Sold on LEDs

[dmorales-bello]

1 hour ago, Jeff G 78 said:

Great looking Z Dr. Dave.

Thanks very much, Jeff.

[Captain Obvious]

2 hours ago, SteveJ said:

To dim the LEDs, you'll need a PWM. Bruce (@Captain Obvious) made one for his car.

Haha!! As I remember, I made more than one. Sure would be nice to know how the other one works....?? 

[dmorales-bello]

 CapnO: Great idea with the extra bulb location on the speedo. Do you have any pics of the illuminated gauge face?

[siteunseen]

I want to start a new topic with LED pictures from the members who've done the swap and I will when I fire the old laptop up.

Already have Dr Dave's and Tomohawk's to start it off.

[siteunseen]

1 hour ago, siteunseen said:

I want to start a new topic with LED pictures from the members who've done the swap and I will when I fire the old laptop up.

Already have Dr Dave's and Tomohawk's to start it off.

Scratch that idea!  I'm a long way from tackling this project so I won't muddy the water anymore in my head.

After reading I realize this will require pulling the gauges to get those little green lenses out.  For now I'll get 4 miniature bulbs for the three gauges in the middle plus the glove box.  They have 4 watt bulbs on hand at my local Advanced Auto.

Thanks for everybody's input and for the envy I have now, I'm talking to you Dr Dave!  

And I can't imagine not doing what Captain O did with the third bulb on the speedometer, that dim top right is so "Obvious" to me now.

These are from 2011, member Ty Marbry.  I think his are a bit too bright, I'll definitely get the warm white.

 

 

Edited May 8, 2017 by siteunseen

[dmorales-bello]

1 hour ago, siteunseen said:

Thanks for everybody's input and for the envy I have now, I'm talking to you Dr Dave!  

Great compliment coming from you! Thanks friend. Glad I could help.

[Captain Obvious]

I've tried and tried to get good pics of my dash lighting, but I've not had good luck. A variety of issues have prevented me from getting a good representative shot. My idiot-proof camera automatically compensates for the light changes, etc.. I think they look absolutely phenomenal in person, but "just OK" in the pics. I'll post the best I have.

They look too dim in the pics. They're not. They look greenish in the pics. They're not. Everything is fuzzy in the pics and that's my camera adjusting for the lack of light.

Here's the whole dash at the brightness at which I drive. Most people seem to want way brighter than stock retina burning brightness, but I just wanted "whiter at and a little brighter than stock". This is how I drive, which is about two-thirds brightness. Also note that I've still got a little bit of a hotspot at the bulb end of the HVAC controls:

Here's a closeup of the three smaller gauges at my typical 2/3 brightness:

Here's those same three gauges at full brightness:

And here's the speedo and tach at full bright. Note the third LED in the speedo completely eliminates that 80-90 mph dark spot!!:

I'd be happy to have someone who knows what they're really doing with a camera take better shots!!

[siteunseen]

Those look great to me but have you tried your phone's camera without flash then email to yourself and save it to your PC?  That works for me when I shoot something lighted.

Thanks for posting those.  That's the 5 panel led without the top panel, so 4 leds and you still have to dim them down some.  Good to know! 

[SteveJ]

I'll try to remember to take some new ones of mine. I think I may have some posted in other threads, but there doesn't seem to be anything in the User CP to let me see the files I've uploaded for posts. I think one version of the software we had allowed me to do that.

[gwri8]

Camera hint:  Switch to Manual mode.

When making comparison photos of light, a single base exposure is required. So you would set the camera exposure for the first photo and use the same exposure for the second, third, fourth and so on as long as the ambient light is the same.   For example, whatever the exposure for the first shot is , it has to be the same for the second comparison shot. Otherwise, when the camera is in automatic mode, it will compensate for the brighter or dimmer light in the comparing photo making them somewhat equal which is not an accurate measurement.  When in Manual mode, it locks in the exposure.   That's the short version. 

[siteunseen]

5 minutes ago, SteveJ said:

I'll try to remember to take some new ones of mine. I think I may have some posted in other threads, but there doesn't seem to be anything in the User CP to let me see the files I've uploaded for posts. I think one version of the software we had allowed me to do that.

This is how I do it or the "insert other media" button

 

[siteunseen]

10 minutes ago, gwri8 said:

Camera hint:  Switch to Manual mode.

When making comparison photos of light, a single base exposure is required. So you would set the camera exposure for the first photo and use the same exposure for the second, third, fourth and so on as long as the ambient light is the same.   For example, whatever the exposure for the first shot is , it has to be the same for the second comparison shot. Otherwise, when the camera is in automatic mode, it will compensate for the brighter or dimmer light in the comparing photo making them somewhat equal which is not an accurate measurement.  When in Manual mode, it locks in the exposure.   That's the short version. 

Can you help me sale this darkroom equipment I got stuck with?  I'll pay you part of what we can get.