12V power from clock??

Hi Guys,

Had the common problem of digits missing from my clock/radio display on my freelander.. Rather than shell out £30+ for a second hand clock with no warranty on ebay, i thought id measure up the dimensions of the hole in the dash, and buy an after market clock to fit the hole..

Ended up with a cracking bit of kit, brand new off ebay for £10!! Lovely big digits for the time on 2/3rds of the screen, and inside and outside temperature readings on the right hand 1/3 of the screen!! Looks fab, and i ran the wire for the temperature sensors down through the hole in the dash, underneath the right hand glove/fuse box, and installed the outside sensor on the wing mirror.. It looks 100% orginal, and you cant see a single wire anywhere..

However.. Problem!!

The clock illuminates, but only does so when connected to a 12v socket via accessory lead. Now i dont want the socket in my dash filled with a plug and lead that ill only ever plug in at night, and aside from that it will look poor!! I was wondering about a way of getting 12v power from the original clock leads? If i could somehow find out which one is the 12v + & - lead in the block connector going to the original clock, i could then wire that up to the clock?? Is that possible guys? I looked in my workshop manual, but got a wiring diagram for every bit of the car except the clock curcuit..

Can one of you guys throw me some advice??

Measure the voltage across the old clock connector to work out which is the positive. If you only want it to illuminate at night, perhaps take the positive feed off the headlights.

from rave:

DESCRIPTION
General
The remote display/clock is mounted in the centre of the fascia. The time displayed on the
clock can be adjusted using the 'H' and 'M' buttons mounted in the clock bezel. The clock
will also display radio/cassette information. For more details on audio system operation,
refer to the Audio Systems section of this manual.
+AUDIO SYSTEMS.
OPERATION
General
Feed from the positive battery terminal (C0192) is supplied to fusible link 1, fusible link 4,
and fusible link 12 of the engine compartment fuse box (C0632) on an R wire. Fusible link 4
(C0574) is connected to fuse 14 of the passenger compartment fuse box (C0587) by an NW
wire. Fuse 14 (C0589) provides a constant battery feed to the remote display/clock (C0241)
on a P wire. The remote display/clock (C0241) is earthed on a B wire.
Fusible link 1 is connected in series with fusible link 2, which is also located in the engine
compartment fuse box. Fusible link 2 (C0571) provides a constant battery feed to the ignition
switch (C0028) on an NR wire. When the ignition switch is turned to the 'ignition' position,
current flows across the switch (C0028) to fuse 11 of the passenger compartment fuse box
(C0588) on a PS wire. Fuse 11 (C0580) provides an ignition feed to the remote display/clock
(C0241) on a LGW wire. When the remote display/clock receives this feed, it will illuminate.
Fusible link 12 (C0575) provides a constant battery feed to the lighting switch (C0041) on an
RN wire. When the lighting switch is turned to the side or headlamp position, current flows
across the switch (C0041) to fuse 16 of the passenger compartment fuse box (C0587) on
an R wire. Fuse 16 (C0589) is connected to the remote/display/clock by an RO wire. When
the remote display/clock receives this feed, it dims its illumination.

Cable colours:
B Black
G Green
K Pink
LG Light green
N Brown
O Orange
P Purple
R Red
S Slate (Grey)
U Blue
W White
Y Yellow

Hippo said:

Measure the voltage across the old clock connector to work out which is the positive. If you only want it to illuminate at night, perhaps take the positive feed off the headlights.

Click to expand...

sidelights
corrected for accuracy

Thanks for the info guys... maybe power from the dsidelights would be best?? How do i get a feed of them? Am i right in thinking LGW wire, to positive feed on clock?

Connection to LGW will illuminate the clock display whenever ignition is on whereas connection to RO cable will illuminate the clock display only whilst side or headlights are on.
Earlier radio/casette/ cd control head units will not operate with the original clock/radio display unit disconnected but I would probably plug in the old display unit and leave it cable tied up behind the dash to maintain head unit operation. D..

hi it might be purple and yellow the easiest thing to do is if you do not have a meter then get a bulb solder a wire onto the side and earth it and then solder a wire onto the bottom and shove it in one of the wires if it lights up you have the right one if it does not then you have the negitive side hope this helps

newcyboots said:

Hi Guys,

Had the common problem of digits missing from my clock/radio display on my freelander.. Rather than shell out £30+ for a second hand clock with no warranty on ebay, i thought id measure up the dimensions of the hole in the dash, and buy an after market clock to fit the hole..

Ended up with a cracking bit of kit, brand new off ebay for £10!! Lovely big digits for the time on 2/3rds of the screen, and inside and outside temperature readings on the right hand 1/3 of the screen!! Looks fab, and i ran the wire for the temperature sensors down through the hole in the dash, underneath the right hand glove/fuse box, and installed the outside sensor on the wing mirror.. It looks 100% orginal, and you cant see a single wire anywhere..

However.. Problem!!

The clock illuminates, but only does so when connected to a 12v socket via accessory lead. Now i dont want the socket in my dash filled with a plug and lead that ill only ever plug in at night, and aside from that it will look poor!! I was wondering about a way of getting 12v power from the original clock leads? If i could somehow find out which one is the 12v + & - lead in the block connector going to the original clock, i could then wire that up to the clock?? Is that possible guys? I looked in my workshop manual, but got a wiring diagram for every bit of the car except the clock curcuit..

Can one of you guys throw me some advice??

Click to expand...

newcyboots

Do you have any pictures of your install. I've been looking at a similar option / upgrade for my clock. But want something that will fill / install in the original clock space. Sounsd like you have managed to do this.

As to having the back light on at night. Look at using the RO wire. This should go high when the lights are turned on. (The clock uses logic and dims the display)

Dave

Hi Dave,

Yes, its installed and looks great. Im not sure how to post photos on this site, but if you know how to, let me know and ill do it. Failing that, i canemail them to you?

Andrew

I did this on my Freelander a while back and used the clock back light power wire to power the backlight of the new clock. Cannot remember which wire but using a multi meter will soon find the correct cable.

Its a poor photo but this is my installation


It lights up when the key is turned to position II

Hi Mantamad,

Thats exactly the same unit ive bought

However, its all been fine since i installed it, but today after turning the key to start it, the light comes on but dims out over 5 or so seconds to nothing? If i switch the ignition off and switch it back on, it lights up again, only to do the same?

I wired the 12v lead to the light green and white wire (+) and black wire (-), so the clock illuminates on position 1 of the ignition (along with radio cd player coming on)

Any ideas? The time and temperatures are still displayed fine?

Did you cut the 12v wire off the clock and splice it onto the wires from the original clock loom like i did?

Andrew

newcyboots said:

Hi Mantamad,

Thats exactly the same unit ive bought

However, its all been fine since i installed it, but today after turning the key to start it, the light comes on but dims out over 5 or so seconds to nothing? If i switch the ignition off and switch it back on, it lights up again, only to do the same?

I wired the 12v lead to the light green and white wire (+) and black wire (-), so the clock illuminates on position 1 of the ignition (along with radio cd player coming on)

Any ideas? The time and temperatures are still displayed fine?

Did you cut the 12v wire off the clock and splice it onto the wires from the original clock loom like i did?

Andrew

Click to expand...

Mine came with a plug to fit into the cigarette lighter to operate the back light, the clock digits themselves are powered by small watch batteries. The output from the cigarette lighter plug is not 12v - from memory something like 3v so I connected the 12v original clock supply to the plug then cut off the small end of the plug where it slots into the clock unit, opened up the clock unit and soldered the wires directly to the circuit board. There is room at the back of the clock to fit in the plug as well and this ensures you get the correct supply voltage

Hope that makes sense

Hmmm,

Yes - get it, sort of..

Ive Got the same result as you by doing the following:-

Cut the Light green & white (+) wire, and black (-) wire out of the multiplug that went into the original clock.

My new clock came with an adaptor to put in the cigarette socket like yours, so i cut the end off that goes into the clock, stripped back the wires and used a block connector on each one to hook it up to he appropriate wire from the multiplug.

Presto!! For a while at least...

Now the light comes on but dims out after a few seconds..

Grrrrrrr

Mantamad looks good.

Newcyboots You need to upload into either an album in your profile or a hosting site like photobucket then from reply click on the "Insert Image" button, where you can paste the URL to the picture (Hopefully that has worked for me.) I'll PM you my email, if you want you can email me the pic and I'll post it.

newcyboots said:

Hmmm,

Yes - get it, sort of..

Ive Got the same result as you by doing the following:-

Cut the Light green & white (+) wire, and black (-) wire out of the multiplug that went into the original clock.

My new clock came with an adaptor to put in the cigarette socket like yours, so i cut the end off that goes into the clock, stripped back the wires and used a block connector on each one to hook it up to he appropriate wire from the multiplug.

Presto!! For a while at least...

Now the light comes on but dims out after a few seconds..

Grrrrrrr

Click to expand...

I think your clock is getting too high a voltage. Take the green/white and black wires and attach these to the connector prongs of the cigarette end of the plug - this supplies your 12v power to the plug. inside this plug it steps down the voltage from the 12v input to around 3v output.

Now take the wire that comes out of this plug (other end) and solder the 2 wires within directly to the clock circuit board at the point where the small end plug fits into.

Should work fine then