Travelor wrote:Having information confirmation isn't a bad thing!
Straight-up truth. No issues here.
Travelor wrote:Secondly, 168 and 194 really are NOT the same size. 168 is physically slightly smaller (as you have noticed) than a 194. They are listed on superabrightleds as interchangable, but they also list 74's and 39's as the same (but again, nope)
Umm, the 168 and 194 bulbs both use the T10 base, along with several other bulbs of various wattages and even physical size, and that is the most important aspect here, IMO. But if the two bulbs are physically different, I haven't noticed as they are close enough to be identical, and I am pretty sure they are. I could be wrong though, one might be a few millimeters shorter than the other.
Travelor wrote:Not all bulbs will just slide out of the older housings as I've run into a lot of bulbs that are soldered to the connector and are meant to be replaced as one piece.
Yes, this is absolutely true, and the older, smaller bulbs used in the digi-clusters have wires run from them that are then fused to the metal tangs of the socket (as mentioned before), making it tricky to reuse the old socket with a new bulb. But it can be done without a huge amount of trouble.
Travelor wrote:service engine soon and shift light do the same thing as analog; the low amount of current that goes through the bulb powers the LED constantly, so a standard bulb is required.)
I did not know this -thanks for the info. Hmmm.
Travelor wrote:I did try blacklight bulbs though to see if adding a couple would make the needles pop out better, but the bulbs were not strong enough.
I also thought about using blacklights, but was afraid of having the same issue you mentioned. Two of my digi clusters have had the orange lenses removed though, and the bulbs just radiate inside a white housing and I put a white fibrous material in place of the stock orange lenses, so I might be able to use blacklight at night and use a white (or other color) LED for daytime use. Not sure I'll bother trying it, but maybe I'll put one in my spare cluster just for posterity's sake..
Edit: I did check on the '90 Indy's backlight bulb today, and it is the T10 (194 or 168, specifically) type bulb, making three different bulbs used, with two completely incompatible socket sizes. I snapped a pic (bad quality though) that I'll try to upload and edit into this posting at a later date.