Who has done aftermarket dash and cluster lights?

4. 194 for cluster 2 for heater a/c controls just did mine sunday

 

how do you like the white led at night? And what color temp is that? cool white? Natural white?

 

I have white in mine. Its great at night. I have dimmed as much as possible and I love it.

 

The white is great not to bright at all this is what i used

 

An LED won't work for that bulb. The resistance of the thermistor in the tank is balanced with the resistance of an incandescent bulb. (They're wired in series.) If you put an LED in it will always be on.

It's more likely the thermistor in the tank is bad.

 

Will these work for my dash lights?

 

Really? I always thought it was just a switch that turns the light on when the fuel reaches a certain level. Didn't think it was that complicated.

 

No mine typically fades on and off because of the gas sloshing around and I know I'm really low when it stays on.

 

A thermistor is a resistor that decreases resistance when it heats up. As long as it's submerged in the gas it stays cool and has high resistance, so the warning light (in series) doesn't get enough current to light up. Once the fuel level drops below the thermistor level, it heats up, its resistance drops and enough current flows to the warning bulb for it to light up.

A small amount of current is always flowing through the bulb when the tank is not empty, but it's not enough to light the bulb. The same amount of current will be enough to light the LED.

 

That's how my Prerunner used to be. Thought it came on and off from gas moving the switch. Not a thermistor

 

Today I learned. Makes a lot of sense.

They'll work fine, however, I do recommend a bit of caution with cheaper LED bulbs. I put some in my dash and I'm regretting it because two of them turn off randomly, it is probably just a simple readjustment, but removing the gauge cluster is just a pain. These are infinitely more expensive but I'll probably replace them with these https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...-wedge-retrofit-car/1127/#/tab/Specifications

Just my .02

 

You are correct! You get what you pay for. And who wants to have to pull the dash apart to change a cheap LED? Just remember if they don't work the 1st time you plug them in, turn them around because they're reverse polarity

 

I second the recommendation to STAY AWAY from cheap LEDs for interior lighting. Even the ones from superbrightleds have a tendency to burn out quickly.

I have not yet replaced the lights in my Tacoma, but I have replaced the gauge cluster and climate control lights in my IS300 with LEDs. I've gone through 3 sets of cheap LEDs, always lasting just a couple of months before they flicker and fail. Most of this is due to the fact that the cheap LEDs don't have heat sinks, and tend to overheat if left constantly running for dash illumination.

The only place I know of that sells heat-resistant LEDs is autolumination.com. Another positive of autolumination is that most of the LEDs I've tried are not polarized, so you don't have to worry about accidentally plugging them in wrong.

Currently running the "Cree Xbd With Cover" model in my IS300 gauges. http://www.autolumination.com/194.htm

Those particular ones are only available in white, but I suppose if you wanted to maintain the stock green or orange hue you could reuse the translucent covers from the stock bulbs, or cover the lens with Sharpie.

 

Just finished up doing my 1999 with SuperbrightLEDs and went with the "Natural White 4100K"
https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...-tower-miniature-wedge-retrofit-car/206/6773/ for my cluster and it's way too bright.

They also aren't dimmable and they're way too bright when driving at night. My green HVAC LEDs I installed also arent dimming but my stock headunit still does, so I'm not sure what the issue is. Wondered if anyone else ran into this issue with their early first gens as it seems everyone with a later first gen has no problem dimming their LEDs

Was thinking I could maybe go with a different color like the "Warm 3000K" or Amber, or Green for cluster and they wouldnt be as bright ???

 

I'm worried about the same thing as a couple others on here, not being able to dim my lights as I have a 95.5. I would really love to be able to run these dimmer 35 lm bulbs but can only find them in a 220 degree design.
https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...b-5-led-miniature-wedge-retrofit-car/199/873/
Everything else I can find is around 90 lm but is 360 degree which I am afraid will be too bright. Wondering if anyone has a solution that doesn't involve building your own circuit board. Or if these 220 degree bulbs will work ok. If anyone has pictures with the 220 degree bulbs I would love to see them.

 

If you have "resistor type" rheostat read my post here Who has done aftermarket dash and cluster lights?

 

I saw your post I have read it over a few times. This seems a bit complicated I was wondering if there was any way to do it other than having to modify and resolder lights and such.

 

Not in 95.5 with "rheostat resistor" dimmer (2 wires)as it is in mine. I know that some Tacomas have dimer "voltage regulator" type (3 wires), and they will work with mix bulbs and LEDs. So either you do dimmer upgrade or you are screwed like I was.

 

Sadly I am not good at soldering and wouldn't have any idea how to make my own circuit board and such so seems like unless I can find a bulb that's dimmer than I don't really have many options.

 

I just wanted to add a little FYI to this thread

anyone who decides to replace the low fuel and check engine warning light bulbs with red LEDs to be much easier to notice and see them, you need to know that you cant check bulb function on the check engine light socket and just put the bulb the same way for the low fuel light, it wont work because the low fuel light is reverse powered so the bulb wont work unless you flip it around to be installed 180 out from how it works in the check engine socket.

just hoping to avoid someone finding out later like I did that you have to pull the cluster again to flip it around