Who has done aftermarket dash and cluster lights?

This is the 27th post of the thread you’re on right now. I just start from the beginning of the thread and search.
The guy said these worked for his dash. So if you’re trying to replace the bulbs in the instrument panel. There ya go

https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...bulb-5-smd-led-wide-angle-wedge-base/206/920/

 

Hi all, I'm about to dive into an upgrade of bulbs in the instrument cluster + climate control of my 1996 Tacoma LX MT. Reading through this terrific-albeit-lengthy thread it appears:

- I have the "step" 2-wire dimmer. This according to the FSM
- Because I have this kind of dimmer, it won't quite work with dimmable LEDs (or the bulbs won't have a full range of dimmability)

I'm not quite sure I want to down the route of replacing + re-wiring/soldering the dimmer. So what other options do I have? Is it possible to simply use a brighter set of bulbs than stock that are fully dimmable? Maybe not even LED? Thoughts? Thanks!

 

You can use all LED with the stock dimmer (rheostat) as long as you have one "resistance load" in the dimming circuit. Something like 5W bulb parallel to one of LEDs. This is what's needed to dim all LED bulbs in the circuit - of course as long as these are "simple" LEDs" (with no "buck" style power regulator, just a diode and resistor in series with LED chips).

 

Thanks @RysiuM. So for example, if I only replaced the instrument cluster bulbs with simple LEDs but left the climate control bulbs as incandescent, this would allow the LEDs to dim fully, correct?

 

i have all LEDs and mine dim (which I don't know why i would dim my dash lights) but I don't have any load resistors.

 

Looks like you have an '01. Dimmers were different in certain early Tacos, like my 1996 - see earlier posts in this thread.

 

ah yes, i have a 2001. sorry for the confusion.

 

Yes, maybe not 100% but for sure a lot. Remember, you also have a bulb in Hazard light switch, and in AC switch (I think, I do not remember) that you probably will not replace with LED either, and it will help. If it's not enough, depending if you have aftermarket radio or original, you may use the radio lighting wire to put some small bulb or stuck some 200 ohm/1W resistor. The idea is to create enough voltage drop on the rheostat when fully dimmed so cluster LED bulbs will be powered by lower voltage and therefore will produce less output.

Completely different approach would be (as it was my first approach) to put a custom electronic circuit between the rheostat and a plug that will work as a "custom voltage drop". I think I still have the schematic for it. It was 100% plug and play without changing anything in wiring (it plugs between the rheostat and connecting two wires). I used it for some time and it worked perfectly but I got tired of the "sparking" contacts in this old rheostat - any time I turned the knob or even driving on the rough road the rheostat was "jumping" making my dash lights to flicker. This is why I converted to electronic dimmer used in later models (actually the same dimmer is used in whole bunch of Toyota and Lexus cars too).

 

I found these materials - they are from 2014 (5 years old). The diagram:


PC Board layout:



Home made PC board with elements soldered in:



The board before heat shrink



Installed



and finally in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3x77iOHblM

 

One more thing. As you can see in the video in the previous post, dash LEDs are flickering when I turn the rheostat. It did not go well with my OCD . This is why I switched to the electronic dimmer I bought on E-bay. It came with wiring harness so I converted my truck to 3-wire dimmer even with matching Toyota plug for it .

I must say the dimming range is not as good as my custom circuit dimmer but it's good enough. Electronic dimmer was designed to be used with incandescent bulbs, and with incandescent dash light it probably works perfect. My LED bulbs are still quite bright at low voltage, but at the lowest setting they are dimmed OK for driving unlighted country roads at moonless night. This is how the electronic dimmer works with my dash lights (I have also replaced incandescent bulbs with LED in hazard light switch and A/C switch. They are tiny NEO-2 bulbs, and it was quite PITA to get these LED bulbs right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlmLWaBk4QA

 

What bulb you guys using for the '99 style climate control? I originally had some soldered in a tee to get adequate diffusion but was never happy with it.

 

Thanks @RysiuM. Just to clarify, I do have an after market Kenwood radio. I'm assuming that this means the radio lighting option isn't available to me. I wouldn't know where to even start when it comes to putting in a "200 ohm/1W resistor" Sorry I'm more or less electronics illiterate.

BTW I installed the LED bulbs today, but left the incandescent climate control bulbs in place. The LEDs dim to a certain point, then shut off. It's a bit too bright.

EDIT: I wonder if the simplest solution for me is to just buy + install LED bulbs that are less bright. My current ones are 94 lumens, I could just put less bright bulbs like these 40 lumen ones.

 

The simplest solution woul be addind a resistor ir naybe bulb onder the center console. All wires are there.

 

Well I took @RysiuM's suggestion for my 1996 Taco and spliced in a 194 bulb socket in the line near the rheostat to increase resistance. I had to try a few different bulbs in this socket, but I finally got the brightness I want. My dimmer now effectively has two settings: 1) really, really bright and 2) just right for longer night time drives. Works for me!

I somehow managed to make the switch for my old school KC lights not work during all this. Not show if that's related, will check the fuses, etc. tomorrow.

 

Well, I'm back to my computer so let me explain what I meant by "resistor in the radio wiring". The whole theory is that in order for the rheostat to work it needs to create a voltage drop enough to dim LED bulbs. The voltage required to run bulbs very depends on the LED bulb types you use. Most "cheap" bulbs will dim almost to nothing at 10-9 V, but really every bulb is different. Of course Led bulbs with "buck driver" will not dim at all, quite often they will flicker at lower voltage or some will just shut off when voltage is to lot (like on-off switch). These bulbs are not dimmable so should not be used in this application.

Now back to a dimmer functionality. It is a whole bunch of lamps with rheostat in series.




Rheostat is 10 ohm variable resistor with build "on/off" switch. In the rightmost position the resistance of the rheostat is zero, so bulbs are powered straight from 12V to the ground.
When you turn the rheostat to the left the resistance will increase up to 10 ohms. This results in the voltage drop on the rheostat, so bulbs are powered by lower voltage.
If you turn it more after the "click" the switch will cut off and it will stop lighting all bulbs.

The issue with LED "illumination" lamps is that they draw much less current than the incandescent bulbs, therefore the voltage drop on 10ohm rheostat is minimal. All four cluster bulbs take bout 0.6A, that would create a voltage drop at the rheostat at about 6V, meaning bulbs would be powered at 6V - that's pretty low. LED bulb takes much less especially when dimmed and that is not enough current to create a reasonable voltage drop for dimming.

I suggested to increase a total current running through the rheostat by adding a bulb or resistor in place of Radio And Player illumination. I think one 3W bulb (or 50 ohm 3W resistor) might create enough current running through the rheostat to crate voltage drop sufficient to dim all LED in the meter illumination.

As for the radio connection. There are two factory blue plugs. one wider with 10 contacts is used to to all radio power, antenna power and front speakers. The smaller blue plug with 6 contacts is used for rear speakers and one contact for illumination. I do not have rear speakers, so it is only one wire over there. This one comes from 10A panel fuse. You plug a bulb between this and white green wire (the wire that goes to the rheostat). But you don't need to use radio wire. Just above it there is a climate control with green-red wire and white-green wire. Just tap a resistor (or bulb) between these two wires. You can experiment what size of resistor works the best for your LED bulbs to give full range of dimming. The rule is the lower resistance of that resistor is, darker you can get. Just keep in mind, that the lower resistor is, more heat it will need to disperse, so don't overdo it like putting a 6 ohm resistor used for "LED Blinker modification" - that would be way to low resistance. My guess is that any value between 200 ohm and 50 ohm should be acceptable.

But frankly, I think the best option is to swap your rheostat for electronic dimmer. It does not need to say "Tacoma" as the same dimmer switch is used across the whole fleet from Toyota. They are all over Ebay like example this one:



Guess what - even the knob is the same so if your knob is in better shape, you can use it. Just make sure the switch comes with the harness (plug) so you don't need to improvise and have clean installation.

By the way, early years of 1st gen Tacoma had electronic dimmer only in trucks with SR5 M/T or any A/T. DLX M/T came with rheostat that sucks.

 

An excellent write-up @RysiuM. Posts like yours are what make TW so invaluable. I'll order one of these dimmers + harness for the next time I feel like opening up my dashboard This replacement will have three wires versus my "step" version that has two I *think*, correct? I'll have to configure that correctly.

 

Correct - three wires. The third one is the green-red you can obtain from various lighted switches from radio or from HVAC panel. This is how both rheostats are wired:



Of course you don;t have both at the same time, just either one of them.

 

Can’t recall how many years 1 of the 3 stock bulbs had been burned out, but that changed today. Even in daylight, the LED bulbs make all the difference in my 2004. I used 3 of the NEO4-NWHP bulbs from superbrightleds.com (4mm NEO4-XHP Natural White). They dim for me and cut out at almost the lowest setting of my dimmer switch. Thanks to everyone who, through their posts on this thread, helped me source and size the right bulbs.

 

Finally got around to replacing the rheostat in my 1996 with a true electronic dimmer I bought on eBay, as per @RysiuM's suggestion (see above). Works perfectly and now I have full dimming capability with my cluster and HVAc LEDs

 

Hey! So I realize it has been a little while since you posted this, but any chance you still have one of these around?