MEP-802A/803A gauge lighting

[justacitizen]

For the fuel Gage, if your arm is not as big around as truck tire, simply open the tank, remove the screen and reach in and find the fuel level sending unit. Move the arm up and down, and have someone looking at the gauge. Do not be surprised to find that the float is full of fuel, and hanging down it the empty position.

Ha Ha Ha!!! PoPeye arms

 

[Overdrive]

CapePrep,

Yes i found LEDs to replace the existing green lights.

Ebay

E12 Candelabra C7 48/72/120 3014/5730 SMD LED Light Silicone Bulb Lamp 12-24V

I ordered the smallest one they had (48 LEDs). They have different sizes.

1.8W-3014-48LEDs
​

White
10 bulbs..... Had to wait for a few weeks for shipping from China.

The bulbs are just an E12 Candelabra base 24V. The shortest ones just fit under the little half moon covers on the generator. Anything bigger would be too long. The pics shows the lights "really" bright but that's just the camera there is no corona/piercing light when you are looking at it in person. Lights up the ENTIRE panel and front of the gen beautifully. Only 1.8W per bulb. I am partial to daylight LEDs but they also have a more yellowey color you can order.

OD

 

[CapePrep]

Overdrive-Thanks for finding that! I just ordered some. They will be on the "slow boat from China" I am sure. No rush, will just be ready when the SHTF! Sending you a PM on another subject.

CapePrep,

Yes i found LEDs to replace the existing green lights.

Ebay

E12 Candelabra C7 48/72/120 3014/5730 SMD LED Light Silicone Bulb Lamp 12-24V

I ordered the smallest one they had (48 LEDs). They have different sizes.

1.8W-3014-48LEDs
​

White
10 bulbs..... Had to wait for a few weeks for shipping from China.

The bulbs are just an E12 Candelabra base 24V. The shortest ones just fit under the little half moon covers on the generator. Anything bigger would be too long. The pics shows the lights "really" bright but that's just the camera there is no corona/piercing light when you are looking at it in person. Lights up the ENTIRE panel and front of the gen beautifully. Only 1.8W per bulb. I am partial to daylight LEDs but they also have a more yellowey color you can order.

OD

 

[Farmitall]

CapePrep,

Yes i found LEDs to replace the existing green lights.

Ebay

E12 Candelabra C7 48/72/120 3014/5730 SMD LED Light Silicone Bulb Lamp 12-24V

I ordered the smallest one they had (48 LEDs). They have different sizes.

1.8W-3014-48LEDs
​

White
10 bulbs..... Had to wait for a few weeks for shipping from China.

The bulbs are just an E12 Candelabra base 24V. The shortest ones just fit under the little half moon covers on the generator. Anything bigger would be too long. The pics shows the lights "really" bright but that's just the camera there is no corona/piercing light when you are looking at it in person. Lights up the ENTIRE panel and front of the gen beautifully. Only 1.8W per bulb. I am partial to daylight LEDs but they also have a more yellowey color you can order.

OD

Thats good to know that a 1.8w LED bulb will put out that much white light. The incandescent bulbs are 6w if I recall and they are dim.....and even dimmer with the green tinting.

I'll be ordering some of those LEDs myself. Thanks for posting the reference.

 

[Guyfang]

Interesting story about the green bulbs. Someone on HIGH, decided that the white bulb, (this same bulb has been in use, since the late 60's, for power generation control panels) was not tactical. "We got to be tactical", was the new buzz word. This was in the early 90's. So the call went out, and a company that shall remain un named, bid on the contract, and won. The smart guys there simply used the same white bulb, and put some kind of green covering on it. And charged almost 9 bucks a shot for it. The white bulbs cost .25 cents. Nice profit margin. Well, a bazillion bulbs were recolored, and shipped off the the military. Not long after screwing one in, the green covering simply fell off. It got worse. About a year after the military took the first order, the bulbs started to peal in the boxes. Order one, at last get it in, and the green covering had already fallen off into the box. At the time, we were getting hammered by NATO inspection teams badly. These weasels looked for the smallest gigs to write up. Typical Germans.

One of my soldiers, a fellow who we called John Boy, who was good for floor sweeping, and such high speed jobs, was cleaning the shop floor, while I was talking in a loud voice to an inspector, in German. My young soldier went home at the end of the day, like always. Big smile on his face. No one saw him unscrew every panel light, on every gen set, as well as putting every white light bulb he could find, in his rucksack. Next morning, he said, "Look Chief, I got the lights green!" I felt like choking him. I told him we had already tried magic markers, ink pens, dyes and every other thing we could think of. Nothing worked. He screwed all the light bulbs back in, and turned them on. Then went back to being Joe the Janitor. Several days later, I noticed him walking around the gen sets we had running 24/7. Lights all on, and green!! I walked over, and looked. Green. All of them. Every one. 21 green lights!! So I looked every day, the whole week. Green. So I went looking for John Boy. He was cleaning a gen set. I asked him, just what the Hel* he had done to the lights. He looked a bit worried, and asked if he had done something wrong. I assured him just the opposite! How had he got the lights to stay green? Well, he laughed, and told me he used German Easter Egg dye on them. I almost passed out from laughing.

 

[Farmitall]

Good story Guyfang, ^^^^^^^^!!

Its difficult to get anything to adhere to a shiny glass surface like a bulb has. The dye idea was brilliant. Hopefully it lasted long enough to keep the inspectors off you backs.

 

[maniatopoulosg]

The #1820 bulbs arrived today.

Before adding the lights to the Fuel Level, Coolant Temp & Oil Pressure gauges.
Picture taken in a partially lit garage.

View attachment 620061


Installed the bulbs & wired the sockets up to the nearby panel light DS3.
(Ignore the other small black wires with the blue "flags" on them. Part of a different project.)

View attachment 620077


After.. Let there be light!

View attachment 620062

Looks great


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dieselmeister]

I get all my stainless fasteners from this place https://www.albanycountyfasteners.com . They have just about anything you need in stainless.

Oops, posted in the wrong thread.

 

[Farmitall]

My panel light LED replacements came in today. They are rated for 12-24v so I pulled one out and put it on a 12v supply.....man these are bright with a nice white light!
Will install three in each set tomorrow and see how they look after dark. Thanks to Overdrive for the references to this great product.

 

[pjwest03]

I just made the same change. A huge amount of light.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

[Light in the Dark]

Nice work!

I just made the same change. A huge amount of light.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

[devilphrog]

Just got the bulbs installed today that Overdrive found. Haven't night checked them yet, but they are bright even in direct sunlight! Thanks Overdrive!

 

[maniatopoulosg]

Nice work!

That looks great can you send a link for those bulbs


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[pjwest03]

That looks great can you send a link for those bulbs


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

PM Sent

 

[Daybreak]

Howdy,

Some simple wire connections and your good to go.

If you have the blue backside gauges, all the info is also here for adding the bulb, socket etc...

 

[Weller]

Thanks to this thread I just replaced my bulbs with the E12 Candelabra C7 48 LEDs. Looks and works great, plenty of light.

 

[Leonardo82nd]

Howdy,
The MEP-8xx uses the same gauges. Some of the gauges have a white back cover, and have a small black twist with a bulb. These are ready to go, with just hooking up a positive lead. There are other gauges with a light blue back cover, which has the hole, with a red plug in it. These will need the light bulb socket, and 24v bulb.
View attachment 669649 View attachment 669650


Post #18

Thank You . I have the white back cover. do I twist off the connection from inside the panel, or outside?

 

[69birdman]

Thank You . I have the white back cover. do I twist off the connection from inside the panel, or outside?

That description was for the temp, oil, fuel gauge lights . You have the white ones ,the little black plug on back of those twists 90° left to come out and insert bulb there. The Panel lights bezel ,twists off from outside and bulb twists out of socket.

 

[Leonardo82nd]

That description was for the temp, oil, fuel gauge lights . You have the white ones ,the little black plug on back of those twists 90° left to come out and insert bulb there. The Panel lights bezel ,twists off from outside and bulb twists out of socket.

 

[Leonardo82nd]

Got it . Thank you ! . now to Pick the right plug and play bulb from Amazon . I see there are a few different options posted on the thread.