two different kinds of electroluminescent stuff...
just because they both glow, doesn't mean they are gonna match.
my timex watch is indiglo.. and it's bright as heck. does that mean it's supposed to match the guages in the truck? NO!



i installed a lunar boost guage in Big D's truck at lightningfest, and after installing it, i noticed how bright it was compared to the stock guages.

i read the instruction sheet & saw that it says that "use of lighting at full power will reduce the life span of these guages" and "it is recommended that the lighting be wired through the OEM light switch & that the lighting be dialed down to less than full power to extend the life of the instruments"

i wired his to the light in the cupholder (will wire mine to the same place, i bought the same guage after installing his)

what i was thinking about doing, is adding a resistor inline with the guage to drop the voltage down so the lunar guage won't be so bright. that way, they will match the factory guage, and it will be running at a dimmer level to extend the life of the guage like auto meter wants.

all i need now is to figure out what resistor to run inline to achieve the same brightness as the stock guages.


can anyone help out? i can buy a pack of assorted resistors and try them one by one, but that will take forever!
also, what type of resistors should i use?

 

clonetek,

The way to do it is to by a pot (potentiometer, aka variable resistor) and then set it up such that the brightness is to your liking. Then, measure the resistance of the pot at that setting with a multimeter. Now you know the resistance value you need find at Rat Shack.

-Edward

 

There ya go...

No, I don't expect the gauges to match just because they're both EL, but I'd love to swap out the guts of the gauge cluster to match the EL glow of the Lunars.

I ordered a bunch of blue LEDs to swap out the factory bulbs to all blue. Hoping to get closer to the Lunar color. Like that a heck of a lot more than the EL green on the dash.

 

Edward: do you think i can use the 1/4 or 1/2 watt resistors, or should i try to find a "heavy duty" resistor?

MaxPower: what bulbs are you changing out to LED's?

 

Just go to Ford and buy some Gauge fluid. All dealers should have it in stock. After you top off your gauge fluid it should be bck to how it was.

Oh and while you are there grab some muffler bearing because those are always next to go after the gauge fluid gets low.

 

Yeah, I just picked up a new muffler bearing yesterday...Can't wait to install it, I hear it's worth a full second and 10 mph gain in the quarter.....

 

Whatever I can get to. The cup holder lites (it's not an ash tray, I don't smoke ), the LEDs in the rocker switches for the windows and door locks, the LED(s) for the lighted headlamp switch, the A/C control LED(s), and the lights at the bottom of the door converting to LEDs.

I also plan on adding a few here and there for additional effect (not ricey looking).

...wonder how much it would be to change out the overhead display to blue...

 

I just noticed this past week mine are dimmer (01 14k miles)

 

Hey Clonetek, Have you tried doing the resistor's yet.
I am interested in doing the exact same thing. I figured if you did yours already and it worked, you could inform me as to which resistors you used. Thanks
John

2000 L #2467
____________________
01+ heads, tails, corners
3/4 BellTech drop
QA1's
Bedrug
Herbs washers (mod?)
boost by-pass
I/C updated to 01+ standards

 

I have a triple pod with 3 Lunar's. Because of the warning, and since I wanted it fairly dim at night, I finally selected a 100 ohm, 1/8 watt , wired in series (only 1 resistor needed). Of course, any more or less gauges would require a different resister value. But this should get you in the ballpark...

If you wanted it adjustable, I would suggest a 500 ohm pot, to compensate in the event that you run them parallel.

Hope this helps...

 

Forgot to mention, I have all three gauges wired in series - reason for only one resistor...

 

Had to replace the whole instrument panel because all the lights quite working. Luckly the warrenty was still good on my 99 with 23000 miles

 

yeah.. i've had it on for a while.. lol

i have a 5k ohm potentiometer inline with the power wire to adjust the brightness.. havent put a resistor in it just yet..
i'm having fun playing with the brightness.. HAHA


you know, it's a sad day when you walk into radioshack & ask for a potentiometer and they say "A What?" "what does that do?"

*sigh*

 

Thanks Dancer & Clonetek,

Dancer, do you have your gauges wired into the factory dimmer?

Clonetek, is there 3 terminals on your potentiometer?, if so how did you wire it? (ex. whats the middle terminal for?) I can understand 2 terminals an "in" and an "out" but a 3rd one baffles me.

John

 

yeah there are 3 terminals.. use the middle one and one side..
the two side terminals are to switch the **** around..

you can make it get brighter by turning it to the left using one tab, and brighter turning it to the right using the other tab..