warning lights rebuild too bright

[Angie]

on a custom warning light panel i am making, there is a problem with the brightness of the clears being attempted to use. (see picture for explanation).

had to add a few more warnings that i needed from a 83 dash. my parts truck is 85 so i was able to make it work.

the problem is the clear cellophane that is being used is not dark enough to use, even after layering 4 pieces together.

does anyone know where i can get something that will work, or have you made your own before? would like red, blue and green if possible.

thanks for reading and any help you may have.

 

[veefer800canuck]

Find a bulb with less wattage?

I'm going to guess you're using a 194 wedge base bulb??

Try And find bulbs with the same wedge base and less watts.

 

[veefer800canuck]

Or use coloured LED bulbs (single LED) the same colour as the cellophane overlays.

 

[Angie]

hi, i could try smaller bulbs but that might make another problem of keeping them in place. that still wont help the seeing through to the back of the case. look in the pic and you can see the bulbs in the back of the case.
cheers

 

[tinman_72]

Maybe you could get the plastic that covers those lights on '93 (and whatever other years are the same) and retrofit them in there so you have symbols instead of lights.

 

[RonD]

If you can't raise the bridge then lower the river , wear sun glasses


Try some window tinting material and clear glue, on the inside of lens, also if possible black out the back of where the bulb is, this will lower the reflected light but also reduce visibility inside.

Another option is to get an old, or new, plastic diffuser cover for florescent light fixture, those old in-ceiling lights used in public buildings, they come in brittle or soft plastic, get the soft kind, easier to cut.
Cut a piece to fit inside, it will lower light level a bit, but its main purpose is so you can't see inside.

You could also get a variable resistor, hook it up to one of the light's 12volt line then adjust it to get the brightness you want, measure the OHMs on the variable resistor and get fixed resistors close to the same ohms and solder them in place for each bulb.
If all the warning lights share the same 12v power and are activated by a grounding sender then just one resistor can be used.

The old ballast resistors used for ignition systems would be good for this as they can handle the wattage, they lowered 13.5 volts down to about 8volts for the coil.
They came in two resistance values and are not expensive, GM used a short resistance wire to do the same thing, it may have a different resistance, so you would have 3 choices.

 

[Angie]

"Another option is to get an old, or new, plastic diffuser cover for florescent light fixture, those old in-ceiling lights used in public buildings, they come in brittle or soft plastic, get the soft kind, easier to cut.
Cut a piece to fit inside, it will lower light level a bit, but its main purpose is so you can't see inside."


this is actually the thing i was aiming for. dark plastic to make new covers with. what will work? or do you know a company that has blank warning light covers like the original stuff but blanks?

i tried to remake it with coloured transparent stuff, but no matter how many pieces i placed on top of each other, it never gets any darker.

thanks

 

[RonD]

Well these guys, and I imagine others, make custom dash light strips: http://www.newvintageusa.com/panels.html


Another thing that popped into my tiny brain, because I am cheap, was making a reverse image, like "they" do.
Google: custom dash warning lights

You can get Black blank labels, find the "images" you want for each warning light, download(capture), resize it, print it on a black label, use razor to cut out the image lines, then cut label to cover the whole light.
Only the image would light up and in the color of the plastic behind it.

 

[martin]

paint the bulbs with nail varnish.

 

[bobbywalter]

there are red, blue, and green bulbs and light covers

combine those with darker tint for the cover lense and i would think it would be good to go.