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BrazilianY60
16th September 2023, 12:41 AM
Hello everyone.

My GQ instrument cluster had a few bulbs burnt so I replaced them. The ones that came out looked just like some T10 bulbs that I took from the parkers light a while ago, with a greenish/bluish removable cover over them. The bulbs with the cover removed had no markings to identify wattage, but were physically identical to the T10 ones I had available.
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The bulbs with the green cover on provide a darker green, kind of dull and sad.
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The T10 bulbs (with no green cover) provided a much brighter, lighter and more pleasant green.
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I was happy so far but when I showed this to a friend, he advised me to check what wattage the original ones were, because the T10 that I have used are 5W and could end up melting the plastic of the instrument cluster.


After some searching around I found this:

T10, 194, and 168 bulbs are all wedge-base bulbs that are commonly used for interior lighting in vehicles. They all utilize a wedge base, specifically the W2.1x9.5d, that snugly fits into their sockets. Their primary difference lies in the wattage. The T10 bulb consumes 3.8W, the 194 bulb uses 4W, and the 168 bulb takes up 5W.

But I could not find absolutely nowhere what the instrument cluster background light bulbs wattage are supposed to be. No intention of going LED, just to make sure I don't melt my instrument cluster.

Can anyone that knows this shed some light? (pun intended)

Thanks!

mudnut
16th September 2023, 10:57 PM
The backlighting bulbs in a TB42 cluster I have are marked as A14 34 WL. Now I cant be sure if it is 3.4 as the markings are very faded But yes 5 watts is too bright for dash lighting. The dimmer is not made for higher amps either. Hope I have not caused you any further confusion.

None of the warning light globes have any ID marks on them.

The covered globes are designed to not reflect too brightly off the windows in the dark.