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Pinlight/Centre console illumination light


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The little light next to the interior light that's supposed to shine down onto the centre console switch panel... is that something that commonly dies a death for whatever reason?

 

Going to try and replace the bulb tomorrow when I can get it out (need to get me a new socket set), but is this light something that usually doesn't work?  Sounds a strange question but I know with some cars things can just die commonly and not work.

 

Cheers in advance for any thoughts :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Upgrade today to remove Google ads and support TLF.

Yes this light was fitted in the headlining ,it was designed to be really futuristic and copy the aircraft industry l, It was never a success and my car a Elite 503 went back to the lotus dealer at the the time and a small light in the top of the console was fitted ,a very good idea as now I can see the clock and switches , but the headlining light does still work , you can adjust it ,but it's not too bright .!,

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  • 5 years later...

I'm starting to cull the box of bits I got with the car now I'm familiar with what things are and what I have spare... Bizzarly I had 3 brake calipers.

So I even went through my rubbish bin today looking for this damn thing. Not a great job after the sunny week we have had.

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On 23/04/2020 at 15:49, Grizzly said:

Welcome to my world!!!!!

You'll find it when you're not looking for it and cannot find the thing you are looking for!

And after you've got a replacement

  • Sad 1

S4 Elan, Elan +2S, Federal-spec, World Championship Edition S2 Esprit #42, S1 Elise, Excel SE

 

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  • 2 months later...

I'm going to try a white LED bulb in mine when I get around to it. I'll have to put in a wedge base but that shouldn't be a problem.

74-whp0.jpg&w=585&zc=2t1-34-base-wired-socket-store.jpg&w=160

'89 Esprit, '77 Elite 503, '72 MGB, '95 XJ12, '10 Mini Cooper, '67 Imperial, '78 New Yorker, '76 Town & Country '73 Cessna 150

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I'm not sure, but I noticed a lot of the new led bulbs have no polarity to them. Maybe that info will be in the paper work that comes with the bulb.

'89 Esprit, '77 Elite 503, '72 MGB, '95 XJ12, '10 Mini Cooper, '67 Imperial, '78 New Yorker, '76 Town & Country '73 Cessna 150

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I have led festoon bulbs that seems agnostic but they do sit on a small PCB. The LEDs themselves are tiny and the components to correct voltage are equally small and I'm sure that some clever spark has integrated them on the same chips now.

I'm old enough to remember the days where we were amazed that semiconductor crystal could be grown with the right band gap to get blue light!

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yeah, you need a rectifier circuit to allow the polarity to be reversed. The actual led light will only work with the correct polarity but it's managed by the rectifier. 🙂

It's getting there......

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Those small leds have probably got a built in constant current circuit, and a small bridge for either polarity. They probably won't be dimmable either, at least not with variable volts.

2 hours ago, mikeeech said:

Pnpn junction arrangement in the crystal to form a small scr. Although it wouldn't be silicon!

unintended SCR's are all too numerous!

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