Bill Pugh opined that LEDs might be a better way to go:
I HAD LEDs in my instruments (still have on the ones that are hard to get
to). I really liked them with their cool bluish light. They looked to be
about 20% brighter than the stock lights and like you said draw/drew
practically no current. The problem is that they cost about $10 each and the
lighting improvement is/was marginal. In the past I have done quite a bit of
lenghty night driving and felt that the stock instrument lighting was not what
it should be. Of course, over time at night your eyes adjust to where you can
see the instruments though still not as well as I would like. It may be my OLD
eyes.
John Mitchell was concerned that the heat might melt the green/blue plastic
in the speedo and tachometer:
I agree that this will probably happen but I have noticed on several other
old speedos that I have lying around that some of them have holes burned in
them, apparently from the STOCK bulbs. In order to get the maximum
illumination from the stock and LED bulbs I have already removed the colored
plastic bulbous pieces from the speedo and tach so this isn't an issue for me
anyhow. I understand there are several covers available for the bulbs that
will give them the desired colors.
I hope to leave this topic now since I'm beginning to sound like Jim
Swarthout hawking his roller rockers. Cheers.
Mike Lunsford
Bill & Skip Pugh <anabil007@comcast.net> wrote:
I wonder if another way to handle this problem (we have the same on
Rosey our 1970 TR6) could be the use of LEDs ... they draw almost
Zero current and are much brighter than ordinary incandescent bulbs
... Just a thought.
> I have NFI in this deal and won't have a definitive opinion on this
>until I live with them for a year or so and do some significant
>night driving to test them out. Wish me luck (fire extinguisher in
>hand).
Bill Pugh
1957 TR3 TS16765L
aka
Casper
1970 TR6 CC59179L
aka
Rosey
Wallace, CA
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