which LEDs to use for dash light upgrade?

[Dakota]

I've been tooling around the superbrightleds.com website looking to make my dash a little brighter.  It turns out there are multiple choices for each bulb type.   Some of the bulbs for sale have a single LED in them, while others have 5 or more.   If anyone has experience on what to buy or not buy, I'd appreciate sharing. 

I was planning to put the cool white LED bulbs behind the blue covers. 

[redgum78]

Hi Dakota, I am following with interest- I have been looking at the same thing on ebay trying to decided which would be the best option.

I liked the look of these as they still have a standard type appearance, not that it matters really.

[TelisSE440]

I believe both are excellent choices on affordable LED bulbs. They don't get warm like the stock ones and are dimmable. It's just depends on your color choice in the end and how bright that color eventually is.

I chose the warm white ones (not the most bright), because the yellowish light they emit becomes green (stock look) behind the blue covers. The cool white ones (i believe the brightest of all) become a very nice bright blue light, really nice look.

Redgum posts a good set of LEDs that, except the stock look, will be a good fit in the dash light bar. Not that yours won't fit, but it will be a tad tricky, at least to me.

The length of the first bulbs and that plastic circle in both LEDs make them impossible to install in places like the heater control light and ignition switch  light (A01 option), if you liked uniformity. Could also be installed in places like the outside marker lights though.

[dodj]

IMO, buy a type that is dimmable. I would choose cool white as well.

[Racer57]

I used green behind the blue covers. Turned out great !!

[usraptor]

I've been considering changing to LED bulbs for the dash as well and maybe a few exterior bulbs as well during "winter" work.  I have a stupid question when it comes to these LED bulbs though.  Do you have to make any modifications to the wiring, sockets, etc to use LED bulbs in our "vintage" wire harnesses or is it just plug and play?

[dodj]

I've been considering changing to LED bulbs for the dash as well and maybe a few exterior bulbs as well during "winter" work.  I have a stupid question when it comes to these LED bulbs though.  Do you have to make any modifications to the wiring, sockets, etc to use LED bulbs in our "vintage" wire harnesses or is it just plug and play?

You have to change your flashers. They don't work with the reduced load of the LED's. And I'm not sure if it is true of all years, but on a '73 you need to reverse the polarity of the turn signal flasher. (swap the wires around)

[usraptor]

Thanks dodj   

[318Stroker]

I bought a pack from Herb's at a car show. They are dimmable, and I did not have to change out the flasher unit, which still works just fine.

[Jay Bee]

I bought a pack from Herb's at a car show. They are dimmable, and I did not have to change out the flasher unit, which still works just fine.

Same here.

[HP_Cuda]

I've used the BA9's on my dash lights and they work great!

[dodj]

I bought a pack from Herb's at a car show. They are dimmable, and I did not have to change out the flasher unit, which still works just fine.

When usraptor said exterior bulbs, I assumed he meant the turn signals. When you do all the turn signals, you need to change the flasher, if you have the original style still installed, to one that works with the reduced load of the LED's.

[318Stroker]

I bought a pack from Herb's at a car show. They are dimmable, and I did not have to change out the flasher unit, which still works just fine.

When usraptor said exterior bulbs, I assumed he meant the turn signals. When you do all the turn signals, you need to change the flasher, if you have the original style still installed, to one that works with the reduced load of the LED's.

Gotcha! I didn't think about the exterior bulbs. I was referring to the bulbs that I installed in my rallye dash light bar.

[bc3j]

Used the BA9 as well. They're green behind the green rallye lense. Extremely bright and dimmable. Really lights up the dash.

[HP2]

I bought a pack from Herb's at a car show. They are dimmable, and I did not have to change out the flasher unit, which still works just fine.

How do you like that kit? I priced out  all the bulbs I'd need at superbrightleds.com and it came out to around $45. So I'm curious now about why there is such a broad price difference ($23 vs $45) between what Herbs offers and what I think I need at superbright. Primarily comes out to 9 of the BA9s and 2 of the bayonet style. Of course, I also included extras for the glove box, map light and door lights and I have a standard dash instead of a rallye, and all the bulbs I speced on superbright are 360*, 5 LED units instead of 1, 2 or 4 directional LEDs.