Dash light

[Sittingonthedockofthe BAY]

Has any 1 improved this,as mine has now gone out and at first glance the bulb is tiny can this be easily replaced or is there a better method...Rowan.

 

[faux]

I doubt if you can get anything brighter to fit in their place, but they do seem fine in the dark on my bus. Just double check that the dimmer on the light switch hasn't been knocked. On my first Bay I replaced all of the dash bulbs only to find that I had rotated the knob and turned the dash lights off.

Jon

 

[uber cool]

The other thing to check is oi the coloured lens over the bulbs are clean. When I took my dash apart mine hard years of dirt behind it.

 

[the councillor]

we got our son one of those 'build it up yourself but put in a transistor the wrong way round so it never properly works and you end up getting frustrated and going back to the star wars transformers' electronics sets for christmas... i've always been interested in the concept of *model matching* since first learning about it (for reasons i've never fully understood ?) as an engineering student, and one of the first experiments in the kit was to show that with an LED being a diode you can only expect it to work if it's in the circuit in the 'right' direction as it were.

obviously, christmas is a time for ramming learning into children in our house, rather than the traditional fun and after eight over-indulgence, so i kept pestering him about what we'd discovered during the 'experiments' and whilst he was fine with the 'light' bit, obviously, he didn't half struggle to get 'emitting' and 'diode' fixed in his brain, because clearly he hadn't come across them (or similar) before, and didn't have a suitable 'model' to match them to.

orange ? borange ? that's not a word :roll:

same with 'diode' i guess :|

anyway, by boxing day he was hurtling around the house bellowing LIGHT EMITTING DIODE, and you could do worse than to follow his lead... they're bright, use hardly any current, readily available in several colours, and they're cheap :wink:

BUT... when i say bright i mean bright... your cab'll look like blackpool bleedin' illuminations

 

[Tofufi]

I have heard of people using LEDs for this before.

2 things to consider.

I believe the charging system requires the resistance of the bulb to charge the battery. I.e., if the bulb is blown, the battery will not charge (I'm not too sure on this, but have read it somewhere before).

Secondly, the light from LEDs is very directional. It doesn't 'spread' like a conventional bulb. Shouldn't be a problem for the speedo bulbs, but might make the speedo backlight not as effective?

Good luck

 

[the councillor]

(I'm not too sure on this, but have read it somewhere before)

what, quasi-technical advice let down only by poor (or imaginary) references ?

*welcome to my world*

 

[Pete B]

Don't know about the LED bit, but I think the memory has let you down regarding charging! The dynamo/alternator output is regulated by the, wait for it, regulator/rectifier! ALL the electrical system is run from the battery, the charging system is a separate entity.

 

[Tofufi]

(I'm not too sure on this, but have read it somewhere before)

what, quasi-technical advice let down only by poor (or imaginary) references ?

*welcome to my world*

Sorry, I should have put references...

http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=512013&highlight=charging+system+bulb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Originally posted by Roly

Current needs to be able to flow both ways through the gen light.

That suggests to me that LEDs should not work....

Also, from here:


http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=512333&highlight=charging+system+bulb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Originally posted by MiggyMan

I recently replaced the bulbs in my gauges with led bulbs but because of the hightly directional nature of the led the brighter led bulb was less effective than the original incandescant because the incandescant ""glowed" whereas the led basically shone on the back of the speedo, the solution was simple, i painted the back of the gauge and he inside of the housing white to turn it into a huge reflector which gave a good effect in the end but without doing that the original bulb would have been a far better option!

 

[Tofufi]

Don't know about the LED bit, but I think the memory has let you down regarding charging! The dynamo/alternator output is regulated by the, wait for it, regulator/rectifier! ALL the electrical system is run from the battery, the charging system is a separate entity.

I didn't say that the bulb regulates the current output of the dynamo. It just needs to be present for the battery charge.

http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread.php?t=489959&highlight=charging+system+bulb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Originally posted by Clarkson46
Assuming an external regulated alternator works the same as the internal version, then if the gen light does not come on you will not charge. Start by disconnecting the blue wire from the regulator and connect it to earth with the ignition on, does the gen light come on? If so then you have a problem with the regulator. If the bulb does not come on find out why. Blown bulb, wire off etc.

I've never investigated it too deeply myself, just conveying information on this.

 

[the councillor]

curses... you've beaten me :evil:

but wait... your references are from... the internet, home of freaks and social mis-fits :shock:

would you accept technical advice from somebody who couldn't spell 'incandescent' ?

:wink:

one thing's for sure though, the fact that you actually rose to the challenge and went off and found the references means that you're either as a) bored or b) dull as me so for that i salute you 8)

 

[Tofufi]

curses... you've beaten me :evil:

but wait... your references are from... the internet, home of freaks and social mis-fits :shock:

would you accept technical advice from somebody who couldn't spell 'incandescent' ?

:wink:

one thing's for sure though, the fact that you actually rose to the challenge and went off and found the references means that you're either as a) bored or b) dull as me so for that i salute you 8)

I'm trying to find excuses to not go into the garage and continue welding up my bug.

So Probably a bit of both A) and B)



It turns out, I can spell incandescent. Which quite surprised me. I find that many people who are not so good at spelling are often better at the technical details... :wink:

 

[Araon]

Tofufi its not so much resistance of the filament but as The councilor points out LEDs' being diodes allow the free flow of current in one direction only, the chargeing cct requires this lamp to be a filament as it requires current to flow in both directions.

when the current on one side (dynamo) equals that of the other (battery) then no potential difference exists so no current flow when one side is lower ie ignition on engine dead you have current from battery flowing but no dynamo light is lit, start the engine the the battery level drops engine starts higher voltage from dynamo light is lit until which time the battery is charged sufficiently to once again equal the voltage supply from the dynamo again the light is extinguished....

this is why you have a short delay in the red charge light extinguishing when you start the engine and should with luck be the only time you observe it.

so leds for everything else is fine but beware of the charge light, it will look very dim in the background and could be overlooked quite easily in the glare of the surrounding indications.

 

[the councillor]

well, for what it's worth, my whole 'belief system' is based on grammar*, spelling and mental arithmetic, although it's hard (read impossible) to argue if the dyslexia card** is played.

anybody can get on with a vw bus, you probably don't even have to be able to read, but where do you draw the line ? i reckon organisations like NASA might have quite stringent application requirements...

"i want to go to mars"

can you spell 'incandescent' ?

"in-can-what ?"

get out etc. etc.

going back to the original post and LEDs for a moment, i have no idea if they'd work or not... i've never given the idea a second thought, although i AM considering an LED based trackside scalextric lighting system on the raceway i SHOULD be working on this afternoon instead of spending my time bickering on here... it's just that i know somebody who's done it, and they ARE much brighter than stock, charging and incandescence issues notwithstanding.

now get out and do some welding***






*watching pedants - don't get me started on capital letters
**non-PC expression no offence intended
***i'm a fine one to talk

 

[Pete B]

Think I need to actually read any posts that I reply to so as to not make such of an arse of myself. So often. :roll:

 

[Tofufi]

well, for what it's worth, my whole 'belief system' is based on grammar*, spelling and mental arithmetic, although it's hard (read impossible) to argue if the dyslexia card** is played.

anybody can get on with a vw bus, you probably don't even have to be able to read, but where do you draw the line ? i reckon organisations like NASA might have quite stringent application requirements...

"i want to go to mars"

can you spell 'incandescent' ?

"in-can-what ?"

get out etc. etc.

going back to the original post and LEDs for a moment, i have no idea if they'd work or not... i've never given the idea a second thought, although i AM considering an LED based trackside scalextric lighting system on the raceway i SHOULD be working on this afternoon instead of spending my time bickering on here... it's just that i know somebody who's done it, and they ARE much brighter than stock, charging and incandescence issues notwithstanding.

now get out and do some welding***






*watching pedants - don't get me started on capital letters
**non-PC expression no offence intended
***i'm a fine one to talk

Your posts always make me laugh 8)

It seems to me that schools don't place much importance on grammar any more. I'm 20, and of all my ex-school friends, I am the only one who correctly uses 'Bob and I' instead of 'me and Bob'. Quite who Bob is, I don't know.

I also did A level geography, but failed to know where Sussex is in the UK when asked yesterday.

This thread seems to have gone off on a tangent, but it beats welding in a cold garage. I went out there for 20 minutes, got cold and came back in. But at least I can say I tried... now I just need to wait for my hands to warm up again.

Think I need to actually read any posts that I reply to so as to not make such of an arse of myself. So often. :roll:

Sorry - no hard feelings or anything 8) I tend to not read what I write, it isn't always worth it.

 

[froggy]

Back on topic, what type of bulbs are the dash bulbs as half of mine aren't working, and where is the best place to get some from?

 

[Tofufi]

5mm capless bulbs.

I got mine from GSF, and took in one of the old ones for reference.