Relocation of the tell-tale lamps & conversion to LED's

[SpitFire6]

Hi,
 I bought an aftermarket speedo a long, long time ago and of course, it did not have lights for Ignition, Oil & main beam.
I relocated the 3 lamps to the dash.
The car was rebuilt & the three lamps moved to a lower mounted 3-hole bracket that was not easily viewed when in the car.
Alternator belt vacating the car & not seeing red ignition light wasted 3 hours of my life and battery.
Had a spare center dash panel so decided to fit the three new M14 LED’s there.
Wanted to fit LED’s to front indicators to complete the full conversion to solid-state. Was unable to as the Triumph Spitfire/GT6 single tell-tale will not allow this. I fitted two tell-tales & fitted two diodes & an open relay to give me a click click.
Fitted a diode & 47R resistor in parallel to allow the ignition light to function & stop the alternator powering the ignition feed when ignition switched off.
Still to fit a diode & buzzer to tell me if oil pressure light is actuated while engine running. Forgot.
Diodes are too big but have loads of 6-amp ones.
7 wires. 5 with male spades & 2 with bullets to fit into the indicators feed.
Falling in love with cordless hot melt glue gun & isopropanol to easily remove.

I know it looks like crap & the spacing is wrong. Call it the mk1. Good until I get the touch screen fitted, so good for many years.
The car now drives better & quicker. Placebo effect massive.
Cheers,
Iain.
 

[Colin Lindsay]

12 hours ago, Spitfire6 said:

I know it looks like crap & the spacing is wrong. Call it the mk1.

 

I'd call it fairly impressive! Where did you get the fuel gauge?

[SpitFire6]

Hi Colin,

My perceived straight lines and measurements have always been bad. Cheers.

The stepper motor with a few selectable curves built in was about £25 of eBay & from China. The very fast response could be used with a car alarm. LOL 

I have a 30A rotary light switch I might fit and replace OE switch with an Oil temp stepper motor. The single wire temp sensor meter is not wired up & will be replaced by a stepper motor water temperature gauge; just need to fit the two wire sensor. Stepper motors are overkill, but linear, accurate & cheap.

Cheers,

Iain.

Edit.

The lights are pretty crap with the roof down & sunlight. All black & >14mm would be better. A feed that said the engine was rotating would be even better for sounders.

 

 

 

Edited May 13, 2019 by Spitfire6
Edit

[Colin Lindsay]

13 hours ago, Spitfire6 said:

Hi Colin,

My perceived straight lines and measurements have always been bad. Cheers.

My motto is: measure twice, cut once, and still make a hash of it.

[SpitFire6]

Hi,

I have another center dash & a 52mm hole saw. I have a new rotary light switch I can fit where I want with the correct connections. It has three spades as OEM switch.

I need to cut central to old switch hole. A piece of aluminum glued to plastic will suffice to the center pilot hole?

My stock of plastic center dash panels is getting low. Limited where I can fit the new light switch as cables short. Not sure if extra 52mm hole will be oil temp or pressure. 

Cheers,

Iain.

[SpitFire6]

Hi,

I now notice that the blower/cabin fan is keeping the engine running for hundreds of milliseconds when I switch the ignition off. I can either fit a diode in series with the blower feed or refit the adjustable speed controller again.

The fan is out of balance anyhow as it plays havoc with my phone/car-cam when running at full speed.

Ordered more warning lights with black legend plates as present ones, excluding the main beam are not readily noticed when active.

Cheers,

Iain.

[dave.vitesse]

Ian, Triumph's method to overcome the fan generator/overrun problem was to use the radio/AUX connection/port to supply the fan.

Dave

[SpitFire6]

Hi Dave,

 That's a clever idea. I have a USA LHD steering column. This would be the White/pinK wire?

Cheers,

Iain.

[NonMember]

1 hour ago, dave.vitesse said:

Ian, Triumph's method to overcome the fan generator/overrun problem was to use the radio/AUX connection/port to supply the fan.

Actually, their first action was to send a note to all the dealers saying "it's normal behaviour, ignore it".

[dave.vitesse]

Ian, Yes White/Pink.

Dave

[dave.vitesse]

4 minutes ago, NonMember said:

Actually, their first action was to send a note to all the dealers saying "it's normal behaviour, ignore it".

Rob, Sound about normal.

Dave

[SpitFire6]

Hi,

 Most of my continuous loads off the ignition (White before & green after fuse) are relays. Pre "Relocation of the tell-tale lamps & conversion to LED's", I had to have the blower running for the engine to stop... A diode on the alternator fitted between the ignition light feed, it cured it. It increased the charging voltage slightly but worse it increased the required cut-in voltage. I took it off and kept the blower on. People working on the car would call me & ask how to switch the engine off. I knew they had switched the blower off. Telling them to push the window washer puzzled them.

The alternator diode is now an integral part of the new fascia. The engine always stops. But, now the blower is the source & not the cure??

I guess it will now stop quicker then it ever has. Yes, It stops quick!

Dave, I'm surprised this is historic as surely the 3-ohm coil would pull all the power from blower fan and alternator thru ignition bulb? Lucas, I guess.

Cheers,

Iain