Hogwart
15-12-2002, 10:02 PM
Hi,
here a little how 2 from me which saved me buying an new Aircondition switch just because the little lightbulb in it broke.
1. The easy way - Got to your trusted Vauxhall Dealer and buy a new one for 15 quid (yes you have to buy a new switch, you can't just replace the bulb)in my case order number 90436187.
2. The Lucky way - find one at your local Scrapyard (do I have to say more)...
3. My way - being a pain in the butt to some people and paying £4.24 for a replacement 12V LED...
This is the way I did it:
(Best done by a person which is experienced in Soldering you will see why)
Take 2 small screwdrivers, insert carefully on both sides (left & right) of the Switch and slowly lever it out (that was the easy part).
Now to take the switch apart, it consists of 3/4 parts, mainly the body and the "lid". (You don't have really have to take the "lid" of, but if you do, be careful not to loose the 2 tiny Springs on both corners and I mean tiny)
The part which you have to get into is the Body itself, to do this you need again 2 small (clockmaker) screwdrivers, insert them again on both sides of the switch, there were the contacts are and pull carefully apart.
Now you should see a small plastic insert with 2 bulbs this you can now easlily pull out of the bottom bit of the body.
If you have identified the faulty bulb break it carefully with a pair of small (best needlenose) pliers so that you are able to pull on the now exposed small bits of wire. Now (this is the difficult bit) heat up both solder joints from the bulb and pull the culprit out, it is not very easy (I think the wires are actually bend onto the board, hence the difficulty in pulling it out), then use a de-soldering pump and clean up the holes.
I got myself a 12V 3mm white LED since I didn't fancy doing this again in the near future.
I got it from RS, order number is 382-2910 and the price including VAT was £4.24. They also got diffrent colours (eg Blue!) in the same size. This LED is really bright and does the job nicely, starting at about 5V, so if you want to use these for some other job I think there will be some problems in therms of dimming them.
Now the other way around, solder in the LED, shouldn't be a problem if the holes in the PCB are nicely cleaned. Watch the polarity (I had to do it again, because I didn't), re-assemble the switch, re-insert into the dash and see there light again... :D
I hope this will help someone to save some money if you can get through the trouble in fixing it.
here a little how 2 from me which saved me buying an new Aircondition switch just because the little lightbulb in it broke.
1. The easy way - Got to your trusted Vauxhall Dealer and buy a new one for 15 quid (yes you have to buy a new switch, you can't just replace the bulb)in my case order number 90436187.
2. The Lucky way - find one at your local Scrapyard (do I have to say more)...
3. My way - being a pain in the butt to some people and paying £4.24 for a replacement 12V LED...
This is the way I did it:
(Best done by a person which is experienced in Soldering you will see why)
Take 2 small screwdrivers, insert carefully on both sides (left & right) of the Switch and slowly lever it out (that was the easy part).
Now to take the switch apart, it consists of 3/4 parts, mainly the body and the "lid". (You don't have really have to take the "lid" of, but if you do, be careful not to loose the 2 tiny Springs on both corners and I mean tiny)
The part which you have to get into is the Body itself, to do this you need again 2 small (clockmaker) screwdrivers, insert them again on both sides of the switch, there were the contacts are and pull carefully apart.
Now you should see a small plastic insert with 2 bulbs this you can now easlily pull out of the bottom bit of the body.
If you have identified the faulty bulb break it carefully with a pair of small (best needlenose) pliers so that you are able to pull on the now exposed small bits of wire. Now (this is the difficult bit) heat up both solder joints from the bulb and pull the culprit out, it is not very easy (I think the wires are actually bend onto the board, hence the difficulty in pulling it out), then use a de-soldering pump and clean up the holes.
I got myself a 12V 3mm white LED since I didn't fancy doing this again in the near future.
I got it from RS, order number is 382-2910 and the price including VAT was £4.24. They also got diffrent colours (eg Blue!) in the same size. This LED is really bright and does the job nicely, starting at about 5V, so if you want to use these for some other job I think there will be some problems in therms of dimming them.
Now the other way around, solder in the LED, shouldn't be a problem if the holes in the PCB are nicely cleaned. Watch the polarity (I had to do it again, because I didn't), re-assemble the switch, re-insert into the dash and see there light again... :D
I hope this will help someone to save some money if you can get through the trouble in fixing it.