DIC lights

[rexster314]

The switch panel for my DIC had a couple of blown led lights so I bought the switch off Ebay for around 25$ and got around to replacing it this afternoon. Not a real big deal since I had already replaced the cracked ignition switch shortly after buying the car (thanks ccclarke for the help on that) It literally is a plug and play, I didn't even take the neg battery cable off as I didn't power on anything til after the replacement which took less than 15 minutes start to finish, following ccclarke's advice with a beer in between. But curious me, I decided to take the old switch apart to see how hard it would be if one wanted to change led colors. I did a little video

 

[Phil105]

nice video Rex - you are a man of great patience. Sadly, something I am lacking.

 

[rexster314]

nice video Rex - you are a man of great patience. Sadly, something I am lacking.

Thanks! Actually, I was just kinda bored yesterday. Might be something to remember when parts like these become unavailable.

 

[ccclarke]

I've replaced these assemblies many times. You're right; it's an easy job to do. However . . .

Those aren't LEDs. They're incandescent bulbs, which is why they fail so often. (They should have been LED's though.) I've written a post or two about these.

The blue you see are little rubberized silicon covers. . . like micro-condoms that fit over the bulbs. The knock the light down. (Photonic attenuation in geek-speak.)

Two pins on the connector supply 12 vdc and Gnd. You can trace the etches to locate the pins if you don't have a schematic. Or, I can look it up for you if you want.

If you want to install LEDs, you'll need to spec them out and include current limiting resistors; straight 12 volts will smoke the LEDs.

I had thought of re-building these and selling them; the LEDs (available from Digi-key) are around $8 each, plus my labor for re-soldering, testing and warranty far exceeds the current OEM price.

CC

 

[rexster314]

You know, now that you mention it, I did read one of your posts saying they were incandescent, just didn't remember it at the time I made the original post. I was curious to look inside, but I'm not so curious as to want to re-invent the wheel. Seeing as how the original switch(es) lasted almost 10 years, I'm willing to bet the new switch should last at least that long. As a preventive measure, I bought the HUD switch off Amazon of all places for less than 20$ just in case the other side goes dark.
As an aside, the manufacture date on the original switch was 01/06 which is the date of manufacture of the XLR. The sticker on the new switch was 07/15, so somewhere, someplace, someone is still making some parts for our cars.