Gauge cluster yellowish light

[Brique]

Ok, so I'm been working on a gauge cluster led conversion for the past few weeks and i haven't been able to get the desired effect. I'm getting hotspots and crappy coloring from the leds. I tried a couple different types to see if that helped, but it didn't. I finally bought some new sylvania white incandescent bulbs and threw them in.

To my surprise i found that with brand New white bulbs, the light coming through the gauges is distinctly yellowish, as though the bulbs were old or i had a lamp shade over them. I opened up the front of the cluster and couldn't find anything behind the faces causing this discoloration. Everything is as white or as clear as you'd expect to find in a new cluster.

Anyone have any ideas? My best guess at this point is that maybe the lights aren't getting enough voltage, even when the dimmer is at full.

I'd love some thoughts from you guys on how to troubleshoot this problem. I'll try to get a pic up to show you what I'm talking about.

 

[MStudt]

It's an incandescent bulb, and they're yellow in color. Same bulbs that you use in your house, and they're most likely yellow there too. Your best bet if you want white is LED.

 

[Brique]

I know that incandescent bulbs have some yellow, but this is much more than I'd expect from a new bulb.

Looking directly at a normal house bulb in the house, it looks white. Hold a piece of printer paper in front of it and it still looks white.

I used white leds and they were coming through really blue. Not just a touch of blue, which would have been awesome, but I mean really blue.

 

[MStudt]

I know that incandescent bulbs have some yellow, but this is much more than I'd expect from a new bulb.

Looking directly at a normal house bulb in the house, it looks white. Hold a piece of printer paper in front of it and it still looks white.

I used white leds and they were coming through really blue. Not just a touch of blue, which would have been awesome, but I mean really blue.

They look more yellow because the light is in a confined location against a whitish housing. The led's depends on the color of bulb you used. I swapped in cool white bulbs, and they are not blue at all. These are the bulbs I used in mine and they turned out pretty good.

 

[GreenbowCounty]

They look more yellow because the light is in a confined location against a whitish housing. The led's depends on the color of bulb you used. I swapped in cool white bulbs, and they are not blue at all. These are the bulbs I used in mine and they turned out pretty good.

I went with three of these bulbs in cool white for my 2000. Very pleased with the results. Had a couple of spots with another set of 74s before going to these. Makes a huge difference compared to the standard green.

 

[SKRS1]

I got these from amazon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008...531c555#ref=mp_s_a_1_2&qid=1392401685&sr=8-2

They look awful in the photo, but that's just my phone's camera, check the photos they have on amazon.

Oh by the way I took the photo before I fixed the socket in the middle, that why there's no light.

They are like 6 or 6.5k white.

 

[Brique]

Ok, so I have a 2001, which uses $24 bulbs.

My first try was the blue 24s from superbrightleds.com. These, in blue:

The problem was the dispersion was messy and so I had all kinds of hotspots. Also, everything that was not supposed to be blue looked washed out. For example, the needles are orange-red, but were looking orange-red-washed-in-blue.

So, my next attempt was to get some white leds and create a custom underlay to make all the white parts blue and let the white light go through everything else. I made the underlays and ordered some super white leds from autolumination.com

I went with a different design in hopes that the dispersion would be better and result in a more even spread.

I got the bulbs, dropped them in, and the light was so damn blue i was sure they had sent me blue bulbs. I confirmed that the bulbs I received were white. I pulled the underlays out so that the blue film wouldn't be coloring anything and put the white leds back in. At this point there was nothing blue in the guage cluster at all to tint the coloring, and the lights were still blue, and I mean almost as blue as the blue ones I had put in before. Also, the dispersion was still uneven, so I pulled the leds and went to advance auto parts and bought plain old white incandescents. The spread is completely even, but the damn things are yellow.

I put the underlays back in for the hell of it, and the result is cyan instead of blue (blue+yellow=cyan, so that makes sense). And as far as where the light is colored and where it is normal, that's all perfect. If i could only get the light to be white, I'd be thrilled.

Again, I know that incandescent has a slight yellow to it, and that led white has a slight blue to it. Honestly if the leds were white with slight blue, that would have been badass. But when I say yellow, I mean yellow, and when I say blue, I mean blue.

I tried to take photos, but the colors get changed in the picture, so I'm having a hard time getting a shot that shows you exactly what I mean.

SKRS1, what you have is exactly what I want, but I'm getting yellow and I'm starting to think there might be something else going on messing with me.

 

[MStudt]

Make sure you're not confusing hot spots with bulbs not working. I thought the exact same thing as you, and it looked like crap. Come to find out that not all the bulbs were lighting up. I had to mess around with mine a few times to get everything working. This is the end result on my 01.

 

[Brique]

Nah, this is what I mean by hotspots:

It's also what I mean by 'washed in blue'. This was my first try with blue leds. You can see where some parts are brighter and others dimmer and how the needles and such are washed out. Didn't like it.

This is what I have now.

The dimmer is set at max. It's blurry as hell because if I let the camera focus, it color corrects for the low light and all the colors get changed. Even like this, some of the yellow is lost in the picture, but you get the basic idea. The numbers are supposed to be blue, but they're turning cyan instead. If I can get the light whiter, they'll be bluer and it'll be BADASS. You can also see how the needles and other accent colors are closer to their original instead of the blue wash with the leds. I don't have a picture with the white leds, unfortunately, but the hotspots were there with those as well.

 

[MStudt]

Comparing my picture to your blue picture. You can see the same hot spots in both pictures, and on the same numbers. They just don't stand out nearly as much with the white bulbs. That is due to the fact that white is still white in hot spots. Where the blue is a lighter shade of blue in the hot spots.

 

[Brique]

A major difference is also that you're using 194 bulbs with 5 diodes each, whereas the #24 bulb used on the 2001s uses only 1 diode, which I suspect results in more of a flashlight pattern, as well as less light overall.

That still doesn't explain why the white LEDs I got are so damn blue, though. This is what makes me wonder if I have another problem going on, like, i don't know, not enough power getting to the bulbs or something. I'm really ignorant on the electrical stuff, which is why I posted here to ask for help.

 

[TheKorstjens]

LEDwholesalers Mini-Wedge T5 74 LED Bulb with 3xSMD3528, White, 1408WH : Amazon.com : Automotive

these are great. they are cheap fit tight and distribute light evenly. I got these after a blue failure....well I just didnt like the blue. I love these. perfect white and brightness.

 

[Brique]

I might try those. With 3 diodes per bulb as opposed to one, they might kick out enough brightness to get me what I'm looking for.

So, it sounds like the general consensus is that there's nothing wrong with my gauge cluster? It just feels so damn dim, even with brand new Sylvanias. Is there a way to test it to be sure?

 

[Xinirgi]

I'm using these in my 2002 in white, they work great and look identical to what was posted above, only they come from known company. I'll get a picture later tonight.

 

[Xinirgi]

Alright, here's a picture. I also forgot to mention that the width of the "base" of these LED's is ever so slightly wider than the bulb holder allows, all you need to do is "scrape" excess width off with a sharp knife until it fits into the holder.

 

[Brique]

Alright, here's a picture. I also forgot to mention that the width of the "base" of these LED's is ever so slightly wider than the bulb holder allows, all you need to do is "scrape" excess width off with a sharp knife until it fits into the holder.

That's exactly what I'm looking for! I made custom blue underlays for the white lettering, so if it works, everything white will be light blue and everything else will be its normal color. Gonna look into ordering some of these as soon as i get a chance.

 

[ATX4Yota]

That's exactly what I'm looking for! I made custom blue underlays for the white lettering, so if it works, everything white will be light blue and everything else will be its normal color. Gonna look into ordering some of these as soon as i get a chance.

I know this thread is 2 years old but wondering how your blue underlays worked out. I'm in the process of finding an even 'blue' look in my '02 4R Limited gauge cluster.

I purchased 3 #24 1SMD 10 Lumen blue LED's from SuperBrightLeds.com a few weeks ago. While I liked the shade of blue, I was experiencing 3 hot spots, uneven radial dispersion of light across the cluster and a washout of all the red in the cluster. I wasn't happy with the results. I've read thru Ripcord's LED write-up about using wax paper to better disperse light and prevent hot spots.

After reading this thread, I've ordered 3 #74 3SMD 25 Lumen cool white LED's from SuperBrightLeds.com to replace the #24's. I'm hoping for brighter overall light and better radial light dispersion. I'll scrape the base of the #74's to fit the twist sockets and look for some blue film to make underlays for the white lettering in the cluster.

 

[sogoood]

Alright, here's a picture. I also forgot to mention that the width of the "base" of these LED's is ever so slightly wider than the bulb holder allows, all you need to do is "scrape" excess width off with a sharp knife until it fits into the holder.

270 miles from a full tank? impressive:thumb:

i love the look of the white cluster leds. very clean!

 

[Xinirgi]

270 miles from a full tank? impressive:thumb:

i love the look of the white cluster leds. very clean!

Not in miles haha, kilometers!

 

[sogoood]

hahaha oh yea and i forgot youre running 35s =P