Just wanted to report on a great fix for those dim instrument displays.

1. Removed the display from the car and with a small screw driver, removed the plastic pieces that pass the light from the bulb to the display. Also removed the bulbs.
2. With a knife, I slightly enlarged the slot on the top of each side of the display.
3. Went to Autozone and purchased a white led strip. It was $20 and 15" long.
4. On the led strip, I determine that every three leds had a current limiting resistor. I cut off two pieces from the strip each with three leds and the current limiting resistor.
5. Scraped off the edge on the led piece so I could solder on leads.
6. Glue the led piece into the slot over the display. Thread the leads to the back of the display and solder to the piece that holds the bulb. You will need to play to find the positive and ground leads. But since they are leds, you wont burn them out if you hook them up backwards, they just wont light.
7. Add some tape to hold all of the wiring down and reassemble the display in the car.

Sorry I did not take pics as I did this but will try and take a picture of the results tonight.

I should have tried this a long time ago. Like night and day. And it works with the dimmer switch.

Good Luck.

So you're running 12v directly to 1.2v LEDs?

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

On the strip the three leds are in series and have one current limiting resistor. White leds generally drop more like 2 volts each.

I'm may try this route and mount it to the top of the cluster housing, inside, behind the clear. The lights will point at all the guages and you shouldn't be able to see where it's coming from.

I use these and others at my beach cabin. (It's off-grid).

There are lots of goodies for your car at this site http://www.superbrightleds.com/led_prods.htm

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1981 300TD "The Green Lantern"
1980 300TD
1983 300D Euro "China Cat"

The leds I used were surface mount, very small but lots oif light.

I will try and take a pic of my display tonight.

Waiting for pictures. I like the blue and it should help light up the needles I painted with flourescent orange.

What I have trouble reading is the odometer and trip meter. Looks like the blue made them glow also but I don't understand why.

__________________
Charles
1983 300D, bought new, 215k+ miles, donated to Purple Hearts veterans charity but I have parts for sale: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-benz-cars-sale/296386-fs-1-owner-83-mb-300d-turbo-rebuild-parts.html

Staggerlee,
I cant find that unit on their site.....do you have a link??

LEDs are LEDs. White LEDs are color LED junctions with phosphor in them to glow white.

The junction is still 1.2vdc and it should have a series resistor IMO.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

I did something similar, I used blue to match my interior. The nice part is the blue led has some what of a uv light which makes the needles glow.


I know it looks intense but it's just about perfect while driving, especialy at dusk when the original bulbs barely worked even in total darkness.

Anybody running red LEDs in the instrument panel? I like the look of the factory red lighting in the BMW and I was wondering if anybody has done the switch in their MB...

__________________
"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

The ones I got from http://www.superbrightleds.com/led_prods.htm have built in resistors. LUVMB - they should have red ones for you.
Have good weedend everyone!

__________________

1981 300TD "The Green Lantern"
1980 300TD
1983 300D Euro "China Cat"

Hi Rick,
They hide it in with the oval shaped ones. From the main page (link above) select accent lighting. Scroll down until you see the "ALM series Accent Light Modules." Click "more information" to get specs and buy now to see a price. Or click here: http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/alm.htm

__________________

1981 300TD "The Green Lantern"
1980 300TD
1983 300D Euro "China Cat"

You can use these with ZERO modifications, just plug them in to the stock bulb socket:
http://www.ledlight.com/t10-wedge-5-ultra-bright-smt-led-light.aspx

These would require a bit of modification to allow them to fit into the cluster hole:
http://www.ledlight.com/t10-wedge-12-smt-tower-led-light.aspx


Both of these are completely dimmable. I use the ones from the first link. You can get them in various colors and you can use the 74 wedge base LEDs for the dash and CCU.

__________________
Chad
2013 Jeep Unlimited Rubicon
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL

Show-off . In all seriousness, that looks like a better route if they are brighter. I have a couple of the others on hand so I might give it a try.

__________________

1981 300TD "The Green Lantern"
1980 300TD
1983 300D Euro "China Cat"

Ha!

They are brighter than the stock incandescent bulbs. I don't know if they're brighter or even as bright as your solution, just less effort.


EDIT: Here's a pic of my cluster using white LEDs from the first link:

__________________
Chad
2013 Jeep Unlimited Rubicon
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL