like the title says, go to LEDS? can't dim them. any other bulbs that will work? getting ready for winter work time, going to go into entire dash to spruce it up. been into it before, know what I am going in to.

 

leds, for bright lights, you can purchase a led controller for dimable.
Led test out of car during daytime.
figure out your regular bulb number to cross reference the base/ working voltage.
Super Bright Leds is 1 good source.

 

should I leave the turning signal indicators the stock bulb since they are bright enough, and just change the background lights?? what controller you talking about?? I have looked at Super Brite LEDS forum.

 

I never want to have to open my dash to change bulbs so I went 100% led.
I did not use a controller, I figure all this trouble, I can live without dimming.
Leds have to be installed in correct orientation., or they won't light up.

 

I know that many complain about poor instrument lighting in Corvettes but not all know that incandescent bulbs loose 15% or more of their output as they age. The tungsten in the filament essentially boils off and deposits itself in the glass bulb. Such is especially noticeable in higher lumen miniatures like used for instrument (not indicator) lighting, license plate lights, etc. so I suspect that the 15% figure is quite low for them.

Perhaps the instrument lighting issue improved in '78+ but when I completely re-lamped my '79 (with originally specified incandescents) there was a remarkable improvement despite the fact that none were burned out.

Do you know the age of the current bulbs? If not I will suggest that simply replacing them ALL will do what you want.

Do be certain that you use the proper bulbs! While I can't be certain about your '76, gauge illumination lamps are usually #192 (3 candlepower) while indicator lamps are usually #194 (2 candlepower). They look identical so they are not always replaced properly.

While I suppose there may be some way to dim the appropriate replacement LEDs if you are anything at all like me who finds that some LEDs truly hurt eyes then I suggest you pay high attention to the color temperature. I've only seen a couple LED dash light replacements in person and I found them both distracting and eye piercing.

 

the bulbs were replaced when I had the dash out just a couple of years ago. It is very dim now though, will check the new bulbs for correct number.

 

Dash lights were plenty bright when new (I was there and had them). Most likely causes are:

#1 Blubs are old and weak;

#2 Dash area is not grounded well;

#3 Dimmer control in headlamp switch is malfunctioning;

#4 Ground on headlamp switch is poor/corroded.
___________

Not sure how you put an LED bulb in 'wrong' since there is only one contact on the base (for 12 vdc power). Most of these LED bulbs have dimensional problems with base diameter and pin length, such that they don't fit the stock sockets very well. They are particularly troublesome with the plastic bulb sockets like in our C3's.

 

I just changed over to LED's in my center console, gauge lights. It appears they dim, and are sufficient enough to light it up for this old man.

 

I just replaced the original alternator with a new higher amp and the dash light are a lot brighter, new bulbs befor the alternator were better but the alternator really made the difference.

 

I put in stock style bulbs last winter and connected all the grounds bubba didnt connect and replaced.the light switch. My dash is very bright. As stated above your wiring could be comprimised, bad grounds, or worn out dimmer controls in your light switch itself. You should inspect these and replace your light switch since you'll be in there anyway.

Good luck

 

Just FYI, I recently replaced all dash and console lights in my 75 with LEDs from superbrightleds and they all dim using the OEM headlight switch. Quite a difference in brightness. The only fit problem I encountered was with the two underdash courtesy lights. The base size is correct, but the size of the LED head is slightly larger than the standard bulb and getting the bulb properly seated is difficult.

 

69VETTE
what do you mean "correct orientation"??

Rescue Roger:
new dimmer switch in car, maybe a bad one?? bought it from ZIP Grounds are connected, dash has not had anyone in it but me, and I used to work at a CHEVY dealership. Grounds are good and hooked up, so maybe anything else?? I think I going to call WILLCOX for a new light switch, since I will have it opened up. I don't know why the original bulbs were bright enough, but now they aren't. will check everything behind the dash when I am working on it. usually don't have it out at night to check these lights. put halogen headlamps in a few years ago, trying to help with that.Have all new wiring harnesses up front of the firewall because of brittle wiring, and cleaning up of the engine area.

wrwillcox
I was not going to replace all the bulbs in the interior with LEDS, just the dash lighting, anyone know of problems just doing this?? (any kin to Willcox supply house?)

THANKS for all the suggestions, keep them coming so I can check them out.

 

I'm fairly certain that halogen replacements draw significantly more power than the originals. Is it possible that your voltage is dropping with headlamps on? While I know that the headlamps have a circuit breaker and the dash lights have a separate fuse, if both get power from the same lead to the fuse box then a voltage drop will appear in both.

See if the dash is brighter with the headlamp switch set at "PARK". If so then your best way to solve the problem is to give the headlamps good new power from the alternator and use the existing headlamp power only to operate relays. Such is quite a common modification and you'll find lots of instructions here on how to do it.

 

where is the circuit breaker??? I will try just the parking lights on, that way the headlights will not be on, didn't know halogen draw more power(you mean amps right?)than the old original lamps do. I had problems with the headlights going off the other night, maybe it is the circuit breaker, is on the fuse panel, hope not , I hate trying to get my head up there to look at it!

what do you mean "headlight switch set at park" never heard that before..if the halogen lamps are taking too much "power" then I will switch back to original headlamps and adjust them better to see the road.

 

The circuit breaker is built into the headlight switch. It self-resets. If you're tripping it with the headlights on then you are drawing too much current (amperage).

Replacement headlamp switches are built to the original specs so higher output bulbs trip the breaker and overheat the system. The wiring itself is barely adequate for the original lamps and drawing more power causes significant voltage drops.

This is exactly why that electrical modification I mentioned is quite popular!

 

LEDs in the turn signal indicators is fine in the day but at night they are very bright, my truck has them and I think i might take them out if I every have to take the dash out.

 

I didnt make myself clear. When I said dimmer control I meant the headlight switch. Inside theres a rheostat type control so when you turn the pull **** it brightens or dims the dash bulbs. Turn it all the way one way and it turns on the courtesy lights. That portion of your switch can be bad and not allow it to get fully bright. Mine would go from bright to dim or flicker when it went bad.

The park mode in the switch is pulling the **** out one click to turn on the parking lights. I use that for a kind of running light on busy roads. Two clicks is full out which turns on the headlights ( just clarifying an earlier statement)

 

1 weakness of the 69 harness is the 1-wire self grounding sockets, very poor design.
I converted all my sockets to the modern 2-wire bayonet style bulbs, the regular bulbs can be installed any way,
however if you install leds, they have to installed orientated correctly, backwards and they will not work.

 

How do you install an LED bulb "backwards"? There is only one contact on the bottom and the side pins are at directly opposed to each other. Ground is to the bulb casing so there is no orientation involved.

You've said this before, but you haven't explained 'how' you can install an LED bulb 'backwards'...

 

I believe he means rotated 180*. Some are directional for light transmission and some only light when inserted positive to positive as the design only allows electron flow in one direction.

I could be wrong and he means the glass goes up and the brass/ wires go into the plug, but I don't think so.