LED strip interior upgrade

[Isaiah Estrada]

I've seen a few cool cats put LED strips in their instrument clusters on here and I really love the look! Do the strips also work to light up the radio and HVAC controls? I'm interested in doing this on a 68 Chrysler. Also, how do you go about making a proper connection to power the LEDs? Looking forward to hearing your suggestions!

 

[commando1]

No "cool cats" here in FCBO that go for that crap.






Thankfully.

 

[1978 NYB]

No "cool cats" here in FCBO that go for that crap.






Thankfully.

Yet.....Lol!

 

[Isaiah Estrada]

No "cool cats" here in FCBO that go for that crap.






Thankfully.

Gotta keep 'em alive somehow ;) This is to bring life to a car that hasn't driven in 40 years. Going for functionality and practicality. It's 2021 and this tech is superior in many ways to the old lighting system. The car is a mild custom anyways, and I'd like to give new life to the pretty dash whether anyone likes it or not

 

[bigmoparjeff]

The strip lights would be more along the lines of the floodlit panels used in the '67-'68 Fury's and most of the '69-'73 C bodies. Your car will have the internal illumination inside the gauges. There's a member here who's avatar is a '67-'68 Chrysler cluster that's been converted to green LED bulbs. His screen name is escaping me right now, but I know he's out west. Maybe he'll chime in on this, or maybe someone will remind me who I'm thinking of and we can get his attention on this thread.

Jeff

 

[CBODY67]

Several have replaced their #194 instrument panel bulbs (in the cluster, which back-lights the gauges and such) with LEDs and have posted pictures "before and after". NO use of "strips", though, just individual bulbs. HVAC and radio have their own smaller bulbs which might be converted to halogen as there is not a universal "light engine" that powers those illuminations via optic cables. Seems like the source for the #194 bulbs replaced was www.SuperBrightLEDs.com ?

In some cases, the reflectors of the bulbs in the cluster, plus the existing bulbs themselves, can become dusty with time, which reduces their light output. Light output which is basically designed to not be too bright, but bright enough to see the numbers on the gauges and speedometer. Rather than going into the LED world, more benefit might be to remove the cluster and gently clean it all up inside to restore it to "as produced" pristine-ness?

The LEDs will also need to be "dimmable", which not all seem to be. That allows the benefits of long-life and still keeping the instrument panel lights from not beeing so bright that they are distracting and might cause issues when being in a "high-contrast" light situation, by observation.

Don't forget the dome lamp and map light! Which should be brighter than the instrument panel lights, to me.

Just some thoughts and observations,
CBODY67

 

[live4theking]

The dash that was mentioned above is incredible bright. All he did was upgrade the bulbs. It will be easier and cheaper than the led stripes you suggested, plus it will allow you to do your other upgrades.

 

[Turboomni]

I've seen a few cool cats put LED strips in their instrument clusters on here and I really love the look! Do the strips also work to light up the radio and HVAC controls? I'm interested in doing this on a 68 Chrysler.

Do you have pics of what it looks like and what you're after? Most bulbs have a led equivalent now so it will remain factory like as you could revert to Edison bulbs again if you wish. Is your dash custom also? I remember a while ago that leds do not dim well but that may not be the case anymore ,I don't know. You don't want to be driving with a night baseball game lighting under your nose . Welcome to the forum by the way.

 

[CBODY67]

What about adapting some of the "ambient light tech" that was in new Camaros a few years ago? Color changes on demand? But this was never meant to light up an instrument panel, but to provide low-level light in the interior.

CBODY67

 

[JC68vert300]

I believe SPF required, replaced his dash bulbs with dimmable LEDs in his ‘68 300. Looked great in the photos. You should search the posts, there are plenty of posts dealing with dash lighting.

 

[68 4spd Fury]

I swapped out the bulbs in mine, definitely brighter. Only thing, dimmer didn't work, on or off.

 

[67Monaco]

I swapped out the bulbs in mine, definitely brighter. Only thing, dimmer didn't work, on or off.

That's because LEDs don't dim on voltage. You need to do it with PWM. Some of the more expensive bulbs have PWM built in to them but I'd be concerned they all do it consistently at the same rate. As not to end up with bright or dim spots.

 

[CBODY67]

Many home LED light bulbs are now dimmable. I suspect the car items might eventually be too?

CBODY67

 

[commando1]

Yet.....Lol!

When are you going to get those 10 million color headlights for the Redeye?

 

[carrman]

The strip lights would be more along the lines of the floodlit panels used in the '67-'68 Fury's and most of the '69-'73 C bodies. Your car will have the internal illumination inside the gauges. There's a member here who's avatar is a '67-'68 Chrysler cluster that's been converted to green LED bulbs. His screen name is escaping me right now, but I know he's out west. Maybe he'll chime in on this, or maybe someone will remind me who I'm thinking of and we can get his attention on this thread.

Jeff

You summoned me?????

They are NOT this bright in person, my cell phone exaggerates the brightness. But, they are brighter than stock and are dimmable.

 

[Mike66Chryslers]

I bought all my LED replacement bulbs from Amazon. The dash lights work pretty well with the factory dimmer. Sorry I can't take any pictures of it at the moment. I also got LED map light and dome light bulbs that are a "warm white". You can't even tell that I swapped those for LEDs.

 

[carrman]

I bought all my LED replacement bulbs from Amazon. The dash lights work pretty well with the factory dimmer. Sorry I can't take any pictures of it at the moment. I also got LED map light and dome light bulbs that are a "warm white". You can't even tell that I swapped those for LEDs.

All of my interior lights are LED, I went with a warm white also but they are so much brighter than stock incandescent. Since mines a convertible I don't have a dome light, just the map light and a courtesy light on either side of the back seat.

 

[mr. fix it]

The strip lights would be more along the lines of the floodlit panels used in the '67-'68 Fury's and most of the '69-'73 C bodies. Your car will have the internal illumination inside the gauges. There's a member here who's avatar is a '67-'68 Chrysler cluster that's been converted to green LED bulbs. His screen name is escaping me right now, but I know he's out west. Maybe he'll chime in on this, or maybe someone will remind me who I'm thinking of and we can get his attention on this thread.

Jeff

I converted to green LED bulbs a few years ago
Nicely lit now without blinding me plus they can be dimmed and take a load off the old printed circuit boards
Got them from Ali express.com

 

[carrman]

Warm white

LED

 

[Sport Fury 67]

I know I am crossing my hobbies, but there is a lot of information about replacing incandescent bulbs in model trains to strip LEDs. LED's draws less power, you can select a "color", and you can adjust the brightness, depending on the components you select for the circuit.
I am attaching some links with information on the different types of LED strip lights out there and some infoon wiring. These are small enough to fit in a radio or an IP panel.

LED Light Conversion - The End Result

Constant brightness passenger car using 12V LED strip