Globes

[Dras]

Not sure if this will be useful to anyone but I just replaced the globes in my volt meter, clock, climate control, ash tray and cigarette lighter and I thought I would do a quick write up of what I used and how I did it.

The reason I did this was the globes were getting old, I found myself having to tap / smack the surrounds to get some of the globes to turn on.

My goal was to replace my old globes with identical (or as close to) new globes. I wanted nice consistent lighting and colour, so I chose to stay away from LEDs.

I found all the globes I needed in the NARVA range which can be sourced quite easily from most auto shops, the catch is, not all the globes are drop in replacements, some need modification.

Firstly, the parts I used were:

NARVA 47734 x 4 (12V 1.2W)
NARVA 47504 x 1 (12V 3W T10)
NARVA 47289 x 4 (12V 2.3W T5)
NARVA 49944bl x 1 (pack of 5 blue silicone sleeves)

The ash tray and cigarette lighter use the 47289's with a 49944bl sleeve over them. No modifications are required here but bending the legs of the bulbs away from the glass will ensure a snugger fit and better contact.

The volt meter uses the 47504 globe. Just remove the old globe from the holder and reuse the holder. Bending the 2 contacts of the holder up towards the globe will ensure good contact.

The clock requires 2, 47734 globes. These globes come with a holder that is nearly perfect, the problem is that the contacts are too deeply recessed to make contact with the circuit board. A small blob of solder on each of the contacts, I found, does the trick. The alternate is to bend the contact up and back onto itself but I think that is more fiddly.

Now for the AC, this is where the fun really starts. The 2 ouside smaller globes are the 47734 globes. Same drill as the clock in the previous step but they require the silicone sleeves. Since the sleeve is way too big for the globe, insert the globe without the sleeve and then push the sleeve onto the globe and over the holder to stay in place. This assumes you have removed the front face of the AC and have access to both sides of the PCB.

The bigger globes in the AC are a nightmare. The globes I used are the 47289. What I did was to remove the bulb from the old holder (bending the legs around the plastic) and then drilled out a 5mm hole in the centre of the old holder. This allowed me to insert the 5mm globe into the old holder. I then used some solid cored cable (CAT-5 because that's how I roll) to wind around the holder and up to the legs of the globe, which I then soldered into place. The legs of the bulb have a coating on them that needs to be sanded off first before you can solder to them.

It is a lot of dicking around but I am really pleased with the results. The colour and intensity of all the globes are exactly what they should be.