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Has anyone gone through the effort of finding LED bulbs for the instrument panel that produce the right color, are bright, and dimmable?
There are plenty of Chinese bulbs on Amazon, but i recently converted to LED on another vehicle and the LEDs are definitely the wrong color, they are a more narrow spectrum color with a more blue color temperature.
Anyone know which bulb types are used on the C3 (68-72) interior?
You have it a lot easier, since you can't put a bulb in backwards in an early C3.
Here's my 80 with warm white bulbs from that site (looks like one is still backwards). This was a few years ago, so hopefully the dimming is even better now, but they have a range from brighter than stock, to dimmer than you want. 78-82 interior has a large festoon bulb in the top. Not sure what's in your car.
Originally Posted by Bikespace
I replaced all of the interior illumination lights in both cars with "warm" (3000K) LED bulbs from superbrightleds.com. If you only change one bulb in your car, make sure it is the overhead light in the T-top bar. This photo doesn't really capture it, but there is a LOT more light than stock, but it keeps the warm tone of the original incandescent bulb, while using a lot less current.
In the dash itself, I replaced all of the indicator bulbs with LEDs, also from superbrightleds.com. In the later cars with the flexible circuit boards (77 perhaps in the center dash, and 78 for all locations), it is very easy to install a bulb backwards and have it not work. Fortunately, once you've done one or ten, you can feel around in back and pop bulbs in and out without replacing the dash. It is also possible to trace out the circuit board, and align the LED's cathode with the common ground. Use a 9V battery and some test leads to confirm. I think the gauges look great with warm LEDs backlighting, which keeps some of the green tone from the paint on the inside of the instrument housings. There may be better options now, when I bought the bulbs they were very limited in how much they would dim. Full bright is still pretty soft, nowhere near what a modern dash looks like, and you still can't tell the lights are on until it is dark outside.
On my 73 the LEDs are from Superbright and worked very well for me. They have a converter page where you type in your car year and model. On the older C3 it made sense to purchase the Non Polarity LEDs, also get the colors to match where they will be placed ie. green for turn signals, red for parking brake, blue for high beam etc.
2025 C2 of the Year ('64-'66) Finalist - Unmodified
2025 C3 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2025 C4 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2024 C4 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2023 C2 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C4 of the Year Finalist- Modified
2022 C4 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2022 C3 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2021 C7 of the Year Winner -- Modified
2020 C4 of the Year Finalist - Modified
Originally Posted by Eliredandblack
On my 73 the LEDs are from Superbright and worked very well for me. They have a converter page where you type in your car year and model. On the older C3 it made sense to purchase the Non Polarity LEDs, also get the colors to match where they will be placed ie. green for turn signals, red for parking brake, blue for high beam etc.
An expedient modification. I installed LEDs in the center console with the instruments and in the HVAC unit in the shifter console. I left incandescents in the tach and speedo housings. The stock headlight switch will dim the tach and speedo incadenscents. The LEDs elsewhere greatly reduce current through the headlight switch thereby reducing heating to this reostat unit. The current in the stock system will apparently burn out the reostat in some cars. No problem with mixed LEDs and incandescents.
Just to add to this thread. I’ve had some of the generic 194 LEDs in my dash for over two years now without issues. They’re not dimmable, but but I really don’t need to since I like the level they’re at. It’s a very brilliant blue color, and the indicator lights look the right color despite all the bulbs being white.
Instrument panel LED bulb replacement
