Hi
I would like to address an important point to the Jaguar specialists.
I own a 1965 Jaguar S-Type. There is a significant issue with the dashboard lighting intensity at night, which is very dim, especially for the speedometer and tachometer. The situation is not much better for the four gauges. It seems to me that it is not just a matter of changing the bulbs (by installing more powerful ones) but a weakness in the design of the electrical circuit. Have you experienced an ingenious yet simple solution to implement ?
Thank you for your support
Regards
Gérard

 

if you install more powerful bulbs, the blue dome filter inside the gauges will melt.
I have no issue with the lighting in my S type, it is supposed to be a gentle ilumination, just enough to be seen. However if the bulbs are old, replacing them with new ones of the same wattage will improve the intensity.

 

Clean up your "grounds" too, and use conductive grease, not dielectric grease, be careful not to get the conductive grease all over.

Like Jose said about the lamps, they get this silver/grey build up on the inside like an old electronic tube _ light really can't shine through that coating very well.

 

Standard dash lighting on an S Type is not dim. See my signature & I replaced every harness after restoring the gauges. Buy a new standard lighting kit of bulbs. Listen to Jeff.

 

All the above and maybe consider swapping out the bulbs for LEDs. I think bettercarlighting.co.uk supply a dimmable LED so the intermediate position on the switch has something to do.

 

LEDs look too white.

 

I don't know much about the made up kits, but I'd imagined there would be colour options.
I'd avoid or at least be careful with warning lights as they can become invisible with polarised sunglasses.

 

I do not have a great picture, but will try to take another to show you. The photo I have provided does not really show it well, but what I did was to add an LED strip lighting which I have on the factory 3 way switch and that really looks nice and makes it easy to read any of the gauges well.

 

WOW, isn't that intense blue LED a bit bright and too much of it for night driving ?
I know it would really bother me at night, unless I could dim it right down.

 

You can replace the bulbs with green LED bulbs that are much brighter, look right and won't melt the plastic inside the gauges.

 

Not at all, the picture is not what it really looks like. Driving at night the dashboard has light easy to read blue hue, but for some reason when I took that photo the camera did something weird to make it look so bright a weird? I am not a camera guy but I can assure you it looks like any new factory car, not overly bright, etc. but easy to read every gauge. I had passengers comment on how nice the lights look at night....

I will try to remember to try to take another photo some evening with a different camera or my phone to see if I can capture more of how it is in reality. If you saw my car you would definitely not feel it needs to be dimmed, etc.

 

LED's are make in various colour temperatures but the Jag kits are 6500K which is too white.

 

From what people say (no personal experience), the suppliers of LEDs for classic cars are quite helpful with variations from their standard spec. After all, they most likely put kits together as orders arrive. They could easily make a set with green lamps (and later add it to their range). I'd certainly prefer a gentle green or yellow to bright hot white.

 

Agreed. About 4700K to 5000K would be OK without any colour. Most Jag Dash Kits are 6500K. Looks all wrong.

 

K = Kelvin should someone not know.

 

BTW ~ LED vendors hate mounting/configuring them in different bases.

 

I looked at some pictures on the internet. I can't say I liked the look of any of the colours. 'Warm white' seems to be available as individual lamps. I think I'd settle for that. I'd probably sacrifice the choice of dim and bright levels. Or use the Ford system where the max position (very confusingly) turns something else on. In most cars (apart from the Mustangs I used to take as rentals) I set instrument brightness to max and then forget about it.

 

today was the first time driving my mk2 at night for a while and ya(!), dashboard bulbs could use some work. why, i don't know, but it was the same way with my other old british car too. so i'll probably pull a few bulbs out, maybe all of them, look at the connectors and take a look at what ebay has to offer. i'll be hoping for similar and maybe better results than i had with my other car. changing them for LEDS was a vast improvement but there was still plenty of room for improvement!

BTW, i was surprised how well the old-fashioned-$15-incandesent-three pronged-connector-seal-beamed-jobbies worked this morning. i think i'll keep them.

 

Maybe what's needed is to paint the inside of the housing with a reflective paint, or just maybe a coat of fresh paint.
I can remember taking the housing apart on a car once, I don't think it was my Jaguar, and the paint was flaking off, and there was quite a heavy film of gritty dust in there.
That would certainly add to the problem.
A good cleaning may do the trick.

 

recently installed LEDs in the cabin of my boat, but still wasn't satisfied with the improvement. it so happens that i store a few items directly under the those lights, so i thought to move the items around such that the most reflective of them was directly under the light and the difference was amazing. ...i was sooo proud, and didn't cost me an additional penny!