LED lit gauges
 

Ok so I said to myself, " those Jetta gauges look sick lit up", and ever since I've been thinking about doing that to my Supa/914. Since I haven't seen any plug and play, LED lights for early 911/914 or 944 gauges yet (I know they exist cause BillK is sporting some). I decide to make my own, originaly I wan going to break the original bulb and solder on the led to the filimant wire. Quickly decided to go a different route. On the 944 gauges the sockets were very easy to stuff the diodes into, and after it was all said and done it looked like a professional install, no soldering, but some 5 min epoxy for potting is required.
Now the 911/14 gauges are another story, the socket is not having it, I got it to work but it looked like crap, and I don't think it will survive very long. I did a lil brain storming and figured out the sockets for the early 944 speedo and tach work in the 911/914 gauges, just need to add a piece or two of electrical tape because the hole size is a hair bigger on the 11/14. So I am now on the lookout for more sockets.
Finally, if you are still reading this you probally are asking how they turned out. I used the high intensity Blue LED's, and on the 911/14 gauges it looked awesome, almost as good as the newer Jetta's. I am very impressed. Now the blue LED's don't quite look right on the yellow marked 944 guages. I'm going to get some red and green, and maybe yellow LED's tommorrow and continue the experiment. If all else fails some white faces will fix it.

Nick

PS before you attemp this at home, make sure you don't over current the LED's or they will smoke, and at $2.50 USD a pop that can get expensive. If you don't know electronics IM me and i'll do the math for you. The equation is basically

Circuit voltage-voltage drop(depends on LED and how many are connected together) then divide that number by how many mA they can handle and the answer is how much resistance you'll need to add to the circuit.

Sounds awesome, please post some pics when you get a chance... :agree:

I have a spare set of 914 gauges and I was thinking of starting to tinker with them. :laugh:

Just make sure you do the math or the LED's won't last long, the ones I got will work for 100,000 hours if the current is below 30mA. I really need a to get a camera. Blue LED's definitely work on the 914 gauges. I all geeked about getting some different color diodes for my 944 gauges and in the mean time I think I'm going to install the blue ones into the 914. If you got any questions let me know.

I have been wanting to do this for a while. I love my wifes jetta dash at night. Were did you get the LED's and do you have a part number? Pix please.

I'm gunna have to get some film for my camera, and then have it developed on a cd-rom so I can post them up here. I picked up the LED's at Fry's, but they came from a company called Coast Cutlery www.coastcutlery.com and they are replacement bulbs for some of their LED flashlights. The pn is TT7802CP, I've seen on ebay some dudes from China slinging LED's for cheap as well.
Give me a few days to get some pics posted.

Nick

ditto. want to do on my bug and 944. sounds like a great tech article considering the math required, fitting particulars, parts...hint...hint. :D

Zen,
In the middle of writing the first post it dawned on me that this would make a great tech article. I'm still working out the particulars, mainly what color LED for the yellow marked 944 gauges, I got the 914 ones solved for the most part. I'm waiting on a reply from www.pelicanparts.com for the part number for the 944 style sockets. I am going to take pics of the different color combinations cause that will be a huge factor for most people. I also just now realised that the gauges are wired up in series-parallel so that will change the math used to determine nessasary resistance. I've been a electronics tech for 10 years now and it's kinda cool that it is coming in handy on my GL project.

Nick

Supa Ninja... Just break down and get a cheap digital camera. I got the $99 wal-mart special. If you want to post alot of pictures it will pay for itself with the savings from not having to buy and develop film. ;)

Your right BG, I should break down and get one, but I've been having my eye on a MP3 player thats around that price. I am a cheap bastard.
Anyways when I get my film developed I'll post a teaser pic so you'll have an idea of what it will look like. Looks like the blue LED's are the ticket for gauges with black backgrounds, white markings and orange needles.

get a cell phone with camera and mp3 capabilities. quailty will be slightly less than separate components, but it is easier on the wallet and you get all in one device.

I didn't even know they make those. I need a new cellie cell anyways cause mine is a piece of crap and I can't hear anything on it. I'll have to peep that out.

I plan on using RGB leds (about 5 per gauge) when I redo my dash with the porsche gauges... Wire up a 0 - 100% rheostat resistor to each colour... Then I can fiddle the dials and get the exact colour I want ;) All gauges will match automatically :D

Cya,
Sam C

we sell the led's and the resisters for them as well as the mounting clips for them

http://www.bigfootcomputers.com/Merc...gory_Code=0327

Thanks for all the input guys. I have some UV (aka black light, 420nm) LEDs on the way. I think they will work really good with ****pit style gauges, and I am considering them for my liscence plate light on the bike (we have white plates in CA). I know they aren't the best thing in the world for my eyes but I don't sit there and stare at my gauges so I should be fine. It's starting to get a lil honda-ee but I really want to modernize my gauges and not spent a arm and a leg doing it.
I have finally worked out the numbers for the resistance and am currently running a life test on a couple of blue(470 nm) diodes in a 914 speedo. I'm going to let it run for at least a day straight to make sure it's reliable and my resistor will hold up. Input 14.7 vdc, 110 ohms, 3.4v on each diode, 25mA per LED. The resistor is a 1/4 watt and that is border line for this so I'll probally step up to a 1/2 watt one when I actually install it in the car. I am also getting some better red and yellow LEDs. I'll take pics of all of them in action for the tech article.

wouldn't these be much easier.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...RK%3AMEWA%3AIT

Where's the fun in buying some already done. Those will work in the VW/ early 911/914 gauges. What I'm doing will be much cheaper (except for the sockets that will need to be purchased), plus I'm looking at using yellow and UV LEDs. For those already running 944 gauges my way will be hella simple, and very well priced.

Nick

I stumbled across this site, they have a whole line up of automotive based products check it out. I will try to cross reference what we will be able to use. www.superbrightleds.com

i would love some help figuring out what i would need for some interior lighting. don't need much. was thinking of one or two per side just under the dash. white or maybe blacklight. would love to get my 914/911 gauges white too. stock lighting on them suck.

Here are your int. lights.
http://discountleds.com/fixtures.htm
And 914 gauge LED's
http://discountleds.com/otherleds.htm

H2O that was a good link, it's lookin like most of the LED lighting issues have been handled by the aftermarket now. I was just at radio shack and I picked up a couple of LED holders for for the liscense plate lights on my bike. I think they will work good for your underdash lighting. The UV leds won't light up much unless your wearing white socks. The white will, just try and get the widest angle for illumination. Peep this link www.lsdiodes.com
I really like Samcats idea with the multicolored leds and the rheostat, that would be very trick. For me just having every led dim with the dimmer switch will make me happy.
This LED thing has become an addiction for me. Are there any 12 step programs for this?

Nick

For working out what resistor to use:

http://bit-tech.net/article/68/

And the BEST leds to use.... STUPIDLY BRIGHT!
Luxeon stars...

http://bit-tech.net/review/82/

And if your in the UK and want LEDS try these:
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/ <--- I have used there 12v resistors before on my car, works fine
http://www.maplins.com/

Cya,
Sam C

well that is easy enough. plug and play. :D concerned as to if that adhesive is good enough in the long run vs. recessing one with a base up into the dash (leaves a bigger hole though).

I would scap the peel-n-stick right off the bat and go with a real good glue.

I finally tracked down the part number for the early 944 light bulb sockets/holders apparently they are also used on 74-89 911's, and www.pelicanparts.com wants 6.25 each :eek: . I use that socket for the LED conversion on the early 911/914 gauges. I'm gunna go to the local Porsche wrecker and see what they want for some. In the mean time I have crunched the numbers and figured out how to solder up the resistor to the LED and have it all fit in the socket. That means it will be plug and play :D . Also next week I'll know how the UV leds look in the different gauges as well as liscense plate lights.

Nick

let us know. if you are in the mood to pick up extras and make them plug-n-play, let me know. :) so why not go with the ones no_h20 pointed out? too easy and just wanted to do it yourself or is there a technical difference you are looking at?

Yes it will be to easy to spend $30 and bamm be done with it. But the way I'm doing it the socket will be universal between the 911/914 and the 944 gauges. Plus I'll have other color options, such as yellow/amber and UV, both of which I think will work awesome with the above mentioned gauges.

Nick

Quick Update

Ok I got a regulator circuit built and tested....gunna have to wait for the ones I ordered through work. "why would Supa waste his time with a regulator circuit?" Automotive electrical systems have voltages that are continuously fluctuating 11-15v with the ocassional spikes. LEDs don't like to go over their rated current (most are 20-30mA) and when I calculate the required resistance I use 13.7v as my input, so when the system only puts out 12.4v the current drops and light output drops as well, but the LEDs will last a lil longer. Now the current regulator circuit I'm working on will output a consistant 30ma(or whatever I set it to) with a fluctuating input from 12-20v, higher spike protection with some protection diodes.
I've been testing the different colors in the different gauges, it looks like amber works in the yellow 944 gauges, but red works better. The UV/blacklight LEDs work in the VW/914 gauges like I guessed they would. I already installed a resistered set of blue LEDs in the 914, looks good. There is a noticable difference in brightness between 6000 mcd and 10,000 mcd.
I also solved the socket problem for the VW/914 gauges, so now its a easy modification to the stock sockets, plus they are cheap on www.pelicanparts.com, I think they are around a dollar each.
On my bike I hooked up some UV LEDs for liscense plate light and the do make the plate glow very bright but it's a purplish color which is illegal, so I'm going to put in a push button switch that will turn the UV LEDs off and turn on white LEDs while riding. (doesn't make it go faster but girlies will dig it). I'm still a few days off from having some pics developed. Zen if you want I'll pic up some sockets from either pick-n-pull or Bug-O-Rama and you let me know what color LEDs you want and I'll see about having a set for you when you come to NorCal in a couple of weeks.

Nick

I have a update for all you LED Heads(bad joke, I know). I finally got the correct Regulator and installed, I modified the original circuit to power the LEDs in parrallel as opposed to strings of 3. VW and Porsche power their incadesent bulbs in parrallel so that makes the most sence to do it that way. So far I have a half hour of running time, 11 UV LEDs in parrallel, constant 30mA, 16vdc input, and when I drop the input to 12vdc the current stays exactly the same. The only down side I can see is the more LEDs I add the more current it draws, so I have to adjust the poteniometer as I add and subtract LEDs.
I'm going to borrow a digi-cam this weekend and hopefully figure out how to photograph the color/guage combos for the tech article. I'll also draw up a schematic of the circuit for all you Do It Yourselfers, and a link to a resister calculator for those that are content with using just resistors.
For now I'm going to leave the LEDs on for a life test over night just to make sure nothing gets too hot and smokes. I am really happy with the results. Just to give you an idea of the costs, I built the limiter circuit for under 5 bucks. R&D costs are another story, I know I smoked over 30 dollars worth of LEDs.

Nick

LED Calculator:

http://www.bit-tech.net/article/68/

Cya,
Sam C

When I do the Tech article it will be done properly and that will take some time to do. I got a lot of changes happening with a upcoming new job, and a move so time is not on my side. So I'd like to appologize to anyone waiting for it.

Nick

Take your time bro, I have been working on mine for almost a year.... :rolleyes: :o

It's been a year and a minute since I updated you ninjas on my lil LED r&d project. Things are happening again, so stand by and I'll have a big update! BTW for a year I have been running the blue LEDs in my 914, still works great, just wish they were a little brighter.

Pull the gauges apart and paint the inside of the cases white. Big improvment. :agree:

any other colour would be brighter

blue l.e.d. s give the least luminesence (spelling?)
red yellow and white are the 3 best

Is that because blue light has a shorter wave length? ... or because of the nature of LED's themselves?

The reason I ask is because I am starting to do some serious mulling over what I want to do with my 1302 with respect to gauges and stereo. I am considering LED's but at this point, I have neither locked in on them nor eliminated them from consideration.

OK here is where I am at. I sat down and reverse engineered a few of the circuits that I had put together last year. I figured out what I was doing and made the finishing touches and now I am back on track. I even went so far as stuffing red LEDs into sockets, putting them into gauges, pluging them into the current limiter circuit, and pluging that into the dimmer switch. Definitely almost a real world test, best I can do since the 1302 isn't a runner.
My results- the current limiter worked flawlessly, I turned the know on the dimmer switch all the way CCW and they still were getting a steady 25mA. Conclussion is from 2-16.5vdc tested a constant current, theoretically it should be able to sustain around 50vdc with no ill effects. I wish I had dimmer capability but that will take some more R&Ding, also it's not nessacerily(?) plug and play cause different LEDs have different voltage drops and that messes with final value of R3. The final number of LEDs is also a factor of output current.
I took some pics of the final circuit layout and what the circuit board looks like. As far as how it the final results, I wish they were brighter. I'm putting running the LEDs at 25mA and they should be 20mA, but they can take up to 30mA so I don't want to turn that up anymore. I could take the gauges apart paint the inside white. The last option is to get brighter LEDs, all I have to do change R3 to compensate the different load.
If there is a interest in the current limiter circuit, I have enough extra parts to build a few, but I'll need a small donation ;) .

it's from experiance

i used to work at a computer modding company. we did all kinds of stuff with l.e.d's and it just worked out that blue always seemed to be the dimest of all.

these where all high mcd l.e.d's so i'm sure it has to do with wave lenghts.

i'm thinking of doing yellow in my gauges since it shows up the brightest at night.