LED dash lighting conversion?

[Darrin kirby]

Hey all. Has anyone found suitable replacements for the incandescent bulbs (161) in the later C4 dash illumination? I did find these from SuperBrightLEDs.com, but not sure about that site as it seems to have a lot of sketchy reviews. The conversion might be a potential winter project.

161 Instrument Cluster & Gauge LED Lights | LED Car Light Bulbs | Super Bright LEDs

161 Instrument Cluster & Gauge LED Lights

www.superbrightleds.com

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The cluster lamps alone pull over 3 amps at max brightness, BTW.

 

[Darrellg1]

Hi Darrin
Ive used these from Dave at Batee, I also used some 161's from lordco for my wiper light on drivers door, and my gear selector. All work awesome and MUCH cooler.

BATEE.COM - batee.com - LED Replacement Bulb Kit Complete

batee.com - C4 Corvette Digital Dash Cluster Instrument Dash Meter Panel Gauge Panel Repair Guide 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996

batee.com

May want to check them out, LED are polarized tho, so if it doesn't work, turn it around in the socket. It should light up then.

 

[Darrin kirby]

I did see those, but are the 800 & 7000 series bulbs & sockets also compatible with the 161 bulbs used in later C4's? It wasn't exactly clear.

I guess the key is really the socket.

The 1994 console has I think 19 161 bulbs. Might as well swap them all if I decide to take this on.

 

[Darrellg1]

I did see those, but are the 800 & 7000 series bulbs & sockets also compatible with the 161 bulbs used in later C4's? It wasn't exactly clear.

I guess the key is really the socket.

The 1994 console has I think 19 161 bulbs. Might as well swap them all if I decide to take this on.

Dave at Batee will be able to answer any tech questions like yours Darrin. Give him a shout. He answers really quick like lol.

 

[Darrin kirby]

Will do. Thanks.

 

[Darrin kirby]

Had a chat with Bryan at Batee. Turns out they haven't found a suitable LED replacement for the later C4. The ones they have for the earlier C4 dash will work, but he says they'd be WAY too bright and because there are so many it would be super expensive (the old panel has 4, the newer one has 19).

 

[Darrellg1]

Had a chat with Bryan at Batee. Turns out they haven't found a suitable LED replacement for the later C4. The ones they have for the earlier C4 dash will work, but he says they'd be WAY too bright and because there are so many it would be super expensive (the old panel has 4, the newer one has 19).

Thats good info to know Darrin, I hope you find something suitable.

 

[Darrin kirby]

FYI - I did some thinking about this and posed a question to Batee about possibly retarding the power to the cluster lights to lower the overall brightness of the higher output LEDs they're using for the earlier C4 kit. They haven't gotten back to me but if I find the time to pull my cluster I might experiment.

I'm kind of on a mission to replace as many of the incandescent bulbs with LED as possible. I think that could turn into a far costlier mission than I'd hoped as several of the bulb sockets for the external lighting are trashed and would need to be replaced. I tried LED bulbs in the cornering lamps and couldn't get the bases to seat properly due to the plastic twist-lock socket being wrecked. Looks like someone was just jamming the bulbs in rather than in the grooves and twisting them to lock. One more annoying little quirk I've discovered thanks to prior owners.

 

[Tourmax]

Get ready to curse when you pull the door courtesy lamps, rear hatch lamps and under dash courtesy lamps.

The Bulbs GM put in get far too hot and if anyone has left the door open too long, the "socket" parts of the lamps assembly are usually discolored (IE: burnt) and/or melted. What i found with mine is that it was like the bulbs got very hot, then the heat traveled down through the bulb contacts, heated the metal in the Lamp contacts and that melted the plastic housing and allowed the metal contacts to go adrift.....

 

[Darrin kirby]

I have replaced the door courtesy lamps with LEDs, and yes - those were discolored/warped. everything is working fine though. The floor and rear compartment lamps are also working fine but I haven't swapped those yet. I have LEDs for them, and the under hood lamps.