I make panels now on a supply and exchange basis
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I make panels now on a supply and exchange basis
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I dont mind getting stuck in myself bud. Any info on bulbs etc would be great.Originally Posted by Hamish N
I make panels now on a supply and exchange basis
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Can you pm me a price please dude?
Great write up but it's in the wrong section. Can an admin move it to the S14 section?
?
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It's posted in the "Non S-body" section. It should be in the "Technical - S14" section so that people can find it easily.
Omg! It's been here since 2010 and nobody noticed until now hahahaha. I obviously didn't. Good spot.
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And that is how I am only seeing the article now too!! ;-) :-)
The illumination bulbs in the central dashboard switches started to fail one by over the last 3 or 4 years. Which is not bad going for being over 20 years old. And thanks to this fantastic write post up by Mark White, I finally went and replaced the bulbs.
But there were some areas that I was unsure of, so have written this to add more detail.
Using fleabay, I ordered 12v LEDs so I won't need to worry about adding resistors into the wiring loom.
I wasn’t sure which would be best, so I ordered a few different ones. The format doesn’t really matter as you will be removing them from their mount/ casing anyway. The important part is making sure that they are 12v rated as then you don't need to worry about adding resistors.
T3 COB Wedge 1 SMD Car LED - blue
T3 COB Wedge 1 SMD Car LED – white
T5 LED Dashboard Dash Gauge Interior Instrument Light – white
Also for fear of breaking things, I bought a full spare set of second hand switches to use as a practice run. Like a marine disassembling an assault rifle through practice, I can now fully disable each switches in less than 30 seconds without breaking any plastic! (yes I have assembled and taken them apart that many times at this stage!)
Last edited by markcro; 31-08-2023 at 11:39.
Removing the surround
- The heater control/ switch surround is held in place by 4x spring clips.
- Point the central airvents downwards, this will allow you to grip and pull the top part of the surround out. See blue line.
- Using a plastic trim tool, pry out the bottom corners. See blue “T”.
- Unplug the 4x switch connector blocks.
- The surround and switches can then be removed.
- In this year of our Lord of 2023 A.D., the plastic is a quarter of a century old (or older). So there is a risk of it being brittle and cracking.
-- So, do not do this when it is cold. Do it on a nice warm day, or let it sit in the house over night to get up to room temperature.
-- Also to help make the plastic flexible and lubricate it, I gave everything a good blast of plastic protector and let it soak overnight. (Son of a Gun in my case).
Last edited by markcro; 25-07-2023 at 13:38.
Removing the Switches from the Surround
- Each switch is held in by a single press tab, and is awkward to release. And the fear of adding too much pressure and snapping plastic is present in your mind….
- Press the press tab in and hold it in. (I used a small wooden paint brush handle in this case).
- This allows you to pull the switch forward by a couple of mm.
- You then need to assert sideways pressure to hold in the tab, while asserting forward pressure (red arrows) which result in the switch popping out in a slight arc motion (yellow arrow).
Disassemble the Switches
- The switch body is head together by 4 tabs.
- Using a small precision flat head screwdriver, prize these out one at a time.
- The bottom of the switch body pops upward, but is stopped from coming out with the button. But a bit of jiggling will get it out.
- Each switch is then in 3x pieces:
- Now remove the button from the switch body. From trial and error, I have found the follow sequence to be the easiest and also doesn’t break any tabs.
- The buttons are held onto the switch body by 4x plastic tabs. These should be gentle pried apart using a small flat head precision screwdriver.
- Pry 1 first, then 2, then 3 and 4. This is the easiest and safest sequence.
Note: Only try to remove the button when the rest of the switch is disassembled.
- Each switch is then in 4x pieces:
Replacing the Bulbs
- The bulbs are tiny glass bulb in a rubber mount. The rubber mount simply presses onto the bulb connectors in the switch.
- We will reused the rubber bulb mounts.
- So unwire the old bulb from the rubber mount:
- Remove the old bulb. (New LED in comparison)
- The T5 LEDs are wired into a plastic mount. So unwire and remove the LED.
- Mount the LED into the original rubber mount and bent the LED legs through the holes in the same way as the original bulb wires were.
- And then push the rubber mount with the new LED onto the switch bulb contacts.
Note that LEDs have a polarity, so you need to make sure to have the 12v leg on the 12v contact. See later for the switch pin outs. And Test before putting the switch back together. And do not fit the button until after you test the assembled switch in the actual car.
- Using the pin out diagram, test to make sure that the LED’s polarity is correct. i.e. the 12v leg is on the 12v contact.
- While the switch is apart, add grease to the contacts and sliding contact areas, as the old grease may be dry.
- Reassemble the switch, but do not fit the button yet. (leaving the button off will make it easier if you need to take the switch apart again.)
Last edited by markcro; 25-07-2023 at 13:35.
- Now that the switch is assembled, test it again for the correct polarity for each LED.
- If you find that you have to flip around one of the LEDs, use a pliers to pull it off, and push it back on.
- (I actually found it easier just to open the switch up again and flip it over by hand, and then reassemble the switch again.)
- If your bench testing looks good, then plug it into the car and test.
- If all the LEDs work in the car, now, push the button back on.
Reassemble Surround
- Push the switches back into the surround making sure that they are in the right positions.
- Plug the connector blocks into the switches.
- Fit the surround back into the dashboard.
Wiring in the new LEDs
- Some of the original Nissan bulbs have a blue silicon cover (the hazard bulb has a pink one). So I ordered blue LEDs as replacements. But then I found that they were very blue, like VW blue. That the blue silicon cover on the original blues only softened the light, doesn’t actually tint it blue.
- So I ordered white LEDs as I didn’t want the switches blue and everything else white light.
- While I found the blue LED’s legs fiddly, but okay to bend into the rubber bulb mounts, the white LED’s legs had a tendency to snap off.
- So it was easier to just snip off the legs and extend with some thin copper wire. (Would have been easier to begin with!)
- Note:
o Semi conductors don’t like high heat, so use the minimum heat for the least amount of time when soldering the wire.
- Snip the LED legs short, and solder thin wire to extend them:
- Test after you solder to make sure that the heat didn’t destroy the LED.
- Wire into the rubber bulb holder.
- Route the wire through similar to the original bulb’s legs.
- Snip off the excess wire.
- Fit bulb holder to switch and test for correct polarity.
Notes:
- The hazard switch is different between an S14 and S14a. The switch button has a different look, but more importantly, the switch pin outs are different, so will not fit.
- The other 3x switches are the same.
- If you short out the bulb holder, “Tail Lamp” fuse will blow which is a 10A fuse. This will take out the parking lights and all dashboard illumination.
- The hazard switch is part of the indicator circuit. So don't do what I did, and go for a drive without the switch added back in to discover that I had no indicators!
- The clicky switches have a rachet mechanism. The upper switch body has a metal pin which sits in the white plastic rachet piece in the lower switch body:
I used "turbo" grease, as it is faster! ;-) (sorry, I just had to!)
Last edited by markcro; 25-07-2023 at 13:58.
S14a switch pin outs
S14a switch pin outs
Screen Heater Switch.jpg
Headlight Washer Switch.jpg
Hazard Switch.jpg
Fog Light Switch.jpg
Last edited by markcro; 27-07-2023 at 16:35.
For the electron nerds out there, I took some measurements:
- The original bulbs consume 0.5 watts each.
- The replacement LEDs consume 0.14 watts each.
There are 6 bulbs, so when all are running, they would burn a total of 3 watts.
The 6 LEDs if all running will burn a total of 0.84 watts.
So that is less load on the alternator, which is less load on the engine. And all things being equal, and ignoring alot of stuff, that means it frees up 0.0029 BHP! POWAAAAR BAABY!!!
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