Technical A brighter bulb than a 53?

The gauges in my truck are hard to read at night because the bulbs are dim. The #53 bulbs only put out 2 watts of light. Is there another bulb I can replace these with that is brighter?

 

Have you tried the 1895 mini bulb's. HRP

 

If you have room a 57 is brighter.


Bones

 

I have no idea what a 57 or 53 is, around here we use socket name, voltage and power (or sometimes current for small lamps), but today there's usually LED replacements that fit all the common sockets, sometimes with quite a bit more light.

 

I need to know too... My 32 has a 40 dash, but the instrument cluster is 47 Plymouth...and... these are bizzare as far as the way the speedo numbers/lines and needle changes the glow from green up to 30MPH, then changes to orange up to around 50-55, then goes red over 60 MPH. But, the 53's are not nearly bright enough. So I did ask Napa and the guy looked it up on their system, (when I asked if any other bulb would be brighter than 53)...He looked quite a while, and then said no, I don't see anything that will fit.

Ok, I just searched for specs on the 1895. >>> the one websight I looked at gave all the specs except candlepower, but maybe small bulbs only go by watts? here is a copy/paste on the 1895 specs> "3.78 watts"

The OP says his 53 is 2 watt. So, I will try to get some. I am assuming that near 2X the watts, it should be a lot brighter?

.

 

My book doesn't list watts.
#53 1 candlepower.
#57 2 candlepower. Larger globe than a 53. Same size base as a 53.
#1895 2 candlepower. Larger globe than a 53, same globe size as a 57. Same size base as a 53 and 57.

 

Thanks for the responses. I will try the two suggested bulbs and see if it brightens things up. I will report back when I find out something.

 

I've been using LED replacements on a few of my customer cars, started to, on the "real hard to get to" bulbs. But they are so much briter, and whiter, I'm using them a lot now!

 

Is there an LED to fit in a 53 socket?..if yes, what is a part number of it?

 

Looks like a Ba9s socket? (Bayonet mount, 9mm diameter, Single contact at the bottom.) If that's correct, there are loads of them available. Google Ba9s LED for example.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/20x-Cool-W...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

$6.88 for 20 of them, free shipping too. I just bought more last week.

 

If using LED bulbs make sure they are dimiable if using for dash lights.

 

Okay, I tried an 1895 and a 57 and indeed they are brighter than a 53 but the globe is too large to fit in the hole on the back of the gauge. I am not a big fan of LED's, too old fashioned I suppose and I certainly don't need 20 of them. That would be at least one lifetime supply for me! I wonder what the candlepower is on one of them?

 

How about this? You can buy singles with a warm light. I do not know if it can be dimmed tho.
https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...-1-led-ba9s-retrofit-classic-car-bulb/4/4355/

 

I just did my 41 Ford truck dash with LED.

They put out SO much more light, and you can't tell that they are LED.

They even come in colors, I did green to match my tach.

Cheap too..

Search EBAY for "BA9S T4W 5050 5-SMD"

Rich

 

Try a 182. Just searched on the net. Says it six candle power and will fit. Never used them myself. So can’t testify.


Bones

 

LEDs are not for traditional hot rods. Maybe you have a street rod? Ron Francis has Brite Bulbs-considerably (3x?) brighter than a standard filament bulb. Not a lot hotter,either. I have been very pleased with my 1157s and 1156s. You can request a catalog here: https://www.ronfrancis.com/inforequest.asp

 

i guess the traditional line to cross for everybody is different. Ron Francis brite bulb wasn't available "traditionally" and neither were the leds.
use whatever you need to be safe.

 

I tried some LED's in the dash of my 49 Buick. They didn't work very well. The light from the LED's came out the end of the bulb, and almost none from the sides. They would not light up the gauges that needed light from the sides of the bulb. They did work great for the turn signal indicator arrows and the high beam indicator. They worked because it was a straight shot out of the end of the bulb, to the light green signal arrows and high beam indicator.

 

LED's are directional, so they work in line-of-sight, unless they have a diffusing lens, which most auto ones don't.
They can all be dimmed using the rheostat type light dimmer which we have on most of our cars, as the voltage applied will just be lower, just like a standard bulb. I have been playing around with replacing tailights, etc with LED's, but, where some of these cheap ones are crap , is on multiple contact units (like the turn/stop bulbs with 2 base contacts), they bench test OK, but often the contacts and offset pins don't locate properly in the sockets, and won't work. After buying a bunch of different types of the same base configuration, I have gone back to incandescent (standard) bulbs.

 

The ones that I posted actually contain 5 LEDS per bulb, 4 pointing to the sides.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

 

Both are are filament incandescent bulbs, though. LEDs give off a completely different kind of light. You are correct that the "traditional" line is hard to define. But, since this is a board about hot rods and customs ala the old days and ways, perhaps, like other "new things" we put on our cars, we just shouldn't talk about them here?