inst. panel LED warning.

[445TDF-series]

Anyone know what current and volts the little lights in the instrument cluster get?? The turn signal and 4x4 and battery etc lights? Trying to replace them with homemade LEDS because i can't see them in the day at all... Multimeter is a Piece of junk and the local store is closed for a new one... keeps giving random values when unhooked from the source and when connected... Multimeter tells me that a piece of paper has 13V Powerful paper!

 

[wgargan]

they should be 12 volt lights, so I guees they are getting 12 volts.

home made LEDS??

 

[The Warden]

Why are you making home-made LED's? No sense reinventing the wheel...

http://www.ledtronics.com/ds/AUT67/default.asp scroll down about 3/4's, and you'll see direct replacements for 194 bulbs

BTW, I would recommend against replacing any of the illumination bulbs with LED's...LED's don't dim very well, and the bulb life will be greatly shortened. For the indicator lights, however (the ones you're talking about), I think you'll be fine

FWIW, the voltage seen by the bulbs will vary depending on how fully the batteries are charged (when the engine isn't running) and how well the alternator and voltage regulator are operating (when the engine is running). But, I think it'd be best to expect the LED's to see anywhere between 12.5 and 15 volts...both numbers are extreme (13.6 to 14.5 volts is closer to normal, I think), but best to have a bit of fudge factor in there just to be safe. Of course, the numbers vary slightly between vehicles due to equipment age and wear, so testing with a properly-working multi-meter is your best best...

Just some thoughts...good luck! BTW, I want to replace everything except my instrument illumination lights, my headlights, and my back-up lights with LED's when $$ allows...less wear on the system...

 

[Agnem]

LED's will usually run on a range of current, say from 10 to 30 milliamp. Usually a 1 K resistor will get you close to maximum brightness and give you a range of 10 to 20 volts without much trouble. Remember, the LED only runs on 1.2 volts, no matter how much your feeding it, so the resistor is only limiting the current and wasting the excess voltage.

 

[subway]

Why are you making home-made LED's? No sense reinventing the wheel...

http://www.ledtronics.com/ds/AUT67/default.asp scroll down about 3/4's, and you'll see direct replacements for 194 bulbs

BTW, I would recommend against replacing any of the illumination bulbs with LED's...LED's don't dim very well, and the bulb life will be greatly shortened. For the indicator lights, however (the ones you're talking about), I think you'll be fine

FWIW, the voltage seen by the bulbs will vary depending on how fully the batteries are charged (when the engine isn't running) and how well the alternator and voltage regulator are operating (when the engine is running). But, I think it'd be best to expect the LED's to see anywhere between 12.5 and 15 volts...both numbers are extreme (13.6 to 14.5 volts is closer to normal, I think), but best to have a bit of fudge factor in there just to be safe. Of course, the numbers vary slightly between vehicles due to equipment age and wear, so testing with a properly-working multi-meter is your best best...

Just some thoughts...good luck! BTW, I want to replace everything except my instrument illumination lights, my headlights, and my back-up lights with LED's when $$ allows...less wear on the system...

holy crap for $28 a bulb i would still be thinking home made. if you set up a LED properly it should far outlast a incandescant.

IIRC you can dim a LED by dripping the voltage to it. thats differant than how a stock reostate works in our trucks, they drop the amperage the lights can draw. somebody correct me if i am wrong.

 

[tonkadoctor]

holy crap for $28 a bulb i would still be thinking home made. if you set up a LED properly it should far outlast a incandescant.

IIRC you can dim a LED by dripping the voltage to it. thats differant than how a stock reostate works in our trucks, they drop the amperage the lights can draw. somebody correct me if i am wrong.

Those must be gold plated LED bulbs, You can get 10 of them on evilbay for less than that.

Been getting amber 194 running lights from Advance auto parts for $11 for a 2 pack. everytime a stock bulb burns out a pair of LEDs go in with the exception of the dash.

 

[Agnem]

IIRC you can dim a LED by dripping the voltage to it. thats differant than how a stock reostate works in our trucks, they drop the amperage the lights can draw. somebody correct me if i am wrong.

That is true to an extent. Problem is, because the LED runs on such low current and voltage, finding a way to control that reasonably is difficult. A potentiometer will dim the LED, but the range of motion is so small, there isn' much between on all the way, and off. Most commercial methods of dimming LED's involve switching the voltage to the LED on and off rapidly at different frequencies to achieve varying brightness.

 

[445TDF-series]

I should have been more clear...i am modifying the stock bulb holder to fit super bright fat LEDS that run at 2.5V and 20mA. They have a 5000mcd intensity... pretty darn bright. just needing to find out what the original bulbs were receiving so i can tone them down a bit to work an LED without the burning electrical smell associated with an over voltage LED....
I had looked at those LEDS with the holder but like stated earlier, $28 a piece is a bit more than the $ 2.69/LED im paying plus the <$1 resistors....

 

[wwwabbit]

One that always gets me, and I don't understand why they don't dim, is the high beams indicator. I do a fair bit of night driving in the country with no other lights, I love a dark dash. Most of the time I have black tape stuck over the blue high beam indicator... Something to think of when you put in your really bright LED for that spot.

 

[445TDF-series]

for some reason, my blue hi beam indicator light is really dim... want to trade clusters? just kidding. I am changing to LEDS because i can barely see the lights during the night, and during the day, well, only if it it overcast... i will keep that in mind though...thanks!

 

[86 1 tonhauler]

why the heck would u wanna see ur dash lights during they day u dont need them during the day

 

[yARIC008]

Problem is, because the LED runs on such low current and voltage, finding a way to control that reasonably is difficult.

Oh Puhlease... Get some luxeons, they're 1 amp.

http://www.luxeonstar.com/

I've got ten of the luxeon 3 watt white leds. Bright as hell! According to their site they're 80 lumens. Which is about 8 times more bright than the 5000mcd LEDs mentioned above.

They have some new ones on their front page there that are 145 lumens

Whenever i figure out how to power them without needing a resistor the size of my fist i'll use them. I want to get their little power drivers but they're 30 bucks each or so. I think they're some sort of transformers.

Using resistors with these luxeons seems to waste alot more energy than you're saving. I have some huge 20 watt resistors and according to my thermal gun they are getting to 350F. The heatsink on the LEDs gets to about 128F

When i first messed with them i had 1 watt resistors and they just blew up!

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

AM I MISSING SOMETHING HERE ???

I thought the whole reason for LEDs was that they were cooler and less likely to burn up the wiring, than plain old incandescants.

It is sounding to me like they are about as troublesome as flourescent house lighting.

I thought there were LED replacement bulbs that could just interchange with incandescants with no further alterations.

Please educate me on this.

Thanks.

 

[swampdigger]

Pretty sure those bulbs are 12V. Assuming 13.8V with the alternator going, you'd need a 565 ohm resistor. For some reason, I think you know this though...

Personally though, I'd rather rock a voltage regulator. You can get free samples from Texas Instruments, I believe. Then you could handle just about any input voltage, whereas the resistor would supply the incorrect amount for anything other than 13.8V.

 

[yARIC008]

I thought the whole reason for LEDs was that they were cooler and less likely to burn up the wiring, than plain old incandescants.

It is sounding to me like they are about as troublesome as flourescent house lighting.

I thought there were LED replacement bulbs that could just interchange with incandescants with no further alterations.

Please educate me on this.

Thanks.

Well if you have enough money they are great. And it'd probably help if you were an electrical engineer too. These are fairly unique LEDs in the light they output. I'm wondering if maybe these are the kind they use in the new traffic lights.