RiF Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 Although I am having the std dash on my new car for the moment, I will be changing to a carbon one after the SVA and wish to get rid of the horrible switches and lights. My idea is to only have toggle switches and use some really small LED's. After seeing a thread the other day on LED,s and brightnesses of them I have the following questions: 1 What rating of toggle switches do I need and is it better getting the sealed ones? I would prefer the metal instead of plastic levers. 2 What brightness should I be thinking of for the LED as I can't stand really bright lights on the dash at night but still want to see them in the day? I want the 5mm lens size. 3 What terminals on the LED and toggles would make connecting easier? I spent hours last night going through RS book and it has confused me more Richard in France Arch build the chassis this week, delivery from Caterham in four weeks, my Duratec 7 is getting closer 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby dooby doo Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 VWP do nice switches. LEDs are notorious for having different light output / voltage curves and being different brightneses for different colours. I'm going to fit a potentiometer on each of the bigger LEDs (headlights, indicators etc) on mine. the smaller LEDs will be far enough out of sight not to annoy and are monitoring non-critical things. eg brake test switch HOOPY 500 kg R706KGU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris W Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 Richard It is possible to wire the LEDs to ONE variable resistor (1K ohm should do)to control their brightness. (Actually an approx 470 ohm resistor in series with each LED is also necessary). The issue with the standard car is that 4 of the 7 switches illuminate all the time with the side lights and 3 only come on when the relevant switch is activated. You may want all 7 to come on individually or all of them to come on with the sidelights or some combination in between. Whatever you decide, it is still possible to control the brightness of all the LEDs from one variable resistor (pot). There will however be a small variation in brightness depending on how many switches are ON. As more LEDs are turned ON their brightness will fade, but this can be compensated for by tweaking the pot (brightness control). This will give you something extra to do when you drive at night and is a good anti-tiredness exercise. The 470 ohm series resistors are very important to (i) prevent the LEDs burning out when the pot is at minimum value and also (ii) to allow the LEDs to function correctly as they would otherwise be in parallel. (I won't go into the electronic reason at this stage why LEDs don't work properly in parallel). If you would like a circuit diagram of how to wire it all up, email me and I would be happy to oblige. Since pots come in standard values of 1K ohm and then 5K ohm (the 5K would probably give too coarse a control) you may need to experiment with the 470 ohm value (possibly 390 ohm or 560 ohm - these are all standard values) to get the brightness range you want. It will really depend on exactly for which LEDs you eventually opt. It's simpler to do than to describe in words, it just needs a bit of experimentation to get it to your liking...... and all the above components are going to cost less than a tenner in total. Hope this helps rgds Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murph7355 Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 Have you considered the metal toggles with the LEDs in the end? Didn't get my finger out in time when my dash was done, but these would look very neat IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiF Posted January 31, 2003 Author Share Posted January 31, 2003 Hoopy, Who is VWP ? Scuffnut, Was looking at those toggles and thought I may get on to look at. Chris, Thanks for all your explaination. Seems very complicated but I do want to do the change. So yes please if you could help with a circuit diagram for the layman I would be very grateful. I certainly like the idea of a dimmer control. What sort of strength LED's should I be looking at? Tried one very low power 25 somethings and still very bright straight on in the dark but not in sun light. Also any advice on the switches (ratings etc) Many thanks E-mail easiclad@aol.com Fax 00 33 241 94 3900 Richard in France Arch build the chassis this week, delivery from Caterham in four weeks, my Duratec 7 is getting closer 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian B Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 Hi Richard, Switch rating is not really an issue as you're only switching milliamps - anything wil do. You could look at 12v LED's, RS do some "ultra-bright" ones with ali or black surround and IP66 sealed (e.g. part number 361-3974 for red with ali surround). The thing is to choose one Bright enough to start with for daytime use, and as Chris says, use a pot (dimmer) to reduce glare at night. A neater alternative would be to replace the dimmer with a small relay to automatically switch in a resistor and dim the LED's when the side/healights are turned on The only practical way to determine if a particualr one will be bright enough will really be to buy one and try it. cheers, Ian Ian - MI 5EVN - Slightly Vider 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris W Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 Richard sent you the circuit diagram by email rgds Chris 1.8K SV 140hp V11CPW Ruby Red with Silver nose and stripe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Brother Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 I guess Hoopy is refering to Vehicle Wiring Products. Their website is here Steve Se7en-Up! Less is more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby dooby doo Posted February 1, 2003 Share Posted February 1, 2003 As Steve Motts said - VWP = vehicle wiring products. I was going to use separate pots as i want different brightnesses. eg full beam should be dim enough not to glare at night, indicators should be VERY bright to remind me to cancel them during daylight. Oil pressure should be blinding, alternator very bright as well. HOOPY 500 kg R706KGU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris W Posted February 1, 2003 Share Posted February 1, 2003 You can still achieve different relative brightnesses AND use a single dimming pot by choosing different values for the series resistor with each LED. However, for ultimate control at the expense of more complexity, your idea will do it. rgds Chris 1.8K SV 140hp V11CPW Ruby Red with Silver nose and stripe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby dooby doo Posted February 1, 2003 Share Posted February 1, 2003 true its a bit more fiddly, but not vastly - instead of resistor in line you use a pot... I suppose that once you're happy with the values you could remove the pot - more likely I'll just tidy them out the way a bit. Anyway - how cool is it to have loads of little adjusters on the bottom of the dash ❗ 😬 HOOPY 500 kg R706KGU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul D Jones Posted February 1, 2003 Share Posted February 1, 2003 For warning lamps Farnells do some flashing leds As seen in the top left of this pic' http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.jones37/dash%2001.jpg and top middle of this one http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.jones37/dash%2002.jpg they cost about 40 pence each you have to solder the wire to them and wire them up + to positive or they do not work. To fit I drilled a 9.9mm hole [LED was 10mm] and pushed them in from the under side. Farnells also do some 10mm X 20mm black rocker switches rated at 8 amp I have used these for the fan overide switch and fuel pump on/off switch. Paul. See My Car Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul D Jones Posted February 1, 2003 Share Posted February 1, 2003 www.farnell.com/uk then search for "flashing led" I got a page full of them the one I used are part number 179036 then search for "rocker switch" and half way down the page after the dip switches there some small rocker switches. Paul. See My Car Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiF Posted February 1, 2003 Author Share Posted February 1, 2003 Well thanks to you all for your advice, especially Chris for the diagram. I will look at it later. So I gather I am not the first to change to toggles and leds or the only one who thinks the Caterham dash lights and switches are c..p 😳 What connectors have any of you chosen, spade, screw, solder for the switches and led's? Can you just swap the switches over and use the same connectors, presuming the position is the same? Or is there some additional Caterham added problem Richard in France Arch build the chassis this week, delivery from Caterham in four weeks, my Duratec 7 is getting closer 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick M Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 RS do some panel mount LEDs with integral resistors - set for 12V or 24V. I've used these on my dash and they have two wires (red and black) which make wiring them up dead simple. 12V ones are bright - used for warning lights, e.g. oil pressure, and 24V ones come out dimmer and can be used for indicator lights, e.g. main beam, and they aren't too bright at night. There's loads to look at here : http://www1.rswww.com/cgi-bin/bv/browse/QuickView.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0741939594.1044413076@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccfadchhfekeghcfngcfkmdgkldfhn.0&3221865928=3221865928&catoid=-93511471 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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