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Dash illumination, how to make brighter? - Printable Version

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+---- Thread: Dash illumination, how to make brighter? (/dash-illumination-how-to-make-brighter.html)


Dash illumination, how to make brighter? - shelby987 - 04-13-2012

For those of you a bit more experienced with the 968, maybe you can shed some light on my latest issue, my dash illumintion goes from off to super dim.....looking at my gauges feels like I am trying to see themit by my cell phone, all the bulbs appear to be working. Is this a switch issue, are the bulbs getting weak, or did porsche not anticipate people driving at night?

Dash illumination, how to make brighter? - flash - 04-13-2012

your dash lights should be as dim as possible yet just be able to read the gauges. any more light than that and your night vision suffers.

Dash illumination, how to make brighter? - DaveN - 04-13-2012

I think he is wondering why they are so weak not matter what the setting. Porsche has a wear fault in the whole series where the reflective surface of the light guides corrodes and passes very little light to the front of the guages. It is a simple but time consuming matter to remove the instrument cluster and resurface the light guides. I have done this in both my 944 S2 and my 968 with success. Aluminum foil carefully applied is the best medium to use; you will end up with more than ample light for night driving. There are a few DIY's around here or in Clarks Garage probably. If not we can step you through it.

Dash illumination, how to make brighter? - flash - 04-13-2012

i have mine almost off. this provides for the best night vision. i can't see the point in doing anything about the lights if they work at all.

Dash illumination, how to make brighter? - blau - 04-14-2012

If you'd consider LED's...I would do a straight bulb swap and SKIP the foil/resurfacing - since the single-bulb (NOT "Super Bright 4 bulb") LED's are brighter than the factory bulbs, it worked for me to give me more light than I had before, but not TOO much light as Flash mentions...



They're really cheap from superbrightleds.com - I think I swapped all the bulbs in my dash and center console for about 20 bucks, minus the soldered bulbs in the HVAC control unit.

Dash illumination, how to make brighter? - AJG - 04-15-2012

I can shed some light on this problem. Just buy a miner's helmet, job done. Don't bother going for the two for one deal, you'll just get roped into having a canary in a cage that you've no use for.

Dash illumination, how to make brighter? - DaveN - 04-15-2012

It's hard to replace the calcium carbide while driving though <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.png" class="smilie" alt="" /> Probably hell on the headline too.

Dash illumination, how to make brighter? - jfrahm - 04-16-2012

I have re-silvered the "light tunnels" as some people call them with aluminum foil and also chrome spray paint. the spray worked pretty well but you have to pop them out for painting and then glue them back in.



One issue is that the bulbs get a bit dimmer over time as tungsten deposits on the glass. The bulbs start to look chromed. It's not a large effect but it might be noticeable. Avoid the temptation to go to turn signal or side marker bulbs in the cluster as these will melt stuff.



LEDs are problematic as without an alternative means they do not dim like the stock bulbs and can be way too bright. Too bright is bad news, the important stuff is usually outside the car and yes the dash lights affect your night vision.