electrical question, dashboard instrument lights

[deQuincey]

i have been checking for improving the brightness of the light of my dashboard gauges, instruments, clock, ...etc

all those lights are 2 watt, or 3 watt maximum, according to the car specifications

i find that light to be very poor, so i was considering to use 4 watt lights, like the ones that you must use in the head lights "position lights"

i have try swapping one in the multidisplay gauge and it is very nice, an increased brightness and safe readings

the question is, i will be basically using double the power through those cables, and double the heat inside that clusters

any thoughts ?

will this change affect the elecrical safety of the installation or the instruments themselves ? will those lights last less ?

does anyone see anyother cons ?

thanks

 

[Nicad]

My dash lights are not working and I dread trying to take things apart without damaging anything. I hate working on near or under dash boards as well.
I know my VW buddies put in LED lights. They take next to no amps (good for old wiring) and last forever. Perhaps someone makes a direct LED bulb replacement?

Looking forward to the upcoming DQ dash bulb tutorial.

 

[Arde]

I replaced the bulbs with 4W of the same length: Sylvania 3893(T4W).
The cables seem to have plenty of headroom and the entire instrument is like a metallic heat sink. Looks much brighter now.

 

[HB Chris]

The power used is so small there won't be an issue, I changed to 4w some years ago and all is good.

 

[BarryG]

I want to do the same, Here's a pic of the back of the dash

http://www.e9-driven.com/Public/Library/BMW-E9-Manual/pages/en/62991510.html#refertoc

need someone with small hands

Barry

 

[deQuincey]

thanks for the answers, so i learn that at least i can use the 4 watt ones without any problem

here is a comparison of three lights,

fuel level is a conventional bulb 4 watt
temp gauge is a LED 1 watt
speedo is fitted with old 2watt ones



IMHO, LED light is very blueish, too much modern, 4 watt conventional seems correct to me

 

[deQuincey]

the correct use of the LED T4W OSRAM light is in here, front headlights



on top of the photo you can see the RH side headlight fitted with original conventional 4 watt position light, despite the H1 Low beam is present the general aspect is of a yellowish colour

below, the LH side shows the LED T4W OSRAM, much brighter and white

 

[Stevehose]

Does the LED one dim? Can you reach all the bulbs without too much trouble?

thanks for the answers, so i learn that at least i can use the 4 watt ones without any problem

here is a comparison of three lights,

fuel level is a conventional bulb 4 watt
temp gauge is a LED 1 watt
speedo is fitted with old 2watt ones



IMHO, LED light is very blueish, too much modern, 4 watt conventional seems correct to me

 

[deQuincey]

Does the LED one dim? Can you reach all the bulbs without too much trouble?

yes, the LED dims smoothly
as to the second question, i do not know yet :wink:

 

[rsporsche]

i think blue light in LED's comes from very high temperature (kelvin) bulbs. generally north of 5000 degrees. 2700 degrees is like incandescent. 3000 to 3500 is white but still a little warm. 4000 to 5000 is very white. i just looked up the osram T4W bulb, its 6000 degrees, so its going to be blue. but, osram does make a 4000 degree bulb also. one other note about LED light, it tends to be very directional, which incandescent light is omni-directional.

any idea of the temperature of the bulbs that you used? note of caution, not all LED lights are dimmable.

deQ, are the 2w bulbs in your speedo old? or newly replaced?

 

[Arde]

I have been disappointed by the conclusion of this thread. I was expecting one of two projects evaluated and documented by dQ before the week-end ended:

1) Adding relay(s) to the instrument bulbs to combat the effect of old wiring and connections on illumination.

2) Using current transformers in series and a current source for exact matching of instrument bulb illumination.

Somehow he got distracted by Japanese car looking LED options.