Lamp bulbs for 4 small instruments

[pmansson]

Are they 2W or stronger?
I cannot read on the very weak bulb with part black glass.
Is it common practice these days to put 3W or even 4 as I do in the instruments of my old BMW coupes. The light switch has a rheostat so I can dim them down if I want, and Jaguar has 2 levels. 4W on first level might be good...

[christopher storey]

2.2 watt. The difficulty with putting higher wattage bulbs in is that you will melt the coloured plastic shrouds on some of the instruments . I had thought of trying LED bulbs, but the supplier advised that they were too directional in beam to be successful in these instruments . Similarly, the radius of curve require for LED strips is too small for convenience

[pmansson]

having talked to several shops who said "you won?t find 2 or 2,2 anywhere". I will try it tonight and see how it looks and report back.
Might have to change all lamps to get an even illumination. What?s that in total? 4 for the smaller ones and 2 each for the speedo and tacho ??
Peder

[kingzetts]

I found that the blue plastic shrouds referred to by Christopher had become darkened and embrittled by age and long-term exposure to bulb heat and were virtually opaque. I removed these from all instruments - easily done without dismantling the instruments (although you need to take them out of the dash).

I then found that the insides of the instruments, which are painted white to diffuse the light, had also gone a rather dirty, dull cream colour with age. So I dismantled all the instruments and repainted the interiors in nice fresh bright white.

I finally used blue LED bulbs, and I find them satisfactory. An alternative (which has been described on this forum before) is to use ordinary bulbs, with the glass painted in a translucent blue.

If your blue filters are like mine were I reckon you could put 100W bulbs in and still not be able to read the instruments.

[Heuer]

A couple of ideas for the damaged blue/green shrouds. One is to paint the bulbs with Vitrea clear glass paint. This is available in most hobby shops or on-line and is heat proof. The other, which I spotted at Speedograph Richfield, is the use of coloured silicone 'condoms' which slip over the bulbs. This is what they use in their instrument restorations as the plastic shrouds are no longer available I understand. It also stops them reproducing!

[daverawle]

This was the only way I could get decent illumination on the small gauges:
http://tinyurl.com/37rjoa2

Dave

[1954Etype]

Based on Daves' findings, I did the same thing (you can buy 12v blue LEDs now on eBay already wired so don't need to fiddle about with soldering. Works really well - just waiting for him to sort out the large gauges now!

[Heuer]

Have you considered the EL lighting for the large gauges - works really well! http://etypeuk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=896

[1954Etype]

Have you considered the EL lighting for the large gauges - works really well! http://etypeuk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=896

David, Ihave that. Looks ok until you see the LEDs!

[pmansson]

2 of my 4 small instruments have a weaker, more yellowish light than the other 2. One of them had an old bulb with somewhat blackened bulb. I replaced this with a fresh 3W lamp, but that made no difference at all.
Don?t feel like going for LED lights with a blue tint to the colour.
But then I rarely drive the collector cars at night, so I will just leave it.
Find another instrument perhaps....

[Berry Papay]

I then found that the insides of the instruments, which are painted white to diffuse the light, had also gone a rather dirty, dull cream colour with age. So I dismantled all the instruments and repainted the interiors in nice fresh bright white.
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