Topic: The stock '1895' dash bulbs, OR LED brighter bulbs for the dash
in Forum: C3 Electrical
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With my dash apart and since I am going with a new wiring harness on the 68 would it be a reasonable thought to put in the LED bulbs in the dash for a brighter dash lighting or stay with the old 1895 bulbs.
I understand the LED bulbs won't dim and therefore the rheostat on the light switch won't dim or brighten the lights.
But with the 1895 bulbs, and as dim as they were, who used the light switch dimmer anyway?
Any suggestions from someone who has replaced their old bulbs with the new LED's.
Pros and Cons!!!!!!!
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Carson City, NV - USA
Joined: 12/4/2013
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Vette(s): Numbers matching 1972 350 4 speed, silver pewter body with blue interior
Good question! Waiting with baited breath for response.
My Christmas present to ME! Bought Sat 11-30-2013. 72, 350 4 spd, Silver with blue interior...Can't you just hear Pablo Cruz playing in the background?
I haven't switched my dash lighting to LED lighting for the following reasons:
LED bulbs will most likely be too bright at night. They are very intense compared to an incandescent bulb.
They may "dim" slightly with the rheostat, but will usually shut off abruptly since the LED's technically work off of a pulse width. It's not a very linear "dimming" in other words.
The only way to properly "dim" the LED's is to install a Pulse Width Modulator. I personally don't want to go through all this trouble for dash lights.
I found that when I replaced all my old incandescent bulbs, the lighting was plenty bright for me. I have a hard time seeing at night as it is. On a dark highway with no street lights I actually have to dim my dash lights because they become a distraction.
Just an after thought…have you looked at the Dakota Digitals gauges? Those are bright but dimmable vacuum fluorescent lighting. Expensive setup, but cool looking. 
TKO500 5 spd.
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Lifetime MemberLemon Grove, CA - USA
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Vette(s): 1982 C3 Collectors Edition 44000 miles, sat in the sun most of its life, My wife purchased it for me for Father's Day in 2007 from her girlfriend that had it for 19 years. It is on the road again. I'm retired but it is now my daily driver.
I had to go back to 2008 but I found my post on light bulb site. http://www.memotronics.com/ . This site has lots of lights and if you need to replace them it is a great place to find replacements.
Now if you want to figure out what the light increase would be go to this site http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/light/watt-to-lumen-calculator.htm
|UPDATED|12/29/2013 8:23:50 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|
I have a different base for the lights in my car but what I did is look for lights that had that base and then find the wattage after that I could look for higher wattage bulbs. Keep in mind that the higher the wattage the more heat and plastic will melt if you increase the wattage.
The 1895 bulb is a 14 volt 3.78 watt lamp. So I would think that you could go as high as 4.0 to 4.5 watt lamp without much risk. Does a light bulb like that exist ?? do not know you would have to try some different numbers or maybe call out "BA9s" bulb base and search Google to get some numbers then use this site to get the voltage and wattage ratings.
Any way if anyone is ever interested in light you will want to copy this link.
By the way some sites only provide amps and volts so this is how you figure watts (amps x volts = watts).
I did a quick search on the web using the "BA9s" found this #293 MINIATURE BULB BA9S BASE - 14 Volt .33 Amp G4-1/2 then calculated the wattage which is 4.62 watts.
In this case the 1895 is 56.7 lumens and the 293 is 69.3 lumens or about an 18% increase in light.
And best of all Memo Tronics has a box (10 ea) of 293 for $2.29 he ships small things through the mail so it should cost may be $0.60 for postage.
Hope this helps
|UPDATED|12/29/2013 8:23:50 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|
Researching came up with your 2008 reply and I had checked that out prior to this post.
Your latest response does make very good sense in which I could at least improve the lumens over the current 1895 ones using the same Ba9s base. At 18% increase is good without the thought of the bulb getting to hot for the housing.
18% without going with the led and having concerns with the dimmer issue sounds good to me.
Thanks
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Duncanville, TX - USA
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Someone here, years ago, swapped all his instrument bulbs for LEDs, and did a write-up with pics. It was featured in a "Shark Bytes" issues, and was also copied to the "Tips and Tricks"section of the "Research" bar.....I cannot find EITHER at this point....
It was a great write-up....and was a fairly simple swap, from what I remember. Don't remember if the dimmer function was part of the final review or not....
I'll keep looking for the info tho....
It was a great write-up....and was a fairly simple swap, from what I remember. Don't remember if the dimmer function was part of the final review or not....
I'll keep looking for the info tho....
Joel Adams
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"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"
Lifetime MemberModerator
Duncanville, TX - USA
Joined: 11/8/2003
Posts: 20214
Vette(s): #1-1974 L-48 4spd Cp Med Red Metallic/Black deluxe int w/AC/tilt/tele./p/w-p/b/
Am-Fm/map light National/Regional/Chapter NCRS "Top Flight"
#2-1985 Bright Red/Carmine Cp.L-98/auto
Member: NCRS, NCRS Texas, Corvette Legends of Texas
I FOUND IT!!! 
The "Winter '08" issue of Shark Bytes has the article on changing the cluster lamps to LEDs. written by Josh(Defsegx), with pics and such. I knew I wasn't imaginin it.....
The "Winter '08" issue of Shark Bytes has the article on changing the cluster lamps to LEDs. written by Josh(Defsegx), with pics and such. I knew I wasn't imaginin it.....
Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56
My Link
(click for Texas-sized view!) NCRS
"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"
Lifetime MemberModerator
Duncanville, TX - USA
Joined: 11/8/2003
Posts: 20214
Vette(s): #1-1974 L-48 4spd Cp Med Red Metallic/Black deluxe int w/AC/tilt/tele./p/w-p/b/
Am-Fm/map light National/Regional/Chapter NCRS "Top Flight"
#2-1985 Bright Red/Carmine Cp.L-98/auto
Member: NCRS, NCRS Texas, Corvette Legends of Texas
sbvol6 is the pwerd...you have the number 1 instead of the letter "L". Just copy/paste what I have here, and it'll go thru. 
Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56
My Link
(click for Texas-sized view!) NCRS
"Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comforting to cry in a CORVETTE than in a Kia"
I switched one of mine over to LED's last yr here's a link
Alan
in Forum: C3 Electrical
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