Who has done aftermarket dash and cluster lights?

So one thing I have noticed is the LEDs going in have way more lumens that stock bulbs. The stock bulbs are like 25 lm. I run mine about 25 percent to off. So to switch to LEDs I should find a lumen output of 5-6?
Has anyone found that small output yet?

 

Has anyone had the speedo needle dip? Mine is running at about ten MPH under. Hwhat can I do?

 

If you're referring to 194s (the 4 main cluster lights) I think the OEM incandescents are likely a little brighter than 25 lumens. The LEDs I just installed are actually 20-25lm and more dim. Up all the way they aren't as bright "as they used to be" and not as bright as my HVAC lights. And the idiot lights in the cluster are certainly brighter than these LEDs.

And they've only got a 220-degree beam. Pretty good coverage, no obvious hot spots overall but not ideal. I actually just ordered the 75 lumen LEDs from superbrightleds.com with 360-degree beam with the understanding I'll now be turning down the dimmer. The only question is if the LEDs I ordered for the HVAC lights will be a match in that regard.

 

I'd start a new thread about this. It's not a lighting question.

 

i got an email that VLED is having a 15% sale til Nov 1. no promo code needed.

 

They don't have green and over $25 just for 1 194 bulb, talk about a rip off.

 

I've tried the JDM Astars and the TRS 194s and one or two other eBay/Amazon knockoffs. They all burned out or were the wrong color or were too dim. So far the VLEDS are holding up. Pricey I know.

 

Is it still about the dash 194 bulbs? Why would you need high light output bulbs for that? I have superbrightleds WLED-WHP5 and they are more than enough for the job. There are very same bulbs on Amazon for the fraction of the price (10-packs for less than 10 dollars). I use them for more than two years now and no "burns".

"Burning out" may be a problem for high output LEDs (I mean more than 100 lumens) used for direct lighting (dome lights, exterior lighting etc.) not for back-lighting.

 

No sorry. The problem was with the corner and license plate 194s. They run alot hotter and all my JDMs burned out. I wouldn't order VLEDS for the dash lights which run cooler.

 

For the last two years (and some) I run Superbrightleds WLED-AHP5 on front marker (I have clear housing) and WLED-WHP5 for license plate. No problems at all.

When you guys shopping for exterior lights for 1st gen Tacoma keep in mind that there is no current sensing in this car, so avoid buying "CANBUS compatible" bulbs. They run much hotter and take more current than they should. Unless of course you are so crazy (like me) and you modify CANBUS bulb by removing the load resistor from it.

I did that to 9w Cree LED 31mm Canbus No Error Festoon (by SiriusLED) from Amazon. This bulb will fit 1st gen 95.5 dome light. They are great lights but far away from stated 9W - more like 0.5W of power going through LED (plus .7W on load resistors and .2W on current limiting resistor and diode). Just by removing "CANBUS resistors" you would drop half of wasted power. Doing more surgery and replacing current limiting resistor with 120mA current regulator (AL5809-120P1-7) you can turn useless heat into the light. The bulb will still have 1.4W but will give you about 160 lumens (about 2 times more light than the original bulb).

I went extreme for my 4Runner back door and I run these bulbs at 350mA (4.2W) with the light output over 450lumens. They are very hot, but 4Runner tailgate fixture is designed to have such hot bulbs.

 

That's a good point. I think I might have gotten the CANBUS version. Are they not needed to stay on when the key is off?

 

Interesting. I have JDM ADSTAR as well but my bulbs aren't giving me any problems.

 

I loved the color and brightness. But I went through 10 of them in a week. They all started flickering within 24hrs. They seemed to be really hot.

 

I wondered about that. There's also a CANBUS "194" on their site that's $1 less than the ones I just ordered, supposedly 360-degrees, WLED-[x]HP5. I still like what I bought the other week (WLED-[x]W5) but the new ones should be brighter and have better coverage.

 

I'm guessing you used these for the dash? I'm thinking about going for the JDM ASTAR

 

no no. for the corners. they are too bright for the dash.

 

I bought JDM ASTAR 169 bulbs from them. I haven't had a problem with them for 1-2 years, changed to 921 from JDM ASTAR that provide 800 lumens. Enough light to see my new location for my blinkers.

 

In search of some experience help? So I was about to order all my led's for this m.o.d from superbrightleds.com. which is about 60$ so it got me thinking maybe I can find a cheaper deal on ebay. I seem to have found the ones I need but does anybody know if these are the same quality lights? Or am I getting what I pay for so to speak? You can buy a ten pack of the 194's for 7$ and the same 194 is 5.99$ just for ONE bulb on superbrightleds.com these are the one I found on ebay. http://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eB...1989&category=33713&pm=1&ds=0&t=1446040749951

 

I don't know what the fascination is with super bright leds? maybe its the catchy name? but almost everything they have is way way overpriced.

I suggest you and anyone else getting ready to buy bulbs should try looking here first and compare prices: http://www.autolumination.com/

 

My case was trial and error until I found the right color, brightness, length, throw pattern (360, etc), CANBUS (yes/no) and reliability. It really is hard to get everything right the first time, especially since most places don't properly list the kelvin color or the length or the throw pattern.

I'd probably try Amazon before I tried ebay since you have the review system for different products. On amazon you can still get the 10 packs for some of the better bulbs. I got some decent heater control bulbs and PRNDL bulbs from superbrightled.

Now that I know what I need for all the different bulbs I will use @keakar suggestion for most stuff. It can be a bit hard to locate stuff on their website but they have bulbs that you can't find anywhere else. I'm probably gonna go with a VLED switchback system for the corner pod turn signal conversion.