Is a "one lamp" dash illumination feasible?

[Crunch]

After years of considering replacing my dash lamps, I have pretty much decided to give up on it. At first I put it off because I didn't want to go through the hassle of disassembling it. Then when my truck was at the dealer for an ECM problem they did the air bag recall without telling me and cracked the top of my previously uncracked dash in two places. Then earlier this year I barely touched the round speaker vent in the top left corner of the dash, and it pretty much disintegrated and dropped into the void, never to be seen again. All this after putting a Dash Mat on the truck within days after buying it new and never letting a drop of Armor All get anywhere near my truck. Only one or two are out, and I can't see risking the destruction of some or most of my dash to do it.

But this lamp thing has still been bugging me, and recently it occurred to me that it might be possible to design a system that uses one bright LED lamp (or maybe a couple) to light up the entire instrument cluster. I have both a DVR and stereo that use curved plastic rods to direct light from a lamp to the front display to show the status of it. I also have a small Mag Light that has a curved plastic rod to place in the breech for use in examining the barrels of guns--which I may or may not own. So could the same type of system be used in vehicles? I'm thinking of something like a lamp that shines into a piece of plastic, which then splits the beam and sends it down several of the curved rods I described, ending up behind or below the gauge or instrument it's intended to illuminate. If it could be feasibly done, then one or more lamps could be conveniently located and accessible for easy change out, with the plastic rods lasting the life of the truck. The location of the lamp/lamps could be either in the cab, or even on the engine side of the firewall. It would be very similar to a fiber optic line, just with a much larger diameter and no chance of it sticking you like a cactus.

 

[Topzide]

Yes, in theory that could work. It would take a lot of design and work ups to get it to work the way you would like. Armour All has nothing to do with the dash falling apart, it's the fact that there wasn't enough UV protector used in the making of the dash panel. You would think that they would make it able to protect the wiring that is below the dash. There are some important wires under there! I have the same problem in my 1500. If you look at it wrong, another piece falls off. If you do decide to undertake the mod, get a new dash panel that has UV protection in it. Good luck with project.

 

[AEdelheit]

You dont have to touch the top part of the dash to pull the cluster, I have pulled the cluster , changed bulbs and reassembled in 20 min total, sounds like you are making a far bigger project then just swapping out the bulbs. You also dont have to take the cluster apart to change bulbs live Chevys, you just pop the bulbs out of the back and install new ones.

 

[Yo Hoot]

My truck is 04. Always outside. Owned it since new. No cracks anywhere.

 

[jjdiesel]

My truck is 04. Always outside. Owned it since new. No cracks anywhere.

Likewise!

 

[Crunch]

Yes, in theory that could work. It would take a lot of design and work ups to get it to work the way you would like.

To me, it's an intriguing concept, i.e. minimal light sources to illuminate many gauges, combined with easy change out. If the lamps installed like the license plate lamps you wouldn't even need tools to do it. If the lamps were located on the engine side of the firewall opposite the steering wheel there would also be minimum bends in the plastic rods. But it might need to be in two parts, with one being the source side, and the other being integrated into the dash and a mating surface like what is used to connect fiber optic cables to complete the pathway.

My truck is 04. Always outside. Owned it since new. No cracks anywhere.

Same here until the dealer did that passenger side airbag recall. It never occurred to me that they would do it without my requesting it, but what the heck. The truck is 20+ years old now, so I really shouldn't complain too much. But for an extra few hundred dollars in cost they could really add a lot of longevity to the components of all vehicles. I look at today's luxury vehicles and laugh at the cheap plastic and crappy interiors they use. I had a '69 Mercury Marquis that had an awesome interior, and both the front and back seats were like a high end sofa. I miss that kind of quality.

 

[MarkEagleUSA]

I've had a couple of older Chevy trucks that had fiber optic illumination in the ashtrays. I think it was fed off the HVAC controls.

 

[User113]

Crunch,

Yes, such a concept is "feasible," but that doesn't mean that it's viable for any number of reasons.

Check out U.S. Patent 5,452,186 - Light Distribution System assigned to the Ford Motor Company, filed March 30, 1994. See particularly figures 6-8.

See also U.S. Patent 3,278,739 - Illuminator assigned to Bausch and Lomb, Inc. filed Jan 2, 1964. See figure 3.

 

[User113]

BTW, I don't understand the "no chance of it sticking you like a cactus" part of your comment? Sounds like there's a story that goes along with that...

 

[Yo Hoot]

Crunch,

Yes, such a concept is "feasible," but that doesn't mean that it's viable for any number of reasons.

Check out U.S. Patent 5,452,186 - Light Distribution System assigned to the Ford Motor Company, filed March 30, 1994. See particularly figures 6-8.

See also U.S. Patent 3,278,739 - Illuminator assigned to Bausch and Lomb, Inc. filed Jan 2, 1964. See figure 3.

What are you talking about? He's not going to market it.

 

[seafish]

I must be misunderstanding some thing, but I do not understand how would you insert the plastic rods to shine in the correct places of the instrument cluster without first removing the dash and cluster ?

and if you have to remove the cluster, then why not just replace the bulbs ??

And if bulb longevity is a serious issue for you, I am fairly sure that long lasting LED replacements now exist for dash illumination.

 

[Crunch]

Yes, such a concept is "feasible," but that doesn't mean that it's viable for any number of reasons.

Check out U.S. Patent 5,452,186 - Light Distribution System assigned to the Ford Motor Company, filed March 30, 1994. See particularly figures 6-8.

See also U.S. Patent 3,278,739 - Illuminator assigned to Bausch and Lomb, Inc. filed Jan 2, 1964. See figure 3.

Bingo! I can understand the problems they would have faced 30-60 years ago when the light source would have been standard incandescent lamps. I'm thinking it might be very doable now with LED lamps. Obviously there would be drop off with length, bends and imperfections in the rod. But on the other hand, you could increase the brightness without generating too much heat to make up for it.

As for "sticking you like a cactus", I'm referring to an actual fiber optic cable used for telecommunications where the actual transmitting fiber is smaller around than a human hair and can cause severe pain with the slightest touch. That wouldn't be a problem if the rods transmitting the light are in the 1/8"-1/4" range.

I must be misunderstanding some thing, but I do not understand how would you insert the plastic rods to shine in the correct places of the instrument cluster without first removing the dash and cluster ?

I'm not talking about making and marketing it, or retrofitting my truck with it (what a nightmare that would be!!!). I was thinking about that kind of a setup for new vehicles. It would be integrated into the manufacture of the dash/console. The main point would be to eliminate the need to replace individual bulbs, along with the hassle of accessing them. It would be one or two easily accessible light sources, terminating in many illumination points.

 

[seafish]

I'm not talking about making and marketing it, or retrofitting my truck with it . I was thinking about that kind of a setup for new vehicles. It would be integrated into the manufacture of the dash/console.

What are you talking about? He's not going to market it.

Thanks...got it now.... that wasnt at all clear to me, or necessarily others, from your original post.

 

[User113]

I don't think there were any real "technological" challenges 30 or 60 years ago. Using glass fibers would have taken care of any heat issues from incandescent bulbs, and the Ford patent solves the heat problem for plastic light pipes by placing a metal heat sink at the light input. Sometimes change just has too much inertia to get rolling. Like maybe long term contracts between the car makers and the light bulb companies...who knows.

Anyway, there are hundreds of good ideas that never see the light of day for one reason or another. And along those lines, patents are like lottery tickets. Millions are issued, most are worthless, and a very select few are worth $billions.

 

[Road Dog]

I had a Corvette (68?) that had plastic fibre optics from each external lamp back to the centre console to show burnt out lamps.

Modern devices like remotes use a plastic light guide to use one led to illuminate a keypad or display. There's a bunch of physics to split and reflect the light to where it needs to be.

 

[Crunch]

I've had a couple of older Chevy trucks that had fiber optic illumination in the ashtrays. I think it was fed off the HVAC controls.

I had a Corvette (68?) that had plastic fibre optics from each external lamp back to the centre console to show burnt out lamps.

It looks like GM was on the forefront of this approach at one time.

Anyway, there are hundreds of good ideas that never see the light of day for one reason or another. And along those lines, patents are like lottery tickets. Millions are issued, most are worthless, and a very select few are worth $billions.

When it comes to off the wall car features/innovations I always think of Robert Kearns, the guy who invented the intermittent wiper system and ended up suing the auto manufacturers for putting the swipe on his invention. Awesome idea, but it cost him his marriage and a good chunk of his life fighting the Big Boys. Always a bad idea to be your own lawyer.