speedo needle doesnt light up

[vtecpower]

hey people!!! im going to replace my instrument bulbs with some nice bright white LED ones but whilst im there i thought ill fix my speedo needle light..

it just doesnt light up and never has since i have owned the car i can see how fast im going as the lights around the cluster light it up enough to see (the bulbs aint actually bad i just want to put some LED's to make it look more modern) but on every pic i see i dont think you can actually change the needle light..

or am i wrong ??

any help will be appreciated

[MR2O12]

You answerd your own question lol. The needle moves..fast so the light would have to be in the needle itself..

[Torero]

If I'm not mistaken Vtec, a lot of users who have had this issue when they fitted Speedhut dials.

Speedhuts are powered by a small electrical inverter which activates the translucent surface and lights up the dial numbers but the effect also negates the needle [particularly when using blue light].

A lot of users have over come this by choosing a red LED close to where the needle as this reflects the coating on the needles more effectively.

I know this has been done successfully but I have never tried it with my LEDs and it may take a bit of fettling but for a few pennies it could be worth a try Buddy.

[vtecpower]

If I'm not mistaken Vtec, a lot of users who have had this issue when they fitted Speedhut dials.

Speedhuts are powered by a small electrical inverter which activates the translucent surface and lights up the dial numbers but the effect also negates the needle [particularly when using blue light].

A lot of users have over come this by choosing a red LED close to where the needle as this reflects the coating on the needles more effectively.

I know this has been done successfully but I have never tried it with my LEDs and it may take a bit of fettling but for a few pennies it could be worth a try Buddy.

thanks for this dude!! but i have Lockwood dials do these suffer the same problem

[Slarty]

If I remember correctly (have had this happen to me a fair while ago!) there's one bulb that illuminates the speedo needle as well as some of the speedo face/numbers. Are the numbers lighting up correctly? If not, that's probably your problem....

[vtecpower]

If I remember correctly (have had this happen to me a fair while ago!) there's one bulb that illuminates the speedo needle as well as some of the speedo face/numbers. Are the numbers lighting up correctly? If not, that's probably your problem....

not sure i think 0-80mph is quite dark comapred to the rest.... ill have a look tonight when i go for a drive

[vtecpower]

wrong all my lights on the speedo revs and everywere light up fine is just the speedo needle thats not lighting up

[vtecpower]

here is a pic to help explain



see the lights are birght apart from the speedo needle

[Magic Beans]

The needle is transparent, so just picks up on the lighting coming from behind (cluster lights). Swap the bulbs to bright LEDs (5 cluster etc, like I PM'd you about) and the needle will glow.

Alternatively you'd be looking at modding the needle itself, building in an LED. Which would be a PITA to do.

I also looked at spraying the needle or attaching some 3M reflective material. It would be fiddly to do and might be distracting on the eye.

HTH

[vtecpower]

The needle is transparent, so just picks up on the lighting coming from behind (cluster lights). Swap the bulbs to bright LEDs (5 cluster etc, like I PM'd you about) and the needle will glow.

Alternatively you'd be looking at modding the needle itself, building in an LED. Which would be a PITA to do.

I also looked at spraying the needle or attaching some 3M reflective material. It would be fiddly to do and might be distracting on the eye.

HTH

Order them buddy thanks for the link!! Hopefully it will look good

[Magic Beans]

The needle is transparent, so just picks up on the lighting coming from behind (cluster lights). Swap the bulbs to bright LEDs (5 cluster etc, like I PM'd you about) and the needle will glow.

Alternatively you'd be looking at modding the needle itself, building in an LED. Which would be a PITA to do.

I also looked at spraying the needle or attaching some 3M reflective material. It would be fiddly to do and might be distracting on the eye.

HTH

Order them buddy thanks for the link!! Hopefully it will look good

It will