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radio lights

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:49 am
by ebiv2003
this is regarding 2003 radio single cd player, likely applies to other years as well. almost all the panel backlights have stopped working. i have read all the previous discussions and hope maybe someone by now has made some progress on fixing this issue. yes this fix requires precise radio surgery and close quarters solder technique. if you are up to this challenge than just determining some workable lamps will be the biggest challenge, which is what i need assistance with. i have included photo of my display panel after major surgical removal clearly showing 3 distinct types of INCANDESCENT LAMPS, total of 7 bulbs. Would be thrilled to hear from someone who has source for replacement bulbs or who has determined voltage/watts. Previous discussion have debated 12v/5v but i think they may have been talking about the LEDs and not the bulbs. Since the Bulbs are tied to the instrument panel diming circuit i would suspect 12-14v most likey. I have other radio disection photos if anyone is interested, but they are not for the faint of heart!

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Re: radio lights (ebiv2003)

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 2:27 pm
by tcam
sry, can't help u there. but just excited to see someone from poulsbo. I grew up on Bainbridge Is. and just recently moved to AZ I used to go into Poulsbo all the time.

Re: radio lights (ebiv2003)

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 2:39 pm
by ColonelPanic
Welcome aboard! I don't have the answer either but I can say > He'll be able to help ya for sure.

Re: radio lights (ebiv2003)

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:20 pm
by ZubenElGenubi
I wonder if, given that all your incandescent bulbs are burned out, you may have another problem. My gut feeklng is power supply related, as if a resistance circuit has shorted before getting to the lights.You may well be better off replacing the entire circuit board assembly here. Like ColonelPanic said, GMJAP is the source for spare radio parts!!!!EDIT: I was gonna fix my spelling, but GMJAP's quote cracks me up...gonna have to leave it be.

Re: radio lights (ZubenElGenubi)

Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:42 pm
by GMJAP
Quote, originally posted by ZubenElGenubi »I wonder if, given that all your incandescent bulbs are burned out, you may have another problem. My gut feeklng is power supply related, as if a resistance circuit has shorted before getting to the lights.Dude! Keep your gut feeklng to yourself, man. My post on radio parts seems to have disappeared! I guess the FS/WTB forum gets purged. Never got much response, anyway.ebiv2003:I have a single parts radio left, and it is mostly unworking junk. It has a few lights out on the display too, but perhaps you can get enough bulbs between it and your unit to get a nicely lit up front panel.I'm under water at my job this month, so I'm not able to desolder the bulbs any time soon. Instead, I'll just mark the bulbs that are bad and send you whole front panel circuit board. (Which does still work otherwise).I'd ask $6 including shipping it to you. IM me if you're interested.PS- I haven't done the research on 3rd party replacements, and won't have time till next month. If you find out anything, please post & let us know!

Re: radio lights (GMJAP)

Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:17 am
by RationPack
if you whant to change the lamp on your panel, you realy need to know the voltage on the lamp(14v max normaly) there is the equation E=RI (E=Voltage, R=Resistance and I=current)a regular LED spec, 2.4v at .02a (2.4v / .02a = 120 ohms)the max voltage on your lamp (14v) - led voltage (2.4v) = voltage to remove (11.6)at same current--- 11.6v / .02a = 580 ohmsyou need to put resitor (~580 ohms) in serial with led+ ---580 ohm----led-- - -----////----|>|----whatch-out for led polarity (don't work in invert polarity)Use 1/4w resistor (under 1/4w, resistor may blow)i hope i help you....

Re: radio lights (RationPack)

Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:34 am
by GMJAP
Quote, originally posted by RationPack »if you whant to change the lamp on your panel, you realy need to know the voltage on the lamp(14v max normaly) there is the equation E=RI (E=Voltage, R=Resistance and I=current)a regular LED spec, 2.4v at .02a (2.4v / .02a = 120 ohms)the max voltage on your lamp (14v) - led voltage (2.4v) = voltage to remove (11.6)(some text deleted)i hope i help you....Good information, however the lights he has problems with, (A), (B), and (C) in the picture are all incandescent bulbs, not LEDs.

Re: radio lights (GMJAP)

Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:41 am
by RationPack
if you need to change lamp by led..

Re: radio lights (RationPack)

Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:54 pm
by ebiv2003
thanks to everyone for contributing to my post, I will start by scavanging GMJAP's old radio and also look thru some local lamp resources for possible close subs. I will report back when i get some results.

Re: radio lights (ebiv2003)

Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 3:31 am
by ToolGuy
I have read on my Covette sites Radio Shack has bulbs that can be used/soldered in... I will see if I can find the posts on it...

Re: radio lights (MiVibe-ToolGuy)

Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 3:41 am
by ToolGuy
Here is something FWIW..."The lamps are burning out. Partsexpress.com has a part# 070-105 that is the correct brightness for the radio and 070-235 for the A/C Programmer. Use of a soldering tool will make this a simple repair. This will not fix the display screen issue that one person has, but it is probably a simple connection issue there and a reseat of the connectors may fix.This is for the background lamps only, not the main indicators. My lamps started burning out."

Re: radio lights (MiVibe-ToolGuy)

Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:03 am
by ToolGuy
OK here is the link to the Radio Shack bulbs I know others have used in GM radios!http://www.radioshack.com/prod...earch