[DeTomaso] LED Instrument Light Bulbs,

[Christopher Kimball]

Well, I tried the single, green LEDs from superbright tonight, and they are 
barely brighter than the stock bulbs; just as you said.  That may be OK for 
the smaller gauges, but I'm going to try your suggestion for the speedo and 
tach.

You suggested WLED-WHP as an alternative, but then you later said you used 
BA9s-X-XV LEDs.  Do both fit in the stock bayonet sockets?  If so, which is 
brightest?  I'm probably not going to try and add any extra sockets, so I 
want the most "bang for the buck."

Thanks,

Chris




>From: <David_Bell at oxy.com>
>To: <chrisvkimball at msn.com>
>Subject: RE: LED Instrument Light Bulbs,
>Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 08:56:19 +0400
>
>Lee,
>
>I've experimented with a large number of LED instrument bulbs and you're
>right, they are generally too blue and/or too dim.  In fact, I have a
>big box of LED bulbs that I tried and rejected for various Pantera
>applications (probably approaching $200 worth).  Every LED vendor will
>swear that their bulbs are the absolute brightest and generally they are
>either lying or don't have a clue.  You won't know for sure until you
>buy some and then try them out.  The experiments can get expensive after
>a while.  This was the main reason that Space City Panteras put together
>the LED bulb upgrade package - so everyone else wouldn't have to do the
>same expensive, year-long, trial and error LED bulb search that I went
>through.
>
>But back to LED instrument light bulbs....look specifically at the
>'WLED-WHP' bulb on the SuperBright LED web page - WLED-W4 and WLED-W are
>different.  You may have to go to the on-line catalog showing all the
>bulbs to find them - or call SB-LEDs via phone.  The WLED-WHP is a
>single, very bright LED mounted in a white plastic wedge-style housing.
>
>And as far as the tach and speedo go, I've added two additional bulb
>sockets to each gauge.  The stock configuration of one little light bulb
>in each isn't going to cut it no matter how bright the bulb is.  Check
>out the technical section of the SCP web page
>(www.spacecitypanteras.com) for some pictures (unfortunately no write-up
>though) showing how to add the extra bulb holders to the speedo and
>tach.  John Taphorn can probably tell you where the bulb sockets were
>sourced from.  The actual bulbs I used for the extra speedo/tach sockets
>are four bayonet mount LEDs (BA9s-X-XV), also from SuperBright LEDs.
>
>I've been meaning to write this stuff up for a POCA Newsletter article,
>but with the move to Oman the article got sidetracked.
>
>Good Luck!
>
>
>Dave Bell
>
>________________________________
>
>From: Lee Farrell [mailto:lee_farrell at sbcglobal.net]
>Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 10:38 PM
>To: Bell, David
>Cc: chrisvkimball at msm.com
>Subject: Re: LED Instrument Light Bulbs,
>
>
>thanks for the reply.
>
>WLED is what I tried.  I put in a WLED-W4, a WLED-W, and left 2 5Ws in
>the other 2 guages.   I thought both LEDs were fairly dim and very blue.
>I have original guages.   you found them "good"??   hmmm
>
>lee
>
>
>----- Original Message ----
>From: "David_Bell at oxy.com" <David_Bell at oxy.com>
>To: chrisvkimball at msm.com
>Cc: lee_farrell at sbcglobal.net
>Sent: Sunday, September 2, 2007 2:34:55 AM
>Subject: LED Instrument Light Bulbs,
>
>
>Chris, Lee
>
>Based on my experience, the instrument light bulbs you want are
>'WLED-WHP' from SuperBright LEDs.  The are around $5 each and you'll
>need six bulbs (one each for each instrument).  Note that these or any
>white LED bulb will not be truly 'white', but have at least a hint of
>bluish tint to them.  These are less bluish than most and fairly bright
>- roughly equivalent to a 5W incandescent bulb but without the heat.
>The blue color shift from WLED-WHP bulbs is slightly noticeable with
>aftermarket white-face gauges but not visible on the factory
>black-face/green-number Veglia gauges.
>
>
>Dave Bell
>