Dimming Bright Dash & Panel Lights

[Steve762us]

The gauge and panel lights are bright; way brighter than necessary, and a serious hindrance to night navigation.

The fix on the Faria gauges is easy...the landing-lights in the panel switches are next.

For the Faria gauges, pop the panel and remove the twist-out bulb holders on each gauge; they're bayonet style holders, 1/4 turn CCW and holder and bulb are off.

Substitute an LED of your choice for each bulb, and reassemble. Check that each LED lights up when you turn ignition to ON. If bulb doesn't light up, remove and reverse the LED in the socket.

Once you have all the LEDs lit, screw your gauge panel back on.

I used red LEDs, but the eBay vendor also has blue...pick your preference:

10PCS 194/168 LED Red Inverted LEDs SideLight Bulb F/S - eBay (item 120122521646 end time Aug-11-08 20:02:57 PDT)

I used the sidelight design, as that's how the original bulbs were lighting the gauges. The LEDs provide adequate illumination of the gauges, but not too much, and the red preserves night vision. You can see the difference in the amount of light coming from the (unaltered) panel switches.

[jtaylor1]

After reading what you wrote about changing the bulbs to red, I removed one to see exactly what the bulb looked like. Then I had a thought, what if I just paint the bulb? I got into my wife and daughters' nail polish stash and picked the color I liked (dark red in my case) then I removed each bulb and painted it - now my gauge lights are red.
I then figured out that the rocker buttons on the panels switches will come off, exposing the little bulbs that light up the switches. I painted those bulbs red and now I have switches with a red glow instead of a too bright white glow. I don't know how long the nail polish will hold up, or if it might bake off after a while, but this is a pretty easy way to dim the dash lights. You could even color code the bulbs on the switches if you wanted.

[Steve762us]

Painting the bulbs will work too, though they may run hotter and burn out quicker...

How'd the rockers come off? I was thinking of trying to pry the rocker off one of the pivot pins and lift it off--was that how you did it?

EDIT: Got it...work `em off easy with a small flat-tip. I may silicone some type of colored film over the ends of the bulbs...reduce the brightness and keep the saltwater out of there, at the same time.

[AstroDiver]

You may also check Super Bright LEDs - Miniature Wedge Base Bulbs
for more options on replacement bulbs.