Brighter Dash Lights. Replace 194 bulbs with 2825 bulbs? (W5W)

[slack]

Hi all,

I'm looking to upgrade the brightness of my dash but I think I'm done with the LEDs. The green is TOO green. I was thinking about going back to regular incandescent bulbs.

I noticed that the 2825 is the same bulb housing as the original 194s but brighter. (Although, probably hotter too).

I was wondering if there's any harm in running the brighter bulbs in the dash? I'm guessing they'll have a shorter life span but will the wiring be able to handle it or could I burn something up?

Thanks!
-Erik

[slack]

After further investigation...

It looks like there's 12 bulbs in the back of the dash.

Using I = P/V...

Each 194 bulb is roughly 3.8w. Assuming 13.8v to compensate for the 12v-14.4v swing, that would lead to around 3.3A with all the lights on full blast stock.
For the W5W, which are 5w, that would end up with 4.35A with all the lights on full blast. Again assuming 13.8v.

(Above is assuming all idiot lights are illuminated as well)

I found this capacity chart for wire gauge:

Gauge - 12V
22 - 5A
20 - 8A
18 - 10A
16 - 20A
14 - 40A
12 - 60A
10 - 100A
8 - 150A
6 - ??A
4 - ??A
2 - ??A
1 - ??A
0 - ??A

It looks like as long as I have at least 20-22 gauge wire already there, I should be fine right?

[gadget73]

Heat is another thing. Brighter lamps put out a lot more, and you don't want that. Lots of plastic parts in there to melt.


Try the white ones with the blue filter installed. It should give you a soft blue light, not that obnoxious green.



I'm actually considering reverting mine to stock lamps. The blue is too blue. I miss the pale green look.

[sly]

When I put those 194 "white" LEDs from superbrightleds.com in a coworker's Ranger, they were dimmable and not obnoxiously bright and fed all the differently colored areas just fine.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/miniature-wedge-base/194-led-bulb-5-led-wide-angle-wedge-base/199/875/

Color option: Warm White

[slack]

Yeah, heat is what I'm worried about. Finding an LED warm white that is low enough profile to fit under the filter caps is being a pain. It also seems like the ones I find are only 5 lumens more than just a regular incandescent 194 3.8w bulb...

Just redid the math with only swapping out the bulbs for backlight illumination. (There are 4 of them).

So with that, we're at 4 lights @ 5w and 8 lights @ 3.8w. That brings the total amps to 3.7A to run given 13.8v average.

Still worried about the heat issue though...

[sly]

The thing about the LEDs though, they're measured at 12V, not 14.4. And these are small enough... actually a little smaller than regular 194 bulbs. (look at the base of the bulb - the roundy part, not the connector part)

[slack]

The thing about the LEDs though, they're measured at 12V, not 14.4. And these are small enough... actually a little smaller than regular 194 bulbs. (look at the base of the bulb - the roundy part, not the connector part)

Ah! Nice! I just actually also pulled out some spare LED 194 bulbs that I have in my cluster now and they actually fit under the cap as well. I think I was thinking the room under the cap was less than it actually is. Maybe I will go with the LED route again but with a warm white like you said.

[slack]

Alright, so I was able to dig up some regular white LEDs and try them out on my spare '87 dash.

Here's the look of bright white with no filter caps:



Here's the look with the caps. It looks like the caps actually limit the light, even the brighter light is brought down to basically the incandescent bulb so LED doesn't seem to make much of a difference except the color choice. (In this case, it's more blue as it's a blue-ish white LED instead of the warm white)



I don't have a pic of the 194 without the filter caps on but it basically looks like an '80s GM. (The company) Just regular light shining on the dash. I sort of like it but it doesn't fit the car enough IMO.

I'll probably pick up some warm whites and see how they look, if they're not right, I'll stick with the incandescent 194 bulbs or 168(?). I found they're around 4w instead of the w5w which is 5w and might be okay on the heat issue. Unfortunately their lifespan is also almost a 1000 hours less... but the w5ws lifespan is only around 200 hours depending on the source so that might not be feasible anyway.

[DerekTheGreat]

I had an 85 LTD CV and ya know, I liked the old incandescent bulbs and their green-ness. Watching that speedometer needle bounce around was worth a grin too. As a dude now in his late 20's who remembers when every teen tried customizing his car to get different interior colors and what not I say keep it stock. Looks better that way and I'm glad I never modified that stuff. I used to like bright interior lights but the truth is, if you do a lot of driving at night where there are no street lights and stuff it's better to run the interior lights as dim as possible. This way your eyes don't adjust to the brightness as much and you'll be able to see more.

Derek

[VicCrownVic]

...
194 bulbs or 168(?). ...

168 will likely not fit, the base is the same so they will fit in the socket, but the are larger bulbs that don't fit under the filter. Take a look at the bulb in the driver or passenger door, those should be 168.

[slack]

I had an 85 LTD CV and ya know, I liked the old incandescent bulbs and their green-ness. Watching that speedometer needle bounce around was worth a grin too. As a dude now in his late 20's who remembers when every teen tried customizing his car to get different interior colors and what not I say keep it stock. Looks better that way and I'm glad I never modified that stuff. I used to like bright interior lights but the truth is, if you do a lot of driving at night where there are no street lights and stuff it's better to run the interior lights as dim as possible. This way your eyes don't adjust to the brightness as much and you'll be able to see more.

Derek

Yeah, I decided to keep it stock. I was tired of the "wrong" color from the LEDs and the brightness really isn't that big of an issue to keep pursuing.

168 will likely not fit, the base is the same so they will fit in the socket, but the are larger bulbs that don't fit under the filter. Take a look at the bulb in the driver or passenger door, those should be 168.

Tried a 168 and it fit under the filter cap. Problem was, it's significantly hotter than the 194 and not noticeably brighter.

[GM_Guy]

The door lights are 916's or some such.

I would not go to brighter incandescents. That little parking light/dash light feed wire is overloaded as it is (see any thread about no dash or parking lights and the burned headlight connector wire--which is what feeds the dash and running lights). Learn to love the green.

Alex.

[slack]

Yeah, I decided to stay with the stock 194 bulbs. I wanted LEDs that would give me the same color but be a little brighter. Wasn't really worth it in the end. If I didn't want to keep the exact same color as the stock color, it's not a big deal but I wanted to keep the stock look.