Varad Interior LED lighting kit for gauge cluster?

[Thrill91Si]

Do you think I could use a couple sets of the Varad interior LED lighting kits(see link below) to light my gauge cluster? I've seen a couple guys do it with loose LEDs, resistors, and soldering, but I was thinking this kit might be an easier method. Maybe more costly, but easier. I haven't seen what is behind the cluster, so this could be completely wrong.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...091326816&rd=1

Also, if I was using LEDs behind the gauge cluster would the cluster dimmer still work or would it always be the same brightness? I'm not sure whether LEDs dim or they just shut off at a certain voltage.

Thanks,
Thrill

[shaddr3]

no, dont buy a kit, go to radio shack, look up some guides online and save yourself ALOT! I kno some place where you can order LEDS REALLY CHEAP. I'll look real quick to see If I can find them.

[91civicDXdude]

ricer mod! yeah!

[nemo_wolf]

radio shack has some and they can be considered the generic electronics store, but you really should check for an electronics store. If you dont know of one or where it is, start with a hardware store and ask if they know where you can purchase electronics equipment that they dont carry.

Any electronics store will have such an array of LED's in varying size and brightness that it will make you wonder why people dont do this more often. You definatly wont see them stock something as bright as those in the kit cause its not normally something used in electronics; think of the LED's for your puter. They should be able to help you find the LED's your looking for and may take some time to order but you'll get it for a cheaper price then that kit and depending on how helpful even hints or offer names of people that can help you with install.

If you cant find anything in your area, give me a PM there is a decent sized electronics place near me and i can go in and see what they got for you.

[Thrill91Si]

There is an electronics store near here, they had about 4 different blue LEDs. The brightest one was 10000 mcd brightness, whatever that means. I tried to compare it to the leds in the kit, but they don't list brightness on the varad website. In the electronics store it ran $5 just for the led. The other blue leds were cheaper, but they also weren't as bright.

I checked on-line, and there seems to be a couple places to get them, $2 for one rated at 6000 mcd. A lot with less intensity for much less.

Shaddr3, do you know where any of the kits on-line are? I did a search in google and didn't find anything, I also did a search on this forum, and the interior audio security forum. One guy in the interior forum said he had done it and had pictures, but didn't list a how-to or show a pic of the back-side of the gauge cluster.

nemo-wolf, thanks for your help. I was hoping to find a source locally, but haven't had much luck after the first place I looked. It could be that I am looking at LEDs with much more brightness than I really need.

Thanks Shaddr3 and nemo-wolf, I'm going to continue to search the internet for any how-tos on this. I've found basic information on what size resistor to put in line to cut the voltage down, but no specifics on brightness or number needed. Maybe I'll just pull out my cluster and see what it looks like.

Sorry about the long post, Peace all.

[Thrill91Si]

Never mind guys, I just did a search on e-bay and found several sets of 50 for less than $10. Now I just have to pull of the cluster cover and see what it looks like.

Thx,
Thrill

[shaddr3]

The place that I saw you can buy them from, sold them in sets of 250, and sold for like $15 each, if that. Sooo if ya could wait a tiny bit, I could find the site for ya.

[Thrill91Si]

That would be great shaddr3, I'm going to wait at least a little bit, do a little more price shopping. I've still got to re-wire my amp. I was also looking into buying some raammat off e-bay and working on my doors. Still haven't taken a look at the gauge cluster either. I just got the thing back together after replacing the parking brake cables...might wait a couple days before disassembling it again.

Thx,
Thrill

[1PhatCX]

can u let me know what size resistor to use with an LED?? i wanna try some of this stuff, they had super bright leds at radio shack and they were only 4.99 cnd

[Thrill91Si]

1Phatcx, I was planning on running enough in series that I wouldn't have to use a resistor. A normal LED runs at about 3.6 volts, if you run four in series it comes out to 14.4 volts, which is roughly the operating voltage of our cars. I discussed it with an electrical engineer today and he agreed that should work, but didn't do an in depth analysis of it.

If you really only want one running by itself, I found a couple sites on google doing a "LED resistor" search:

http://www.luxeonstar.com/resistor-calculator.php
http://www.ledsupply.com/techinfo.html

Good luck!

Thrill