LED Dash lights FAQs

[SammerP]

Huh, that's interesting. My dash does the same thing with the "drive" light, but I just assumed it was because the bulb is old.

Funny Thing Is, I was able to reach the socket without unplugging the harnesses, so I was able to swap out from led to incandescent etc. At one point the incandescent lit fully, so I put it all back together, and within a minute, it went to half brightness again. Visual inspection of all the contacts was ok, tried other bulbs from the neighbouring gears, in their own sockets plastic sockets, still dim, but they worked perfectly in their own spots. I put an led back in there and it works fine, just too bright!

 

[Devbot]

Funny Thing Is, I was able to reach the socket without unplugging the harnesses, so I was able to swap out from led to incandescent etc. At one point the incandescent lit fully, so I put it all back together, and within a minute, it went to half brightness again. Visual inspection of all the contacts was ok, tried other bulbs from the neighbouring gears, in their own sockets plastic sockets, still dim, but they worked perfectly in their own spots. I put an led back in there and it works fine, just too bright!

Just the other day I read someone on here talking about how they noticed a massive volt drop at the dash, when I get home I'll try and find the post. Might be worth looking into

 

[Devbot]

cannot find it for the life of me, sorry dude

 

[SDland17]

Random two question about the dash instrument and switching to LEDs.

1. On the circuit board of the cluster, does anyone know a simple way to find out the positive and negative feeds for each bulb slot? I only ask because while doing all the smaller bulbs I had to swap certain bulbs backwards like "park" and then the rest reverse, neutral, drive, etc remained opposite. it was the only way for some of my bulbs to work. I just want to make sure that all are correctly placed as I personally dont know how to trigger my fuel or drivetrain light just to check.

2. While engine is off but key was in second turn before starting. The indicator lights work perfectly on dash and outside. Once the engine is cranked and running, the indicators spaz out continuously making a buzz. This only occurs once I have LEDs in the blinker slots of the dash cluster. Anyone else have this issue? (can upload a video of the issue if not fully clear.)

 

[seirunner]

I did this this week, thanks so much for all the info!

These are the #24 bulbs from superbrightleds, they do hotspot a bit.

Anyone know why my "D" light on the dash when I'm in drive is half the brightness of the rest of them with stock incandescent bulb in there? Picking up some voltage drop or extra resistance somewhere? I replaced it with 2 other #74 incandescents (After trying LED but it was BLINDINGly bright) but same thing, very dim.

my "D" light is dim, I just assumed it was that way since the "D" light is constantly on when driving so it doesn't affect the driver at night, but still bright enough during the day to be visible

 

[Endlessblockades]

my "D" light is dim, I just assumed it was that way since the "D" light is constantly on when driving so it doesn't affect the driver at night, but still bright enough during the day to be visible

You are supposed to have a D light? Fascinating. I thought the total lack of a D light was by design. It's not really necessary.....

 

[phattyduck]

You are supposed to have a D light? Fascinating. I thought the total lack of a D light was by design. It's not really necessary.....

Yes, there is definitely a bulb there. It is dim (resistor drop) when the headlights are on and bright when they are off. Standard stuff on all Toyotas from the 80's through today.

Anybody that thinks it is dim all the time just drives with their headlights on all the time...

-Charlie

 

[Endlessblockades]

Yes, there is definitely a bulb there. It is dim (resistor drop) when the headlights are on and bright when they are off. Standard stuff on all Toyotas from the 80's through today.

Anybody that thinks it is dim all the time just drives with their headlights on all the time...

-Charlie

Huh, Pretty sure mine is currently black-hole-dark. Devoid of light. Dead bulb. I'll double-check, but if there is any light at all it's far south of 'dim'. My 2nd Gen did have a D indicator light now that I think about it. Anyway black-out works for me. The lights on either side are bright, so I'm accustomed to seeing nothing and knowing I'm in Drive, plus the truck moves forward.

 

[artcell1620]

I did the upgrade last week, using amber bulbs from super bright leds. It’s not as great for me as some of the pictures posted here as there are hot spots and it’s not really that bright, but if anyone is wondering how the amber looks, see pictures.

I actually put an LED in the hazards but it’s so dim that it didn’t show up in the picture. I’m starting to wonder if something is wrong.

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[Skulking]

I did the upgrade last week, using amber bulbs from super bright leds. It’s not as great for me as some of the pictures posted here as there are hot spots and it’s not really that bright, but if anyone is wondering how the amber looks, see pictures.

I actually put an LED in the hazards but it’s so dim that it didn’t show up in the picture. I’m starting to wonder if something is wrong.

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Can you see it in person but it doesn't show up in the picture? If so, that would indicate the light is working. If you can't see anything in person, it's possible you have the bulb in backwards. If you used an amber LED behind the hazard button, then I've suggest swapping it for a white LED. The button heavily filters the light, so you won't see the amber anyway, and even with a white light I wouldn't describe it as bright.

 

[Doc3g]

after reading a lot of negative reviews about the superbrightled's I decided to pony up the extra cash and get some VLED's instead. They are on the way so once they get here and I wire them up I'll post a review. Even with a 15% discount they were ~ 3x as much per bulb though. I've bought brake and reverse lights from them and they are amazing, but they are also priced significantly higher than just about anything else on the market, so I guess you get what you pay for.

 

[WeakSauz]

you get what you pay for.

Yep. Superbrightleds is Chinese garbage. They work, yes. But it's a gamble if they'll start flickering on you in 1-2yrs time. And they do not disperse light as a high quality bulb does.

Using an actual high quality bulb, like a Samsung, in the dash makes a massive difference. They're like $6 EACH though, which sucks.

 

[gamefreakgc]

I did the upgrade last week, using amber bulbs from super bright leds. It’s not as great for me as some of the pictures posted here as there are hot spots and it’s not really that bright, but if anyone is wondering how the amber looks, see pictures.

I actually put an LED in the hazards but it’s so dim that it didn’t show up in the picture. I’m starting to wonder if something is wrong.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I went with white and also got hot spots. I bought the bulbs for the dash cluster that had four distinct LED diodes with a distinct light pattern. I rotated the bulbs once and the beam pattern was much better with less hot spots. Hope that helps.

 

[Doc3g]

looks like Christmas started early this year for me

 

[artcell1620]

Can you see it in person but it doesn't show up in the picture? If so, that would indicate the light is working. If you can't see anything in person, it's possible you have the bulb in backwards. If you used an amber LED behind the hazard button, then I've suggest swapping it for a white LED. The button heavily filters the light, so you won't see the amber anyway, and even with a white light I wouldn't describe it as bright.

Yeah, I can see it in person, and I put a white LED in it. I also got LEDs for the map lights and the light output was less than the stock bulbs. I couldn’t believe it since everyone else had such great results


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[artcell1620]

I went with white and also got hot spots. I bought the bulbs for the dash cluster that had four distinct LED diodes with a distinct light pattern. I rotated the bulbs once and the beam pattern was much better with less hot spots. Hope that helps.

Hmm that’s interesting! I’ll try it out


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[Devbot]

What other options are there for good LEDs? VLEDs look nice but they don't offer anything below 5000k usually. I remember there was some highly rated shop that gets posted here and there but I can't think of the name
One of my lights from superbrightleds started going out already so I'd like to do it over again, and finally finish the conversion
Edit: Are the turn signal lights green or is it merely a lense/filter over them?

 

[Twan]

Neowedge Instrument Panel Gauge Colored Led Bulbs Lights Lamps | Autolumination I think

 

[Doc3g]

What other options are there for good LEDs? VLEDs look nice but they don't offer anything below 5000k usually. I remember there was some highly rated shop that gets posted here and there but I can't think of the name
One of my lights from superbrightleds started going out already so I'd like to do it over again, and finally finish the conversion
Edit: Are the turn signal lights green or is it merely a lense/filter over them?

I just got done shining a light through every hole b/c the schematic for the lights in the first post is not correct for a 99'. My observation is that all of the lights have their own color film over them except for the backlight for the gauges. So, the turn signals are a green film and thus would be green whether you used a white bulb or a green bulb, though I used matching colors for all of mine since I figure it will make it stand out more.

 

[Devbot]

I just got done shining a light through every hole b/c the schematic for the lights in the first post is not correct for a 99'. My observation is that all of the lights have their own color film over them except for the backlight for the gauges. So, the turn signals are a green film and thus would be green whether you used a white bulb or a green bulb, though I used matching colors for all of mine since I figure it will make it stand out more.

This is what i figured, didnt make sense from a manufacturing standpoint why they would use different color bulbs but it would be just my luck to tske a guess and have to do everything over again. Thanks for the info