26 replies to this topic

[DannyTip]

I love the look of the early smiths gauges so decided to fit some to my mini but then discovered the backlights in them are pretty pants. The gauges light up fine in the middle but the numbers around the edge don't light up much at night.

I got some LED bulbs like the following which improved things a lot in the centre of the gauge but not the numbers around the edge.

 led.jpg   17.7K   66 downloads

So i got bored today and decided to take the gauges apart and have a look.

 1.JPG   101.63K   90 downloads

The backlight leaks though the holes around the numbers but as they are painted black the light reflects pretty pants. So half hour later and some white paint i ended up with this (after 1 coat i did 2 in the end):

 2.JPG   113.43K   134 downloads  3.JPG   116.38K   123 downloads

And the end result (hard to get a picture on crap phone camera)

 4.JPG   71.17K   282 downloads

Much improved illumination and a nice crisp white like a modern car rather than the old dull orange bulbs

[Bungle]

nice

[mike.]

Good job, nice thinking.

[samsfern]

looks good, where did you get the leds?

[Purpleneon]

looks good, where did you get the leds?

I got mine from ultraleds.co.uk - I've got some blue ones in my 2 clock Spi and they look the dogs danglies! Just like a Golf...

[DannyTip]

looks good, where did you get the leds?

I got mine from here http://cgi.ebay.co.u...#ht_1415wt_1141 took about a week to arrive .

Edited by DannyTip, 28 October 2010 - 07:01 PM.

[samsfern]

cool, thanks, il order some tommorow, payday, lol

[Nick Warwick]

very nice

[minimaff]

Good idea... you just gave me an idea...

So I had a look and ordered some little ones for the number plate light and interior light.....

[Midas Mk1]

Great Idea, think im going to try something similar with my centre speedo...

[SolarB]

Great Idea, think im going to try something similar with my centre speedo...

I was just thinking that.........

[mini_mad69]

I did it the hard way, but got pretty good results, I then took it out and added 10 or so more LEDS.

Thought about adding a dimmer switch like on modern cars.

[mav_64]

I love the look of the early smiths gauges so decided to fit some to my mini but then discovered the backlights in them are pretty pants. The gauges light up fine in the middle but the numbers around the edge don't light up much at night.

I got some LED bulbs like the following which improved things a lot in the centre of the gauge but not the numbers around the edge.

led.jpg

So i got bored today and decided to take the gauges apart and have a look.

1.JPG

The backlight leaks though the holes around the numbers but as they are painted black the light reflects pretty pants. So half hour later and some white paint i ended up with this (after 1 coat i did 2 in the end):

2.JPG 3.JPG

And the end result (hard to get a picture on crap phone camera)

4.JPG

Much improved illumination and a nice crisp white like a modern car rather than the old dull orange bulbs http://www.theminifo..._DIR#/smile.png

I really love what you did and I have the same problem with my Smith gauges. I'm new to all this stuff and only had my mini 6mths. That and me living in Spain...I just wanted to know if you need to change or order the wiring for these bulbs or is it just a straight swap? Are they the '501' bulbs?

Edited by mav_64, 10 January 2014 - 03:06 PM.

[stealth05]

no wiring needed as the leds take less power than the standard bulb so just plug in and away you go ,they are the 501"s but are polarized so if they dont light when installed rotate the lamp holder 180 degrees and reinstall .

[Dan]

  Don't you want to paint the back of the outer visor ring white too, so that it reflects back to the numbers on the mask as well as onto the needle?  Or maybe silver foil the back of it with some plumbers adhesive foil so that it is more reflective than the inner ring, that way it might hopefully reflect as brightly as the inner ring does even though it has a smaller area.  Looks great.