TheSamba.com :: View topic - VDO gauge light bulbs work, but are not bright.

Mon Nov 06, 2006 4:46 pm

I added a VDO tach, oil p, oil temp and digital cht. I wired the VDO lights on their own wire in parallel to the stock dash lights from light dimmer switch circuit. The VDO bulbs are D series Toshiba 158.

The VDO bulbs work but are dim. They come on and dim with the switch, but the bulbs are dim. Is this normal for VDO lights? What are others experiences? Are higher watt bulbs available? Necessary? Do I have a problem?

I replaced the stock 1.2w wheat bulbs in the dash with 2w bulbs. Made a huge difference!

Mon Nov 06, 2006 7:10 pm

Can't say Iv'e dealt with the VDO gauges but the lights in the cheapo gauges I put in were so bright I couldn't focus on anything else. Maybe dimmer is better, have you tried them at night on the road?

Mon Nov 06, 2006 7:43 pm

I just checked them. They're dim in the dark. Not near as bright as the 2w bulbs I used to replace the stock dash bulbs.

Mon Nov 06, 2006 11:14 pm

Did you wire the gauge lighting in parallel or series? I did the same thing in series and they were dim...changed to parallel and helped enormously.

Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:10 am

Parallel is definitely the only way to go there. Be certain all the gauge bodies have good grounds, or if plastic cased, the bulbs have actual chassis grounds.

Maybe there's another 2W-3W lamp available in the style you need for the VDO auxiliary gauges.(?) Possibly a local electronics store (preferably one that actually supplies local manufacturers & service folks, as opposed to Radio Shacks, etc.) might have a comprehensive bulb listing you could look at, then obtain the bulbs through the store. A lot of the smaller bulbs come in 10-packs, and the price per bulb is usually a lot less that way. Buying the pak like that usually helps the store on the special oredering process, if that's necessary.

Haven't tried it yet, but the temptation to cram a bunch of "super-bright" LEDs way up in the illumination barrel of a VDO gauge for testing purposes, has certainly crossed my mind! The dimmer function would be lost, but it might be OK. Personal fave color is red or red-orange, especially for cruising on long night trips. Easy on the eyes.

The 68 Westy's dash gauge clusters are all set up with incandescent red illumination currently. Especially nice with compromised outside visibility in inclement winter weather and spring fog. IMHO that's when the common factory green lighting is at its glaring worst, although it certainly has its place "in town" under bright street lights, heavy urban traffic, at least when the weather is good.

J.R.
68 Westy
(+ others)

Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:19 pm

since you already said you wired them in parallel...

and you have already replaced your stock dash bulbs with a higher wattage because, im assuming, they were dim...

i would bet that the trouble is in your headlight switch, since the dimmer is controlling the whole lot. its probobly not able to be fully 'open'. i would bet that at full open, your voltage to the lights is less than 12v.

my .02

Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:36 pm

rcnotes wrote: The VDO bulbs work but are dim. They come on and dim with the switch, but the bulbs are dim. Is this normal for VDO lights? What are others experiences? Are higher watt bulbs available? Necessary? Do I have a problem?

I may get some more shit for this......but I would suggest taking OFF your sunglasses when driving at night!

Even my '75 911 has pretty dull lights on the gauges......me thinks perhaps peoples eyes were way more sensitive before the computer age! I mean think about it, normal old headlights used to be fine....no need for halogen back then. Now they have "super" white, "blind me when i drive the bus lights"......

just sayin'

peace

Sun Dec 26, 2010 3:58 pm

Where can i find the 2w bulbs for the dash? or even a 3 or 4 watt bulb? I'm looking at replacing all the bulbs in a couple of cars to make them brighter, and they have the same bulbs as my bus. any ideas?

Sun Dec 26, 2010 4:27 pm

Pep Boys had the Sylvania 2723 2 watt bulbs.

Sun Dec 26, 2010 5:15 pm

wow - my VDO gauges were so bright, especially the tach, that I had to build a seperate dimmer switch for them. Telford provided the schematic to build it. Digikey had the parts. Scott did say in the thread where I asked about it that VDO had two style bulbs in their gauges depending on how old they are.

Maybe you might want to check your grounds and voltage source?

This is what I built to lower the brightness:

Sun Dec 26, 2010 9:11 pm

I wired my stock panel lights directly to the non dimmer terminal of the light switch and the VDO lights to the dimmer terminal. VDO's were way to bright. But there was sure no need to dim the cluster lights.

Sun Dec 26, 2010 10:29 pm

the main car im looking for the lights for is a 97 toyota camry...id rather not mess with the wiring. :) i just would like to find out where i can find bulbs.

Thanks
Stuart

Mon Dec 27, 2010 7:43 am

Quote: 97 toyota camry

why ask on a VW forum. Go to a Toyota forum.

Mon Dec 27, 2010 8:33 am

Good thing you got to him before VDubTech did. It might have been brutal :lol:

Mon Dec 27, 2010 11:33 pm

Desertbusman wrote: Good thing you got to him before VDubTech did. It might have been brutal :lol:

Wow - I saved a life today and didn't even know it. :lol:

Tue Dec 28, 2010 3:47 am

Did you wire the VDO guage lights in parallel with each other? They may be in parallel to the dash lights but if they are wired in series to themselves they will not be bright. If they are in parallel with each other then check your output voltage from the dimmer connection. I would also make sure that you have a good ground to the VDO lights.

If I am not mistaken don't VDO gauges have a + and a - on the back of them? All of the + go on the dimmer wire, the - all go to ground. If you went + - + - and daisy chained the lights they will be dim.

Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:12 am

Stuartzickefoose wrote: Where can i find the 2w bulbs for the dash? or even a 3 or 4 watt bulb? I'm looking at replacing all the bulbs in a couple of cars to make them brighter, and they have the same bulbs as my bus. any ideas?

i would put in brighter bulbs in the bus too but cant find them....