All I want to do is swap my cluster/HVAC bulbs out for a natural white LED. I'm not interested in sanding the green film down or modifying the gauge color. I just want plug and play LED's that are as bright as the stock bulbs and have just as wide a viewing angle but are a cooler white than stock.

The 1-LED 194's are not bright enough if you don't remove the film. Superbrightleds.com has several different 194's, from 1 LED all the way to a 6-LED cluster.
They also have one that's a 5-LED design, with 4 of them mounted radially for a really wide angle.

Does that sound good for a stock cluster?

Or should I just get some normal-layout 6's like this?

Or will 4's be enough?


I wanted to get your guys's input before buying more LED's. I got the 1-LED 194's with the 120 degree angle for my cluster and they're WAY WAY too dim.

 

I don't think you understand how the HVAC is assembled.

If you did some searching you can find some other successful LED HVAC jobs and emulate them.

Reminds me of "I want 500 horsepower cheap easy and free how can I do it" type threads.

Come on man.

 

If you stay white it really doesn't what matter the led count is.

Im running single inverted leds on my license plate.

But if your gonna buy some i would get at least the 4 leds units. Keep in mind you can't run a bulb bigger than a 194 ie longer or wider. You need to verify dimensions before you buy them.

 

the SMD one's are the brightest I think.

 

SMT. Surface Mount Technology

Check the mcd values, that tells you right there which are the brightest.

 

Yeah the SMD/T units can be bright. However size does matter though. The 3mm units are damn bright now.

MCD is the only true value to light output.

Watch the specs on your leds. Not all are created equal.

 

What is wrong with you? I asked a simple question. I searched and didn't find anything good about this and wanted to see if anyone is running these or similar LEDs on a non-modded cluster. Don't give me an attitude and slam me when you have no basis for it buddy.

 

There are a bunch of great LED hvac threads. The oznium strip thread was the easiest, best result by far. You should turn over some more rocks.

 

For the Hvac, I used just two plug in inverted 194's soldered to the base then I aimed them for proper lighting and output. Honestly, I've never had a plug in that worked very well at all in the actual gauge cluster.. All the plug-ins i tried in the cluster, lit up dimmer than regular incandescants.

 

lol, so I'm supposed to search for 'oznium strip' even though I've never heard that term before cause I'm new to this. And I get attacked for not doing it. lol

 

Well no longer...I ended up going with the x6 WLED plugins. Sanded the tips to widen the output alittle and they look awesome in my sport trac cluster. Just as bright as the stockers. Hot spots are barely noticeable after sanding

 

I know I am digging up an old thread but gts007 do you have and pictures of how you sanded them and what your cluster looks like at night?

 

I tried out both bulbs I posted pics of in my first post. The regular WLED6 is a bit brighter but has a narrower angle and theres a little bit of hotspotting, though it's not awful. You can see the hotspots the most at dusk. When it's completely dark, the hotspots are way less noticeable. (this is after sanding em alittle. sanding em is easy, just file the tips until they're mostly flat).
But I decided to try the wide-angle WLED5 and that's what I'm running now. Got em in cool white and I love the look. They're slightly dimmer than the WLED6 but look perfect to me and absolutely no hotspots and no sanding required. I'll get a pic up soon.

 

Cool can't wait to see the pictures.

 

I havent forgotten, I've just been super busy lol

 

Damn you. You better get on it. j/k

 

just buy the 10 for 5$ on ebay i did them my self the were domed so i sanded them down and used a stepping bit to make them inverted!

 

crap, ok this time I actually did forget. I'll get on it

 

Ok Im a dumb@ss, this pic has been on another thread for like 2 months now but I forgot about it. Thing is I can't remember which bulbs I was running in this pic. I can't really tell from looking at it if they're the natural white or cool white LEDs because it's not totally dark and I dont remember if I took this b4 or after I put the cool white bulbs in.


I'll get a true night pic tonight.

 

Looks good. Nice and bright.

 

alright here it is, only 2 months after u asked for them lol

 

Wow that looks amazing. I didn't plan on taking the cluster out again for a while but I may have too so I can put some of those LED's in.

 

thats with the 5-led 220 degree angle bulbs:


if you want them as bright as possible they might not be bright enough for you, but personally I love it. It doesn't have that in-your-face "hey everyone look at me" brightness like alot of these new cars do, it's a little easier on the eyes than that. And the needles still light up really good. Actualyl I think its about the same level as the F150 gauges

 

so you just swapped in LED's?

The odemeter looks blue, were they blue LED's?

 

nah they're cool white, the camera is making the odo look alot bluer than it really is. Yeah all I did was swap.