Re: Cheap LEDs for automotive dashboard application

On Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:32:39 -0700, Jim Thompson wrote:
On Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:20:34 -0700, "Paul Hovnanian P.E."
Randy MacKenna wrote:

I own a vehicle, whose designers had the wisdom (not!) to require that
half the dashboard be removed in order to change the instrument light
bulbs. Needless to say, I've gone many months with half my
speedometer lit, and the clock completely dark.

I have never seen a car where the panel needed to be disassembled to
replace the lamps. Sometimes its a bit of a chore getting your hand
behind the panel, but the lamps are typically held in bases that can be
removed with a quarter turn.
[snip]
My experience also. But you have to be a contortionist to get your
hand in there. I typically lay upside down in the seat with my head
under the dash :-(

Many times I've found that "dead" lamps had actually been shaken out
of the dash. They usually are single wire with ground return via the
PCB copper clad in the dash panel.

I once had a '75 Plymouth Gran Fury. I believe it was a one-owner, who
had died of old age. You could almost stand up on the floorboards under
the dash -- well, I exaggerate, but it was really, really easy to work
on. Even fun, actually. The dash lights had inside-out sockets - that
is, from the back of the dash you can grab each socket/holder and
"bayonet" it out, and the bulbs were those pop-out-pop-in kind.

<anecdote>
When I had got it the tie rods were terribly worn so it kind of ate
tires. It's an incredible feeling of accomplishment to swap out one's
own tie rods, align the front end with a tape measure, and do tight turns
around the parking lot without the front tires squealing. ;-)
</anecdote>

Cheers!
Rich

.

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