Switch Bulb Replacement

[jims-terrano]

Moderators please delete this thread, thank you

 

[jims-terrano]

A close up of the existing bulbs
Note the night time illumination has a blue rubber cover

 

[jims-terrano]

This is the switch showing the LEDs soldered in place. I’ve marked the tracks for polarity of both bulbs

 

[jims-terrano]

A photo showing bulb and terminals in place.

 

[jims-terrano]

Now the same view but the LEDs in place.

 

[jims-terrano]

These are 12v LEDs and actually came as replacement dashboard type LEDs I just removed from the bulb holders.
Should be able to open all the switches, I did on my old truck but it’s up to you to be careful of breaking the cases and losing interior parts of the switches.

This is the result

 

[panelbeater]

good post thanks.

 

[elty001]

I'd have took the easy route and sourced a new switch.:lol
Not got the patience to go to all that trouble

 

[jims-terrano]

I'd have took the easy route and sourced a new switch.:lol
Not got the patience to go to all that trouble

I had the LEDs and once changed probably not have to do them again. All the second hand switches are knocking on now too so may already have buggered bulbs.

 

[elty001]

I've got a decent collection of OEM switches that I've hung onto which are all in good working order so easily swapped if i need to:thumb2

 

[jims-terrano]

I only post because I thought others may find it interesting :nenau

 

[elty001]

I only post because I thought others may find it interesting :nenau

Not knocking it Jim,i personally haven't got the patience to do what you have done is all.
No need to get arsey about it:nenau

 

[solarman216]

My experience of 12v car LED's has so far been dismal, had two lovely bight ones for the cabin lights but in a very short time they started flashing, so outed those and wired up a tubular set 4 ft long but this came from a commercial drinks fridge so far going strong, like Elty said do not think I would go to that trouble for a switch especially if it is not likely to last, Rick

 

[jims-terrano]

If any moderators read this thread could you please delete it as it serves no purpose.

Thanks

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

I did the switches on both my T2, and Suz's T2 a few years ago, and they were still perfect on mine, when I sold it, and still fine on Suz's.

You do get what you pay for, and if you buy the specific 12v LED's, they are not your nasty cheap mass-produced ones you get on Ebay. In fact, I only know of one company selling them.

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

I should add... these 12v LED's do not need any external components to make them 12v, they actually have a miniscule constant current chip built into the LED, to make them work on 12v, so are actually no different to replacing the bulb with another bulb. They are produced by the likes of Philips in controlled batches for high-end products, and often automotive manufacturers.

The ones most people see, are cheap LED's, mass-produced by goodness only knows who, that then have some sort of "Buck" circuit, or current limiting components, again produced in some backstreet in China thrown in. In order to keep the size as small as possible, often the components are rated with no spare capacity, and often the soldering/assembly is terrible.

All the LED's I have bought from proper accountable companies have been fine for many years.

Also the colour of the LED makes a difference. Red LED's were the first ever to be produced many years ago, and then other colours were added, green pretty soon after Red, and once those two colours were made, yellow was easy. Because of the frequency of Blue, it took a long time to be produced, and even then the failure rate for many years was far higher than the success rate. In the early days, out of a batch of 10000 blue LED's, only 8 would work, and often 3 of those would fail during burn in. In the early 80's, a red LED would cost about 20p. but a blue LED, if you could get one, was £40-£50.

Once they got Blue LED's more reliable, they could make white LED's. There are two ways to make a white LED. One is to make a single LED, with the 3 prime colour (Red, Green, Blue)LEDs inside it, producing white. The problem is, these draw a lot of current.

The second way is to do a fudge, using Phosphor. By shining the Blue light, onto a Phosphor mask, which when illuminated will glow yellow (mix of Red & Yellow light) you get the output of white light. This is preferred, as it only has one LED running, effectively only using a third of the current. As you can imagine, the scope for error doing it this way is huge, and if produced without any comeback, it is easy to make ones that last a short while, and then fail.

Hope that helps a bit..