so the lights in the rs are slowly burning out so i need some new ones....im thinking about changing the color to red. I can get led 194 bulbs for like 7 bucks a bulb or some red painted 194r bulbs for 1.50 a bulb. anyone know if its better to have the leds over the basic, is there that much of a light diff??
led or 194r bulbs?
- Thread starter Matt
- Start date
boxer3main
<1.8 liter
+1
..and they do act as a diode, on top of saving the dc go juice.
I got two in a license plate light, and two in marker lights. I knew I gained something, especially ignition. (resleeved a spark plug hole recently- I guess that is the evidence I needed).
led does not equal subaru stuff, and they (subaru oem and old bulbs) do play with the -12v (versus postive 12v) depending on the location, you may want to pay attenton to all electrical for awhile.
it is a smart little bulb...with a direction.
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Stein
Stein
^ AKA don't plug them in backwards, since they're polarized.
Matt, what are the bulbs going to be for? I think I'm going to get LEDs for the dome and map lights (if Mark and I ever find a time we're both free so I can buy it from him). There aren't really any exterior lights other than headlights that higher output would help, so I'm sticking to regular bulbs out there, except for maybe putting white LEDs in the corner lights when its time to replace them so they look better next to the headlights
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Matt, what are the bulbs going to be for? I think I'm going to get LEDs for the dome and map lights (if Mark and I ever find a time we're both free so I can buy it from him). There aren't really any exterior lights other than headlights that higher output would help, so I'm sticking to regular bulbs out there, except for maybe putting white LEDs in the corner lights when its time to replace them so they look better next to the headlights
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Pedro
٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶
I would say go LED if you are keeping the car. I put an oversized LED dome in the suby from superbrightLEDs.com and LOVE it. I also put red LEDs in the map lights. It is great for the longer road trips if you are driving in the dark. your passenger can have the light on to read or something and not flood the cabin with light.
I know brighton left his map light on for 2 weeks in the airport parking lot while he was away and the car still started. That right there should be enough for anybody.
I know brighton left his map light on for 2 weeks in the airport parking lot while he was away and the car still started. That right there should be enough for anybody.
I was thinking of changing all the dash lights over to red, gauges and hvac controls. I know the vendor here can do it but for 140 bucks i think I can do better. I think I'll just try new bulbs for now and if it's no good I'll go full out led. It's not that hard just time consuming.
HR radness
His royal radness
anybody have the equivalent part numbers for the LED dome lights?
Pedro
٩(͡๏̯͡๏)۶
From superbrightleds.com you use the 3022's in the map lights and the 3710's in the dome (but you have to massage the tabs a bit to get it in there) Well worth the upgrade in the dome though.
Chris
YARRR SUBY MONSTER!!
I've done a lot of dicking with LEDs. Until I had my alternator blow the reg and fry my gauge cluster I actually had it setup so I could change it to any colour because I had RGB LEDs retrofitted...
If you just install the LED twist lock things into your dash two things will happen. One, main and annoying thing, is it'll be splochy. The LEDs don't output such a wide beam angle as the incandescents. They emit a fairly short beam angle as opposed to the incandescent. And the way the gauge cluster is setup it needs that wide angle to work right. So you'll end up with massive bright and dim spots.
The other issue is green. The reason the gauge cluster is green is because of a green film that's on the back of the gauges. This film also has a property to it where it can take light, and spread it out very evenly. So even if the light coming from the stock bulbs is a tad bright here, and a tad dim there, it evens it out.
I found that out because I sanded off all the green and put a red gel over the back of the gauges. Even with stock lighting I had awful hot spots.
So with the LEDs you'll have hot spots and slight green tinge.
The only way to correctly change the gauge cluster is to get LED strips and install them behind the gauge faces. Or you can make your strips like I did because I wanted 3 colours... Then make custom LED controllers, which is actually pretty easy. It takes 2 resistors, an LM317 circuit, and a capacitor.
I have a whole writeup on here how to do it all. Somewhere.... It was from like 2008 so it might be hard to find.
You could also experiment with slightly brighter bulbs and bulb condoms. But I doubt you'll have a huge amount of success that way. The bulbs have blue condoms on them anyway to raise the colour temperature.
If you just install the LED twist lock things into your dash two things will happen. One, main and annoying thing, is it'll be splochy. The LEDs don't output such a wide beam angle as the incandescents. They emit a fairly short beam angle as opposed to the incandescent. And the way the gauge cluster is setup it needs that wide angle to work right. So you'll end up with massive bright and dim spots.
The other issue is green. The reason the gauge cluster is green is because of a green film that's on the back of the gauges. This film also has a property to it where it can take light, and spread it out very evenly. So even if the light coming from the stock bulbs is a tad bright here, and a tad dim there, it evens it out.
I found that out because I sanded off all the green and put a red gel over the back of the gauges. Even with stock lighting I had awful hot spots.
So with the LEDs you'll have hot spots and slight green tinge.
The only way to correctly change the gauge cluster is to get LED strips and install them behind the gauge faces. Or you can make your strips like I did because I wanted 3 colours... Then make custom LED controllers, which is actually pretty easy. It takes 2 resistors, an LM317 circuit, and a capacitor.
I have a whole writeup on here how to do it all. Somewhere.... It was from like 2008 so it might be hard to find.
You could also experiment with slightly brighter bulbs and bulb condoms. But I doubt you'll have a huge amount of success that way. The bulbs have blue condoms on them anyway to raise the colour temperature.
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Stein
Stein
Lol, no need. He lives about 5-10 minutes from me (and about 3 minutes from my school). It just seems he's always at work.