dash/instrument illumination

[Troy]

I have looked around with much dissatisfaction at a replacement solution to the dimness of the gauge lighting level. the rheostat seems fine, it's just that these old eyes of mine could use more light.
Anyone out there actually do a lamp upgrade with part number, etc? (or is it really my rheostat?)

[PetesPonies]

Light switch ( rheostat ), IVR, poor grounds . . one of them or all of them :) You could see if you can get a voltage reading from on of the lights while turned on.

[1986F150Six]

In my truck [1986 F150], with the guidance of Gary Lewis, the blue filters were removed and the bulbs replaced with Blue LED bulbs. This was done while at the 2016 OK GTG. The instrument needles were also repainted. The change was dramatic.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.ford-trucks.com-vbulletin/1995x1333/80-80_dsc_4732_30614f76ec986c96d46aaadcdcfb4f48eea61a51_cdf28934893922405b2a40371c67adcca3d092b7.jpg

My son has a 1984 F150 and he is more of a purist. I removed the blue filters and replaced the 194 bulbs [clear] with 194B [blue] and it looked much brighter than it had been and probably much like it was, originally. The blue filters become opaque and restrict the light.

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/LMA194B?interchange=1

In both cases, we were well pleased.

By the way, I removed an instrument cluster from a medium duty truck [same instrument cluster as ours], but the filters are light green and absolutely clear. I showed these to some of the guys who attended the 2017 OK GTG. If you want to try something different, you can have them for free.

[Gary Lewis]

Troy - Take it easy on the "old" comments. I'm 70. 😩

David - You act like I knew what I was doing. I thought we were learning together. 😉  Anyway, the change is dramatic. I did the same thing on Big Blue and now I can see the gauges. But, I might try white LED's next time as I'm curious what that will look like.

[Oz Econoline/F100]

Hi Gary Can you give me the part numbers for these globes please as I would like to try these in my F100 and Econoline as they both have very dim lighting in the night and do you know a supplier that may ship these O/S ?

[Gary Lewis]

I used these from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Y1CFAB2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I don’t know if they’ll ship to you, but any similar bulb should do.

[Oz Econoline/F100]

Thanks Gary you're a champion

[Troy]

lol, but now I know it's not me just being curmudgeonly...I am not alone ;), and now I have something to tinker on. parts already added to cart

[FoxFord33]

Did you have to do something to the switch to limit the volts/amps or increase the ohms in order to make the LED's dimmable? I think I have heard something about that before... I am thinking of doing this, but want to maintain the original dim-sweep function.

[Gary Lewis]

We put in a resistor to put enough load on the rheostat to drop the voltage and, therefore, dim the LED's. But, David found that wasn't needed as he liked the lighting on high, so when I did Big Blue I didn't bother and the lighting is fine. I'll show you one of these days.

[Oz Econoline/F100]

Yes that's all i would be happy with that it is a lot brighter then with the standard globes and yes I have ordered as well

[ArdWrknTrk]

Be mindful that if you have an idiot light instrument cluster the charge indicator lamp needs to be bridged by a resistor because an led will not pass enough current to excite the alternator.

Iirc the value is ~500 ohms (512 in the schematic I've seen)

Forgive me if this has already been mentioned,  but I didn't see it.

[kristopherdb]

test the lights before you button it all down, they must go in one way to make light. I found out the hard way

[Gary Lewis]

Yes!  Some will have to be reversed.

[Oz Econoline/F100]

Will do just waiting for Amazon to send them to me

[Pebcak]

I just did all the lights behind my gauges this week with THESE LED's.  I ordered more to do signal indicators and other lights at the top.

Also coming in are THESE Red LED bulbs to match my interior lighting.  They'll go in the Cigarette light and the light by the wiper/headlight knob.

I'll try to get a picture tonight of the instrument panel and post it.

[Gary Lewis]

As long as you leave the incandescent bulbs in for the exterior lights the LED’s inside for the indicators will work fine. But it takes a significant current load to make most flashers work, so if you replace the exterior bulbs with LED’s you’ll have to go to the electronic or HD flasher.

[myrl883]

Oz Econoline -

 The original blue filters are D9AZ-10B870-A, the later model green filters are E5SZ-10B870-A.

[Oz Econoline/F100]

Thanks Myrl883 but don't you take out the filters if you are putting in the LED globes?

[Gary Lewis]

I’m not sure the bigger, brighter LED’s will fit under the filters, but they might. However, I wouldn’t use a filter with anything but a white LED. And since the LED’s are available in a range of colors, unless you want the specific color the filter gives you should be able to get close with just the LED.