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Ancillary gauge lights 200 1982

posted by  someone claiming to be Les Lyne on  Wed Nov 15 05:39 CST 2000 [RELATED]

Has anyone ever done anything to increase the lighting to the ancillary (center-mounted) gauges (clock, oil pressure, turbo boost, voltmeter)? Are there "brighter" bulbs available? Maybe a step-up transformer? Is there some kind of optical filter in the gauges that could be removed?

Or maybe I should keep a flashlight at hand . . .







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    Re: Ancillary gauge lights 200 1982

    posted by  someone claiming to be dave lotman on  Thu Nov 16 06:37 CST 2000 [RELATED]

    Actually the little bulbs that you have in the gauge do come in different

    wattages. Usually in my experience the bulb in there is a 1.2 watt. You

    can get a 2.2 watt bulb that will light up the gauge more. I think that

    the bulb is made by Osram. I had one of these as the light in my foglight

    switch. Don't use them for this function because it made the switch too

    hot. I changed it to the 1.2 watt and its fine. The aftermarket VDO

    gauges like the cockpit models matches the dash pretty well and they have

    something like a 4 watt bulb in them. They are very bright. I installed

    one of their boost gauges and it was too bright. VDO has available little

    bulb condoms in different colors so I installed a green one and that was

    just right.

    Dave 82 242ti







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    Re: Ancillary gauge lights 200 1982

    posted by  someone claiming to be Don Foster on  Wed Nov 15 10:54 CST 2000 [RELATED]

    "Maybe a step-up transformer?"

    No, no. Transformers need a "j" operator or two to operate. Unless they're owned by mathematicians, then the "i's" have it.

    "Are there "brighter" bulbs available?"

    I have no doubt we could engineer in some quartz halogen aircraft landing bulbs.

    "...some kind of optical filter..."

    To start, I'd remove the blue plastic filter.



    Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)







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      Re: Ancillary gauge lights 200 1982

      posted by  someone claiming to be Les Lyne on  Thu Nov 16 03:49 CST 2000 [RELATED]

      You're a funny guy, Don. Yuck, yuck.

      Well, at least you keep me thinking, and that can't hurt, right?

      "I have no doubt we could engineer in some quartz halogen aircraft landing bulbs."

      The only problem with this idea is that I don't have a source of 115VAC, 400cps power in my car. And even if I did, then I'd have to use a step-down transformer, and we already know the problems inherent with that.







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        Re: Ancillary gauge lights 200 1982

        posted by  someone claiming to be Don Foster on  Thu Nov 16 04:15 CST 2000 [RELATED]

        "...don't have a source of 115VAC, 400cps power in my car..."

        Well, we could engineer that, too. Perhaps a gas turbine powered alternator in the trunk. Then if anybody decided to tailgate, simply fire up the turbine and melt his front tires!

        Actually, I was thinking of the bulbs that fit on the wings—I had a set on an old IH Scout (many, many years back)—they were 12-volt, and my 30-amp generator couldn't really keep up with them for long (glad I had a bigggggg battery). But they'd light up the beach for a good 2-3 miles!

        With minor rewiring, those suckers would fit in place of the high-beam bulbs on a quad set-up (on an '80 240, for example). One flick of the high beams and EVERYBODY dimmed their lights. [Had to temporarily install the legal bulbs for yearly safety inspection. Otherwise you'd melt the alignment chart on the wall.]



        Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)







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          Re: Ancillary gauge lights 200 1982

          posted by  someone claiming to be Les Lyne on  Thu Nov 16 05:41 CST 2000 [RELATED]

          "...Perhaps a gas powered alternator in the trunk..."

          Hey I like that idea! And the components already exist. As I'm sure you know, all airliners, and most all private jets (at least the ones down to the size of about a Cessna Citation V) have an APU which drives a generator. And - now here's the good part - if we get one from Cessna or Beech - er, excuse me, Raytheon (at least it's Raytheon for the time being) - the APU, the generator, and the APU battery would actually fit in a 240 trunk. Well, at least it would come close to fitting. There might have to be some structural mods to the car, though . . .

          As an added benefit, the APU exhaust could be ducted so that it becomes thrust!

          All this for brighter dash lights . . . ?

          In the words of Charlie Brown:








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            Re: Ancillary gauge lights 200 1982

            posted by  someone claiming to be Les Lyne on  Thu Nov 16 05:43 CST 2000 [RELATED]

            Ok, that was supposed to say:

            In the words of Charlie Brown: sigh.







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    Re: Ancillary gauge lights 200 1982

    posted by  someone claiming to be Gary Sprague on  Wed Nov 15 10:13 CST 2000 [RELATED]

    You might consider a new rheostat? My 82 Turbo needs the same. I tried a used one but little improvement!! Does anyone know of a simple Radio Shack (cheap) replacement - per Don Foster?







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      Re: Ancillary gauge lights 200 1982

      posted by  someone claiming to be Evan R on  Wed Nov 15 11:29 CST 2000 [RELATED]

      I bypassed the rheostat entirely. I never dim the lights anyhow.

      In fact, I could never see the point of the dimmer on any car. Who wants a WORSE view of the gauges??






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