So am I the only one who's annoyed out of his mind that the superbrightled T10 twist lock bases are keyed incorrectly?
This causes the instrument panel lights to be intermittent because if you twist them in all the way, the contacts go past the metal on the circuit board. If you turn them back far enough to make contact, they're so loose that they wiggle & flicker with every other bump in the road. I also had to round out the slots in the back of the IP cover so it'd snap back on around the cockeyed sockets.

10 years is too long to put up with this crap - especially for something so simple!

What other twist locks are folks using in their 99-02 clusters? I remember reading on (the now-defunct) fullsizechevy about a specific 90s Pontiac model that had normal bulbs/sockets from the factory that swap right in & work perfectly with LED 194s on our gauges... but I couldn't find the specifics.
The problem with our factory bulbs is that the contacts are on the skinny edges of the wedge base (vs normal 194s having them on the flat sides), and they're bent through the ends of the socket to hold it in. The custom-ordered LEDs I had made forever ago will break the contacts if I try to bend them around the other way, so that option's out.

 

nobody? nothing?

 

lol I feel your pain!

Same with my e-bay holders twist to far and no contact, 180 degrees off no light either. On mine I had to snap on the cover each time or none worked, which didn't make sense because the bulb holders didn't seem to touch the cover. In and out, in and out, 180 these,180 those until I finally had um all working.

Maybe you could duct tape the square holes on the inside of the cover for more pressure on the holders?

 

I had my cluster rebuilt earlier this year and had the trans temp gauge added.

I stayed with stock lights. I like LEDs but the irregular light output makes my OCD twitch.

I think that is compensated with "wide angle" LEDs but I'd rather not even worry about it.

 

I have the same problem on my Denali cluster. Half the cluster is actually not illuminated right now. Next time the radio bezel comes off, I am putting new 194s in the OE bases and calling it a day

 

while wide angle LEDs do help the evenness, that don't matter if they won't turn on at all because the base ain't making contact.

 

so nobody's figured out a solution to all the internet T10 twist locks being keyed a clock position off?

looking at my old stock ones on-end from the bulb, with the locking tabs at 12 & 6 o'clock, the contacts are at 10 & 4 o'clock.
all the aftermarket bases i've found are at 3 & 9 o'clock... which don't work consistently.

 

since i ended up finding my stock twist-locks, i broke down & disassembled them and bent up my LEDs' contacts sideways to make them work.
these last couple months have been SOOO much better! not only do they fit tight & lock into place, the contacts stay connected, so the lights don't randomly go out any more.

just make sure you have a couple spare LED bulbs... you're bound to break one or two in the process (the contacts like to detach from the board inside if you ain't SUPER careful).