Thread: insanely dim dash lights, can they be improved?

Originally Posted by F4Phantom

My dash is apart so I want to make it brighter. Does anyone know how to do this? I am thinking bulb replacement with (advertised as) brighter LED ones. Other than this I dont know.

I think Andrew ... (luvmyrangie) .... has done it
I saw his dash and it was lit up like a Xmas tree

Mike

Have you looked at the bulbs?
Usually they go black over time.
Just new bulbs should fix it.
PS You know there is a rheostat under the lower dash to the LH of the steering column.
Regards Philip A

Originally Posted by mike 90 RR

I think Andrew ... (luvmyrangie) .... has done it
I saw his dash and it was lit up like a Xmas tree

Mike

I did! But I had to disconnect the dimmer switch and bypass the wiring. This alone will bring up brighter lights. LED's work well, but you need to look around as they all seem to different levels of output.
I just stuck with white LED's in mine apart from where I wanted activated switches to show up different like in the cuise control and rear heater.

If you have the dimmer wound all the way up and its still dull, bypass the switch. I will take a pic of mine and post it up here.

when i bought my classic it had what appeared to be dim dashlights, despite the dimmer having been bypassed. one blackened globe and one blown one replaced later things were better but the speedo needle was still all but invisible. i dug a little deeper and found that a little bit of fibre-optic cable had dislodged within the spedeo head. i simply poked it back in with a dob of superglue around the outside of its socket and bingo !
definitely worth a check while you've got things apart.

pomonastick my dimmer switch is still connected so thats one thing I can do. I also pulled out each glode and wiped them, they were all in good nick. as for the fibre optic thing pulling out please show your picture of exactly how you did this.

lovemyrangie can you please also post your picture here as I will probably not change to LED's if they dont make a big difference. I wouldnt mind getting rid of the green tho.

thanks

Originally Posted by F4Phantom

lovemyrangie can you please also post your picture here as I will probably not change to LED's if they dont make a big difference. I wouldnt mind getting rid of the green tho.

thanks

They gave a real nice Crisp light .... with a Arctic blue colour ...

I could actually see the hands on the clock

Originally Posted by mike 90 RR

They gave a real nice Crisp light .... with a Arctic blue colour ...

I could actually see the hands on the clock

It does. However the clock is a very special unit!! I actually pulled it apart and hardwired LED's into it as a test. The clock worked intermitently so if it stuffed it I wasnt too worried, but it does look good.

It gets rid of that yellowish look on the needles and numbers and makes it far more clearer not to mention the amazing amount of current reduction. Dash lights draw about 50mA if its lucky now!!.
There are wedge globes now that have a 120deg output angle and give an even light over the dash. Some, particularly the Narva ones, are dull, narrow and dont last.
I even have one in the fibre optic for the column stalks and in the door puddle lamps!
Speaking of fibre optics, I think the dial fibre that Pom was talking about is in a softdash. Hard dashes only have the fibre for the stalks which comes from underneath the steering column.
Run out of time tonight to take the pics of the dimmer, but will do it tomorrow night for you. I will have them up on my Photobucket link shown below.
Cheers
Andrew

ok, ye asked and ye shall receive.......

picture 1 shows the speedo head removed from the clockset revealing the optic fibre lead coming off the lower left lamp shroud. in picture 2 i've grasped this with my finger and thumb.picture 3 shows where it is meant to be attached to, which is the needle cover, removed from the clock face and inverted to show you the push fit into the crystal diffuser.as picture 4 shows this little cable passes through the hole in the face and then, once attached to the cover* the assembly can be snapped back into the slots. now light will be conducted through the cable and thus will make the needle glow. picture 5 shows it snapped back into place.
i would imagine tacho is similar. i had no problems with mine but its nice bright orange needle at night compared with the originally barely visible speedo needle convinced me there was something amiss.
hope this helps ! if so, please feel free to view my 'the great lpg swindle' thread and place a comment of support if you think one is warranted.

*to ensure the cable didn't come adrift again i put a little superglue around the join between the cable and the crystal bit but only once it was already pushed home into its socket.