LED Dash bulbs

[aceraf]

Hey all,

I'm looking to replace all the bulbs in my dash as half of it is in darkness at the moment, and was wondering if there are LED upgrades available for the main bulbs that light the dash.


The only one's I could find on the bay were these:-


However the seller only has them in blue...and i'm not really looking to change the colour, just make it brighter.

I've already purchased these:-



But these are the smaller bulbs, and it's the larger one's that actually light the dash clock.

On a sidenote, does anyone know what size bulb lights up the rest of the dash (heater area), and whether i can use the smaller bulbs for them??

I know you can buy them from the dealers, but i would like LED upgrades if possible.

[Morat]

Do they work with the dimmer function? Or do you just want them fully bright all the time

[aceraf]

Not really too fussed....i've heard that the dimmer function won't work on LED's, but that's not really an issue for me, I never use it anyway.

[C33]

..please excuse the hijack

If you use LED bulbs, am I right in thinking that you either get full brightness or (when the dimmer control goes low enough) nothing?

Regards
Iain

[stonesie]

Possibly, LED's do dim with reduced voltage so i am pretty certain that the dimmer will continue to work.

I’m not sure weather the fibre-optics which direct the light around the dash are tinted or if the bulbs are just covered by a coloured dome”¦ If it’s the latter then it should be farley easy to remove if you do decide to change the colour.

BTW the standard bulbs are a strange rating so are dealer only (12v 3watt) according to RealOEM it’s a W3W part number 07119905358.

[d6dph]

On a similar vein, I need to change one of my bulbs so does anyone have a guide to removing the clocks?

[stonesie]

You will need both a stubby and long Cross-point screwdriver and a large bladed flat blade.

Take the under tray out from under the dash and put it somewhere safe.

Reach up under the clocks near the edges and you will feel a knurled nut at either end, take them out and pop the front trim off to reveal the lower mounting screws.

Remove the 4 Cross-point screws from the clocks surround and then the surround itself. 2 of them are in the top going north so you will need a stubby or just a 'bit' from a screwdriver set.

Remove the other 4 mounting screws for the clocks and pull the trip counter button out, then tilt them forwards and you will see the 2 wiring plugs.

These have a black plastic clip securing them so pop that up the way you will be pulling the plug out, its captive so won't spring off.

I managed to wiggle (techi term ) mine out from behind my SE steering wheel without damaging anything.

The Illumination bulbs are the 2 big ones near the bottom.

As they say, fitting is the reverse of removal, hopefully I’ve remembered that right

Edited, The spell checker missed the terrible grammar. I blame the Christmas spirit 'Hic'

[Morat]

I managed it, and I'm Speshul

[Speedtouch]

Possibly, LED's do dim with reduced voltage so i am pretty certain that the dimmer will continue to work.

My experience of LED backlight lamps in my E34 was that they remained at a constant brightness level regardless of the dimmer setting. This is because LEDs operate at a far lesser current than incandescent bulbs, so as long as they have sufficient current (around 10mA or so) they will light at more or less a constant level, up to a point where if they become overdriven they just burn out.

It is an unfortunate disadvantage of using LEDs; if you want them to operate at varying light levels, you need to pulse them on and off with a variable mark-space ratio (pulse width modulation) rather than a simple rheostat such as the factory-fit dashboard dimmer.

[C33]

Cheers Speedtouch, I thought that would be the case, what I might rig up is a setup where I can either have the lights on or not. In Chimaera you have the dimming function, but there is also a button under the dash that allows you to totally switch off the dash lights, I've found this useful on long stretches of unlit motorway as it stops the glare of the instruments on the windscreen becoming a distraction.

Regards
Iain