Hi all:

Thought I'd seek some help, opinion, information to an issue I have. I have a 2001 convertible, low mileage and I'm a 67 year old with all the attendent eye issues that old guys get. The problem I have is that the lighting in the instrument cluster seems rather inadequate to me. Truth be told, I don't have a lot to compare it to so it may just be the way the car is or it may be that the twelve year old lighting is getting weak. The car has HUD display which I use but it's alost impossible for me to get a quick read on the instruments in the panel either in the day or at night because of the low backlight. I'm a bit afraid to take my eyes off the road long enough to squint at them because that's how accidents happen, to coin a phrase.

I'm considering replacing the dial background with the white overlays and wondered if anyone has had any experience with them? Another solution, does anyone knoew if there is perhaps an LED light kit or some replacement bulbs that might make things brighter? As long as I have to pull the dash, I might as well do everything I can to improve the situation. I've searched but I can't find any of our vendors with a solution other than the white background replacements.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks very much,
Charles

 

I would think the white dial faces would help a bunch, I had to I sta my HUD and other than time consuming it was not that bad, your car being a vert would really make it easier ( hard top here) I'm pretty sure I have seen or read post where people have went to LEDs I there interior but I'm not positive about the cluster lighting, I have a cluster at home that's not in my car if you need me to look at it or maybe get ya some photos of it without the lens and all for any reference ok.

 

I'm a bit puzzled why you cannot read your instruments during the day, as backlighting is not needed. For night time viewing, I assume you already increased backlight brightness to max. If so, I'd guess that a fuse is blown, a wire is severed, or your issue is very rare.

 

I have my dash apart right now to install the overlays I ordered them through corvette central. They a should arrive today and ill get things put back together this weekend it should brighten thing up but as another member posted you may want to check other areas , brightness turned up all the way , fuse out , wire cut etc. I have old eyes as well and the stock color gauges are still nice & bright.

 

No, the backlight works, it seems dim at night but it's there and adjustable bright/dim with the designated control - again, it may be that the bulb(s) is/are wearing given the age of the car. As for reading gauges during the day, you have to read between the lines of the operative phrase "67 year old eyes." When one goes from the windshield in the bright light of day to glancing quickly down to the recessed darkened instrument cluster housing, older eyes don't accomodate as well to light changes. The cluster is pretty much shadows and fairly dark (for me) unless I look at it for more than a split second. Adjusting the dim/bright control doesn't have much effect and isn't much help

This is probably not something easily understandable to someone with 20/20 or reasonably good vision and granted I have other eye issues as well which I don't choose to get into, so maybe I was a bit misleading with the "older eyes" description - if so, I apologize. I agree that normally, one would be able to read the gauges in the daylight without too much trouble but "normally" wasn't the focus of my post. I have a difficulty (again, probably somewhat unique to the situation) and I was looking for a solution to that particular situation.

Thanks for the input,
Charles

 

Eyeglasses?



sorry couldn't resist....

 

The C5 intrument lighting relies on two UV tubes, not traditional "lighting". One on either side of the IP cluster. The UV causes a "glowing" effect (for lack of a better word) with all the colors on the different dials. The characters/needles/markings fluoresce somewhat, with reds and whites being the main colors affected. Short of bad/defective UV tubes (and replacing them), I can't think of much to do about enhancing the lighting, short of maybe some serious custom work
I think the white face MAY give you some help. Sure couldn't hurt. In the meantime looks like you'll have to rely more heavily on your HUD.

To tell you the truth, I don't use the analog gauges that much myself. I rely primarily on HUD for speed and quick reference on fuel status as that's my preferred setting for HUD display. Being an inveterate button-pusher, I also use the DIC display a lot while driving to keep tabs on the other vitals, especially since the DIC display is so much easier to see, even in daytime.

 

I'm 57. I have some sight issues, like reading menu's in a dim restaurant w/o glasses. But my '01 Vette instrument panel and HUD seem very bright and easy to read. HUD is sometimes too bright. Not sure what's going on.

 

Good advice. My dash lighting is plenty bright in the nighttime and no problem seeing the displays in the daylight but I too use my HUD 99% of the time.

 

I have a 2001 Vert also and am 64. Night is fine, but in the day with bright light the dash seems dark as my eyes cannot adjust quickly from the sunlight. Since I have HUD I just use it for MPH and like it since it is right in my view.With few exceptions, when I run it hard through the gears (manual) I shift based on sound and feel.

 

Since the gauges are UV illuminated, you could try adding more UV lighting.

It would be hard to make it look clean, and I'm not sure it would make the instruments much more visible to your eyes, but its at least worth mocking up and testing.

12V UV lights are popular for custom made computers, here's one that I think would work well:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/14...UV_LCX8UV.html

You could start by just hardwiring it to the battery and taping it to your dash and see if it helps at all.

I don't think there is a whole lot else you can realistically do.

 

Thanks all:
I mainly use my HUD as well although that seems dim also. I wasn't sure if the panel lights had issues analagous to the HVAC lighting problem but if it's UV illuminated, obviously not the same issue. Guess I'mm try the white face gauges eventually....
Charles

 

[QUOTE=PhysicsDude55;1583133849]Since the gauges are UV illuminated, you could try adding more UV lighting.

It would be hard to make it look clean, and I'm not sure it would make the instruments much more visible to your eyes, but its at least worth mocking up and testing.

12V UV lights are popular for custom made computers, here's one that I think would work well:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/14...UV_LCX8UV.html



Where did you find info that the gauges are UV lit? I would find that to be very surprising. True UV bubs are special items and not a normal use bulb. Never heard of them used in cars or computers. Visable light incandescent bulbs/LEDs yes.

 

Saw your post on HVAC illumination. That issue is due to cold solder joints on the circuit board on some resistors and has nothing to due with the type of bulb. Dash bulbs are not soldered.

 

[QUOTE=dadaroo;1583136528]All C5s use UV tubes (with their own discrete power supply) in the main IP for instrument lighting and furthermore, the other instrument lighting as well as general cockpit lighting uses PWM for control, i.e. dimming, etc.

 

Well, sorry, I didn't know that at the time. One is never too old to learn.

 

If you are interested in custom work for the gauges i have an idea...

I've seen mods to other cars where they use electroluminescent sheets behind the gauges to light them up.

Basically its a sheet material similar brightness to LED's and they come in almost any color. Very thin, but if you work with a shop that does custom work they may be able to fit the wiring behind the faceplate of the gauges. if i remember right you can cut them to any shape as long as the circuit pattern has certain parts connectible for the wires. Like LED's i believe these are very efficient, don't emit heat, and last a long time.

Just an idea, but it might be worth taking a look at. I've been thinking about this for my vette for some time.

Other than that i'd consider more UV lights and getting clever on installing them.

For me i'd never go to the white faced gauges, they seem too cheap in my opinion.

 

I was surprised to learn that c5s use UV illumination for the instrument cluster when I bought it, but it does indeed use UV illumination. There are no backlights on them. On the HVAC, door/window controls, etc. yes those are illuminated traditionally.

UV lights are popular on custom computers, as are UV reactant parts and paint. Go to any website that sells custom computer parts and you'll find a slew of UV lights and UV reactant parts. And, they're 12VDC lights as well, so you can use them in a car. I have a handful of 12" cold cathode lights that I had bought to illuminate a fish tank and put Glofish in it, but I found that the lights illuminated the fish urine more than it did the fish. I bought them locally at Fry's for like $10 a pop.

 

Thanks PhysicsDude. Since UV is invisable to humans I assume we are dealing with Flourescence material that emits a longer wavelength, therefore visable. Those little orbiting electrons are processing the photons to lower energy levels

PSo you have any info on the bulbs, I would like to see if I can get the manufacturer to send me a spectrum chart of the radiation they emit. They probably emit some visable light. Any idea of what the Flourescence material is?

 

Hi Charles,
I have a vert and can understand some of your problem. I drive with the parking lights in the on position, this condition will illuminate your cluster when sunlight is dim/interior depends on how much light you have on your sensor on the dash. It does illuminate some what. On night vision the problem is the HUD. My 98 did not come with a HUD and illumination of the display at night was sufficient (actually just fine). I then installed the HUD (which I love) and the display seemed less bright. The real problem is your eyes are trying to adjust to both displays and the HUD is brighter. I suggest you try dimming the HUD or turn it off at night. Personally it is a huge problem for me (too much eye candy), my display is custom painted torch red with the chrome cluster rings, the red and chrome are beautiful at night as a purple glow mixes with the display, the HUD I love. Unfortunately most of the time I use the HUD as speedo, tach. and gas are my primary concerns, thus the display at night gets little eye contact. I would not worry about the gages at night, the HUD display is what you need and increases night time driving by keeping your eyes on the road. getting old sucks but we adapt! Oh, I did change all my interior lights to 2x LEDs (very easy to see)