Ive searched the net and get more and more confused about led brightness. I want to convert to leds but keep the stock brightness of the oem bulbs. I know that 12v bulbs that are 75mA are just like stock. Im trying to find led's with comparable brightness but they are measured differently.

Ive read about lumens and etc but its all over my head. Does anyone have a simple solution? Has anyone installed led's as a replacement and found some that are 1k 2k or whatever that are the same as the stock bulbs? What is that magic number!!!!????

 

Wirelessly posted (Droid X)

Why are you converting to led if you want factory brightness and lighting? That defeats the purpose.

Just upgrade to piaa or silverstar bulbs behind the dash.

 

if its behind the dash your talking about then just use your dimmer and dim the LEDs
if thats what you really want

 

Wirelessly posted (Droid X)

Depends on what he what he wants to put leds in. If he wants to dim them, he's gonna need at least 1 incandescent light in the dash lighting circuit to control the power draw at the dimmer switch

 

It also depends on the actual led you're using, how many, color, and several other factors.
Most 3mm or 5mm led's will have a 20ma draw per led, but voltages can vary from 1.2v to 3.5v.

If you're just wanting to change the cluster or hvac bulbs to led's, I'd say go with plug-in bulbs to see if they're the brightness you want.

If you want to change the fog/4x4/headlight bulbs to led's, I'd recommend you send me a PM & buy a set of my custom ones & save yourself some headaches

You can use the resistor values to control the brightness to an extent, but the wrong resistor value will create excess heat or kill the led in a few seconds.

Search around for a resistor calculator online (I found a free one at download.com that works pretty well) this will help determine what resistor you'll need based on the specs of the led's you're using & at what voltage.

Remember that although your vehicle is a 12v system, it can easily produce over 15v which can overpower your led's if they're not properly setup.

I generally calculate my resistors values for max brightness at 14.5v, they'll be a little dimmer at 12v but they have less of a chance of burning up due to over voltage.

 

im running 195 SMD's with 5 diode's they arent bad. much crisper and your needles are clear or a crisp white instead of yellow. they are not overly bright too.

 

What are you trying to convert to LED?

I am Always very dissapointed in any LEDs that plug into the factory locations.

PCB is the best way to go.

https://www.ranger-forums.com/f18/ul...roject-111284/

https://www.ranger-forums.com/f18/60...t-pics-110300/

 

Sorry, these are for the cluster lights and eatc. I modified the eatc to accept a regular 1/4 turn bulb/socket, since I cant find the regular bulbs anymore(not at the dealer either) but most of the repair places are putting in led's and finding that info seems to be a guarded secret. I thought about going to LED's because they last longer than the regular bulbs. My old stock radio had them, so I thought there would be an led with matching brightness to the stock bulb I can solder in as a permenant replacement.

I could use the dimmer to dim the leds, but then I would have to do a complete led conversion of the gauge cluster and the eatc and im not ready to do that just yet. I want to do just the eatc and see how it goes.

Actually the stock brightness is bright enough for me. Anything above that will hurt.

Can you run one resistor for a series of led's?

I appreciate the info! Please keep it coming!

 

The best way to do what your are trying is to make a PCB that fits underneath the HVAC. You can completely eliminate the light disperser this way as well. If you don't have the skills/time/knowledge to make a PCB than you can use your standard LED strips. I've done this in the past before I started making PCBs

Oh - I soon will be offering a replacement LED PCB for the HVAC on your ranger.