Posts: 228
Since: 4/5/2010
Status: offline
|
The other day, I was in the Cup in the garage thinking about a related electrical problem, and it occured to me (in the gloom) that the rocker switches for the seats and windows were not very well backlit.
In fact, you'd have to be an optimist to even refer to them as backlit- more so glowing dimly; like a hot nail... In fact, you have to cup your hand over them in the dark to tell they're on at all! Perhaps not something too pressing in the scheme of things, but I like driving in the early evening and this switchgear is somewhat out of alignment with the rest of the backlighting in the car.
I'm sure this will have been covered before- but I decided to try and see what could be done and make an up to date note of it for everyone/anyone else's benefit. I removed one of the seat switches first, as my ashtray removes easily to give me access to the rear of them straight away. To my surprise, following my experiences with Italian automotive wiring, they are loomed with some generosity and I was able to pull the switch clean out before unplugging it.
A cursory inspection reveals a low voltage filament lamp with flying leads. (The green colour generated by filters on the reverse of the function ideograms) A T1 1/5 to be precise. I found these in Farnell as Part No.113-9309 and they are rated at 14V, 0.7W which is convenient (better than "12V") as, following an alternator overhall of a few years/1000 miles ago, the car generates 14.85V when running.
I considered updating the switchgear with LEDs and I may still do that in the future although it would be somewhat out of place with the rest of the backlighting. I replaced one switch and the results can be seen here. You'll have to excuse the poor quality of the footage- I had taken a "real" camera to record the event but the battery had died! Believe it or not- in all shots- the originally lamped switches are actually ON as well. The footage here appears to show the relamped switch as very bright and almost white, I can assure you the reality is more subtle and better coloured.
Following this success, I am now swapping the others! It remains to be seen how long they will last- if they give me half of the length of service of the originals; I'll be pleased!!
JimP
 Attachment (5)
|
