Founding Member AhsyV6 Posted June 6, 2020 Founding Member Report Share Posted June 6, 2020 My cluster leds arrived 1-2 months early today!!!! Have you ever heard such a thing??? As they were going to take so long I ordered some 501s after Stus advice. Fitted both sets as a comparison. Original look with new 501s New LEDs Thoughts? As they’re brighter and sharper and good for the old eyes they’ll stay. Very little bleeding. But one thing for sure the rest of the bulbs in the centre console and switches look dull now. I might look into to updating these. They are supposed to by brilliant white but they have a very slight blueish hue to them which I don’t mind. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PTR200S Posted June 6, 2020 Moderators Report Share Posted June 6, 2020 Oh yes , I like the led look, deffo keep those in 🙂 I fit into the old and tired category, obviously , then !! 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Laird_Scooby Posted June 6, 2020 Moderators Report Share Posted June 6, 2020 9 hours ago, AhsyV6 said: They are supposed to by brilliant white but they have a very slight blueish hue to them which I don’t mind. That's quite common Ahsy to find a slight blue tinge on the cold/brilliant white LEDs as the colour temperature of blue and white seems to have a grey area where the two different colours have the same colour temperature. It's better than a yellowish tinge at the other end of the white sector of the colour temperature chart - as the LEDs "bed in" the blue is likely to go and if they were on the yellow side to start with, they would turn more yellow so you have the better option IMHO. Definitely a great improvement! 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founding Member AhsyV6 Posted June 6, 2020 Founding Member Report Share Posted June 6, 2020 Any thoughts on these lights for the centre consol? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07LCL13Y8/?coliid=IHN017FZ0YGH0&colid=2V85NHCCE3EFB&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it or https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07LCMH75R/?coliid=I3D9WTJXMQCODW&colid=2V85NHCCE3EFB&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welland99 Posted June 7, 2020 Report Share Posted June 7, 2020 On 6/6/2020 at 1:01 AM, AhsyV6 said: My cluster leds arrived 1-2 months early today!!!! Have you ever heard such a thing??? As they were going to take so long I ordered some 501s after Stus advice. Fitted both sets as a comparison. Original look with new 501s New LEDs Thoughts? As they’re brighter and sharper and good for the old eyes they’ll stay. Very little bleeding. But one thing for sure the rest of the bulbs in the centre console and switches look dull now. I might look into to updating these. They are supposed to by brilliant white but they have a very slight blueish hue to them which I don’t mind. Definitely look bright. Do the new LED ones respond to the dimmer control? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founding Member AhsyV6 Posted June 7, 2020 Founding Member Report Share Posted June 7, 2020 10 hours ago, welland99 said: Definitely look bright. Do the new LED ones respond to the dimmer control? Yes they do but still stay at a good level. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founding Member AhsyV6 Posted October 18, 2022 Founding Member Report Share Posted October 18, 2022 On 12/10/2015 at 3:52 PM, hughezee said: 35505SJ4003 SOCKET ASSY., BULB (14V 3W) £5.96 Just wanted to know if there would be any issues sticking 5w 501 bulbs in the rear of the dial panel instead of the 3w? I finally replaced the “discotheque” flashing leds the night before the meet but the originals are so dim in comparison. The leds light up perfectly with no bleeding but within 6m they start to flicker. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Laird_Scooby Posted October 18, 2022 Moderators Report Share Posted October 18, 2022 That would cause problems Ahsy, would be much brighter yes but could compromise the dimmer circuit for starters and secondly, even if it didn't do that, the increased heat from the 5W bulbs would damage the instrument cluster. You'd be better off replacing the strobe-effect LEDs with some decent ones, if you can show me a pic of the ones you had i'll endeavour to find some that should work well. I've been through potentially hundreds until i found some that worked properly long term and gave the right spread of light but so far so good now, had some in for about 4 years on my Volvo without a problem. 30 minutes ago, AhsyV6 said: The leds light up perfectly with no bleeding but within 6m they start to flicker. If you turn the dimmer down until they just start to dim, you should be ok to keep using them. Many Chinese sellers run LEDs on maximum current for 12V, the LEDs actually only need ~2.5V (the exact figure varies) and run them at 30mA which is generally the maximum current. This creates heat and temporarily desolders the joints which remake when it cools, causing flickering. A little bit of maths - 12v - 2.5V = 9.5V - this is the voltage needed to be dropped across the current limiting resistor. The current they run at is 30mA or 0.03A, to determine that resistor it's 9.5/0.03 = 316 Ohms Nearest preferred Value (NPV) is 330 Ohms which gives 9.5/330 = 28.8mA which is only 1.2mA short of the ideal maximum current for the LEDs. Now the problem comes to light (pardon the pun) with the engine running - the alternator charges at 14V so instead of dropping 9.5V across the resistor, it needs to drop 11.5V instead. However if the resistor used is 330 Ohm, the current through the LED is 11.5/330 = 34.8mA which is above the maximum current for the LEDs. Ideally it should be 11.5/0.020 (that's 20mA) which would be 575 Ohms. The NPV would be 560 or 620 Ohms, these would give LED current of 20.5mA and 18.5mA respectively, still well within the design spec of the LEDs. Using those 560 or 620 Ohm resistors, even at 12V supply (engine not running) they would still get 17mA and 15mA respectively so in their brighteset illumination area and would last indefinitely with no flickering. Bit long winded but it ll makes sense, turning the dimmer down could be the simplest answer to using the LEDs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founding Member AhsyV6 Posted October 18, 2022 Founding Member Report Share Posted October 18, 2022 As always thank you so much for the detailed response and also as always a lot of it over my head due to the pinpoint explanation (it’s the maths and physics that gets me). This is the link of the bulbs I have: WLJH White T10 Led Light Bulb W5W 194 2825 Car Dash Lights Gauge Dashboard Instrument Cluster Panel Interior Lights Twist Socket PC194 PC195 PC168, Pack of 6 https://amzn.eu/d/cO0gzLl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Laird_Scooby Posted October 18, 2022 Moderators Report Share Posted October 18, 2022 If you literally ignore the maths and just look at the figures Ahsy, i'm sure youll get the general idea. Just checked my ebay purchase history and it doesn't go back far enough for the exact same ones but these are similar to what i've been using : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223207446001 Howeer, for extra brightness, there are longer ones assuming they'll fit in the cluster : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223207297287 Those are both for 2 bulbs each, if you check the sellers other items, chances are they have packs of 10 at a better price. If not, other sellers are likely to have a deal on 10 of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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