Defender 1998 Speedo bulb upgrade

Hi there,

has anyone got any good upgrades for the speedo light on a 1998 defender 110? mine seems very dim and i struggle to read it. it may be that the glass/plastic is scratched or crazed which doesn't help but any recommendations to make it better would be appreciated.

cheers

Steve

Without being patronising are they all working? there is more than one bulb and if one blows it just makes it very dim rather than being obvous it has blown. Secondly are they the correct wattage, there are different wattage bulbes that come in that same capless size, a 5w will melt the plastic a 3w/2.5w is correct and a 1.2w will be too dim.

dag019 said:

Without being patronising are they all working? there is more than one bulb and if one blows it just makes it very dim rather than being obvous it has blown. Secondly are they the correct wattage, there are different wattage bulbes that come in that same capless size, a 5w will melt the plastic a 3w/2.5w is correct and a 1.2w will be too dim.

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you make a great point and one i hadn't considered because i don't know how many bulbs its meant to have, i'll have a look once i can work out how to get to them!! thanks for your input.

drfoster said:

you make a great point and one i hadn't considered because i don't know how many bulbs its meant to have, i'll have a look once i can work out how to get to them!! thanks for your input.

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if you undo the 4 screws holding the binnacle in place you can access the bulb holders behind. Be carful when removing the binnacle the little plastic tabs like to snap off. If they do Raptor engineering do an all metal version that is very good and I can recommend. A friend has one fitted to his and when (not if) my plastic tabs snap it is what i will be fitting. The bulbs bases are just push fit into the cylindrical housing but again be carful as if the housing snaps it needs the speedo to be stripped to repair it.

I know this thread is for a voltmeter LINK but the black tube in the first pic is the bulb housing and you can in post 17 the level of disassembly required to replace the bulb holder.

I got fed up of not being able to see my defender gauges / speedo with standard bulbs & upgraded to these. No issues so far & an amazing difference.

Qasim 10x T10 W5W LED Bulbs 5SMD 501 194 168 5050 Chipset Wedge for Car Interior Dome Dashboard Map RV License Plate Side Lights DC 12V Green​

+1 for the LED bulbs. I upgraded mine over 15 years ago. I just went for standard bulbs (which at the time was a very cold blue) so the dashboard light is more blue than green which I prefer.

cheers all, i'll take a look at those

One thing to be careful of with low cost LED dash bulbs, they're hugely bright and a big distraction whilst driving. I suggest you buy lower light output units.

It can be the speedo goes dim when one of the bulb holder's falls out of the gauge.