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brwn234
07-01-2008, 11:11 PM
I want to replace the bulbs in my Gaffrig II guages with blue or purple led bulbs but dont know what size they are. I believe they're just a wedge bulb that slides into a socket that twist into the back of the guage. Any body know the size or which led bulbs to get?

VetteLT193
07-02-2008, 07:09 AM
I want to replace the bulbs in my Gaffrig II guages with blue or purple led bulbs but dont know what size they are. I believe they're just a wedge bulb that slides into a socket that twist into the back of the guage. Any body know the size or which led bulbs to get?

The Gaffrig II's are made by Livorsi. you can get them from them (or cheaper if you go to an authorized dealer). I am pretty sure Harbormaster is a Livorsi dealer. If all you want is a color change, just do the light boot. I think they are usually about a buck a piece. Super simple upgrade after you wedge your body between the seats and head under the dash :eek!:

http://www.livorsi.com/catalog/accessories_boots_brackets.htm#COOL_LED_LIGHTING

brwn234
07-07-2008, 08:40 PM
I ordered some led bulbs off ebay last night. I got blue, close enough to purple i guess. We'll see how they look if they work at all and I'll post some pics. 10 for under $8 is always a better deal than $8 a piece from the manufacturer. Or like I've learned in the past, dont try to be cheap just buy the real thing. We'll see.

kramsay1234
07-07-2008, 09:14 PM
I now own those bulbs too. Hope they work well. Will put them in when I do my guage bezels. Then pics...

brwn234
07-17-2008, 11:00 PM
Wow!!! It looks awesome. I dont have any pics of it yet because I forgot to take my camera with me to the boat. But I'll get em. The color is great and it was the cheapest bling to dollar ratio I could ever asked for.
One thing though I have a compass in the center dash panel. It's made by Gaffrig but it isnt a Gaffrig II. The bulb in there is not the same as the rest. It's a smaller bulb, type 74 as opposed to 160. Did some research on ebay and you can get a replacement led in whatever color you want as well.
Easiest way to put them in is to remove all the screws from the panel itself and pull it off the dash with the guages still installed. There was plenty of wire length for me to do this.

kramsay1234
07-18-2008, 01:04 PM
Nice! My bulbs arrived and unless it rains the entire weekend like they are saying I will be installing mine on Sunday. I too have the compass so it looks like I am in the same boat. Since I followed your lead on the bulbs, let me know what item number you use for the compass bulb and I will be happy to copy you...:wink:

And post some pics so I know what I have to look forward too...

Donzi LG
07-18-2008, 06:07 PM
Sounds very cool. How are they in terms of light output, are they super bright? How's the dial visibility? I like the idea of blue instead of amber but I'm concerned that they might be too bright. Seriously considering this change!

John

brwn234
07-21-2008, 09:57 PM
Sorry it took me so long to get back. There not too bright, but the guage is full of light instead of some here and there like before. I will take pics tomorrow night and try to upload them just after. Anybody boat on the Potomac in DC? I'll be on the water on Wednesday.

kramsay1234
07-22-2008, 12:35 PM
I look forward to the pictures as well because I got rained out hard last weekend so I didn't install mine. I did order the #74 bulb for the compass gauge though, so would be nice if it arrived this week.

brwn234
07-24-2008, 11:43 PM
Get ready for this. The pics are kinda fuzzy because I'm trying to not use the flash in the dark. The speedo bothers me, the face of th guage isnt the same distance away from th bezel all the way around so its dark on the top. It looks different and darker than the rest. The lenses on the speedo and tach are kinda scratched so one day I might send them to livorsi to have them replaced and fix the speedo face at the same time.

VetteLT193
07-25-2008, 07:37 AM
They look great. My livorsi gauges have pretty crappy lighting in them, they all look like your speedo / tach. The Gaffrig (by Gaffrig) have light that fills the gauge up like yours show.

either way, yours look great. I like the blue more than the red too.

glashole
07-25-2008, 08:19 AM
do you do much running at night??

they look pretty cool but can you see the read-outs clearly when running

Donzi LG
07-25-2008, 01:26 PM
Looks sweet!! Nice job!

brwn234
07-25-2008, 05:21 PM
I havnt ever taken the boat out at night. But if I wanted to I'd have some bad ass looking guages and all for $8. I'm moving to Ft Lauderdale on August 15th so maybe once we get settled in down there I'll go cruise around and night.
I think you can read the guages even better now. The orange needles used to get lost in the red. Now they almost glow against the blue.

rtgogo
07-26-2008, 07:46 AM
Very nice..good point about the needle getting lost in the red...just when I thought I was done with those dam gauges..:smash:..guess I'm orderin some yellow lights...Looks real nice..gotta love an $8 upgrade!!

I don't have the compass..so all of them are the same 160 size.. right? thanks!

kramsay1234
07-26-2008, 08:23 AM
Wow. Loving that. I still need to install mine. Thunderstorms here again this weekend. The weather this summer blows. I will have to sit at the dock at night with the gauges on to show those off when I am done. I rarely if ever run at night. Nice job and thanks for the idea.

brwn234
07-27-2008, 07:33 PM
Mine were 194, but there are like 30 different numbers that cross reference to the same part. the link to the auction I purchase them from is here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&viewitem=&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fse arch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D 200236303299%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1&item=200236303299

You'll will have to tell me if yellow is too bright and hurts your night vision. My boat has yellow and purple graphics/vinyl and I couldnt find purple and I thought yellow was too bright.

Kramsay, when you do yours unscrew the panels and pull them away from the dash. Dont bother trying to bend you arm in half through the access panel under the steering wheel. There is plenty of length on the wires to just remove each panel.

kramsay1234
07-27-2008, 10:09 PM
I had a couple of hours on Saturday so when it stopped raining, I put the bezels on my gauges and put the bulbs in. I did just unscrew the dash panels to access the backs of the gauges. Much easier. My bulb has not shown up yet for the compass, but should arrive this week. I put the new LED bulbs in and my 4 gauges in the panel to the left of the speedo, tach, and compass don't seem to light up at all. I will have to look at this later as I had to pack up and go. Strange that none of the four light up. I know the tach lights up. I realized my speedo has some corrosion on the back and the terminal on the back where the bulb holder screws onto to make connection is pretty much not there - flaked off like paper, so I will have to work on that too. I will likely solve that issue by replacing with a GPS Speedo. I just need to find a white one at a reasonable price. So far I have't found any for sale. I hate having to look at my handheld GPS to see speed while running so I want to go with the GPS one. $500 seems steap though for one. I can pick up another Gaffrig II gauge for about $75 for now.

Will have to do some more fiddling when I have some more time this upcoming weekend.

For those that have done the bezels...do you have to remove the panel behind the throttle to access the silent choice switch, halon indicator, and depth sounder gauge? I didn't go so far as to try, but I know you can't access them when the main gauge panel with the speedo is pulled out. Definitely a separate access somewhere on that side. The throttle seems to be the logical choice.

rtgogo
07-28-2008, 06:40 AM
I pulled the stereo to get to the slient choice switch wires.

brwn234
07-28-2008, 07:20 AM
Theres actually more than just an led in that little bulb. Theres a resistor. I read somewhere that you have to get the polarity right on these bulbs. If they dont light up, flip them around. I had the same problem with a couple of mine.
Also if you decide you dont want to replace the speedo get a repair kit for a vehicle rear defroster. It's a conductive paint that you use to fix the heating grid on the back of your car when those little lines get scratched and break the circuit. You should be able to fix that contact for alot cheaper than the price of a new guage. Unless you have to have the GPS

kramsay1234
07-28-2008, 06:45 PM
Interesting on the polarity...I will have to turn them around. Very strange though that I would get 4 out of 4 backwards, but hope that is what it is.

My other option on the bezels was pulling the stereo. I thought of that first, but then the throttle panel seemed bigger and easier to remove. Thanks for the input.

On the speedo - there are more issues with it. It never worked for some reason, and it could be that the line from the drive is not flowing, but I thought I would take this as an opportunity to go GPS (but man, they are expensive..) I am toying the the idea of - catch a good GPS speed once until I see the 75mph I am wanting to see. Then, I will never care again, knowing that it does or can do that speed. After that, the inaccurate Gaffrig II can tell everyone else in the boat we are doing 80mph...Will likely get the stock gauge going again until I see someone parting with a GPS one. Only way to justify having it would be finding a deal.

...and as for one of the original replies to this thread...I will grab a 6 pack next time. I didn't have one when I did the bulbs the first time and the bezels. Unwiring each gauge was a breeze, but time consuming and would have benefited from a few cold beers on ice...

zelatore
07-28-2008, 08:25 PM
I can't comment on your specific problems, but FWIW LEDs very definitely are polarity dependant. It won't hurt anything if they get wired backwards; they just won't light.

See, I remember some of my collage edumacation!