colored led cluster test pics
 

This topic has been brought up a few times so I decided to put it to the test - putting different color leds into a cluster and having it "shine through" the green of the stock gauge face. Now I have an aftermarket gauge face, but it has the same green film as the OEM face. I also have aftermarket blue needles. Here's the before pics with lights off and on:

http://www.is.vt.edu/~fireman/f150/clusterlights/01.jpg

http://www.is.vt.edu/~fireman/f150/clusterlights/02.jpg

I went online and bought two of each color of led they had in size 74 bulb: white, blue, red, and blacklight. (I skipped green, the film is already green, so I can safely assume green light through green film will be green :lol: ) First up was white led. I put them in the center two positions, in between the speed and the tach:

http://www.is.vt.edu/~fireman/f150/clusterlights/03.jpg

Part Two
 

No spectacular difference there. I assumed it would be a lot brighter. Next up was red, and I put them in the same position, center two lights:

http://www.is.vt.edu/~fireman/f150/clusterlights/04.jpg

Red was just no where near powerful enough to push through the green. Next up was blacklight bulbs. I put them on the right side of the cluster, behind the temp and pressure gauges:

http://www.is.vt.edu/~fireman/f150/clusterlights/05.jpg

Cool effect, but still not powerful enough to make the gauges actually usable in the real world. Last but definitely not least was blue. Blue looked good, so good I went online and bought enough blue leds to fill out my cluster. Check it out:

http://www.is.vt.edu/~fireman/f150/clusterlights/06.jpg

http://www.is.vt.edu/~fireman/f150/clusterlights/07.jpg

I even put blue leds in all the indicator positions, and behind the odometer lcd. I switched the Edge color to match as well.

Hope this clears up some of the confusion if anyone else brings up the topic in the future. Colored bulbs, most colors that is, don't "shine through" the green. Though the blue is pretty powerful, it still has a slight teal look to it.

very nice! how many bulbs in total and are they all the same #? im interested in doing this now :)

I always liked blue lights in the guages. Good job

wow, looks awesome, now you gotta tell me exactly what you bought and where from. how was the ease of install on this? what exactly did you have to do?

Looks great bud. :beers:

+1
let us know!
I like the look.

:thumbsup: sweet.

Very cool. I am digging that blue. :thumbsup:

I have heard about people peeling the green film off... Did you consider doing that?

Forgot to mention it looks great! I would do blue but I have white in my door handles. What about the other things in the cabin that are green? Is that the next project?

o0o0o0o0o0o.. I would love to do that! Everything in my truck is blue besides the dang gages!!! Where did you get the white faces and the blue needles at?

I'm kicking myself for not reading this sooner. I had a dodge that had the green film too. It's really easy to change. Peel the face off the cluster and turn it over. Use fingernail polish remover and q-tips and rub the green off the backside until its clear. Then change the bulbs to whatever color you want. Or you could do what I did and that is spray the backside of the face with a transparent color and go with clear bulbs. I will try to fint he pictures of it. Its been awhile.

Well, I will take a stab at peeling the film off, anyone know how to remove the cluster? or where to purchase the bulbs at and how to change them?

There were 11 bulbs in total: 6 do the general backlighting, one for the odometer lcd, and 4 indicator lights (left and right turn, hi beam, and cruise control). They were all #74 bulbs.

Check out V-Leds here or SuperBrightLeds here (scroll down to where it says #74). I used 6 of the more expensive SMT led bulbs for the always-on backlighting bulbs (the bulbs had a black base on my cluster), and five of the cheaper regular led bulbs for the five others. V-leds have always had the best price when I've compared, though the are currently out of stock of blue SMT #74 bulbs.

As far as the how, check out res1eott's instructions for removing your cluster: https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=297728. Once you have it in hand, there is a plastic shielding held on the back with torx screws. Don't remove them all at once, they hold the cluster guts together! I removed one or two at a time, replacing bulbs as I went. The bulbs are in twist bases, just be careful, they felt cheap to me. If your led bulb doesn't work right away, pull it out, spin it 180 degrees in the base, and put it back in. Led's have a polarity, where normal bulbs do not.

I looked at the back, and it isn't really a film like a sheet that can be pulled off. Those who have done it have used acetone to eat away the coating, but that seemed a little tricky and I didn't feel like ruining my gauge face. Swapping bulbs was easier than chemically stripping away the green coating in my mind. What's funny is, before I wouldn't have considered changing the other green items in the cab, but now with the dash all blue I really want to :)