w123 LED light upgrade
 

Have you guys seen this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Brighten-Your-Mercedes-W123-300D-Instrument-Cluster_W0QQitemZ390026477379QQihZ026QQcategoryZ6763QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


I kinda like it, sure the incandescents have that nice warmth, but I can't see a frign thing

I bought LED's for my cluster. Went out faster than the incandescent. Get proper OSRAM bulbs.

Looks like work to me.

I installed LEDs that just plug into the stock bulb socket with no modification. They're completely dimmable too. These LEDs have a forward firing LED and 4 side firing LEDs so it works great with the design of our cluster optics.

I used these:
T10 Wedge 5 Ultra Bright SMT LED Light - Automotive LED Lights - LEDLight

These fit the sockets too but you may need to modify the light tunnels a bit for them to fit. They would be pretty intense though.:D
T10 Wedge 12 SMT Tower LED Light - Automotive LED Lights - LEDLight
T10 Wedge 25 Ultra Bright SMT LED Light - Automotive LED Lights - LEDLight

Here's a pic with the super white LEDs in my cluster. I took it in my garage with all the lights out and the headlights on. The pic is blurry since I didn't use the flash.
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b.../DashLight.jpg

My instrument cluster is plenty bright with the stock lighting, fact is I crank down the rheostat most of the time :confused:

I just installed the exact bulbs Chad linked in this thread. [followed his link from another thread]
I'm super happy with the light output, and I like the very clean white light. Wish they had one to fit my spider bulb!
Time will tell how long they last. If they last awhile then they are certainly worth the price.
I thought Chad linked the wrong ones when I first got them in, but you remove the bulb assy from the instrument cluster, then pull the bulb out of the brown bulb-holder that it resides in. And polarity is necessary, so if you put it in and it doesn't come on, just pull out the whole bulb assy, rotate 180 and reinstall.

Same here, mine are too bright sometimes and they are stock.

I did change my instrument housing from a 80 300d from PNP since mine was scratched up. since I did that the lighting is brighter at night. I don`t know, maybe I had some resistance in the other rheostat, I don`t know.

I do know the turn sig arrows are much larger.

I have purchased some other CD`s from this E-Bay seller. all quite helpful of the ones I have. these are good for a noob.

Charlie

Awesome
 

Your needles on your cluster look amazing. ugh I wish mine looked that good! Did you repaint them? Or were they kept in pristine condition?

They look awesome!

Thanks, the previous owner painted them. I need to paint the needles in my CD since those ones have faded to yellow.:D

I upgraded to LEDs using Chad's link and am happy with the light output. I ended up going with blue (used to that color with the VWs and thought it would be a little less harsh) LEDs. I'd probably go with white if I did it again, but like that the lights seems to be partially in the UV spectrum and make the needles glow a bit. I used fluorescent paint recently to even up the color.

http://mb.thatchermathias.com/dash.jpg

Its a $25 guide that shows you what you can find on the internet for free.

Its not difficult to solder an LED into a spare light holder. In fact, there are many LEDs on the market specifically designed to replace the normal bulbs and have a resistor built in.

Wattage...
 

I was looking for replacement for my audi's license plate lights has 2 on each side Osram #6418 they're 12v 5w came back with this
http://www.ledlight.com/SearchResult.aspx?KeyWords=6418

but i seen them selling some with all kinds of heat sinks and other gadgets on another site for $49 dollars i thought the whole point of led was to reduce heat output and increase light output is that a rip off?

http://www.ecstuning.com/stage/edpd/pagebuild_v2.cgi?home=Volkswagen&etm_adgroup=ZizaLEDPlateBulbsVAG&subcategory=ZIZA&utm_source=emailc ampaign&utm_medium=marketing&utm_content=retail&utm_campaign=ZizaLEDPlateBulbsVAG

heat sinks for LEDs.. ha

Seoul P7 puts out around 800-900 lumens, because it's heatsunk.

5mm leds do generate enough heat to damage the guts, that's why they eventually fail(Usually around 10,000hrs; less if you overdrive them)

Much like driving at 45mph vs 65mph.

Well the price difference is huge $25 a piece vs $4.99 i wanted to replace the back license plate bulbs on all my euro cars they all have the Festoon bulb sets.

The oem has 12v 5w setup which i'm not sure how many amps that pulls i'm thinking it should be about .41 amps?

most of the led's are listing about 40ma doesnt the amp rating relate to how how they will run?

i have about 10 choices from 9 led's to ones that have 2 bigger 1/2 watt led's i'm thinking the 5w oem ones would be way hotter than anything normal sized led's could put out right? or how can u tell how much heat will be generated?

I got the T10 Wedge 5 Ultra Bright SMT LED light. I misordered, only got 1. ( thought I was getting 5 ) Thought I'd see how bright 1 was. Twice it blew the fuse. Is that because I only used 1 LED light? I put a 16A fuse in temporarily, didn't blow. Will check brightness tonight.

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1984 MB 300SD Turbo