bulb condoms might be hard though... I'd have no Idea where to look for those.

couldn't you make your own or something? find some kind of blue plastic or whatnot and slide it right over the bulb in a similar fashion to the green condoms?
Josh, didn't you have a link to colored bulb condoms somewhere? I think i remember, but i can't find the thread at this moment...

good luck, legacypunk555.

-=tris

The cluster bulbs are NOT condomed. Not in my 94 anyway. The main bulbs are clear, and there is a green film.

I want to change everything to red.

we noticed this when changing ryans interior, the 90-91 (im assuming all, but both ours) had condoms on them, the 93 cluster he had didnt have the condoms and there was film there.

Hmmm... My 92 SS cluster is condomed. The 90-91 JY cluster I got was too.
I dunno about my 92 L Wagon though.

Red would be a better choice than blue. The stock greenish blue is already bad enough for night vision; switching to a higher frequency would worsen it.

But it would look cool, especially if he has a blue matching car.

I'm thinking red would be perfect when I get the transplant done (and turbocharged), like when a warship goes to battle stations .

Steve

Just keep in mind, red guages would make it a little harder to notice any CEL / idiot lights that might pop on.

But they WOULD look BADASS!


I'd want red in my Winestone SS, Blue in my Silver TW, and good ol' stock green in my green L Wagon.

Different colored guages would also help remind me of which car I'm driving at night... (Sometimes I forget...lol)

That depends on how little attention you pay to the cluster

Warning lights are still a lot brighter than the regular illumination.

i knew vikash would weigh in on the color thing. There's a reason the army equips their special flashlights with other lenses, including red: it's not so hard on the eyes. at night, your eyes can make a better adjustment to the darkness after viewing red light than it can from blue, or even our stock green. personally, i like the green. but now that you folks have me thinking about it...

-=tris

They ARE brighter as I've always picked them up from the reflection they cast on the gauge cluster ceiling since the wheel rim blocks the lights themselves.

Steve

Good call, Tristan. You have it exactly right. To expand upon it, there's also the focusing issue -- it's hard for the eyes to focus on blue things. The short-wavelength cones on your retina are actually offset from the imaging surface, so the blue component of what you see is always slightly blurry.

Wow... We learn all kinds of things here ...

cant you adjust that steve?

You mean my wheel? Yeah, but I'd have to adopt the Italian driving position and I like the wheel fairly vertical.

Steve

Wow, didn't think this thread would get so interesting. It was mostly a question out of curiosity and how hard it might be, sounds like too much work. Red would also be a cool color cause I hate having to re-adjust my eyes. I usually keep them dimmed just enough so I can see them. There's something special about driving at night alone on a road with all the interior lights dimmed.

I do the same thing. The older models used to actually go completely out which was nice.

Steve

Thanks, Vikash, that made me smile.
Legacypunk555:

There's something special about driving at night alone on a road with all the interior lights dimmed.

I concur. I love night driving, and now that i fixed my ICU, my reheostat will actually dim the gauges all the way to black, which, they never did before... i was noticing my bulbs behind the gauges the other night while driving, and if you look close enough, i guess you can kinda see where the bulbs are (behind the face) it was pretty cool, and perhaps the next free weekend i have, i might go exploring...you'll know when i do that, as i'll be in here begging for help cause i fubar'd something else...
-=tris

could someone tell me what type and how many bulbs in dash

Someone said the 92's have condoms and no film?

Hmmm.... Looks like I need a 92 cluster from Crazy Rays, and maybe some 92 tails

So is there a thread were someones done this and completed it?