Doish13 Posted 28May, 2012 Report Share Posted 28May, 2012 Hi, The instrument lights on my 78SC are dim from what I presume may years of service. Would love some feedback as to how to make these brighter and therefore make the dash easier to read and also appear crisp again. Ie would new globes make a difference or are these older dash lights dim by nature? Lastly, are there led options out there? If so would they look naff given the look of a 34 year old dash board? DB Any help would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnr356 Posted 28May, 2012 Report Share Posted 28May, 2012 have you turned the rheostat(the headlight switch knob)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doish13 Posted 29May, 2012 Author Report Share Posted 29May, 2012 Yes - this does make a difference however still quite dim. Found on Rennlist last night after posting new bulbs may make a difference - now to finding these bulbs hopefully is an easy thing to do - just never looked into this subject in the past. Still up in the air if LED lights in the dash / instruments will look good or spoil the effect on such an old car. DB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustJames Posted 29May, 2012 Report Share Posted 29May, 2012 It's a 1.2W bulb, and it should look like this: I would'a thunk you could find one at your local parts store. Personally I would think that adding LED lighting would look foul not so very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doish13 Posted 29May, 2012 Author Report Share Posted 29May, 2012 Thanks JJ - suggestions as to where to locate these would be appreciated. Not sure if you know however would the assumption 2 per instrument suffice with a total of 10 units? Thanks again fir your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnr356 Posted 29May, 2012 Report Share Posted 29May, 2012 any local parts store repco,bursons etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tungatina64 Posted 29May, 2012 Report Share Posted 29May, 2012 watching with interest, as I have the same problem! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stepo Posted 30May, 2012 Report Share Posted 30May, 2012 Had the same issue; replaced several old globes with brand new ones and there was no noticeable difference. Maybe the bulb style for 78 models is different, but I'm sure mine had a metal base, not like the pic posted by James. LED would probably be brighter, but I don't think it would suit the era of the car. Whilst considering globes, I also replaced the tired yellowing headlight globes and there was a substantial difference. I replaced like for like and they look much whiter and have greatly improved night time vision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myred911 Posted 30May, 2012 Report Share Posted 30May, 2012 Could it be that the old bulbs or any hidden internal reflective surfaces are covered in dust or that the wiring has deteriorated such that the bulbs are not getting the full 12V? Have the same issue with the SC. I am not such a purist that LEDs are not considered. The trunk & engine bay lights need to be bright and I think you can source the right looking LEDs. Give me light! rEd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hezath Posted 29July, 2012 Report Share Posted 29July, 2012 I haven't pulled my Porsche dash apart yet but I am planning on doing something about the cluster illumination. I put little LED globes in my Datsun H230 dash because the standard incandescant ones were too dull. The Datsun was fitted with coloured condoms around each globe. Some people remove the condoms to get a bright cream coloured light, I opted to go white LED lights to brighten it up but keep the aqua colour of the condoms so it looked fairly authentic to the car. Admittedly, the hue changed to be a little bit 'cleaner' but it's not far off the original colour. You can get coloured LED globes, although I'm not sure that there's one to represent the colour of an incandescant light very well or not. It should be noted! That LED lights do not dim, so the rheostat switch will no longer function, and all of the LED globes that I have seen are like torches, they project in one direction. The best way to fix this seems to be to attack the end of the globe with a bastard file or coarse sandpaper, this upsets the refraction of the light and makes it spread a bit better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vas930 Posted 30July, 2012 Report Share Posted 30July, 2012 Nice work, Hezath. Thats a good idea on the LEDs. I like the foggy condensation look in my turbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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