Limited LED Question to help with fogged gauges

Gotta love that wiring . . .
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TX82FIAT
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 11:04 am
Your car is a: 82 Fiat Spider 2000 CSO
Location: San Antonio

Limited LED Question to help with fogged gauges

Post by TX82FIAT »

Has anyone only replaced the LED lights on the Panel light circuit. It would seem bulbs on other circuits would not really make a difference. For example, oil warning light and alt light only come on if issue and at start up. turn signals are one small bulb anyway. Seat belt, parking brake, o2 sensor? not needed at all times during night driving. The reason I'm asking this question is heat and related moisture/fog. The conversion to LED's in the panle lights could help solve the temperature moisture difference creating fog in the gauge panel.

The panel lights only come on for night driving. On that circuit is the fiber optic light, clock, speedo, water temp, tach and fuel guage night lights. Further, since the LED lights are set up to run on a 12 V circuit. does it matter if you only put LED's on say the instrament cluster. I think you could convert the panel circuit to LED for $30 and eliminate some of the fog in the process. Thoughts?
Buon giro a tutti! - enjoy the ride!

82 Fiat Spider 2000
03 BMW M3
07 Chevy Suburban
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danaspider
Posts: 169
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:22 pm
Your car is a: 1979 Spider 2000 79 vw bus
Location: Newcastle, WA

Re: Limited LED Question to help with fogged gauges

Post by danaspider »

I am running LEDs in the dash with no issue. You can mix and match with no issue. You cannot use LEDs in the rear taillights as some of the bulbs are ground switch and some are 12 V switch. I have rewired my 79 taillights to use LEDs.
Good luck.
Dana
Luck Dana

79 Spider 2000
carb
It all about the romace of the car and owner
rodman

Re: Limited LED Question to help with fogged gauges

Post by rodman »

danaspider wrote:I am running LEDs in the dash with no issue. You can mix and match with no issue. You cannot use LEDs in the rear taillights as some of the bulbs are ground switch and some are 12 V switch. I have rewired my 79 taillights to use LEDs.
Good luck.
Dana
Do you make wiring diagram when you re wired
TX82FIAT
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 11:04 am
Your car is a: 82 Fiat Spider 2000 CSO
Location: San Antonio

Re: Limited LED Question to help with fogged gauges

Post by TX82FIAT »

Rodman, I may be wrong. But for the most part you should not need to rewire much. You may need a different blinker module and i would think if you are going to do the rear lights you would need to modify that circuit. However, if you are plugging 12 V LED's into 12V sockets I think you are allright based on what I've been reading.
Buon giro a tutti! - enjoy the ride!

82 Fiat Spider 2000
03 BMW M3
07 Chevy Suburban
Weelan

Re: Limited LED Question to help with fogged gauges

Post by Weelan »

Hey Ray, I saw a guide on njfiat.org about what leds to get. Just letting you know if you don't have any already.
TX82FIAT
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 11:04 am
Your car is a: 82 Fiat Spider 2000 CSO
Location: San Antonio

Re: Limited LED Question to help with fogged gauges

Post by TX82FIAT »

Ryan, thanks, There is a post here with that info as well. I do like the resource guide format to speed up finding things.
Buon giro a tutti! - enjoy the ride!

82 Fiat Spider 2000
03 BMW M3
07 Chevy Suburban
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danaspider
Posts: 169
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:22 pm
Your car is a: 1979 Spider 2000 79 vw bus
Location: Newcastle, WA

Re: Limited LED Question to help with fogged gauges

Post by danaspider »

Yes I did a diagram and will post on the site. The reason for the wiring change is that all LEDS are not created equally. By that I mean, an LED is polarity sensitive and most off the shelf LEDs are that way, needing 12v + on the center and a negative ground. The 79 taillights and others have a mix of polarity. Some of the lights are 12 v center, while others are ground on the center. So if you just plug in a polarized LED then it does not work on all locations.

I will post when I get home.

Dana
Luck Dana

79 Spider 2000
carb
It all about the romace of the car and owner
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seabeelt
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Posts: 1614
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2008 4:22 pm
Your car is a: Fiat Spider - 1971 BS1
Location: Tiverton, RI

Re: Limited LED Question to help with fogged gauges

Post by seabeelt »

The polarity works that way because they are after all Light Emitting Diodes :mrgreen:
Michael and Deborah Williamson
1971 Spider -Tropie’ - w screaming IDFs
1971 Spider - Vesper -scrapped
1979 Spider - Seraphina - our son's car now sold
1972 Spider - Tortellini- our son's current
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