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Post by Tim Goddard on Jan 10, 2017 16:17:04 GMT
Are these bulbs available in LED form ?
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Post by Phil Nottingham on Jan 10, 2017 17:53:31 GMT
Yes- had some for over 10 years - BA7S from Ultraleds but loads on Ebay although some of variable quality
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Post by Tim Goddard on Jan 11, 2017 7:07:41 GMT
I thought the bulbs should be Capless BA9 s ? BA7s are bayonet ?
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Post by Phil Nottingham on Jan 11, 2017 18:20:57 GMT
No capless used on P5's not invented then - you can of course fit the holders. Why just look at the back and pull one out
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Post by Tim Goddard on Jan 11, 2017 19:54:32 GMT
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Post by petervdvelde on Jan 12, 2017 16:37:08 GMT
Tim
I recently swapped my car from RH to LH drive and as Phil already mentioned, your bulbs are not the original ones.
Peter
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Post by Tim Goddard on Jan 13, 2017 4:57:12 GMT
Iv'e had a replacement loom, so I guess that's the reason why mine are different. Are BA9 available as an LED ? I couldn't find a supplier.
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Post by djm16 on Jan 14, 2017 14:27:13 GMT
4207 of them on eBay
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Post by OlafR on Feb 27, 2017 20:28:04 GMT
Hi there! The 12V BA7S seem to be available only cool white, IOW ~5500-6500 Kelvin. I've already ordered a bunch of MES for the instrument panel from here, those are supposed to be warm white (haven't yet fitted them), i.e. less than ~3000 Kelvin. Can you guys make any statement as to the color and the "feel" of the BA7s? Cheers, Olaf
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Post by Phil Nottingham on Feb 27, 2017 23:03:26 GMT
Mine are all cool white and I prefer this as seems to make reading the gauges clearer. The dimmer function no longer works of course but was a waste of time anyway
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Post by djm16 on Feb 28, 2017 8:15:09 GMT
I replaced by instrument panel lights with LEDs - the ones that illuminate the switches. The LEDs I am pretty sure I bought. I normally make them myself as +ve earth are less available and more expensive. The cool white looks fine with the switches.
I have also put LEDs in the speedo, tacho and clock.
Yes the dimmer does work and dips the light level 50% approx. I did however have to re wire the dimmer with nichrome wire as the BA7 s had melted their sockets and shorted out, causing burnout of the dimmer switch.
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Post by enigmas on Mar 1, 2017 2:28:09 GMT
I'd be intersted in how you did this (drilled holes and/or how fitted ) and where to source the appropriate LEDs (Jaycar?) DJM16. If you've done it successfully I'd rather not have to reinvent the wheel. I find the current lighting of both the dash and pods unbelievably dim and woeful (the dimmer has been bypassed).
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Post by djm16 on Mar 1, 2017 23:28:29 GMT
I cannot promise that these LEDs will do LED bulb 1W, but they are at least similar to the ones that I have been using. The construction of most of the glass bulbs used in the P5 are similar. A glass envelope containing the filament, glued into a brass base, with one filament connection going through the bottom of the base into a solder bead. The first step is to remove the glass envelope, which usually involves breaking it. I then grip the connection going through the base with some artery forceps and pull while melting the solder bead. You can also de-solder the bead first. Either way you want a hole where the bead used to be. A current controlled power supply is really useful here. The LED will turn on at around 2.6V, but will take any amount of current until it heats up and burns out. I use my power supply to figure out what current the bead will take before getting hot. Note that LEDs rated at a nominal 1W will not cope with 250 mA without a large heat sink, so expect to find 100 mA or less is the realistic maximum. To get 50 mA out of a 12.6V supply (minus the 2.6V that the LED drops) you would need 10/0.05 Ohms, ie 200 Ohms. That is a useful place to start, but given that you most likely will be using a 1/4W resistor, and the resistor will be dissipating 1/2W, its resistance will go up as it gets hot, so you might in fact need a 150 Ohm (or nearest) to get 50 mA when hot. One end of the resistor goes through the hole in the base of your bulb and is soldered in, the other end is soldered to one side (-ve side of LED for +ve earth systems) of the LED. I usually make a little cutout in the bulb base for the resistor lead to exit. The other leg of the LED is soldered to the side of the bulb base (where the other leg of the original glass capsule used to be). I then back fill the bulb base with epoxy or preferably aluminium loaded epoxy (liquid metal). It is not particularly electrically conductive, but will help dissipate heat. This is what I did to create some higher power LEDs Sidelights, the principle is still the same.
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