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Im sure this had to be covered somewhere, but i could not find it.
Im trying to replace the current bulbs with LEDs. there appears to be single wire going to the bulbs and i assume ground is accomplished when the socket is pushed into the dash.
If i want to replace with LEDs, do i need to replace the sockets? are there kits or simple solutions? what have you all done in the past.
Thanks
PS, dont want blue or anything, just bright white LEDS.
Im sure this had to be covered somewhere, but i could not find it.
Im trying to replace the current bulbs with LEDs. there appears to be single wire going to the bulbs and i assume ground is accomplished when the socket is pushed into the dash.
If i want to replace with LEDs, do i need to replace the sockets? are there kits or simple solutions? what have you all done in the past.
Thanks
PS, dont want blue or anything, just bright white LEDS.
Perfect replacement for the stock bulbs and the greenish hue they put out. The cool white is brighter but a smooth white with no green like stock. 100 times better that the factory bulbs. Well worth the aggravation of installing them.
I replaced all the "1895" bulbs in my 1969 center gauge cluster and center console with these LEDs (including inside the HVAC control head and at the cig lighter.
Swap was seamless. All the gray wire backlight bulbs are single leads, which ground to the cluster plate with the barbed retainers once they are installed.
The indicator lights for Seat Belt, Head Light, and Door Ajar either have 2 wires, or no wires and twist into a printed circuit ribbon on the base plate.
I haven't done the swap behind the speedo and tach yet, so the difference in the brighter LEDs is quite noticeable.
(Also probably helped that I cleaned the gauge lens piece really well when I had it disassembled, removing what seemed to be many years of grime!).
About a buck a piece, free shipping - Can't beat it!
Those single grey wire connectors on the dash lights are a PITA. They pop out when you try to re-install the dash. It took me 10 tries (no lies) to get the dash back in.
Someone suggested I swap out the crappy connectors with ones from later years after I got mine back in, they said stay in better.
Also, unless you are swapping out your flasher circuit with an electronic one, don't swap the turn signal bulbs with LED's. They are resistance based and if one of the bulbs does not carry the same resistance load, they stop flashing. LED's have less resistance so the system thinks there is a dead turn signal bulb.
I left my old turn signal bulbs in there, I can reach up from underneath to get those swapped afterwards when I need to.
I purchased mine from China. took a lot longer to get them, but my whole dash and cargo bulb cost me 20.00
I still have the crappy ones. I was told about them AFTER I got my dash back in...If I ever have to pull the left dash again, I am going to replace them ALL.
swap out the sockets, for 2 wire sockets not the crappy "1" wire socket.
you simply tie all the second ground wires together and ground.
much better connection.
original method relies upon the socket grounding with 0 resistance, and then the module can must also be grounded with 0 resistance. ... poor design.
Years ago I got tired of fighting that silly dash with tach/speedo and went to a inline connector and green LED's but I did put white overlays on the speedo/tach and a 4 pin connector take all the gray wires and form one gray lead to a pin, then in the harness one gray wire feeding the mate to that pin....same for R/L and high beams.....
I can pull my entire dash board in/out in 30 minits NOW.....I dunno how in hell them guys on the assy line kept from strangling some design engineer right there on the floor.....
BTW....Funny thing, I never drive at night because of another issue, but i wanted to get the Bulbs changed while i was there.
My other issue (For another thread) When my head lights are on, if i turn off the High beams, it wont shift out of 1st gear (automatic). more work to do.
I also replaced all the incandescents with LED's and tied the source wires all together . Lower current draw. Finally I put a connector on them so I could hook them together with a source in the harness after installing the instruments. Any source would do. That way I could have all the bulbs in place when reinstalling the cluster.
Incidentally, my original sockets kept falling apart. Had lots of bulbs at the bottom of the assembly.
I also replaced all the incandescents with LED's and tied the source wires all together . Lower current draw. Finally I put a connector on them so I could hook them together with a source in the harness after installing the instruments. Any source would do. That way I could have all the bulbs in place when reinstalling the cluster.
Incidentally, my original sockets kept falling apart. Had lots of bulbs at the bottom of the assembly.
1973 Dash LED Lights
