Date: Tue, 03 Nov 1998 07:25:17 GMT From: wwwnopsamus-technologies.com (Dean Malandris) Subject: Replacing incandescent interior bulbs with LEDs.
Every manufacturer does something questionable; SAAB is no exception. It's a small point, really, but little niggly things bother me, son. Take the interior control illumination. For most switches, when the bulb dies, you can replace the bulb. OK.... so when the roof switch on my newly-acquired 90-900T cab stopped lighting up, I thought no problem, I'll just whack in another liliput bulb. W-r-o-n-g. The idiots made the bulb internal, so off we go to the SAAB dealer for a whole new switch (yeah, right) because it's got a blown bulb, even though there's nothing wrong with the switch at all. Buy a new switch? Not bloody likely. Not THIS little black duck. Dismantling the switch reveals a standard liliput bulb mounted inside a plastic cylinder, which separates and keeps in alignment the two copper crossover contact strips of the switch mechanism. Out goes the bulb, in goes one of the new megabright blue LEDs and a 680 Ohm resistor, and hey presto! It's just as bright, draws only a fraction of the current, generates no heat, and of course will never need replacing. And with black bodywork and grey leather interior, electric blue control illumination looks unbelievably sexy :-) Of course, I could have used one of the new white light megabright LEDs and kept the original blue-green colour of the control's diffuser, or even put in a green one. But like I said, blue looks so........ When I get time I will do the same to all the controls so they match. Like I said, do this once, and you never have to replace a bulb again. It's such a chore getting at the bulbs, so this way I have a permanent fix, and my choice of colour to go along with it. It's annoying pulling half the car interior apart to change a bulb. I discovered that my ignition lock light WAS working after all, but the bulb holder is so far away from the perspex annulus surrounding the ignition lock barrel that I didn't discover that the bulb indeed was on until after I had removed the front console. The lock lighting was THAT dim. So off comes the disk, 4 holes drilled radially into the periphery 90 degrees apart, in go 4 3mm megabright yellow LEDs, a 300 Ohm series resistance, a couple of flying leads with spade connectors, and the original bulb holder gets unplugged and tossed. Put it back in with the LEDs at the 2, 4, 8, and 10 o'clock positions and wow, it really lights up now, and of course, I never need to replace it ever again. -- Win95 Error: 079 Mouse not found - A mouse driver has not been installed. Please click the left mouse button to continue. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Plexus Technologies Pty. Limited. Electronics Consulting, Research & Development. http://www.plexus-technologies.com Mobile: +61 (0)411 470 880 ICQ: 719010
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
