dim interior dash lights

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Larry Cain

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After hauling my 73 Mach 1 from WV to Detroit for a Down River Cruise event I was pretty bummed with just how dim my dash lights are even with new bulbs with my last interior upgrade.

Any ideas on how to brighten things up?

I really don't drive the car much down here in WV after dark so I was a bit upset with the lack of ability to see gauges.

Thanks, Larry Cain

 
search LED on here. There are several discussions on swapping out the original bulbs for LED's. Be sure to remove the little blue dome light filters as well. I did the swap on mine and now I can drive at night with out a flashlight to see how fast I'm going.

 
search LED on here. There are several discussions on swapping out the original bulbs for LED's. Be sure to remove the little blue dome light filters as well. I did the swap on mine and now I can drive at night with out a flashlight to see how fast I'm going.
Click to expand...
great thanks will look it up,

Larry

 
I was wondering if anyone ever considered LED Glow interior products, going to look soon but I had a dune buggy with under and interior set was pretty cool but may be illegal under some states. Or how used?

 
Yes it's been discussed many times.

Here is what I did for my idiot light set-up; bought HiPo ELITE series LED's in original factory color from NPD, about 80 bucks, not cheap but they really work well. BUT in the installation instructions, the ALT location is shown wrong. IF you have warning lights, do NOT put an LED in the ALT socket, use an incandescent (regular) bulb only. I also did NOT have to remove my blue domes as they were not discolored or dirty. I wanted to keep the factory hue, but you can buy other colors if you like, then you would remove the domes. That's your call really either way.

It is a bit of work as you will have to remove the gauge pod from the car and it is best to bench test before returning to the dash. Also, some do not use LED's for the turn signals even though you put in an electronic flasher. The old style one won't work at all with LED's.

Hope that helps,

Geoff

 
Yes it's been discussed many times.

Here is what I did for my idiot light set-up; bought HiPo ELITE series LED's in original factory color from NPD, about 80 bucks, not cheap but they really work well. BUT in the installation instructions, the ALT location is shown wrong. IF you have warning lights, do NOT put an LED in the ALT socket, use an incandescent (regular) bulb only. I also did NOT have to remove my blue domes as they were not discolored or dirty. I wanted to keep the factory hue, but you can buy other colors if you like, then you would remove the domes. That's your call really either way.

It is a bit of work as you will have to remove the gauge pod from the car and it is best to bench test before returning to the dash. Also, some do not use LED's for the turn signals even though you put in an electronic flasher. The old style one won't work at all with LED's.

Hope that helps,

Geoff
Click to expand...
Just curious why you can't put an LED in the ALT socket?

 
Yes it's been discussed many times.

Here is what I did for my idiot light set-up; bought HiPo ELITE series LED's in original factory color from NPD, about 80 bucks, not cheap but they really work well. BUT in the installation instructions, the ALT location is shown wrong. IF you have warning lights, do NOT put an LED in the ALT socket, use an incandescent (regular) bulb only. I also did NOT have to remove my blue domes as they were not discolored or dirty. I wanted to keep the factory hue, but you can buy other colors if you like, then you would remove the domes. That's your call really either way.

It is a bit of work as you will have to remove the gauge pod from the car and it is best to bench test before returning to the dash. Also, some do not use LED's for the turn signals even though you put in an electronic flasher. The old style one won't work at all with LED's.

Hope that helps,

Geoff
Click to expand...
Just curious why you can't put an LED in the ALT socket?
Click to expand...
I queried that with one of HiPo parts tech's. It is stated on the instruction sheet and apparently it can damage the alternator circuit, something to do with the way current flows through an LED bulb, not really sure, I'm not electrically minded!!. I actually did put an LED in the alt socket before I upgraded to the Elite series LED's. That is when I wondered why I thought I was a bulb short and question it. I will see if I can recover that email and post it.

 
Yes it's been discussed many times.

Here is what I did for my idiot light set-up; bought HiPo ELITE series LED's in original factory color from NPD, about 80 bucks, not cheap but they really work well. BUT in the installation instructions, the ALT location is shown wrong. IF you have warning lights, do NOT put an LED in the ALT socket, use an incandescent (regular) bulb only. I also did NOT have to remove my blue domes as they were not discolored or dirty. I wanted to keep the factory hue, but you can buy other colors if you like, then you would remove the domes. That's your call really either way.

It is a bit of work as you will have to remove the gauge pod from the car and it is best to bench test before returning to the dash. Also, some do not use LED's for the turn signals even though you put in an electronic flasher. The old style one won't work at all with LED's.

Hope that helps,

Geoff
Click to expand...
Just curious why you can't put an LED in the ALT socket?
Click to expand...
LED's are typically polarized: they require current to flow in one direction. The alternator lamp is designed to have current flow in either direction, depending upon what failed. Thus, the LED in the alternator lamp position won't light up under both conditions. You could have a failure and not know it.

And you wonder why they call it an "idiot light"...lollerz

 
Yes it's been discussed many times.

Here is what I did for my idiot light set-up; bought HiPo ELITE series LED's in original factory color from NPD, about 80 bucks, not cheap but they really work well. BUT in the installation instructions, the ALT location is shown wrong. IF you have warning lights, do NOT put an LED in the ALT socket, use an incandescent (regular) bulb only. I also did NOT have to remove my blue domes as they were not discolored or dirty. I wanted to keep the factory hue, but you can buy other colors if you like, then you would remove the domes. That's your call really either way.

It is a bit of work as you will have to remove the gauge pod from the car and it is best to bench test before returning to the dash. Also, some do not use LED's for the turn signals even though you put in an electronic flasher. The old style one won't work at all with LED's.

Hope that helps,

Geoff
Click to expand...
Just curious why you can't put an LED in the ALT socket?
Click to expand...
LED's are typically polarized: they require current to flow in one direction. The alternator lamp is designed to have current flow in either direction, depending upon what failed. Thus, the LED in the alternator lamp position won't light up under both conditions. You could have a failure and not know it.

And you wonder why they call it an "idiot light"...lollerz
Click to expand...
Quite correct. I re-read the email I got that explains that.

Also, with regards to the turn signal LED's, apparently they require a SPECIAL electronic flasher that has a separate ground wire that must see a good ground to chassis. That was contained in an email I got from HiPo parts. An ordinary e/flasher won't work for LED's (???)

 
Thanks for the info. Guess I will be pulling the dash apart again to put a regular bulb back in that spot.
Click to expand...
Yes, but make sure it is the ALT socket. The diagram posted in another thread shows it to be the top right (from behind) when it is the bottom right, on my car anyways.

I need to buy the correct flasher. Probably why it blew the LED bulbs!!

 
Thanks for the info. Guess I will be pulling the dash apart again to put a regular bulb back in that spot.
Click to expand...
if you just pull the dash pad off you can do a reach around and change the alt led bulb out

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Or a trained ferret...
Click to expand...
OK, but how do you tell it to get the polarity right??
Click to expand...
from what I read you just bench check if the bulb works its correct polarity if not rotate 180* till it does best to mark each bulb with an X for hot or positive side. For me I may try something different like led strips. I order some just not sure which way I will run them besides a few under dash to give out light and I have an older set with just one bulb which is bright and can be placed anywhere. Just wish I could find more of them. It's form an older Lite Glow set pretty sure they are now LED GLOW

 

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