daeron Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Okay, so I cleaned my car out really thoroughly tonight.. and started organizing my glovebox. Later on, I was following through and picking through a box full of car parts, and came across some little tiny dashboard lightbulbs i pulled out of another ea82 in the past.. While cleaning my glovebox, I had been thinking about what was involved in pulling the trip computer display, because its almost totally illegible. The plastic front piece has gotten sort of pitted, and its hard enough to see through, and on top of that, the LCD display itself is getting darkened. All of that aside, though, I wanted to simply replace the bulb (bulbs actually, theres two in the trip computer) so I could see it at least with the lights on... This is a photo of the bulbs I had to install (or so I thought) The actual glass bulb is a unit that slides into the black plastic housing. The bulb resembles a christmas tree spare lightbulb; below the cylindrical "bulb" it flattens down and has one wire bent up on either side of it. It fits all the way down into the length of that black socket. I do not have a photo of the bulbs that were in the trip computer; they were similar but not swappable. The bulbs that were there fit into a small black housing, but this black housing was flush with the surface it mounted into. The bulb was like a shortened version of the other, without the flattened solid glass part at the base. The glass part of the trip computer bulb looked more like a mini mag lite bulb, just a cigar tube shaped piece of glass, flat on one end with two wires coming out. I went to the parts store, and they had nothing like what I needed; there were two or three bulb numbers similar in size and shape to the spares I already had but none like the ones I needed to replace. Has anyone ever found these in the store? they werent listed in the sylvania lighting guide, either.. If no one has found them in a store, I might need to beg a recruit to source some for me from a boneyard with more subarus in it than mine.. I do not think I have seen a trip computer on another soob yet. For that matter, since these bulbs were simply fitted into a plastic base, might it be possible to obtain a couple of 12V LEDs and get a seriously bright display out of it??? If so, what color LEDs would be best to display the black-on-green screen? I might have to remove the factory molded clear plastic screen in front of it and replace it with a scrap of plexiglass, too.. I started taking pictures to show everyone how easy this would be, but then I totally failed to produce results, so no write-up. Thanks for the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 yeah, I took my TC out and stupidly took out both of the bulbs, of course I THOUGHT I put them in a safe place, but as soon as I drove the car, they were gone, somewhere in my roo but nowhere to be found. I heard from Russ that and northwet that the stock bulbs should be at radioshack, I havnt been able to get myself over to one to confirm this, if you find them, or an easy way to fix these with something else, please dont keep the part number or names from me!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Ok i went to radio shack, I found one of those plastic casings under my dash in my car, so with 10 dollars I drove there and found these, the number is #7219. I put it in my car carefully wrapping the the 2 wires around the plastic piece, and I HAVE LIGHT!!!! But, If you can find one just a tiny bit larger, it might do some good, oh by the by, these came in a pack of 2 for 1.50. you can find it in the rear of the store in those metal slide out organizers. Let me know how it looks with 2 in, mines alittle bit dim, but its better than nothing at all... IM SO HAPPY Oh yeah, The bulbs are Type T-1 so if you find almost any T-1 12 volt bulb, and if they are 2 pin, then you should be good as long as they fit!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted February 28, 2007 Author Share Posted February 28, 2007 Ok i went to radio shack, I found one of those plastic casings under my dash in my car, so with 10 dollars I drove there and found these, the number is #7219. I put it in my car carefully wrapping the the 2 wires around the plastic piece, and I HAVE LIGHT!!!! But, If you can find one just a tiny bit larger, it might do some good, oh by the by, these came in a pack of 2 for 1.50. you can find it in the rear of the store in those metal slide out organizers. Let me know how it looks with 2 in, mines alittle bit dim, but its better than nothing at all... IM SO HAPPY Oh yeah, The bulbs are Type T-1 so if you find almost any T-1 12 volt bulb, and if they are 2 pin, then you should be good as long as they fit!!! DUDE youre the bomb. Thanks!!! any chance of a photo? this is a quick paintbrush sketch of the two different bulbs.. the one, A, is the one needed for the trip computer display, and the other, B, is the standard in dash illumination bulb common to other vehicles.. (at least, there is a good selection of them on the shelf at Pep Boys) Bulb B has a solid extension of the glass down into a base, and one end of the filament is bent up along either flattened side of it; Bulb A just has two wires sticking out that get wrapped into a little plastic button thingy. I put all this here for future reference, as much to make sure you and I are talking about the same thing beataru :-p thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 Sorry if its alittle fuzzy, I couldnt get my camera to Macro it, its just too small. You know, I found some 12 volt leds at the shack, so I bet I could easily put one of those in. but oh well, I still have to get another plastic bulb holder for the other side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted October 25, 2007 Author Share Posted October 25, 2007 Bump. Radio shack sucks anymore. I replaced the trip comp display with one thats legible... but it still doesn't light up. I went to radio shack and they were USELESS, I did NOT have this number handy but somehow my guess is the guys in there would just look at me funny... Maybe not. In any case, anyone else have any other solutions to this problem? I may go back in armed with the number beataru supplied me with here.. but I dunno. thx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j2coe Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 I used bright green LED's so the trip computer matches the display on my digital dash fairly closely, just played around with resistors 240 to 680 ohms till I found a brightness I liked and soldered them right to the contacts inside the trip computer. you could use amber to match the older digital dash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Daeron, you may be looking for miniature incadescent lamps. Check out this link and do a search for T-1 and T-3/4 lamps. http://www.shokaifareast.com/images/Lamps/Incandescent/T%20Type/t1b.PDF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82glsw Posted October 28, 2007 Share Posted October 28, 2007 the oem subaru part number for those bulbs is 85306ga000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted October 28, 2007 Share Posted October 28, 2007 heh heh, of course radio shack guys dont know their stuff! some of them do but, they dont want to help you hunt down a little bulb. Just walk in there, either with a old bulb or just look up the picture i posted and remember it, and when they ask if you need help say no thanks, or whatever, and go back to their bulb box (it has fuses, LEDs, Mini rocker switches, ect. its in a pull out cabinet. and start opening and going to town. If i remember right, i got one that is 1 size too small i think. But its still going. Now if only i could find the other side bulb holder, than it would be really bright. oh the pictures are in my photobucket account, its beataru (duh) lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calebz Posted October 29, 2007 Share Posted October 29, 2007 heh heh, of course radio shack guys dont know their stuff! Radio Shack You've got questions. We've got blank stares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daeron Posted October 29, 2007 Author Share Posted October 29, 2007 Radio Shack You've got questions. We've got blank stares. And a very strict dress code. I looked into getting a job at radio shack when I was in high school, thinking maybe I could be a good, helpful radio shack guy.. but when I saw exactly how clean cut and dressed you had to be (shirt and tie I think, shiny shoes, etc.) I was turned right off. It's not any fundamental opposition to a job involving a noose... (although its not my favorite) but more an issue with them wanting me to dress like that just to work at a radio shack.. The type of tool that takes a job like that in the current south Florida economy is either some schmuck who has no idea and is starting out what is likely to be a lukewarm career in sales, or some poor schmuck at a low point in his lukewarm career in sales. I had the bulb with me, and they were useless. I have a lead on someone whos willing to mail me bulbs for cost of shipping, so this issue should be essentially laid to rest.. BUT, I may be frankensteining the two trip computer displays in the end, to get one that looks best... (old one green screen, "new" one amber) and if I do I will update this thread with info and pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beataru Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Well, I hope you get it done right! I recently saw a picture of an XT's dash, that thing is totally awasome, its futuristic as anything. although the rear end of those cars needs attention.... anyways ill get back on topic later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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