[lee]

Has anyone replaced their gauge cluster lights with a set of 3 light bars of LED? These lights are frequently listed on Ebay from someone in North Carolina. Do they work and how difficult is the installation?

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[BruceWard]

I believe it was RoxyLaura on 968.net who posted that she had installed the Ebay LED cluster lights.

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[flwbyu]

I had a dash that was barely visible at night and replaced it with the Flamingeye LED Dial Illumination Kit (http://www.flamingeye.co.uk). The quality of the kit was very nice and I would highly recommend it. The difference was night and day!



Here are some other links discussing this -



http://65.61.16.109/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9630

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[968 Cab]

done in all 3 of our 944 / 951s / 968 and HIGHLY recommended. Only downside is that you will not be able to dim the lights.



the ones on eBay are fine - I paid $45 for the most recent purchase. Originally paid $100 for crude home made version, but they still worked great.



Installation is very easy - takes less than 1 hour for non-tip cars. I chose the white LED's and the illumination is close to what late model MB cars with LED/flourescent panel lighting, just as bright, but not as "harsh" as the MB Sclass panel.

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[lee]

[quote name='968 Cab' date='Feb 1 2006, 02:37 AM']done in all 3 of our 944 / 951s / 968 and HIGHLY recommended.  Only downside is that you will not be able to dim the lights.



the ones on eBay are fine - I paid $45 for the most recent purchase.  Originally paid $100 for crude home made version, but they still worked great.



Installation is very easy - takes less than 1 hour for non-tip cars. I chose the white LED's and the illumination is close to what late model MB cars with LED/flourescent panel lighting, just as bright, but not as "harsh" as the MB Sclass panel.

[right][post="15333"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]



Thanks for the information.



Lee

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[gryphon]

Is there a difference for tip cars? If so, what?



Tom

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[968 Cab]

[quote name='gryphon' date='Feb 6 2006, 11:33 AM']Is there a difference for tip cars? If so, what?



Tom

[right][post="15579"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]



Tom the TIP cars have an extra pigtail harness for the dash cluster LED's and I did not have the time to find the disconnect. I installed another set of LED lights that I got off a guy on Rennlist (they are white LED with resistors all made to fit into the OEM bulb socket). They work OK, but nowhere as well as the proper cluster lighting in the OEM "light tunnel" reflectors that is under discussion here. I recently bought another set for installation into the 968Cab/tip and will get around to installing these later. If your car is a manual, the dash cluster comes out easily and it is a 1 hour or less job to re&re.



Good luck

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[flash]

can someone explain why you would want them brighter? this seems to be a big thing, but i don't get it



i keep trying to dim them in all my cars, so as to reduce the cluster glare compared to headlight throw - i generally run them as dim as possible and still let me see the guages - that way, all the light forward is more effective



remember, the brighter the light in your face, the smaller the pupil - the smaller the pupil, the less you can see in the dark



maybe this is why people also seem to want brighter headlights? maybe if they just turned down their dash lights, they would find that they have plenty of light



bright dash lights may look cool, but they hurt your ability to drive well and see well at night

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[Brian]

i'll chirp in...

i'm not so concerned about the brighness of the dash as the ability to read the gauges. when i first got my car, i couldn't even read the gauges because the lights were so dim. after cleaning the grounds and replacing the volt reg, they came back up to spec. however, there are still shadows that make things tough. i read somewhere that there's some kind of reflective foil that distributes the light evenly. i'm guessing mine's corroded.



i much prefer the new style dashes, ie volkswagen, that have lit dials in blue and red and the gauge faces are just in the background. there's no general lighting, like flash talks about, to distract you from the road. i agree that if there are bright lights in the car, it's a bad idea.



it would be a great mod if we could get gauges like this for our cars.

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[flash]

yeah - the new stuff is all back lit and the needles light up - that's cool AND functional



i have thought about making a whole new cluster, but it's back on the list a few places - i may dig up a spare and see if i can make all that happen - might be a nice cathartic little project - sounds like more fun than needle point

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[Brian]

why not needlepoint the dash? combine hobbies.

don't forget to shave the legs before you start!!!!

<img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/smile.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[Norskiepete]

being color-blind, I HATE that purpley-blue that VW is now using, and the red that BMW uses actually prevents me from buying the car. Instead of helping my night vision, I struggle to see the guages! I like bright, white guages at night.

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[flash]

try turning them off - you'll be amazed at how much better you can see



i'll see what i can do about a backlight conversion - i have to pull the cluster out anyway

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[Norskiepete]

can you do something about the "granny glasses" I am using these days to see my computer screen as well? ;-)

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[flash]

yeah - i can steal yours - i'm about ready myself - my arms are getting way too short - getting old sucks

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