I installed some super bright led's in my dash which I'm very happy with, except the fact that my dimmer wheel doesn't affect them at all! There might as well be a flashlight pointed at my face while I drive! Am I going to have to install a separate dimmer? Or are they "un-dimmable"?

 

LEDs for the most part are un-dimmable. You need to get a special kind of LED that will work with a dimmer. I can't remember the name of them though, but I have seen them on ebay before.

 

Not true at all, they are totally dimmable, you just have to change the resistance that your using.

the reason your dimmer doesnt dim is because lightbulbs dim higher on the scale, so essentially you just need a bigger(ohm wise) potentiometer to get them to dim efficiently!

EDIT: Keep in mind though, the more you add resistance the more heat your going to create.

This is why i mentioned creating a "lighting bus", you could use a simple l7805 and a Potentiameter, and be able to dim all your leds.

 

Hmm...well now I feel stupid lol. My bad. I assumed they weren't dimmable since I had seen special ones made for dimming when I bought mine. Thanks for clearing that up though. Makes sense about the resistance.

 

I'm not quite sure what a lightning bus is??? Is this just to disperse the heat? What value of pot should I look for, here are the specs for my bulbs: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...2Fg5_specs.htm