Please Identify Dash Cluster Lights

[jackf]

There are three lights on my dash cluster. I have labeled them 1,2,3. I assume 1 (bottom of tach) is brake warning light. Either 2 (on top of tach) or 3 (bottom of speedo) is bright lights ? The remaining light is ????  Thanks as always for any help you can provide .

 

[TheRktmn]

1 = Brakes system - tach cluster

2 = High Beams - tach cluster

3 = High Beams - non tach cluster

You have one of these:

A tach in a non tach cluster (most likely)

A non tach speedometer in a tach cluster

Tach cluster speedometers have a trip odometer reset button where #3 is.

Non tach clusters dd not get the trip odometer.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Here is some info another member sent to me shows the printed circuit board and what each one is. Think this will answer your questions.

See the attachment.

TESTING THE TACH.docx

 

[jackf]

Here is some info another member sent to me shows the printed circuit board and what each one is. Think this will answer your questions.

See the attachment.

Thanks All.  Finally some clarity.  I bought the cluster off of ebay.  I bought a new printed circuit, and replaced all the bulbs with LEDs.  Everything seems to work , but neither the bright beam indicator nor the turn signal indicators work, although the bright beams come on and the turn signals work.  Hopefully now I can figure this out.  Thanks again.

Jack

 

[jackf]

1 = Brakes system - tach cluster

2 = High Beams - tach cluster

3 = High Beams - non tach cluster

You have one of these:

A tach in a non tach cluster (most likely)

A non tach speedometer in a tach cluster

Tach cluster speedometers have a trip odometer reset button where #3 is.

Non tach clusters dd not get the trip odometer.

Thank you.  Finally an explanation that makes sense.

 

[Hemikiller]

As Rocketman noted, you have a mish-mash of parts there. If the seller sold it to you as an original tach dash cluster, it isn't one.

 

[jackf]

As Rocketman noted, you have a mish-mash of parts there. If the seller sold it to you as an original tach dash cluster, it isn't one.

Alas, guys like me get screwed a lot this way.  I try to do my research, but.....

In any case, given the printed circuit is new, and designed for a tach cluster, i assume it should all work, except for the speedo "light", which won't do anything.

 

[Stanglover]

First off, I'm NO electrical expert, far from it, but one thing I learned and found out regarding putting LED or SMD lights in the dash is this; You should use a special LED grounded flasher for turn signal and 4 way flasher. That could be why the turn signal lights don't flash on the dash. Now, in my case I upgraded all my interior and exterior lights to LED or SMD's. At first, the flasher was just an electronic one and my dash turn signal lights would only work if I replaced the 194's. I bought all my led/smd's from Bill at Hi-Po Parts and after contacting him directly, he told me I must use the grounded flasher made expressly for LED type lights. After that, my dash lights all worked fine.

As you have bought an aftermarket and obviously made up set of dash gauges, there may be other reasons why your turn indicators don't work. Your #3 will not have a bulb in that location with a factory Tach C/B.

Cheap LED's are imo, a waste of money. I'd recommend contacting Bill at www.HiPoParts.com for suggestions and advice regarding the best lights available.

Geoff.

 

[rackerm]

First off, I'm NO electrical expert, far from it, but one thing I learned and found out regarding putting LED or SMD lights in the dash is this; You should use a special LED grounded flasher for turn signal and 4 way flasher. That could be why the turn signal lights don't flash on the dash. Now, in my case I upgraded all my interior and exterior lights to LED or SMD's. At first, the flasher was just an electronic one and my dash turn signal lights would only work if I replaced the 194's. I bought all my led/smd's from Bill at Hi-Po Parts and after contacting him directly, he told me I must use the grounded flasher made expressly for LED type lights. After that, my dash lights all worked fine.

As you have bought an aftermarket and obviously made up set of dash gauges, there may be other reasons why your turn indicators don't work. Your #3 will not have a bulb in that location with a factory Tach C/B.

Cheap LED's are imo, a waste of money. I'd recommend contacting Bill at www.HiPoParts.com for suggestions and advice regarding the best lights available.

Geoff.

The Flasher used for LED conversions is only really needed when converting ALL bulbs, that is Front and rear parking/signal bulbs and dash. This is because LED bulbs don't draw much current and therefore the standard flasher is not triggered by the low current draw of the LEDs. Even the newer more current sensitive electronic style flasher will have the same problem if you don't have enough LED bulbs on a given circuit to draw enough current. I learned this because I once tried bench testing an LED flasher with just two LEDS and it did not work. I added a standard bulb to the circuit with the two LEDs to increase the current draw and they all started flashing. If you are using standard front and rear signal bulbs with LED dash signal bulbs, then the old standard flasher should still work. Make sure you have the polarity correct on the LED bulbs, otherwise they will not work. You can buy bi-polar/non-polar? (not sure what they call them) LED bulbs from www.HiPoParts.com, so you don't have to worry about getting them all in the same + - way.

 

[Stanglover]

First off, I'm NO electrical expert, far from it, but one thing I learned and found out regarding putting LED or SMD lights in the dash is this; You should use a special LED grounded flasher for turn signal and 4 way flasher. That could be why the turn signal lights don't flash on the dash. Now, in my case I upgraded all my interior and exterior lights to LED or SMD's. At first, the flasher was just an electronic one and my dash turn signal lights would only work if I replaced the 194's. I bought all my led/smd's from Bill at Hi-Po Parts and after contacting him directly, he told me I must use the grounded flasher made expressly for LED type lights. After that, my dash lights all worked fine.

As you have bought an aftermarket and obviously made up set of dash gauges, there may be other reasons why your turn indicators don't work. Your #3 will not have a bulb in that location with a factory Tach C/B.

Cheap LED's are imo, a waste of money. I'd recommend contacting Bill at www.HiPoParts.com for suggestions and advice regarding the best lights available.

Geoff.

The Flasher used for LED conversions is only really needed when converting ALL bulbs, that is Front and rear parking/signal bulbs and dash. This is because LED bulbs don't draw much current and therefore the standard flasher is not triggered by the low current draw of the LEDs. Even the newer more current sensitive electronic style flasher will have the same problem if you don't have enough LED bulbs on a given circuit to draw enough current. I learned this because I once tried bench testing an LED flasher with just two LEDS and it did not work. I added a standard bulb to the circuit with the two LEDs to increase the current draw and they all started flashing. If you are using standard front and rear signal bulbs with LED dash signal bulbs, then the old standard flasher should still work. Make sure you have the polarity correct on the LED bulbs, otherwise they will not work. You can buy bi-polar/non-polar? (not sure what they call them) LED bulbs from www.HiPoParts.com, so you don't have to worry about getting them all in the same + - way.

 Agreed. I did say I'm not an expert!! But you're correct, The LED flasher is definitely needed when replacing ALL the bulbs. Re-reading the above, I realized I did not mention that when the dash turn signal LED's did not work, it was before I upgraded to Hi-Po Parts Elite series II SMD's. Not sure why and yes the polarity was correct. My mistake if that was misleading.

One more thing on the LED flasher, it too is polarity sensitive and must be grounded. On my Mach, the plug for the turn signal flasher was wired incorrectly at the factory. That of course did not matter with a standard flasher. I made up short jumper wires as the terminal pins refused to come out, I don't have a suitable tool for that.

A reminder to anyone else upgrading dash lights to LED's. IF your car has ***** lights, the ALTERNATOR bulb MUST remain an incandescent 194 bulb. 

Thanks rackerm for correcting and clarifying my post.

Geoff.

 

[jackf]

First off, I'm NO electrical expert, far from it, but one thing I learned and found out regarding putting LED or SMD lights in the dash is this; You should use a special LED grounded flasher for turn signal and 4 way flasher. That could be why the turn signal lights don't flash on the dash. Now, in my case I upgraded all my interior and exterior lights to LED or SMD's. At first, the flasher was just an electronic one and my dash turn signal lights would only work if I replaced the 194's. I bought all my led/smd's from Bill at Hi-Po Parts and after contacting him directly, he told me I must use the grounded flasher made expressly for LED type lights. After that, my dash lights all worked fine.

As you have bought an aftermarket and obviously made up set of dash gauges, there may be other reasons why your turn indicators don't work. Your #3 will not have a bulb in that location with a factory Tach C/B.

Cheap LED's are imo, a waste of money. I'd recommend contacting Bill at www.HiPoParts.com for suggestions and advice regarding the best lights available.

Geoff.

The Flasher used for LED conversions is only really needed when converting ALL bulbs, that is Front and rear parking/signal bulbs and dash. This is because LED bulbs don't draw much current and therefore the standard flasher is not triggered by the low current draw of the LEDs. Even the newer more current sensitive electronic style flasher will have the same problem if you don't have enough LED bulbs on a given circuit to draw enough current. I learned this because I once tried bench testing an LED flasher with just two LEDS and it did not work. I added a standard bulb to the circuit with the two LEDs to increase the current draw and they all started flashing. If you are using standard front and rear signal bulbs with LED dash signal bulbs, then the old standard flasher should still work. Make sure you have the polarity correct on the LED bulbs, otherwise they will not work. You can buy bi-polar/non-polar? (not sure what they call them) LED bulbs from www.HiPoParts.com, so you don't have to worry about getting them all in the same + - way.

 Agreed. I did say I'm not an expert!! But you're correct, The LED flasher is definitely needed when replacing ALL the bulbs. Re-reading the above, I realized I did not mention that when the dash turn signal LED's did not work, it was before I upgraded to Hi-Po Parts Elite series II SMD's. Not sure why and yes the polarity was correct. My mistake if that was misleading.

One more thing on the LED flasher, it too is polarity sensitive and must be grounded. On my Mach, the plug for the turn signal flasher was wired incorrectly at the factory. That of course did not matter with a standard flasher. I made up short jumper wires as the terminal pins refused to come out, I don't have a suitable tool for that.

A reminder to anyone else upgrading dash lights to LED's. IF your car has ***** lights, the ALTERNATOR bulb MUST remain an incandescent 194 bulb. 

Thanks rackerm for correcting and clarifying my post.

Geoff.

 

[jackf]

So I tested all wires terminating at circuit board connector and got required power. I tested the printed circuit board and got continuity where it should have been. I used a 9 volt battery and tested all the bulbs. All good. Then I put the bulbs in the sockets and no joy. Turns out the sockets were bad. A smarter guy may have checked this first. Everything works now. Thank you all for the help. If not for y'all, my car would never run.

 

[Stanglover]

So I tested all wires terminating at circuit board connector and got required power.  I tested the printed circuit board and got continuity where it should have been.  I used a 9 volt battery and tested all the bulbs.  All good.  Then I put the bulbs in the sockets and no joy.  Turns out the sockets were bad.  A smarter guy may have checked this first.  Everything works now.  Thank you all for the help.  If not for y'all, my car would never run.

 Great, glad you got it sorted

Geoff.

 

[Don C]

jackf

Turns out the sockets were bad.  A smarter guy may have checked this first. 

Just luckier, you approached it in the right way, systematically, one item at a time.

 

[rackerm]

The Flasher used for LED conversions is only really needed when converting ALL bulbs, that is Front and rear parking/signal bulbs and dash. This is because LED bulbs don't draw much current and therefore the standard flasher is not triggered by the low current draw of the LEDs. Even the newer more current sensitive electronic style flasher will have the same problem if you don't have enough LED bulbs on a given circuit to draw enough current. I learned this because I once tried bench testing an LED flasher with just two LEDS and it did not work. I added a standard bulb to the circuit with the two LEDs to increase the current draw and they all started flashing. If you are using standard front and rear signal bulbs with LED dash signal bulbs, then the old standard flasher should still work. Make sure you have the polarity correct on the LED bulbs, otherwise they will not work. You can buy bi-polar/non-polar? (not sure what they call them) LED bulbs from www.HiPoParts.com, so you don't have to worry about getting them all in the same + - way.

 Agreed. I did say I'm not an expert!! But you're correct, The LED flasher is definitely needed when replacing ALL the bulbs. Re-reading the above, I realized I did not mention that when the dash turn signal LED's did not work, it was before I upgraded to Hi-Po Parts Elite series II SMD's. Not sure why and yes the polarity was correct. My mistake if that was misleading.

One more thing on the LED flasher, it too is polarity sensitive and must be grounded. On my Mach, the plug for the turn signal flasher was wired incorrectly at the factory. That of course did not matter with a standard flasher. I made up short jumper wires as the terminal pins refused to come out, I don't have a suitable tool for that.

A reminder to anyone else upgrading dash lights to LED's. IF your car has ***** lights, the ALTERNATOR bulb MUST remain an incandescent 194 bulb. 

Thanks rackerm for correcting and clarifying my post.

Geoff.

Thanks Geoff! Good info. The guys at HiPoParts do know their stuff. Fortunately we  owners of 71-73 mustangs do not have to deal with the wiring nightmare you find on 70 mustangs where the ford engineers applied their creative wiring talents to the parking and side marker lights. Anyone who has a 70 knows what I am talking a out.

 

[midlife]

Thanks Geoff! Good info. The guys at HiPoParts do know their stuff. Fortunately we  owners of 71-73 mustangs do not have to deal with the wiring nightmare you find on 70 mustangs where the ford engineers applied their creative wiring talents to the parking and side marker lights. Anyone who has a 70 knows what I am talking a out.

Oh yeah...that's one hell of a bad design and causes all sorts of issues, let alone a trouble-shooting nightmare.  ******* electrical engineer was prolly smoking pot at the time, and the managers were out on their 3 martini lunches when that design got approved...

 

[rackerm]

Thanks Geoff! Good info. The guys at HiPoParts do know their stuff. Fortunately we  owners of 71-73 mustangs do not have to deal with the wiring nightmare you find on 70 mustangs where the ford engineers applied their creative wiring talents to the parking and side marker lights. Anyone who has a 70 knows what I am talking a out.

Oh yeah...that's one hell of a bad design and causes all sorts of issues, let alone a trouble-shooting nightmare.  ******* electrical engineer was prolly smoking pot at the time, and the managers were out on their 3 martini lunches when that design got approved...

Agreed! Obviously Ford realized they F'd up and went back to the standard 3 wire design in 71.

 

[Stanglover]

Thanks Geoff! Good info. The guys at HiPoParts do know their stuff. Fortunately we  owners of 71-73 mustangs do not have to deal with the wiring nightmare you find on 70 mustangs where the ford engineers applied their creative wiring talents to the parking and side marker lights. Anyone who has a 70 knows what I am talking a out.

Oh yeah...that's one hell of a bad design and causes all sorts of issues, let alone a trouble-shooting nightmare.  ******* electrical engineer was prolly smoking pot at the time, and the managers were out on their 3 martini lunches when that design got approved...

Agreed! Obviously Ford realized they F'd up and went back to the standard 3 wire design in 71.

 70 Mustangs with bad wiring eh! I'll have to ask my friend with the Boss 302. 

I don't know about 71-73 wiring too much. Mine has been hacked and spliced all over the place by PO's especially the radio circuit. Fortunately I have been able to at least  make it reliable. The only connection I have found incorrect was that flasher plug and Bill tells me it's very common to find that.

Glad we're still "friends". 

Geoff.