handbrake and choke warning lights not working

[follman]

After fitting led's to the warning light cluster. except oil and ignition lights. All tested ok until I put back in the dash, It seems I dont have live feeds anymore to these 2 lights?

The ignition is on the same earth circuit I think but works ok, is there a seperate fuse or a wire that I may have pulled off behind the dash?

Any thoughts?

[richardthestag]

Refit incandescent bulbs and resume normal operation

another upgrade that just doesn't deliver. Sorry #follman

[singapore stag]

Refit incandescent bulbs and resume normal operation

another upgrade that just doesn't deliver. Sorry #follman

Do you know what! Ever since I fitted LED bulbs into my instruments I have had nothing but trouble ..... with hazards, indicators, horn, wipers etc. May not be related or is I do not know.
I am going to change back and see what happens.

[jbuckl]

LED bulbs have their place.
instrument illumination & Christmas tree lights.

[Phil S]

Are they quality led's? No problems with mine, in fact the choke light has started working since I fitted led's.

[DJT]

ISTR that some of the cluster bulbs are positive and some are negative. If the LEDs fitted are not the correct ones (as supplied by BCL or CCL) trouble will follow.

[Philip Wardle]

I can't immediately suggest a fault condition that would account for both handbrake and choke lights not working, so there may be more than one fault. It could be a LED polarity issue but I woiuld need to know which wiring diagram applies to the car in question, and then go off and look a the diagram and physical wiring in the harness.

The Stag warning light cluster kit from BCL now come with LEDs which work on either polarity and a shunt resistor for the ignition lamp which achieves the minimum current needed to energise the alternator at start-up. Also, BCL have dimmable LEDs for the instruments, i.e. no need to resort to a pulse-width modulator to replace the rheostat. I've bench tested the above in my dashboard as far as I can, but don't yet have a test jig to fully emulate the interface at the connectors between the instrument panel and main wiring loom - I have an old main loom that could be used as the basis of a jig but it's a low priority. Having said that, at this stage I can't see any issues that will prevent my overall LED conversion from working quite happily.

The improvement in instrument lighting is remarkable, I used green dimmable LEDs. I was pleased to find that the colour temperature and intensity on the original Stag instruments (with green filters) and the matching TR6 oil gauge fitted in place of the Stag clock (with no filter) look the same to my eye, and the dimming effect of the rheostat tracks consistently across all the instruments.

I think it's the right call to stay with the original set up for simplicity. For myself, I was interested in finding out what is possible and did some research before deciding that the design maturity of the LED option was just about at the tipping-point, and I'd have a go whilst the car in question is in pieces. I probably wouldn't have attempted to do it if I hadn't got relevant knowledge and experience. The jury is still out, as without a test jig I don't know what problems I'll find when the instrument panel is eventually re-united with the rest of the car.

[follman]

Sorted.........basically as previous posts suggests LEDs are not great!. Put original bulbs back in handbrake and choke after not getting a live feed but worked? So mixture of LEDs and old lamps have finally got it working! Thank you for all the help everyone

[trunt]

I seem to remember that internally in that cluster some of the power and/or grounds are shared so could imagine one pin being intermittent causing both to go out..