Dash light help

[mobileaudio25]

My lights are very dim in the malibu so i wanted to take apart the dash and put 194 LEDs to brighten it up. For some reason when I put the LEDs in they will barely light up or not light up at all but if i put a regular bulb back in the dash it is fine. I have used these 194 LEDs on multiple cars and friends cars. They are even used as my license plate light and front corner marker on the malibu. I know they are good bulbs. Any ideas?

My dimmer works fine, it cuts in and out but i can get it to dim the lights and get them bright so I do not think the problem is there.

 

[mobileaudio25]

I figured it out.... If anyone is looking to upgrade led lights behind the dash the led bulbs you need are WLED-W-120 from superbrightleds.com
their other 194 bulbs work everywhere in our car but the sockets in the dash are slightly different.

 

[pontiacgp]

does the dimmer work with the WLED-W-120

 

[Bar50]

I bought a set with sockets off of amazon and they work with the dimmer.

 

[mobileaudio25]

does the dimmer work with the WLED-W-120

the dimmer does not work with the leds. I've heard you have to change out the sockets that it plugs into in order for that to work, but i may have heard wrong.

if my dimmer is all the way left and i turn it to the right it does not dim or brighten at a constant rate, it jumps around and sometimes they will even turn off and turn back on depending where the dimmer is at. Is this safe or ok? i don't use the dimmer much but if it could be unsafe i certainly want to fix it.

 

[mobileaudio25]

I bought a set with sockets off of amazon and they work with the dimmer.

the led bulbs you bought off amazon also came with the sockets that connect through the circuit on the back? i don't really care if i can dim the leds or not but might do it depending on the price. do you have a link or do you remember the brand of sockets?

 

[mobileaudio25]

http://www.ecklerschevelle.com/1980-chevelle-malibu-headlight-dimmer-switch.html#close

is this a decent replacement dimmer? If i remember correctly does the headlight switch plug into this and this mounts into the dash? for $10 i feel as a might as well replace it since I have everything apart even if it does or does not dim my leds. what would you guys do?

 

[O. D. Showtime]

Not sure on the quality of that one....but the headlight dimmer switch mounts lower down the column and is activated with a rod when you flip the turn signal lever.

Dimming of the dash lights is through the headlight switch

I have nice OEM headlight dimmer and headlight switches but I'm not sure I can beat that price....match it probably + shipping.

 

[mobileaudio25]

When I move my lever on column to turn on my brights the rod does not move but I can manually push the switch. I think that the rod in the column came off of the lever somehow. Only way to fix is to pull the steering wheel and drop the column correct?

If I decided to have my lights so that I couldn't use my brights and just made sure only the low beams were on would that be ok? It Wouldn't affect any other lighting other than not having the ability to use my brights right

 

[Texas82GP]

Is the rod engaged in the switch? You can see it without dropping the column.