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Old 10-03-2009, 08:16 PM
scolburn79 scolburn79 is offline
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LED Bulbs for Autometer Gauges

Hi,
I have 3 Autometer gauges, Boost, Oil Temp and Oil Pressure. I have single Red LED's in them at the moment. It sorta matches but very Dim. I have seen that you can get 3,4,5,6 and 7 LED lights in the 1 bulb and in Amber. When I had 2 gauges, I used a 5 watt normal Bulb with the Orange sleeve over it. This was a very good match but I was worried in adding another 5 watts to the circuit. If I did this then it would be adding another 15 watts to what ever the circuit had on it which equals 1.25Amps. Does anyone know what the circuit without the aftermarket Gauges on it draws at all? If it doesn't draw much current I will go back to the normal bulbs. But if it is starting to get up there then I would like to replace it with the equivilant LED Bulb Which I am not too sure which it would be for a 5watt Normal bulb. Any help would be much appreciated!!
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Old 10-05-2009, 10:31 PM
scolburn79 scolburn79 is offline
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Just seeing if anyone can help
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Old 10-05-2009, 10:58 PM
rkw rkw is offline
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Where are you connecting the power source for your gauges?
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Old 10-05-2009, 11:48 PM
scolburn79 scolburn79 is offline
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Through the Grey/Red Dimming 12v source. I know everyone is saying to use the parker light 12v source for them but when I had the 5watt bulbs in with the orange sleeve on them the colour was spot on and the brightness was spot on. I just didn't know if it was going to be OK to add another 5 watts to the circuit being I already added 10 with the first 2 Gauges?
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Old 10-06-2009, 01:10 AM
rkw rkw is offline
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It's difficult to say how much current the circuit was designed for. The wiring diagrams only show the grey/red line coming out of the Instrument Cluster Module "black box", which is inside the speedometer.

What is the type of bulb (e.g. 194/501/T10)? LED's do come in orange (obviously, as OEM gauges use them), but orange is rarely available in a plug-and-play replacement bulb. You might consider connecting orange LED's on your own -- they just won't plug into the standard socket. Such as these: http://www.oznium.com/prewired-leds
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Old 10-06-2009, 01:18 AM
scolburn79 scolburn79 is offline
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Not too sure if my part no. would be the same as yours being I am in a different country. All I know is that it was a 12v 5 watt Wedge style bulb. I have seen Amber/Orange LED wedge style bulbs on E-Bay. I have a single LED bulb in the gauges now but in Red. The ones I have seen on e-bay have upto 7 LEDs in the ones light bulb, which would be way too bright. I was thinking maybe a 2 or 3 LED in the one bulb would probably do the trick. These also come in the wedge style to plug straight into the Autometer Light socket.
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Old 10-06-2009, 01:57 AM
rkw rkw is offline
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Have you checked the autometer website: http://www.autometer.com/cat_accessories.aspx?sid=51
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Old 10-09-2009, 03:56 PM
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Unit One Unit One is offline
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"Grey/Red Dimming 12v source"

Have been wanting to install a boost gauge on my 2006 R53 for some time... however, did not want to do it unless I felt I could get the lighting on the gauge attached to the dimming circuit associated with the rest of the dash... so I'm glad to have come accross this thread... where did you find the "Grey/Red Dimming 12v source" wire... or should I say what did you have to remove to expose it ?

Thanx in advance...
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Old 10-09-2009, 03:56 PM
 
 
 
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