LED's are cool but...............

[Kibokojoe]

Just finished installing LED's in my console. Found out a couple of things. 1. LED's are directional, current only flows one way. You will need to determine which side of the socket is positive and which is negative. I used a fine tip marker and labeled the circuit board. You will find that the bulbs are in clusters or small groups. These groups have a tendancy to use the same ground. 2. If the circuit has a diode the bulb will not function. I found three on my console, the bright headlight bulb, the oil pressure and the battery. Other than those three the bulbs work great. Should last forever.

[genphreak]

How did u step down the voltage? LEDs are normally 1.5-3.0V dc, and the longest pin is positive, unless yours are different. Maybe you bought them pre-made in T5 casings? (or did you retrofit them into the cluster's old T5 sockets?). I'd imagine when replacing bulbs in the cluster, best thing to do is just solder the LEDs direct to the PCB, they won't need to be changed again :)

Its not possible to do the illumination ones whilst one's in there as the dimmer screws up the LED voltage feed- end result is they will never dim like the bulbs do.

[Kibokojoe]

http://www.m-99.co.uk/Car_Neon_LED_Lighting/Dashboard_LED_Bulbs/dashboard_led_bulbs.html

Yeah they are premade T5's with the built in resistors. Biggest pain was to determine polarity. Would have been nice if I could have tested them to see if they all lit up. Unfortunately when the console is all together its hard to tell.

T509's

[genphreak]

Ahh I see: When installing, 'which way around.... that is the question'.

yeeee! If only they could be used for illumination without losing the intensity control function... then we could do this:

http://www.bimmernut.com/forum/attachments/5-series-bmw/7521-leds-cool-but-neon_colour_change_dash.jpg