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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - dashboard dial lights

driving today in the dark and the dial are bad to see has anyone fitted led bulbs and do the make any difference.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MGB-MGC-midget-E10-SMD-MES-LED-Bulb-x4-Instrument-Dash-Upgrade-Set-Xenon-White-/281647857194?hash=item4193853e2a:g:8CYAAOSwBahU8ea9
mark 1500 on the road Preston Lancs

Yes they do make a huge difference, but many seem to have a smaller than standard screw fitting and don't stay in the sockets of replaced looms. That's why I always save the sockets when replacing a loom, and refit them to the new loom.

dominic clancy

Mark

Do you mean to tell me you actually look at the speedo and rev counter? For shame.....

Yours enthusiastically

Mark
Mark O

Probably just the oil pressure and water temperature Mark :-)
graeme jackson

Graeme

Well that's OK then! He is thus admonished.....

Mark O

need to check speedo too many speed traps round here, and you know what points make!
mark 1500 on the road Preston Lancs

No chance for me then....My speedo reads 25% under - thanks to type 9 fitted....and don't get me started on speed traps...

Mark O

Nice ... I like it, dies it come in red light LED ?

Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

yes mark they do, half the battle may be that the domed plastic heat shields/coloured diffusers, in the instruments are probably sh*te. Generally you have no option except to remove these as they are usually broken and are unobtainium. LED's run cool so there not needed on that account. Try to get LED's with a wide dispersion angle and don't go too powerful, LED's are 9 times more efficient than the old globes so .5 watts = 4 watts plenty for the instruments also they are not dimmable unless especially designed for it.
HTH
Cheers
Rod
R W Bowers

Can you get blue ones?
Rob Armstrong

they arrived today and they sent positve earth ones so dont knowyet if they make a difference
mark 1500 on the road Preston Lancs

new ones arrived and fitted and i can see all gauges in the dark also fitted led side lights which are alot better. Rob i am sure they do several colours.
mark 1500 on the road Preston Lancs

Same problem on my 1971 Elan so I fitted the two main gauges with green LED strip glued round the top three-quarters inside of the case, with a couple of white ones to illiminate the mileage recorder. I had to put in a voltge reducer to get the volts down to about 8 or 9 volts because they were dazzling on 12 volts. I then used LEDs for the turn and high beam indictaor lights so they show up better. What do you think? I like it and they are dead easy to read at night. Sorry about the blurred photo - not an easy picture to take.


Mike Howlett

Mike that looks great
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

that's excellent. what sort of strip did you use?
Rob Armstrong

I bought the LED strips from a Dutch company. They were so cheap it was worth ordering from abroad - even the postage was cheap. Here is the URL. http://www.buyledstrip.com/en/led-strip-green-per-50cm.html The strips come with a self-adhesive backing and can be cut every 5cm if you want short bits. I think there are 4 LEDs in a 5 cm length. It was easy to solder connecting wires onto the terminals. I bought 50cm of green and 50cm of white. I put 25cm of green in each instrument (stuck round the inside of the metal can) but just a 5cm length of the white. The strips fitted perfectly between the glass and the dial face without any modification of the gauge at all. I led the wires out the back through the hole where the original illumination bulb had been. From inside the car you can't see the strips at all. The instruments look entirely normal in daytime. At 1.75 euro per 50cm you can't go wrong.

They were much too bright on full car voltage, so maybe I could have used fewer LEDs. Rather than rip it all to bits again I bought a cheap variable voltage reducttion module from Maplin and wired that in the supply, so now I can vary the brightness of the light with a screwdriver on the pot. This is what I used http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/k18231a-power-supply-kit-ve58n
Mike Howlett

this is how mine look with new LED fitted


mark 1500 on the road Preston Lancs

That looks so cool Mark.
Greybeard

This thread was discussed between 07/12/2015 and 23/12/2015

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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