Additional stealth dashboard warning light

[Always wanted a Stag]

I have been looking as to how to add a warning light without losing the original look of the dashboard.

I quite liked the idea of adding a LED to the centre of the warning light cluster but looking at the back of the cluster, it looked a touch daunting - I think that this was an earlier post on this forum.

I think that I’ve now found an alternative solution.

I have converted the red brake warning light activated by the PDWA switch so that instead of having a single bulb, it now has two 5mm LED bulbs fitted.
I fitted the two LEDs side by side into a suitable holder (I found some sort of plastic bottle cap with a spout) and this assembly is then pushed into the red lens cap.

One of the new LED bulbs is a self contained, flashing clear light bulb and the other one is a normal clear light bulb.

I have wired the flashing LED to my Kenlowe fan so that when the fan is in action, I see a flashing red light.
The normal LED has been wired in parallel to the original filament bulb connected to the PDWA so as to maintain the strange earth setup so that the oil light all works as normal.
I have left the original bulb in the void behind the dashboard with it's soldered connections well covered to prevent any electrical shorts.

The LEDs came from ebay (where else ) and cost about £4 including p&p – links to the two bulbs are below but I’m sure there are other suppliers but this one is in the UK and delivery is a couple of days (you end up with a spare 'normal' clear LED as they sell these in pairs).

I hope that this is of interest to some, it works for me but may not appeal to everyone.

Best regards

Paul

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191788483566?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191785015301?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

IMG_7417.jpgIMG_7418.jpgIMG_7419.jpgIMG_7420.jpg

[V Mad]

Looks like a Mk1 brake lamp? Have you tried it out yet? I think there might be a problem on early cars with changing the brake warning bulb to an LED as it is wired in series with the Oil warning lamp. The brake LED needs to have a resistor fitted to control the current, but then there will not be enough current to light the oil lamp. If the wiring is for later cars (where lamps are powered separately) then it should work OK.

[Always wanted a Stag]

Looks like a Mk1 brake lamp? Have you tried it out yet? I think there might be a problem on early cars with changing the brake warning bulb to an LED as it is wired in series with the Oil warning lamp. The brake LED needs to have a resistor fitted to control the current, but then there will not be enough current to light the oil lamp. If the wiring is for later cars (where lamps are powered separately) then it should work OK.

Thanks Chris, much appreciated.

And this just shows how useful the forum can be.

I actually saw a comment that you made about the wiring of the oil and the brake warning lights a few weeks ago which prompted me to connect the new LED brake warning light in parallel to the existing filament bulb to make sure that there shouldn't be any problem.

Following what you'd said, I made sure that:

• the oil and brake warning lights (including the new LED brake waring) come on when the ignition is switched on; and
• both go off when the engine starts and is running


Following your additional comment today and just to make certain, I've just removed the lead from the PDWA switch and connected it to earth with the engine running and am pleased to say that the new LED brake warning light is lit.

Had I not seen your comment a few weeks ago, I may have spent today trying to figure out what the problem was if the oil and brake lights started playing up.
Instead, I've been out with the hood down, enjoying the sunshine listening to Johnnie Walker's Sounds of the 70s.

Best regards and thanks again.

Paul

[StagJonno]

Nice, elegant solution, Paul. I may do this for my HT warning light. I'll also be looking for 2xLEDs in a single package. In a previous life I did some electrical control panel building and different colour double LEDs were available then. Just need to see if they're available in a suitable package.

Thanks for the idea.

Jonno