Lextasy Cluster Kit

[Fargo 0]

Got a kit from Steve at Lextasy today.

Picture of cluster kit

Key kit

Now i was expecting a complete Blue LED kit, but this is a Red/Blue Kit comprising of wedge type LEDs and rubber caps, which is an improvement on the last kit which was entirly rubber caps.

Im going to be fitting these to Fevers car as i do not want to take out my conversion kit just yet..

My initial thoughts are, that the Red rubber caps will work fine as red is very similar to the oem orange caps. however the blue wedge type leds i think will not spread as well, but they do have a different lens arrangemnt (imstead of a normal round) which may help spread the light.

The Key Kit that was also sent i assume was meant for the ignition barrel, simply cause it is called Key Kit, but this will not fit and instead it should be the same size as the smaller LED in the cluster kit. However i think this will fit in the Auto gear stick area.

Anyways gota get hold of Fever now, see if i can do it tonight, install should be straight forward. else it will be wed before i have more free time..

spoke to fever,, hes in Rome on wed till friday so wont be till the w/e

Edited June 21, 2004 by Fargo

[PhoneDrome 0]

You don't tell me, that this kit is worth 45$ ?

For 3 caps and 3 LED's?

[whitie 0]

$45!!

I'll keep the orange thanks

[Fargo 0]

update,, got hold of fever, will be testing tonight..

as for 45$,, thats what 30 quid, seems a fair price to me IF it does the job..

[whitie 0]

How much would the LEDs cost, retail?

[Fargo 0]

2.35 GBP each for the large ones in this kit and 1.35 GBP for the smaller one..

as for the caps just looking in maplins... 16pence each for the large cap and 15pence for the smaller...

total for the cluster kit 4.17 plus the key kit at 2.35

6.52

so actually i should eat my words......

[Scorpion 0]

Depends how bad you want blue/red LED's instead of oem orange,$45 dont seem that bad to me.

[Bazza 2]

Depends how bad you want blue/red led's instead of oem orange,$45 dont seem that bad to me.

how far is your nearest maplins ;)

they even do online ordering

how bad you want to spend £25 more you mean

[Scorpion 0]

Depends how bad you want blue/red led's instead of oem orange,$45 dont seem that bad to me.

how far is your nearest maplins ;)

they even do online ordering

how bad you want to spend £25 more you mean

Hell i give money away all the time.....

just look at all the GFB's i've been in ;)

[Fever 0]

just look at all the GFB's i've been in

ermmm....whats a GFB pete??

[Scorpion 0]

just look at all the GFB's i've been in

ermmm....whats a GFB pete??

They're called Group F :tsktsk: ing buys in my house :P

what happened to you on Sunday then Mr Fever

[whitie 0]

They're called " :tsktsk: I'm :tsktsk: ing skint again". Where I'm from

[Fargo 0]

Ok, met up with neil,, and here are teh results

Fitting was easy, only problem i had was fitting the small red rubber cap to the smaller bulb as it was tight and too long, which meant that when the bulb was fitted in the bulb holder the rubber would act like a spring and will very soonly work the bulb loose after a few bumps, so i trimed the rubber down..

Also because the rubbber was now stretched over the bulb it now did not look the same as the larger covers on the larger bulbs and so will not filter the light at the same colour as the other red caps.

As i mentioned the red caps worked perfectly and i'lluminated the part of the cluster it was behind perfectly.

The blue leds however were not as impressive, now whilst they were marginaly brighter than LED Auto Designs they did not i'lluminate to the same intensity as the red capped bulbs..

So pictures

This one is on an automatic exposure and shows it as close to life as possible.

This one is on an ISO 400 exposure (longer open shutter) and you can see how the fuel area is slightly off red as the rubber is stretcched.

This one is on an ISO 50 exposure

I also thought i would add all the blue leds from the second kit that lextasy sent but didnt have enough so the bottom LED was still red.. but you can see how a complete LED blue kit would look....here (on a 50 exposure.

Conclusions:-

If you want a Red cluster then rubber caps will be perfect...however i would not pay 45 dollars for that considering you can get these from maplins for 75pence

(2 dollars) for a complete red rubber kit.

The blue LEDs are better than previous offerings by the likes of LED Auto Design, but i feel that the oem orange from the stereo and a/c panel will be little bit brighter and so may not complement the blue kit. and if you were going to upgrade the stereo and a/c panle to blue leds then the cluster kit will for sure look dim..

[Bazza 2]

do they not do blue caps

what do they look like in white- no caps ?

[Fargo 0]

i have tried blue caps, and they just do not throw out enough blue light, red works cause the wavelength is so much like orange..

with no caps i think your find its a bit yellow looking..as its not actually white

[Scorpion 0]

Ok, met up with neil,, and here are teh results

Fitting was easy, only problem i had was fitting the small red rubber cap to the smaller bulb as it was tight and too long, which meant that when the bulb was fitted in the bulb holder the rubber would act like a spring and will very soonly work the bulb loose after a few bumps, so i trimed the rubber down..

Also because the rubbber was now stretched over the bulb it now did not look the same as the larger covers on the larger bulbs and so will not filter the light at the same colour as the other red caps.

As i mentioned the red caps worked perfectly and i'lluminated the part of the cluster it was behind perfectly.

The blue leds however were not as impressive, now whilst they were marginaly brighter than LED Auto Designs they did not i'lluminate to the same intensity as the red capped bulbs..

So pictures

This one is on an automatic exposure and shows it as close to life as possible.

This one is on an ISO 400 exposure (longer open shutter) and you can see how the fuel area is slightly off red as the rubber is stretcched.

This one is on an ISO 50 exposure

I also thought i would add all the blue leds from the second kit that lextasy sent but didnt have enough so the bottom led was still red.. but you can see how a complete led blue kit would look....here (on a 50 exposure.

Conclusions:-

If you want a Red cluster then rubber caps will be perfect...however i would not pay 45 dollars for that considering you can get these from maplins for 75pence

(2 dollars) for a complete red rubber kit.

The blue LEDs are better than previous offerings by the likes of LED Auto Design, but i feel that the oem orange from the stereo and a/c panel will be little bit brighter and so may not complement the blue kit. and if you were going to upgrade the stereo and a/c panle to blue leds then the cluster kit will for sure look dim..

And the quest goes on...you'll crack it soon i'm sure.

[Fever 0]

I believe that Paul has summed it up perfectly in his post above...the blue is a little better than the LED auto designs kit...but still not what I would expect! Maybe i'm working to Paul's blue LED stereo currently running in my car, which, is exactly the brightness/blueness I would want all over the dash! I'm affraid that currently, as Pete says, the quest goes on...

....IMHO...and seeing as it's running in my car....I wouldn't buy one of these kits having seen it's performance! But if you like what you see in the pictures then go for it!!

I must also point out that the way Lextasy has advertised this kit is an exact match for how it performs!....Not like LED Auto Designs false advertising!