Dash Light Brightness??

[DAYLEY/CHALLENGER]

How bright would you describe you interior dash lights?   There are 3 above the instruments and I have mine wired now but am real dissapointed in the brightness.  Any  suggestions???

[EvilTwinATX]

 

There are LED's that are direct swaps... I plan to do this myself.

[GoodysGotaCuda]

You can bypass the rheostat (dash light dimmer knob) which can be known to help with the brightness of the lights. May be able to run higher wattage bulbs in there.

Anyone know if they are wired in parallel or series? I believe parallel, but can't remember for sure :/

[GoodysGotaCuda]

LED's dont reflect light out like regular filament bulbs. They offer more focused lighting to where they are pointing. As you see newer cars with LED tail lights run a panel of them looking straight out, and not just a 1157 style LED bulb to try and accomplish the same brightness.

[Bullitt-]

Mine I would consider bright enough...in the past I would turn them down maybe 10-20% at night to cut down on reflective glare. Your dimmer switch may need cleaning or be bad, the lenses on the light bar may be dirty(I cleaned the inside out with Q-tips), or you may have a poor ground.

[Katfish]

You can bypass the rheostat (dash light dimmer knob) which can be known to help with the brightness of the lights. May be able to run higher wattage bulbs in there.

Anyone know if they are wired in parallel or series? I believe parallel, but can't remember for sure :/

I soldered a jumper across the dimmer, my lights are much brighter now.  I also remember an article from Mopar Action that mentioned a replacement bulb that is brighter, don't remember the PN.

[DAYLEY/CHALLENGER]

Thanks for the suggestions.  At present, I have them direct wired to the tail light wiring.  The dimmer isn't involved at all.   I have actually held the light panel to the battery ground post and touched the positive with the orange power wire.   Really not going to be bright enough.  I don't remember my original 70 being this dim. Maybe my site was better back then too!!!  Anyway I was thinking that the 3 light cavities may have rust or discoloration in them and was thinking of taking them off and painting the inside with white or silver paint.    The blue lenses are mostly clean.

[4Cruizn]

In the convertible they're terrible . . . but the rallye dash in the hardtop works pretty good.  

[chevyconvert]

yep mine pretty much suck too. I thought they didn't work when I first got the car.

[MEK-Dangerfield]

Bypassing the dimmer switch made mine look great. Since that isn't the issue here, I question your three bulb light bar. The one for the Rally dash has 4 bulbs.


  Mike

[nivvy]

what did you do to bypass it...it made it unadjustable thought right... but I guess i never dim mine anyways...

just run all the light wire into a hot wired to the headlights???

[DAYLEY/CHALLENGER]

   OK I will take a pic of the light bar.  Mine only has 3 bulbs but there is an open spot on the end that doesn't have anything there, only a small opening.  Now I am confused........

[Katfish]

what did you do to bypass it...it made it unadjustable thought right... but I guess i never dim mine anyways...

just run all the light wire into a hot wired to the headlights???

I soldered a jumper wire across the dimmer contacts.  But running the dash lights directly to a feed connected to the headlights would do the same thing.

I also soldered a length of wire to each light socket body and connected all of them to ground.  Never liked the factory method, too many variables.

[DAYLEY/CHALLENGER]

Pics of the light bar.   Only 3 sections of the blue tinted areas.   Part number pic also.   

[nivvy]

I have my autometr phantoms wired into the factory dimmer... is there any way to get em brighter...not worried about the light bar.....