LED Dashboard lighting 73 Challenger

[DW73Challenger]

Restoring a Rallye dash and thinking of going with LED bulbs. Are load resistors essential? Other Pro’s and Con’s?

 

[Steve340]

No resistors are required - just put the ones that fit correctly in the bulb holders and done.
They do need quite a small "head" part.

 

[Matt Johnson]

I put the Ba9s bulbs in the rallye bar I just fixed up for dads and they look really good... made some lenses to replace a bad one and this is what they look like lit up

BA9s LED Bulb - 5 SMD LED Tower - BA9s Bulb - Warm White

LED replacement bulbs can fit numerous vehicle applications such as dome lights, map lights and turn signal lights. This BA9s single-contact LED bulb replaces a variety of traditional bulbs including 1445 and 17053 bulbs. It has 5 LEDs (5050 SMD) that emit a 360° viewing angle for better...

www.superbrightleds.com

 

[57fury440]

I put them in a non-rallye dash. They work great and no modifications were needed. The dimmer switch still works as it should.

 

[heminut]

I used these from Amazon and they worked great, just plug & play!

Amazon product ASIN B07R9VW9HY

 

[DW73Challenger]

I used these from Amazon and they worked great, just plug & play!

Amazon product ASIN B07R9VW9HY

Thanks very much! Question. Are they bright enuff - both day (turn signals) and at night (dash panel)? Any issues with your existing dash dimmer switch? Hope to never crawl under the dash again ....

 

[DW73Challenger]

I put the Ba9s bulbs in the rallye bar I just fixed up for dads and they look really good... made some lenses to replace a bad one and this is what they look like lit up

BA9s LED Bulb - 5 SMD LED Tower - BA9s Bulb - Warm White

LED replacement bulbs can fit numerous vehicle applications such as dome lights, map lights and turn signal lights. This BA9s single-contact LED bulb replaces a variety of traditional bulbs including 1445 and 17053 bulbs. It has 5 LEDs (5050 SMD) that emit a 360° viewing angle for better...

www.superbrightleds.com

Thanks very much for this. Been using "superbrightleds" for house and landscape lighting with great success. Then I saw they have bulbs for my Challenger. Kudos for being good to your dad too!

 

[heminut]

Thanks very much! Question. Are they bright enuff - both day (turn signals) and at night (dash panel)? Any issues with your existing dash dimmer switch? Hope to never crawl under the dash again ....

Oh yeah, they're plenty bright enough. I have them in the light bar, turn signal indicators and warning lights and they are working really good.

 

[DW73Challenger]

Oh yeah, they're plenty bright enough. I have them in the light bar, turn signal indicators and warning lights and they are working really good.

Thanks!

 

[moparroy]

I used them where I could on the whole dash - they do work well and can be dimmable to a degree though the range of dimming is less (they tend to shut off at a minimum voltage). I found two issues that affected a couple places I could not use them. The illumination on the switch panel (only with light package I think - on a timer with a lamp illuminating the key) and the lamp in the ash tray both are mounted in a metal tube. In '74 most of these are 161 / 194 type glass base bulbs - any LEDs I could find were open type with no insulating dome over the LEDs - had an issue with those shorting out on the tube - blew fuses on my test power pack. The BA9s link above likewise looks an open uninsulated bulb - be careful in metal tube mounts. Also some LEDs - esp the small ones - are polarity sensitive - the glove box lamp is reverse polarity (-ve on the centre and +ve on the outside) so that one would not work. The Map light is also reverse polarity - but you can get non-polarity 1156 bulbs to fit. Non-polarity bulbs include a circuit to allow either polarity of connection - LEDs as diodes are polarity sensitive by nature.