I replaced my cluster completely after it shorted out. I used the existing gauges and I moved the LED bulbs over to the used civic cluster I bought.

The weird thing that is happening now is, my cluster will NOT dim with the OEM dimmer switch. However, the HVAC system will dim with the dimmer.

I'm completely stumped. Has anyone heard of this?

1995 Honda Civic VX Hatchback.

 

Led bulbs receive any voltage and they illuminate and do not dim. So that's normal.

 

If that's the case, why did the same bulbs dim in my previous cluster? Was my cluster malfunctioning?

 

Is the rest of your dash dimming?

 

Add car information to your post.

 

In my cluster I used regular bulbs to shine towards the gauges and the led bulbs for illumination behind the needles so that I could use the dimmer function. However you're lucky that your dimmer switch even works half the time they go out on their own and you have to bypass them.

 

Car information added to 1st post.

tony_2018: Yes the rest of the dash dims.

My cluster used to dim, but when I switched the bulbs over to the new cluster, this cluster won't dim. Maybe the 1st cluster was just faulty? I mean, it did short out actually. I don't know if that's related to LED bulbs.

 

Did the cluster come out of the same make/model/yr?

 

I'll have to double check. I gave my car specs to he seller on this forum. I'm not sure exactly what it came out of. It did however have all the correct lights, etc.

 

Your previous cluster may have been modified (with a resistor?) to allow dimming of the LED bulbs.

If you reinstall the stock incandescent bulbs in the cluster, do they properly dim?

 

The seller told me the cluster I had purchased from him came out of a "EX/LX".

The original cluster that was dimming in my car I doubt had any resistors or had been modified. I know this because the original owner was the 2nd owner and didn't replace/modify/take care of anything on the car. It also didn't look like it had been modified when I opened it up.

I don't have access to the original cluster anymore. The reason why is that one of traces in the circuit board on the exterior (backside) of the cluster had shorted out/had a burn mark on it. It ruined most of the cluster to the point where only simple indicator lights like SRS, turn signals, were working on it. I threw out the cluster when I switched over the gauges and LED lights.

It's not a huge deal if I can't dim my LEDS in this replacement cluster. I'm more or less curious why I could do it on my old one and not this one when I switched over the same internals.

 

I think the original cluster had been modified unbeknownst to you.

Compared to incandescent bulbs, LEDs require very little current to illuminate brightly, even at the lowest setting on the dimmer switch.

 

Your old cluster probably had a short somewhere that drew current. My lx has a short on the odometer and it causes the gauge lights to look like they are not even on at night

 

The cluster did not short out (at least while it was working). I was able to dim it from low brightness to completely high brightness using the factory dimming switch. The entire cluster shorted out after 1 month of the LED bulb installation. The cluster simply did not illuminate and the gauges all stopped working after that point. That's when I switched to a new cluster.

Ron, that's exactly what I thought. LEDs don't require a lot of power to achieve it's full potential.

The cluster couldn't have been modified either. I've seen the inside of the old one. It's pretty easy to understand what's what. This is the 1st time this car has seen LEDs in the dash. I can't see why a previous owner would modify the cluster if he wasn't willing to add anything like LED bulbs, etc.

To solve this issue I ordered new bulbs with a lower lumen count.

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

Hey all,

I purchased a 96-98 Honda Odyssey black climate controller for my Civic. It's completely OEM. I recently replaced the OEM bulbs with LED's. I'm now noticing that the LED's are able to dim with the factory dimmer switch on my dash board. How is this possible? I was under the impression that LED's do not dim unless they are somehow modified.

Can someone explain this?

 

Some LED bulbs are dimmable. Or the controller has a built in resistor.

 

My dimmer switch was bypassed when I wrote my first post, i was not aware of that fact until later when I was tracing wires for my door locks. So I'm about to contradict myself

My other hondas are able to dim with led bulbs, it's not a vast difference but they do get slightly darker at the lowest setting. It can also depend on the style of bulb being used, some leds come with resistors and some do not. Here is a photo of the brand and style i use for all t5 or #74 bulbs. I've had them in different cars for several years and never had a bulb failure or flicker. The cheap led bulbs have a tendency to have cheap soldiering on the board and crack joints and flicker over time, however the ones I bought on amazon have not flickered once




On most cars the dimmer switch does not work with leds, but hondas dimmer switch allows the lights to be turned all the way off which is different than other manufacturers. Also probably the reason why it is prone to fail more often. It restricts alot of current, over heats, then fails

Heres my dash with leds that dimmed. The blue spot on the cluster is from another off branded 194 style led bulb, was later swapped out

Leds behind the cluster really illuminate the gauges from behind and almost eliminate the need for the 2 bulbs that shine into the cluster from the top. Here is a picture of how I ran without those 2. If the needles were clear they would illuminate, but I guess the engineers factored in cost and it was cheaper to have 2 extra small bulbs than clear needles, or they just wanted the ambient lighting to illuminate the needles on the gauges




I should also note, I break the plastic tabs inside of the cluster that prevent light dispersion. Once those plastic tabs are broken it eliminates hot spots



And then the whole dash

 

I just find it odd that my instrument cluster USED to dim with LED's and then when I replaced it with another OEM cluster, it doesn't dim anymore. I've heard from multiple people (even the manufacture of the LED's I bought them from) that the ones I bought were not able to dim. Now all of a sudden I put LED's in my climate controller and they can be dimmed with the OEM dimmer. It's a tad confusing that it works on one piece of OEM equipment and not the other.

 

Next time, buy from 1 source. There's no way to pinpoint the issue with multiple variables in the mix.

 

The LED's that are in the instrument cluster are from the same source. They were the same bulbs that dimmed in the prior cluster. Now they don't dim in this one.