Direct Replacement LED Lamp for Instrument Cluster?

[voxwagen88]

Is there an LED Light Bulb that is a direct replacement for the bulbs in the instrument cluster?
Plug and play.
No need for an electronics engineering degree to be able to see the tach again?

Where does one find such a thing? 1552?

TIA
Regan

[redone17]

superbrightLEDs worked great for both of my clusters. Cost me $16 shipped for 6 of them and they delivered in 2-3 business days.

They are polarized - so in one direction they work and if flipped 180, they don't. There is a little white dot on the plastic base - if that is pointing at between 1-2 o'clock (looking at the back of the cluster) that should be the right direction. I pulled the little metal contacts up a bit before twisting in to insure contact...

On the Wagon I pulled the green diffuser out and glued in a scored piece of clear plastic...I used the white bulbs - I love the way it looks...bright enough to see but not too bright that it's distracting. The dimmer works a bit too.


Chris

[voxwagen88]

Thanks.

[hectorl]

http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_detai...ory_parent_id=

http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_detai...ory_parent_id=

They are the same, Gowesty took the guesswork out of replacing these.

[redone17]

links are no good

[sippin.fnordies]

fixed light bulb link!

[myboxyfox]

I also have a bulb out for my tach as well, and have never liked the green hue of the I/p lights.
So, new bulbs and I want to change the I/P lights to orange, that color is the best for me!

[j-boogie253]

fixed light bulb link!

That's the stock bulb not the LED replacement

Here is the LED bulbs in a 4-pack

http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_detai...ory_parent_id=

[sippin.fnordies]

and that's why you always check your links! I meant to link to the LED ones...thanks.

[voxwagen88]

It looks like superbright has most of the items to convert to LEDs...

194/168 for the Corner Markers and High Center Stop

The Instrument Cluster twist bulb.

The HVAC and Ashtray wedge base bulb

1156/1157 for the Back Up, Brake and Blinkers

The LED Flasher to make the signals blink at a normal rate.

Can't recall what the dome, reading and trunk bulbs are. I wonder if there is an LED that can replace the VW Only glove box bulb.

[doppelfaust]

License plate is a BA9S

and the dome/trunk/hatch light is a 6418 or 3610.

Not sure on the reading light...

[j-boogie253]

The Instrument Cluster twist bulb.

I don't think that's the right one

I believe they are the B8.3D lights

[j-boogie253]

Figured I would put all the links together in one post so it was easy


194/168 for the Corner Markers and High Center Stop

The Instrument Cluster B8.3D twist bulb.

The HVAC and Ashtray wedge base bulb

1156/1157 for the Back Up, Brake and Blinkers

The LED Flasher to make the signals blink at a normal rate

License plate is a BA9S

The dome/trunk/hatch light is a 6418 or 3610.



This should get FAQ'd

[redone17]

[90quattrocoupe]

Ask, the Brit, to put this in FAQ.

Greg W.

[j-boogie253]

Ask, the Brit, to put this in FAQ.

Greg W.

Request sent

[redone17]

I am just getting my head wrapped around lighting in general.

It would be great if you all can share which versions you suggest of each. I notice some of them have multiple LEDs within the single unit. Some also have beam angle options.

this is great!

cp

[voxwagen88]

I'm going to try...

For the Center Brake Light
WLED-x-x: 1 LED T10 Wedge Base Bulb WLED-R-120: Red 120 Degree

For the Ashtray and HVAC
74-xHP: Wedge Base LED Bulb 74-WHP: Cool White

For blinkers, brake and back up
1156/1157

For the Instrument Cluster
B8.3D

For the Dome/Hatch
3610

And the Flasher
CF13GL-02

[j-boogie253]

This link may help as well, it is supposedly has all the bulbs listed for a 89 Fox

http://www.superbrightleds.com/vehic...gen/fox/64/539

[the brit]

Ask, the Brit, to put this in FAQ.

Greg W.

Request sent

Added. Thanks guys

[voxwagen88]

This link may help as well, it is supposedly has all the bulbs listed for a 89 Fox

http://www.superbrightleds.com/vehic...gen/fox/64/539

Well it sort of helps.

The Back Up Light, Dome Light, Front Sidemarker, Front Turn Signal and High Stop Light all seem right.

And then it leads you out into the weeds.

The dash bulbs aren't listed. Nor the instrument cluster bulbs.
The map light (which I think of as the "spot" light in the GL) comes up the same shape as the dome light and it isn't. The VAG Catalog lists it as a 5w5 which translates to a 168/194.

Pretty sure the Brake Light needs to be dual intensity. An 1157. It comes up as a 1156.

And there seems to be an extra bulb or two...
What does the Parking Light refer to? It links to an amber 1157. The same as the front turn signal. I thought the front turn signal was the only amber 1157 on the car.

And what is the Tail Light? Is there more than 3 lights at the tail? Where would a red single intensity bulb go?

Or maybe I'm off in the weeds...

[redone17]

Ha! That's exactly what I was wondering and had saved as a draft but wanted to come home and check the tails on the car and the Bentley myself.

You are correct about the back up and turn being 1156 in rear and brake and front turning being 1157.

for the backup, brake, turn signal 1156/1157 bulbs - what's preference here? the 1156/7-x12-x 12-LED BA15S or 1156/7-x19-x 19-LED BA15S bulb or 1156/7-x3W 1 x 3 Watt High Power LED BA15S Bulb w/ Reflector Lens - basically multi-LED or 1 x 3 Watt High Power LED w/ Reflector Lens??

Since there are 3 lights back there per lens: back up (white), turn (amber), brake (red) -I think their "stop light" is definitely not needed at all.

[voxwagen88]

Just looking at the bulbs inside the rear taillight lens assembly...

There are 3.
A single filament back up light. An 1156. Which should be replaced with a white LED.
A single filament turn signal. Also an 1156. It is behind an amber lens and should be replaced with an amber LED.
A dual filament brake light. An 1157. It is behind a red lens and should be replaced with a red dual intensity LED.

I don't see where a "parking" or a "tail" light would go.

I've picked bulbs with wide angles beam angles. Years ago, I checked in with a local tuning shop about LED bulbs. They were finding that customers hated the "dotted" look of LED Bulbs. I'm hoping the wide angles will lessen the "dotted" look.

[redone17]

Right, I meant to edit the wording in the last part of my post after checking it out myself.

Thanks for clarifying.

I guess my only question now is the multi LED vs Reflector Lens

Edit: seems the multi-LED have 100 degree beam angle - the reflector ones don't specify, but you would assume they have some sort of bounce to avoid the "dotted" light issue.

[doppelfaust]

You guys should check out V-LEDs and Autolumination. Super Bright LEDs looks to be a lot more expensive...

[redone17]

nice!

V-Leds is easy to navigate too...

The Tower Bulbs seem to be the newest technology and are also most expensive, but is that the way to go?

[voxwagen88]

The LED Conversion begins...

I'm really happy with the 1156/1157 for the back up and brake lights.Just a bit more intense than the regular bulbs. The red LED is redder than the clear bulb. The cool white LED in the back up light matches the LEDs in my Lightning Bolt License Plate Lights.

I've got WLED R-120 in the high brake light. They seem OK but I wonder if the WLED xHP or the WLED xLX would have been a better brighter choice.

The 74WHP cool white LED looks great in the ashtray.
I cannot get the 74 WHP LED to fit in the HVAC Holder. The body of the bulb is about .5mm larger than the base. It won't go in the tight fitting bulb holder. I'm going to stare at the other instrument panel bulbs and see if any are smaller. Not sure I want to try and modify the socket.
I ended up modifying the bulb. I took a file to it and about 10 minutes of work later it popped in.
The light is wonderful. The fan switch speeds are lit up for the first time since I owned the car.
I think this is how the factory intended the HVAC panel to look.

[voxwagen88]

GL trouble shooting tips...
The Dome Light (behind the white cover) and the Reading Light (in the spinny ball) are on separate circuits.
For the Reading Light to work the ignition must be "ON".
It has a separate fuse. 5A in slot 25.

It is the same type of bulb as the Center Brake Light. 194
The Dome Light, Luggage Compartment Light and Radio all seem to run through a 5A fuse in slot 4.

Hope that saves someones puzzler.

Oh and the bulbs in the Dome/Interior Light and the Luggage Compartment/Hatch measure 43mm in length...
I'm going to try the 4210-CWHP3.

[redone17]

Awesome. Thanks for updating with your investigation and for the GL tip! I'm sure it looks great and knowing you won't have to change the bulb...probably ever? is a plus!

Cheers,
Chris

[voxwagen88]

In the interest of completeness, the glove box uses a 37mm festoon bulb.
IIRC this was the only bulb that was only available from VW.

I'm going to try replacing it with a 3710-CWHP3

[voxwagen88]

The 4210-CWHP3 work in the GL dome light and hatch/trunk/cargo area.
Not sure about the cool white. But my kid likes them. She says they make it look new.

The WLED-WHP is a great improvement in the map/reading light.
Light now gets as far as the passenger seat!

[voxwagen88]

Test fitting the bulbs into a spare cluster.
It seems the B8.3D bulb is the correct replacement but some modification was needed.
I had to file away some of the material near the "bulb" end to get the LED into the hole in cluster.

I guess it is a sort-of-direct replacement.

[doppelfaust]

I think we need some pictures Regan.

[voxwagen88]

[voxwagen88]

The 3710-CWHP3 works in the glove box.
I swapped the WLED R-120 for WLED RHP.
Much brighter and more in keeping with the brighter back end lighting.

Here's an attempt at some pics...



though the images don't really do it all justice.
The Reds are Red... not bleeding orange...
Maybe if the camera wasn't 10 years old...

I can see a lot more behind me when the back up lights come on.

The CF13GL-02 is the correct blinker. And it works with regular bulbs.
Hope to get the 1156/1157 amber turn signals next month.
Maintenance ate the play money this month.