one bad bg Posted December 8, 2009 Author Share Posted December 8, 2009 I didn't use the high power ones for the gauge cluster either and mine light up everything bright and even. Did you order the 90 degree angle instead of the 120 degree leds? And whn I did my hvac it took me less time than my gauge cluster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daleyswanson Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 yeah i think i ended up ordering the 90 degree ones. was i supposed to get 120? i got my hvac all worked out and it looks OARSUM! i'm really happy with it. the bulbs back there were burnt out when i bought the car so its cool to see it lit up. i took apart the cruise/fog/defrost buttons and figured out that you can change the color of the light on those by ordering the 3mm neowedge that you use for the hvac. order round 2: this time 120 degree bulbs and 6-3mm neowedge bulbs (i am replacing icon color and idicator color - lights up yellow when you select one of them) both of them will be red. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one bad bg Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 thanks for the size of the cruise/fog/defrost buttons, that was my next project. oh and just everyone else knows: for the hvac, if you use leds, they are polarity sensitive. so before you put it all back together, test to see its working, if one isnt just flip it around and you will be all set. i prolly should have mentioned in the walkthrough to get the 120*. can you still post a pic of your 90*s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daleyswanson Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 before: http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt324/swansondaley/IMG_8199.jpg after: http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt324/swansondaley/IMG_8209.jpg the buttons look like this: you can see on the side, the two little circles are the lights. the one on the top is a yellow one to indicate whether it is on or not, and the bottom is to light the icon. these can be replaced with 3mm neowedge bulbs (same as hvac) when my next order of bulbs comes in i'll post pictures of them replaced http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt324/swansondaley/IMG_8207.jpg holy crap these pictures are huge! haha anyways. here is the picture of my gauge cluster with the 90 degree bulbs! do not use these. get 120! it looksl like they aren't working (thats just the camera though) in person they are brighter but still do not do a very good job of lighting the cluster at all http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt324/swansondaley/IMG_8210.jpg not sure if thats even worth posting a picture of. i'll run out and try to get a better one EDIT: my point and shoot isn't going to take a better picture. anyways my 90's don't spread the light at all! haha it is MUCH brighter in person but there are still gaps in the light. i don't know if its differen't on the 98s and up but my 97 has a cable controlled temp setting for the hvac which made it a BZ to get to the lights. i had to put them in with needlenose plyers. oh well i think it looks great. +1 for paying attention to the polarity. it is not marked but hook them up and make sure they work before you put everything back together. i played with them quite a bit before they worked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one bad bg Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 what about your gauge cluster after you put the leds in it, got any pics of that, i just wanted to see what you were talking about with the light consistancy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daleyswanson Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 the last picture i posted is after i switched them. unfortunately i couldn't get a better picture. i know that the #74 bulbs are polarized and one of them doesn't look like its lighting, so i may take it apart again tomorrow and switch that. but in general they are just much more dim. nothing at all like the stock ones. how bright are yours compared to the stock bulbs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one bad bg Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 brighter...and i didnt get the high powered ones for the gauges, just everything else lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daleyswanson Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 i got the regular ones for everything. i just put an order in for: 3mm neowedge for the cruise/fog/defrost buttons. 2 per button (6) got the CORRECT mini wedge 120 degree bulbs (4) and then got #74 (2) i got the high powered ones because the regular ones look pretty dim compared to how bright your 120 degree bulbs are. plus they are only 2.50. and if i ending up not needing them then whatever. if i DO need them then i saved myself another 5 bucks in shipping + having to put in another order Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daleyswanson Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmnnniiiiiiiitttttt. i got my order today. and the high powered 74s are the perfect brightness! unfortunately, the mini wedge 120 degree bulbs are like half the brightness of the 74s. i emailed superbrightleds.com and am waiting to hear from them which bulbs are as bright as the hp 74s but still have a 120 degree viewing angle. i wonder if they would take all the bulbs i cant use back? haha also i have to find another way to light the buttons. the indicator light is perfect and lights up red but forever reason, the icon will not light up. i made sure both LEDs in each button were working but the light doesn't shine thru for some reason. oh well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one bad bg Posted December 11, 2009 Author Share Posted December 11, 2009 i dont know why you guys are having such a hard time with this, i bought the regular 120* leds for the gauges and the hp for the hvac, and i have perfect light brightness and distribution on both Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daleyswanson Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 i think that the red might not be as bright as the blue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one bad bg Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 oh that could be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daleyswanson Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 moral of the story: if you are getting red, get bright ones! haha. i'm still waiting on an email from them to let me know which bulbs will match the high powered #74. once i figure that out i'll put ANOTHER order in. oh well. at least i am learning about my car. i have my time to get the cluster out down to like two minutes now too. hahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one bad bg Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 lol. and at least the leds arent expensive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subikid90 Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 I just did mine today. I went with the red leds they look awesome. I picked mine up from superbrightleds.com. I ordered 4 WLED-x-x LED bulbs and 2 74-x Wedge Base LED bulbs. I going to do the HVAC controls, fog/cruise/defrost controls and the shifter bulb (for automatic). I will post pictures when im done. Here is a picture of the instrument cluster. -Subikid90 1997 Legacy GT 5spd & EJ251 w/EJ25D heads ~10.5CR 1998 Legacy GT Limited waiting for EJ22T hybrid swap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one bad bg Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riz_o Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Before... And after... I used the 120deg for the big ones and the rest are regular powered blue LEDs.. i opened up the buttons but they didn't have bulbs I could change out.. I should've gotten a pic but I was rushing to finish... I accidentally moved the needle for the gas gauge and now it won't go back down.. at all.. it goes up, if my gas is full, but it stays there... Does not go back down.. anyone have any ideas? though I should prolly start this in a new thread... Anyways.... thanks to "one bad bg" for the video walkthroughs... much props... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one bad bg Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 the back of your gauge cluster should have been fully enclosed my mine, you shouldnt have been able to even touc your gas needle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riz_o Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 the back of your gauge cluster should have been fully enclosed my mine, you shouldnt have been able to even touc your gas needle Yah I ended up opening and taking the cover off the cluster.. therefore accidentally moving the gas needle.. I didn't think to consider the consequences of doing so.. Anyways it would be cool if theres a way to make the needle light up as well.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one bad bg Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share Posted December 13, 2009 why did you take the covor off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riz_o Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 I wanted to see if I could get into the cluster without having to unscrew all of the tiny silver screws in the back... it was an oversight in my part... so for those of you changing out your bulbs, do not take the gauge cluster cover off... dohhh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one bad bg Posted December 14, 2009 Author Share Posted December 14, 2009 lol. as you can see in the vid, it does take a little fanagaling but the gauge cluster comes out fairly easily once you know which way to turn it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northwoods Snowman Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 OK so I changed my gauges, HVAC, and push buttons to blue. Here are a few things I might do differently if I were to do it again. I don't know how much brighter the high power 154's are, but I might go with those. The standard 74 bulbs make the center of the gauges a little brighter than the outsides which are back lit by the 120 deg LEDs. The push buttons are too dim, I think I should have used the high power 3mm deals instead of the standard power. They are OK, but I think the stock bulbs are definitely brighter. I'm not too impressed with the HVAC lights. I used the regular power 3mm bulbs for these too and the lighting is not very even at all. The 4 area around the fan switch is really bright and other areas away from the LEDs are dim. The defrost and red portion of the temperature control are very dim and almost can't be seen at night. I know this is due to the fact that I put blue bulbs in. I think I would put white bulbs in and try for a white back light (I'm not sure if the transparent part of the switches is green or just the bulbs look green with the blue wrap around them) so the colors show up on the controls. Overall brightness is about the same between the gauges and HVAC so I'm not sure I would want the high power bulbs in the HVAC, but they might give more even lighting, hard to say with out testing it. I'll live with what I have since I don't want to buy more bulbs and pay for the shipping. On a side note I took the opportunity to clean the HVAC controls and everything works WAY better. No more sticking. LIGHTLY re-grease the controls for smoother operation, but too much grease will make things stick and collect dirt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one bad bg Posted February 9, 2010 Author Share Posted February 9, 2010 if you would have read all of the first page you would seen that i used the high power led in the hvac. and that certain colors arent as bright in the guage cluster, and that its recommended to use the 120 degree bulbs. heres mine. you said you used blue and so did i and it came out fine. http://legacygt.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=310&pictureid=2228 http://legacygt.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=310&pictureid=2452 my best suggestion would be to read before you post. heres stuff from the first page that would have helped you out. i got mine in, at first glance i am sorta disappointed. they don't provide as good of light coverage as the stock ones ( i did not get the super high powered ones) and there are some sections that aren't as bright as others. i'll post pictures once its dark and you'll be able to tell what i mean. i started pulling the hvac apart and got cold, so i figure i'll go back out later and do it. hvac isn't as easy as the gauge cluster. just throwing that out there I didn't use the high power ones for the gauge cluster either and mine light up everything bright and even. Did you order the 90 degree angle instead of the 120 degree leds? And whn I did my hvac it took me less time than my gauge cluster. yeah i think i ended up ordering the 90 degree ones. was i supposed to get 120? i got my hvac all worked out and it looks OARSUM! i'm really happy with it. the bulbs back there were burnt out when i bought the car so its cool to see it lit up. i took apart the cruise/fog/defrost buttons and figured out that you can change the color of the light on those by ordering the 3mm neowedge that you use for the hvac. order round 2: this time 120 degree bulbs and 6-3mm neowedge bulbs (i am replacing icon color and idicator color - lights up yellow when you select one of them) both of them will be red. i prolly should have mentioned in the walkthrough to get the 120*. can you still post a pic of your 90*s i think that the red might not be as bright as the blue moral of the story: if you are getting red, get bright ones! haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northwoods Snowman Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 I read the entire thread thank you very much. Some used high power, some didn't. Re-read my post and I said I used the 120 deg. bulbs. I got the same light disbursement that riz_o got in his pictures. He did a very good job of accurately capturing the disbursement. In any case the point is not did I read the thread or not or did it "right" or "wrong", I'm giving my feedback that frankly is different than anyone else's to this point. "Fine" is very subjective to opinion, and we differ on our definitions. I don't like two color gauges like you have set up and I also like pictures. You say you used the high power LEDs in the HVAC but you don't have any pictures showing them so I don't know what they look like. There is a post where some used to be I guess, but are no longer. I'm simply giving my feedback about the way I chose to try setting my car up so others can use the info to make their own decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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