DASH LIGHT & HI/Low indicatoe are out!

[cabreco]

I need help BIG TIME. I replaced all my dash lights with LED bulbs. I was going to take a pix of my dash & noticed that the lights are all out. I tested the LEDs & they work elsewhere. I replaced one with the oem bulb & there is no power. My headlight IS working though. Is there a fuse that I am overlooking??

 

I gotta get this fixed tomorrow I have a meet & eat on saturday!

[dingy]

I need help BIG TIME. I replaced all my dash lights with LED bulbs. I was going to take a pix of my dash & noticed that the lights are all out. I tested the LEDs & they work elsewhere. I replaced one with the oem bulb & there is no power. My headlight IS working though. Is there a fuse that I am overlooking??

 

I gotta get this fixed tomorrow I have a meet & eat on saturday!

 

Start button would be a prime suspect. There are 2 contacts in it, one of them opens the headlight & dashlight power feed to allow more current to the starter.

 

EDIT

 

Never mind, I missed that headlight was working.

 

Headlight & dash lights are on same fuse. Maybe the illumination controller didn't like the LED's, it has some electronic components in it.

 

Reserve Lighting unit could have went bad.

 

Gary

[cabreco]

Reserve Lighting unit??

Where is that located & what does it look like?

I am assuming that replaceing all the bulbs back would not fix this issue huh?

The LEDs looked so NICE!

[cabreco]

Reserve Lighting unit??

Where is that located & what does it look like?

 

I am assuming that replaceing all the bulbs back would not fix this issue huh?

The LEDs looked so NICE!

 

Well I found the reserve lighting unit (big block up top)

I replaced all the bulbs still no lights. I have to dig up the reserve unit from the parts bike.

 

Dingy, If the reserve unit fails wouldn't the headlight not work at all?

[dingy]

Black rectangular box above headlight mounting brackets.

 

Gary

[cabreco]

Black rectangular box above headlight mounting brackets.

 

Gary

 

Found the RLU replaced it (a REAL PITA) but still no dash or hi/beam indicator lights.

 

Any other suggestions?

 

I'm dying here. All set to go to the meet & eat Saturday & this rears it's ugly head

 

UPDATE!

I did get the hi/low beam indicatore to work. I sprayed contact cleaner into the starter switch & noticed it was working.

I'm thinking the LED may have messed up the dimmer control board, what do you think>?

Edited September 14, 2012 by cabreco

[Snaggletooth]

I have the LED's in my '84 dash with no ill effects. I have no idea what might be wrong.

 

Mike

Edited September 14, 2012 by Snaggletooth

[cabreco]

I have the LED's in my '84 dash with new ill effects. I have no idea what might be wrong.

 

Mike

 

FOUND IT!

 

My Dimmer control switch is FRIED!!

 

When I ground the white wire the dash lights come on. I assume the white is the ground. I disconnected the 3 wires from the switch (blue, black & white) and I attached them to the switch from the parts bike. It works!

 

Now I have a dillemma. Since I don't usually dim the dash, I have 2 choices:

1. leave the replacement switch attached & bury it in the cluster & leave the OEM bulbs

2. attach a small ground wire from the white wire of the broken switch to the frame & replace the LED again.

 

What would you do?

[cabreco]

I did the ground wire to the middle terminal & bypassed the dimmer.

What I suspect is the dimmer couldn't deal with LED. They were lit up then I hit the dimmer & didn't notice because I was outside.

Or it could be an INCREDIBLE coincidence.

In either case, If you plan to cut over to LED I would set the dimmer to max & forget it or remove the button altogether.

 

At least you know what to do to patch it.

 

BTW REPLACING the dimmer is brutal. The tach & voltmeter have to come out of the housing 1st!

[Flyinfool]

Because the LEDs pull so much less power than the incandescent, I doubt that they would or could fry anything.

 

Are you sure all of the LEDs were lit? LEDs are polarity sensitive and depending on the specific bulbs you have there may be the possibility of putting them in backwards. Backwards will not hurt anything, they just wont light.

 

Most (but not all) LED replacement bulbs that are made for 12V use have a circuit inside of them so that they are not polarity sensitive.

[bongobobny]

Since LED's are pretty much undimmable (they only dim slightly) I would eliminate the dimmer...

[cabreco]

LEDs are polarity sensitive and depending on the specific bulbs you have there may be the possibility of putting them in backwards. Backwards will not hurt anything, they just wont light.

 

 

Oh I found that out fast when I was installing the LEDs in the rear light bar. It's bad enough that the Baron mini markers are so small, then I installed the bulbs backward & I had to redo using my big paws.

[cabreco]

Since LED's are pretty much undimmable (they only dim slightly) I would eliminate the dimmer...

 

Exacly what I did. I attached a ground strap from the while wire off the switch to the frame effectively bypassing the switch.

 

All is well in VentureLand!

[Flyinfool]

Since LED's are pretty much undimmable (they only dim slightly) I would eliminate the dimmer...

 

Actually LEDs are very dimmable.

That is how an LED TV or RGB strips work.

I have put dimmers on many LED projects.

[bkuhr]

Since LED's are pretty much undimmable (they only dim slightly) I would eliminate the dimmer...

This is very true. LEDS operate at a very narrow current rating. Too low they do not light and too high they fry. Most old dimmers are resistive type that add resistance to a bulb circuit, lowering the current to the bulb. LED current limit to too sensitive for a resistive dimmer. Typical general purpose LEDS have a current rating of 20mA. They are designed with current limiting resistor based on operating voltage(12v). Adding even more resistance they go dark at about 17mA. Not much range for resistive dimming.

 

Actually LEDs are very dimmable.

That is how an LED TV or RGB strips work.

I have put dimmers on many LED projects.

 

LED dimming is almost ALWAYS done with a modulation (PWM), or pulsing the power to the LED at such a fast rate it looks like it is on steady. Changing the on time vs off time (a longer off time) creates the illusion of dimming.

 

RGB or tri-color LEDS are actually 2 leds in same package Red and Blue, and if both are turned on at the same time looks like Green, dimming or level of each color is still done with pulse modulation(typically built into the led tv drive IC.)

[Flyinfool]

This is very true. LEDS operate at a very narrow current rating. Too low they do not light and too high they fry. Most old dimmers are resistive type that add resistance to a bulb circuit, lowering the current to the bulb. LED current limit to too sensitive for a resistive dimmer. Typical general purpose LEDS have a current rating of 20mA. They are designed with current limiting resistor based on operating voltage(12v). Adding even more resistance they go dark at about 17mA. Not much range for resistive dimming.

 

 

 

LED dimming is almost ALWAYS done with a modulation (PWM), or pulsing the power to the LED at such a fast rate it looks like it is on steady. Changing the on time vs off time (a longer off time) creates the illusion of dimming.

 

RGB or tri-color LEDS are actually 2 leds in same package Red and Blue, and if both are turned on at the same time looks like Green, dimming or level of each color is still done with pulse modulation(typically built into the led tv drive IC.)

 

Darn now you tell me it wont work, and here I have been dimming LEDs with just resistors for over 20 years........

If you look at a set of dual intensity LED tail lights, IE running and brake/turn, there is nothing more than a resistor in line with the wire that connects to the running lights.

Yes you can use PWM if you want to spend more money, The tail lights on a Cadillac, and a few other high end cars, use PWM, I hate those because I can see the flash frequency and it drives me nuts.

 

I do not know what resistance the pot is for the in dash dimmer to know if it would be to sensitive or not.

 

RGB LEDs are called RGB because they have 3 elements in the same package. There is a Red, a Green, and a Blue LED in each package. A red and a blue turned on at the same time will give a purple light. Red and green on at the same time gives a yellow light. green and blue at the same time is cyan light. all three at the same time makes white light. by varying the intensities of each color you can get any color you want.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/AdditiveColor.svg/400px-AdditiveColor.svg.png

[bongobobny]

Yes technically Jeff is right, but for what Cabreco did for his application you won't notice much difference in brightness although there is some. Eliminatring the dimmer fixed his problem and he is happy...

[cabreco]

Yes technically Jeff is right, but for what Cabreco did for his application you won't notice much difference in brightness although there is some. Eliminatring the dimmer fixed his problem and he is happy...

 

HAPPY!

 

I've never dimmed them, & probably never will. Actually the main reason for the LED's swap was to make the dash brighter!

 

Eventually I will replace the dimmer (because it will bug me that it's NOT good) but that will be when I tear her down for a repaint.

 

NEXT- Turn signals, tail light & HID headlight!

[Flyinfool]

So can you give us a shopping list of which LEDs worked best in the dash???

 

Turn and brake LEDs are working their way high up on my wish list....

[cabreco]

So can you give us a shopping list of which LEDs worked best in the dash???

 

Turn and brake LEDs are working their way high up on my wish list....

 

These are the ones I bought.

 

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ETCIO8/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00]10x 194 168 2825 5-SMD White High Power LED Car Lights Bulb : Amazon.com : Automotive@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41%2BMSBwgvWL.@@AMEPARAM@@41%2BMSBwgvWL[/ame]

 

You will need 10 bulbs.

 

2 directional Indicators

1 Neutral Light

1 Highbeam Blue light

1 Headlight out

1 Cruise Control

4 Dash Lights

 

Also the sell was EXCELLENT. Shipped very quickly, I got them in 3 days

[Flyinfool]

Dang

Now I have placed an order for more work to do.........

[pmelah]

i cant place my order for dash led yet no money i replaced my tail/brake lights with cheap led 1157 run light is bright brake light is not as bright as i want anyone got a lead on good ones also 1156 led gonna do the turn also just with changing the tail /brake my volt gauge stays above 12 all the time now even when i hit brakes and drops only when turn signal is on can barley see the needle move up and down i like that

[cabreco]

i cant place my order for dash led yet no money i replaced my tail/brake lights with cheap led 1157 run light is bright brake light is not as bright as i want anyone got a lead on good ones also 1156 led gonna do the turn also just with changing the tail /brake my volt gauge stays above 12 all the time now even when i hit brakes and drops only when turn signal is on can barley see the needle move up and down i like that

 

Paul,

A bag of 10 from this guy will set you back $10. They did have 1157 but no 1156 LED.

In retrospect I should have bought the 1157 for the front turns & the tail but I had never bought from him before & I didn't want to risk blowing off more the $20 buck if the LED were cheap.

These dash bulbs have 5 LED & are super bright.

[cabreco]

UPDATE!!!

 

The current seller on the link is SpeedShop.

When I bought this is was sold by YupbizAuto. Just wanted everyone to know the seller changes.

 

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/2825-5-SMD-White-Power-Lights/dp/B005ETCIO8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AGXE2TI31GNMW&qid=1347966906&s=generic&sr=1-2]10x 194 168 2825 5-SMD White High Power LED Car Lights Bulb : Amazon.com : Automotive@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41%2BMSBwgvWL.@@AMEPARAM@@41%2BMSBwgvWL[/ame]

[pmelah]

thanks i will check it out