The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Here is a simple mod for those who drive there dollies quite a bit at night, having grown frustrated with the heater controls and the lack of being able to see what goes where in the pitch black with no lighting available.

i tried this, works very well, and very discreet.



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These leds are availble from Maplins i think they come in a pack of 4, thanks to Justyn for letting me have this one.

...That's incredibly simple, yet utterly genius.
Great idea.

Wired to the dash lights circuit I guess?

Good mod ,I did a similar mod years ago, I used green plastic as a insert with the bulb above it so the light was the same colour as the gauges but did not use a led but a standard bulb and holder must admit that looks easier to do,is the led a green light ?

Much better than the candle on the dashboard that I use - kept blowing out when I had the window down.

Grand idea that.

Thanks for the response it is a white led. I have wired into the clock blub and earth as it was the closet but could be wired anywhere into the light circuit, extremely simple and cheap.

A terrific idea Chris, one I shall certainly pinch!

How does the LED cope with being dimmed? Is some sort of standalone VR used to reduce current to the LED as presumably it will remain at full brightness or fail entirely when the panel lamps are dimmed, if it's connected in parallel with filament lamps that are fed via a rheostat.

I'm thinking that the glove hole lamp or the gear selector quadrant lamps might be a better source of the feed for an LED, since they remain constant regardless of the setting of the instrument panel lamps.

I guess it only applies to later cars John - ones without that there fancy rheostat malarkey?

The LED comes from Maplins, about £6 for a pack of four and iirc they are avalible in other colours.

JPB wrote:How does the LED cope with being dimmed? Is some sort of standalone VR used to reduce current to the LED as presumably it will remain at full brightness or fail entirely when the panel lamps are dimmed, if it's connected in parallel with filament lamps that are fed via a rheostat.

I'm thinking that the glove hole lamp or the gear selector quadrant lamps might be a better source of the feed for an LED, since they remain constant regardless of the setting of the instrument panel lamps.

Do Dolomites have a dimmer?

My question has been answered by Alans post me thinks!

1300dolly wrote:The LED comes from Maplins, about £6 for a pack of four

fond these here http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-x-Pre-wired-5mm ... 53e207a62f, £2.09 for 5, plus you'll need holders (search for 5mm LED holders)

I buy LEDs in bulk (100-500 at a time from hong kong, 200 costing £8 including P&P). again holders and cable will be needed though. If anyone is interested in saving a few pennies, I'm right here, and can supply them in a choice of colours, prewired for 12V

Stan Part wrote:I guess it only applies to later cars John - ones without that there fancy rheostat malarkey?

1300dolly wrote:........Do Dolomites have a dimmer?

Yes, but from what Alan's said, I'm guessing that later cars make do with a simple on/off switch?

Looking at the various bits of anorak source info I have, it appears that the dimmer isn't fitted to cars that had the pull-out type of hazard indicator switch.

Anyway, I still like the heater illumination idea but I'm thinking along the lines of a single, amber LED in place of the glove hole lamp, which isn't dimmed with the panel, feeding a length of thin fibre optic cable, along the lines of that used in miniMetro stalk illumination, down either side of each heater slide aperture. That should be a viable alternative that won't need a PWM-based dimmer as an LED on a dimmed circuit would.

That said, I use my car all year round, including for driving in December, when it's dark by 3pm. How many times have I forgotten where the heater controls are?
That's right; not once.
I'm in the house now and don't have a handbook open in front of me, but I can still remember that the lever at the right opens and closes the heater valve, up for open, down to close, the middle one opens the air flaps from the blower and increases the speed of said blower the further down its slot it goes and the left one is up for air to the screen, downwards to increase the air to the centre vent and the feet.
Would I still bother to make it all light up? Of course I would, 'cos it's a gadget and I love gadgets!

As always James Ebay can be cheaper, the reason I bought these was that they come with holders, were in the shop so i could see them and it easy to return them if they dont work which one didnt and I got a full refund!

A fantastic idea and very unobtrusive.
I look forward to seeing the pictures of everyone's adaptations.

I done mine before Chris
I will show off my rear wiper tomorrow.