Best light bulbs for replacing back lights in gauge cluster

[gnnova]

I just replaced the Stepper motors in my 2003 HD2500 and resoldered the resistors for the PRND321 display but I also want to replace the back lights.  What are the best ones to get and where to get them from?

 

Thanks Ken

[davester]

What do you mean by "best"?

 

If you get replacement incandescent bulbs, the display lights up great and pretty evenly.

If you use LED's, you need wide angle ones (so, not the ones at your local hobby electronics shack), and even then, it's not particularly even.  You also have to remove a coating from the overlay in the ip (I did this, carefully with acetone and q-tips), otherwise the "white bits" of the overlay looks blue with white led's.  You also need the right value resistor to match the LED current needs with the 13V or so your truck provides when running. Note, if you also replace the bulbs in the HVAC controller, 2 of the bulbs are run in series, so you need a different resistor for them).

 

I redid all my dash lights with wide angle led's, and it's noticeably brighter, but not as evenly lit as it was before.  And there are a couple of spots where the overlay ripped or the acetone washed away a bit too much of the background along with the coating.  If I were to do it again, I would just use regular incandescent bulbs.

[gnnova]

I know I didn't say incandescent but that is what I want.  I seen something on the web that said there are incandescent bulbs that are good ones that last a long time, but I can't find it again to see what ones they were talking about, so this is why I posted this.  Not interested in the LED's