Do you want to see your gauges at night .....

I installed a five dollar eBay strip of LEDs inside of my gauges so I can finally see them before the lights I had barely let them up I had to put my face a few inches away to see how much gas I had....... so this was my solution


http://mmb.maverick.to/gallery/showimage.php?i=16793&original=1&c=8



http://mmb.maverick.to/gallery/showimage.php?i=16792&original=1&c=8

 

Wow! thats bright now.... Looks good...

 

Now if you could hook those up to a rheostat (is that the right word?) so you could brighten and dim them with the turn of a switch...

Looks great!

 

That Is Freakin Sweet Is it hard to get in there with the dash still in the car? i have never had the dash apart. i have the same issue with mine. i have a lot of wiring to do this winter. some of my dash lights quit and so did my turn signals. plus i bought a hood scoop (from Craig S. what a great guy to deal with) and it has the turn signals in the back it but no hardware, so my son had the idea to use LED in them. I think that would look cool

 

Pet peeve of mine here, but he wants a potentiometer which is not the same as a rheostat. You really don't use rheostats for low power applications.

You can generally find potentiometers with knobs on them in several places. If you have a Fry's electronics near you they have a good selection generally. Radio Shack will let you down on this big time.

Me, I want to put in this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/270975379300?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

I had once before put just some superbright LEDs in my gauge in place of the light, 3 of them had it lit up like the pics he posted. But I want to maintain the original wiring and use the dimmer switch in the car. Plus it was WAY too bright for me, I have very light sensitive eyes and it kept blinding me.

 

I never hinted that I was an electrical engineer, or even an electrician. That is why I wrote "(is that the right word?)" when I wasn't sure.

Don't have an angioplasm!!! (is that the right word?)

 

Not directed at you, but every time I go into an electronics store that isn't staffed by overweight balding older guys I ask for a potentiometer and the kid behind the counter gives me a blank look until I walk away. Radio Shack even goes so far as to put Rheostat on their shelving even though they DON'T SELL any.

And angioplasm isn't right either.

Also don't freak out when people give you the right word after you ask if it's the right word.

 

Looks nice! But yes, pretty bright. A pot may dim them, but most LED systems react much better to PWM control.

 

I made "angioplasm" up just for jokes (it has "angio" in it which I "think" has something to do with heart, so this sorta sounded like a heart attack). I really wasn't sure about "rheostat", but at least that is a real thing!

No hard feelings here. I just saw an opportunity to make a joke. Or try. Or fail trying.

 

You can control LEDs just fine with a potentiometer. The main issue is that you have to know the upper and lower voltages that the LED operates in. Then set up your pot so that a full sweep of it covers the entire range. It's pretty basic stuff considering my 15 year old daughter just did that in her freshman electronics course.

If someone wants to provide me the manufacturer information on that LED strip I'll make a circuit diagram.

Oh and Scooper, I got that it was a joke. I was trying badly to play along.

I am also fairly certain the dimmer pot on the headlight switch goes from around 6 to 12V so should control an LED system nice enough. I have not actually put a meter on it though I'm just basing it off of the bulbs in the panel.

 

Yes, they will dim. But most pots are not linear (or as best a linear pot can get, which is not that good), so repeatability is difficult. The pot circuit also changes as your source moves (12V idle battery versus 14.4V charging system). LED drivers and PWM dimmers have a purpose. But who cares as long as you are happy with the results.

 

I never heard the term "potentiometer", but I HAVE heard of "pot". Never knew that was what it meant.

Seriously, not trying to make a drug-reference joke here. I really have heard the term "pot" several times in reference to what I thought was a "rheostat". Makes more sense now that I know it is short for "potentiometer".

It is amazing what leads you to learning something new and fascinating from day to day!

 

This is what Voltage regulators are for. There is no reason to make a 12V system overly complex for a simple automotive system. Unless you want German quality electronics. Love working on electronics in BMW's don't you?



Linear potentiometers are linear and create great reliability and repeatability. If they did not they would not be so consistently used in everything. I do Industrial control system design. What do you do?

Also Pulse Width Modulation (digital control system) is a good way to drive a motor, creates a great picket fence style voltage drive. Great way to send a transmision through a fiber optic. Horrible way to control a lighting system in an analog DC circuit. Unless you want to potentially stroke out from turning your dashlights into a strobelight.

http://www.robotroom.com/PWM.html

Adding this link which btw controls the PWM with a pot. Which is how you do it without a microcontroller. When I get home I'm gonna fire up some design software and diagram a basic LED control circuit.

 

When I build my custom gauge set I plan on going with red lights for two reasons. First, the red light is much easier on your night vision, even if relatively bright. Second it will nicely fit the black and red industrial/military aircraft type look I'm going for.

 

My 09 Suzuki SX4 has all red guages and they're pretty easy on the eyes at night