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Climate control light bulbs

G

geetee

New member
The local dealer said the bulbs that light the climate control buttons at night are not sold separatley, the whole panel must be replaced. I went to radio shack and found a bulb part# 272-1154. It is 12 volt 50mA. After soldering it in I can say that it works fine. Hope this info helps someone else.
 


Most of the time they consider items like that "non serviceable." Hence why they wanted you to buy the whole console. Most anything light powered can be replaced.
 
Same thing the local dealer in my town said to me when I needed some door panel clips "we dont have the clips, but we will sell you a new $400 door panel", and then I made the mistake of going to the dealer to ask for DIC bulbs, "we don't carry those but we will sell you a new DIC", although they did call a local NAPA store that carried the bulbs for me. MAn, I used to be able to buy GM hinge bushings from this same dealership years ago, I guess they just need to tmake MORE money, and not piddly wiht the little things.
 
I did some digging in my photobucket album, I had to replace almost every bulb in my digital HVAC control. Radio Shack had what I needed, several house later with steady hands...I got it done. Everything worked, and still works, so it was worth the effort.

Hvac.jpg


~F~
 


SnowDrift, if you are asking about the bulbs that backlight the seat heater buttons, I think you can use the same bulbs. Maybe somebody else will chime in.
 
The illumination light appears to be the same, but the bulbs for the hi and lo are much smaller. There's a Radio Shack in a town I have to go to tonight and I might just stop off there to look at their selection.
 
GR8, what's the black spot in the lower right corner of your display screen on your HVAC controller? Did something cause a short when replacing your bulbs?
 


GR8racingfool said:
I did some digging in my photobucket album, I had to replace ........ ~F~
Click to expand...

GR8, I did this on a friend's dispaly over the weekend and shortly after starting to de-solder the bulbs, we noticed the same dark (burn) spot under the glass display, as seen in the lower right of your display on your photo here. Any ideas what caused this? We are pretty sure it wasn't there before we started.
 
SnowDrift said:
GR8, what's the black spot in the lower right corner of your display screen on your HVAC controller? Did something cause a short when replacing your bulbs?
Click to expand...

Hell if I know.

I know I didn't short anything out...I replaced my bulbs in it. It was unplugged out of the car, and I couldn't have really done any damage with the soldering gun....I think it was like that from the beginning when I took it apart. Must have been a age thing, or maybe even a factory construction thing, who knows. The display is unchanged, it works, and everything lights up like it should, so I'm not worried about that burn spot.

I probably did notice it too when I took it apart, but its been so long ago, and everything works, I didn't worry about it ya know.

I really-REALLY wanted to rescue this display from the junk yard because the display is red. My GTP came with the same unit, but a GREEN display. Can't tell you how annoying it was looking at one lonely green display light when everything else was red. It wasn't until I was in another members car and saw he had a red display, I was like where did you get that colored display, and he said it came like that, and he didn't believe me mine was green till I showed him, and he even agreed that it was effed up looking.

Now everything is red...except the fog light switch when its on...which I can live with that since its so small.

~F~
 
Found this existing thread... Thanks to the OP. Yes that helps. I currently have to do a fix. I've seen these bulbs on a video, and the brightness looked the same, but the physical size looked smaller (like the smaller ones in the radio). - Any recollection on that?



Extended post:

I want the lighting to remain consistent, and that is why I am being so picky. Now that Radio Shack is gone, these are not as easily available (and leftovers may only exist on E-bay). As I have found, these are specified as Radio Shack; 12V, 0.050A, bi-pin; P/n 2721154 replacement; 4.5 mm(?).

I have also found Eiko's 40910-7371-Miniature-Automotive-Light-Bulb/176064795; 0.48 watt - 0.04 amp - 12 volt - T1.75 - Bi-Pin (G3.17) Base | Eiko Incandescent Miniature ; Automotive Light Bulb; Average Lifetime: 10000 hours; Lumens (light output): 1.51 [halogen].

There is a difference of 0.01 amperes, but the Eikos are halogen, so the brightness might be equal. Bulbs are currently about $2 a piece.

I am not interested in LEDs (not going to get into replacing all of them and dealing with dimming problems due to LED dimming needing SMPS (switch-mode power supplies), PWM {pulse width modulation) and adding resistors to get to the right forward voltage (current).

FYI, I scavenged one out of a parts-radio, and the bulb was physically smaller. It's doing the job, but I'll have to do the job again since an additional other intermittent problem really isn't fixed. - A tap will get it lighting, and I think it may be a busted filament that just makes contact after tapping. I checked the circuit board, solder connections and resoldered the connections, but the problem remains.

Anyway, this is my knowledge and contribution on this, and any comments/experience is appreciated.
 
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These are the incandescent bulbs (5?) in the HVAC controls cluster (no separate sides control, no automatic control). The grain-of-wheat bulbs look similar to what is there except without the seating collar. I was looking for if anyone knew what the original factory lights are and what their name is.
 
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