no more dim clocks
- Thread starter Guest
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Diver944
Active member
Not sure I fully understand [&:]
Have you removed the three triangular reflectors and replaced each of them with that unit in your first picture that has 4 leds in it? I know the reflectors lose their silvering over time so they get dim, is that what happened to yours?
Do those leds now illuminate the dash with blue light, and are they still dimmable?
Finally - come on post some pics of ths dash illuminated at night [
]
Have you removed the three triangular reflectors and replaced each of them with that unit in your first picture that has 4 leds in it? I know the reflectors lose their silvering over time so they get dim, is that what happened to yours?
Do those leds now illuminate the dash with blue light, and are they still dimmable?
Finally - come on post some pics of ths dash illuminated at night [
]
Guest
New member
That will be me deleting as the pic of the dash kept uploading sort of fractured looking. I do apologise.
In fact my very first thread I posted was about dim clocks, and has been my bug bear ever since. Firstly, yes the vac metalising had perished on the original opticals. So, as an alternative to getting them re-vac metalised (as it is expensive for short runs) I applied some chrome tape after polishing off the remaining vac metalising. Was an improvement, but not much of one.
I did as mentioned above, put some bulb LEDs in. LEDs are more directional than ambient so they didn't improve matters very much. Especially if anyone has actually seen the disjointed position of bulb and optical lense. I think it is also a bit naughty to sell them as 'super bright' as they are not.
So, the other day I decided to make a buck (pattern) to vac form some reflectors from chrome face plastic card. This didn't work, as it was a little too thick and fractured the (pretend) chrome when forming over the tool.
So, instead of relying on light being made to jump through hoops I thought it would be alot better to have light fed directly into the light cluster.
I removed the opticals completely. Made three dummy ones from perspex so that they would fit correctly. Polished the illuminating edge and embedded four LEDs in each, to diffuse the light alittle and to avoid spotting. Made jacks to replace the bulb fitting and to power LEDs. Yes they are still dimmable, but I want more light.!!! Yes there is a blue tint.
I could of gone for much, much brighter LEDs. The intensity of these ones are about fifty, but you can get up to ten thousand now! Didn't want to scare on coming traffic with an unearthly glow on my face.
Obviously, you can have white light, green, yellow. I plumped for blue, not to max power it but in keeping with the flavour (should it be 'flava')
Also, There are now LEDs which have a tiny chip in them which basically will go through the colour spectrum, I thought this might be a bit too trippy and certainly max power.
In fact my very first thread I posted was about dim clocks, and has been my bug bear ever since. Firstly, yes the vac metalising had perished on the original opticals. So, as an alternative to getting them re-vac metalised (as it is expensive for short runs) I applied some chrome tape after polishing off the remaining vac metalising. Was an improvement, but not much of one.
I did as mentioned above, put some bulb LEDs in. LEDs are more directional than ambient so they didn't improve matters very much. Especially if anyone has actually seen the disjointed position of bulb and optical lense. I think it is also a bit naughty to sell them as 'super bright' as they are not.
So, the other day I decided to make a buck (pattern) to vac form some reflectors from chrome face plastic card. This didn't work, as it was a little too thick and fractured the (pretend) chrome when forming over the tool.
So, instead of relying on light being made to jump through hoops I thought it would be alot better to have light fed directly into the light cluster.
I removed the opticals completely. Made three dummy ones from perspex so that they would fit correctly. Polished the illuminating edge and embedded four LEDs in each, to diffuse the light alittle and to avoid spotting. Made jacks to replace the bulb fitting and to power LEDs. Yes they are still dimmable, but I want more light.!!! Yes there is a blue tint.
I could of gone for much, much brighter LEDs. The intensity of these ones are about fifty, but you can get up to ten thousand now! Didn't want to scare on coming traffic with an unearthly glow on my face.
Obviously, you can have white light, green, yellow. I plumped for blue, not to max power it but in keeping with the flavour (should it be 'flava')
Also, There are now LEDs which have a tiny chip in them which basically will go through the colour spectrum, I thought this might be a bit too trippy and certainly max power.
Guest
New member
You can now get superbright UV LEDs, which are designed for dashboard illumination - they in fact shine with a sort of white light, but very bright.
The very bright ones (even the blue ones) are bright enough to read by.
The multicoloured ones have more that one colour of LED in the same housing, so you can chose how to blend the colours.
The very bright ones (even the blue ones) are bright enough to read by.
The multicoloured ones have more that one colour of LED in the same housing, so you can chose how to blend the colours.
Diver944
Active member
Yes it's one of those 'some do, some dont' problems.
My Turbos dashlights are definitely a lot dimmer than my S2, and I have noticed that the footwell is slightly illuminated so I think my Turbo reflective silver is starting to come away and let the light out. I can also see brighter lights through some of the gaps around the steering column.
My Turbos dashlights are definitely a lot dimmer than my S2, and I have noticed that the footwell is slightly illuminated so I think my Turbo reflective silver is starting to come away and let the light out. I can also see brighter lights through some of the gaps around the steering column.
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