SO
Has anyone ever been in the situation where this...
...orange light is on all the time because you have purposely wired your On Off On switch backwards?
Basically this is because I am using the switch as a selector between Main Beam on, Off, and Constant On for the roof lights, and the way it is wired puts permanent live to the pin to which the orange light is wired.
Why not switch the main beam and permanent feeds you say?
BECAUSE my default position is main beam, and to have the switch downwards to match the others, main beam must be wired to the top pin and permanent live to the bottom pin, which puts the orange light on.
So, we must change the switch.
This COULD be a first for teh internets!
Pop the back off, caution, springs!
And we have a beautifully simple switch inside, truly American!
These are the little chaps that do the lights. Notice there is a spring and a resistor. Some Carling switches are available with incandescent lamps and I guess they don't have the resistor, just a longer spring like the earth spring:
So it wasn't too much trouble to do a cheeky move on the positive wire for the orange led (cathode?) to the spare position:
I decided I needed access to the centre pin so I could fit a fairly crude jumper wire. The only way was to drill from the outside, straight through:
And here is a visual circuit diagram
Soldered the wire into the centre pin bucket, shoved the untinned end into the spring hole, popped the resistor in then shoved that down which kinda crimped the wire in place and popped the spring in:
Then carefully clipped the switch back together, plugged it in and exclaimed hurrah out loud when it worked! Well chuffed with that one
Now I've got three to do for my mate's Hilux, he has put up with switches not matching his other switch positions for a year, I persuaded him to change them but he said only if I can find a fix for the lights
