HVAC illumination via headlight circuit

[Patrick C]

Purpose of seemingly inexplicable HVAC wiring:

Attachment 4940

Other than VIN 500 (which let's be brutally honest, was just another pilot car), production cars were built with daytime visible HVAC lettering, rendering circuit complexity moot.

Bill Robertson
#5939

I am now the owner of one of the very, very, very early "blackout" style panels. Other than VIN 500, I have no idea how many of these are out there. I am guessing this is about as rare as a unicorn. To use it with my LED board from Dave, I would have to hack off the plastic bulb socket holders on the plastic piece, and I am not sure I want to do so with such a rare piece. However, it would look amazing with Dave's board and my iPad that goes back when the car is turned off. The entire console would be stealth until the key is turned. Decisions, decisions.....

[Boglin]

Don't be a puss. Hack it up already!

[Dead Lesbian Goat]

Buy a broke beat up one. In fact, you could make one since the channels are not needed with Daves panel. All you need is the decal

[Bitsyncmaster]

It's the decal that is already stuck to the face plate that needs to be saved. You can not remove the decal or the black stays with the faceplate. Remember you swap two pins in my connector to get "daylight" mode. I don't know why you would want to go back to stock sockets but you could save the cut tubes and glue them back on. You would just be short your cut width.

[Patrick C]

It's the decal that is already stuck to the face plate that needs to be saved. You can not remove the decal or the black stays with the faceplate.

Correct. This is the issue.

I currently have it jumpered in the relay socket to run with lights on only. I would pop a relay back in to get the original function of having them on with the ignition. Would I still need to swap wires in the LED board harness?

[Bitsyncmaster]

Correct. This is the issue.

I currently have it jumpered in the relay socket to run with lights on only. I would pop a relay back in to get the original function of having them on with the ignition. Would I still need to swap wires in the LED board harness?

The stock resistor dimming would not work with LEDs. I don't think you would get any change in the LED brightness. If you do the two pin swap, then you get full power with daylight driving and the adjustable dimming at night.

[Dead Lesbian Goat]

It's the decal that is already stuck to the face plate that needs to be saved. You can not remove the decal or the black stays with the faceplate. Remember you swap two pins in my connector to get "daylight" mode. I don't know why you would want to go back to stock sockets but you could save the cut tubes and glue them back on. You would just be short your cut width.

Oh I didn't realize he wanted to save the decal. I meant buy another decal from DMC but I didn't know he still wanted the dark look.

[Patrick C]

Oh I didn't realize he wanted to save the decal. I meant buy another decal from DMC but I didn't know he still wanted the dark look.

The decal is likely 1 of only a handful ever made. For historical DMC sake, it’s important to not damage it.

[Dead Lesbian Goat]

That's why I said to buy another panel (and decal) or make one from thick plexiglass and save the one you have rather than damage it. Re reading my original post even I can see where the confusion came from.

[Patrick C]

That's why I said to buy another panel (and decal) or make one from thick plexiglass and save the one you have rather than damage it. Re reading my original post even I can see where the confusion came from.

I wouldn’t know where to begin re-creating the black decal that gets lit from behind. If it was easy, I think it would be done by someone already. DMCH reproduced the other style recently with the printing.