Quote:
Originally Posted by vickyg
From what I've read it's another one of those Volvo bulb holders with a capless 1.2w soldered into it. Just did the one in the rear ashtray. To buy with the holder best price was £11!
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Two choices, buy some "grain-of-wheat" bulbs or some high-brightness, flat-top green LEDs (green is closest to the original look) with 680 Ohm resistors and remove the old bulb holder complete with dead bulb.
Find where the wire ends are welded onto the tabs and snip the wire there. Pull the old, dead bulb out.
Use a Dremel (or similar) with a 1mm drill bit in and drill through from the bulb end to enlarge the holes in the holder for the wires. Now the method changes depending whether you're using grain-of-wheat bulbs or LEDs.
If using the bulbs, feed the wires through and solder them to the tabs, snip off the excess wires, fit and test.
For the LEDs, cut one leg down to ~1/4" long and tin it with solder. Do this as quickly as possible to minisise heat transfer. Cut one resistor leg to ~1/4" and tin that as well. Hold the LED securely, pick up the long leng of the resistor with some long nosed pliers and heat the short, tinned end then as the solder begins to melt, line the short leg of the resistor up on the LED, keeping the heat on just long enough for the tinning on the LED to flow into the tinning on the resistor then remove the heat. Hold until the solder has cooled naturally - don't blow on it, you'll create a dry joint.
Measure the diameter of the resistor body, usually about 2.8mm and select a drill bit slightly larger like 3mm. Drill one of the wire holes in the holder out to 3mm, just deep enough for the resistor and LED to fit flush where the original bulb was.
Now feed the LED/resistor assembly into the holder with the long leg of the LED one side and the long resistor leg through the enlarged hole in the holder for it. Solder those legs onto the tabs, snip off the excess and fit and test. If it doesn't work, unplug the connector, rotate 180 degrees, refit and test - it should work.
In both cases you'll need a small-tipped soldering iron of about 25-30W maximum, preferably a temperature controlled jobby. Use thin 60/40 tin/lead multicore solder.
http://spiratronics.com/0.25w-carbon...stor-680r.html
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263106931804
Pick green, 10-pack for £1.99, much cheaper than buying multiples of 1 at £1.59 each!
Resistors and LEDs ^^^^^
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154189018515
Grain-of-Wheat bulbs ^^^^^ - best deal i could find for the right sort of size although they're a little small.