Dash panel lighting 12 v to 120 v inverter

LMBoat

LMBoat

Well-Known Member
Oct 4, 2006
753
Ft Lauderdale
Boat Info
1999 450 EB
Engines
Cummins 6CTA's
Hi All,

My switch panel lighting is not working (behind the panel lighting). I believe it is the small 12 v to 120 v inverter
behind the panel. I asked SR, but the orginal manufacture does not make these anymore. I have not been able
to find anything online. Anyone had this problem and found a solution?

Thanks!
 
Larry,

A friend of mine just bought one for Light inverter MFG-Inverter Designs INC. Their number is 972-227-9085

Stuart
 
I need one of those too! Mine smoked one night when I was standing in the cockpit! Nothing like hearing sizzling & smelling that distinctive fried electrical smell!


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Todd
 
LMBoat said:
Hi All,

My switch panel lighting is not working (behind the panel lighting). I believe it is the small 12 v to 120 v inverter
behind the panel. I asked SR, but the orginal manufacture does not make these anymore. I have not been able
to find anything online. Anyone had this problem and found a solution?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

When I replaced my dash panels, I had to re-attach the luminescent strips and was wondering the same thing. Mine work fine, but I was thinking it might be pretty simple to replace the 120v luminescent strips (and the 12vDC to 120AC transformer) with LED strips in a different colour, like maybe red, rather that the off green colour. The dimmer might also need to be replaced if necessary. I think the replacement transformers are pretty cheap though, but they probably need to be able to be dimmed.
 
When I replaced my dash panels I decided to remove the electroluminescent backlighting and replaced it with Sylvania LED lightstrips I purchased from Costco. They are 12 volts, so you just cut the cable off of the wall wart and wire it to the dimmer switch. I also replaced the dimmer switch with a new one from Flounder pounder. The LED strip lights are not attached to the dash panel, but rather stuck to the back wall of the compartment behind the panel so that they are about a foot away from the dash panel. That made the light a lot more uniform. I also learned that the sensor for the remote just needed to be mounted behind the dash panel so that it was located right behind some of the translucent lettering and the remote would actually work right through the dash panel. Because the light strips have RGB leds you have 16 different colors available. The red is easiest on the night vision, but the blue looks great too. Here is a link to a youtube video of the lights changing colors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdAKaXU1bl4

And here is a picture of them blue.

dashlights.jpg

Good luck,

Pete
 
Pete,
That is awesome! Do you remember the part number or brand? That's much better than just replacing the inverter. Now what part was it that you needed to purchase from FP?
Thanks,
Todd


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Todd
 
peterkvs said:
When I replaced my dash panels I decided to remove the electroluminescent backlighting and replaced it with Sylvania LED lightstrips I purchased from Costco. They are 12 volts, so you just cut the cable off of the wall wart and wire it to the dimmer switch. I also replaced the dimmer switch with a new one from Flounder pounder. The LED strip lights are not attached to the dash panel, but rather stuck to the back wall of the compartment behind the panel so that they are about a foot away from the dash panel. That made the light a lot more uniform. I also learned that the sensor for the remote just needed to be mounted behind the dash panel so that it was located right behind some of the translucent lettering and the remote would actually work right through the dash panel. Because the light strips have RGB leds you have 16 different colors available. The red is easiest on the night vision, but the blue looks great too. Here is a link to a youtube video of the lights changing colors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdAKaXU1bl4

And here is a picture of them blue.

Good luck,

Pete
Click to expand...

If the LED strips are the same as the ones in Canada at Costco, they are 12v (you just don't use the transformer). Only about $30 if I recall. The remote has its own dimmer too, so perhaps you would not need a wired dimmer??? A very good side benefit would be that you then have a light source if you are rewiring anything back there. Now I have a spring project !!!
 
Last edited:
You are correct, you don't use the transformer, I just cut off the wire that goes from the transformer to the control module and used that as the wire to connect it. That was handy because it has the plug on the end. $30 and the remote dims and has some other functions. I recently installed 40' of these lights in the cockpit under the seats and along the front and back of the radar arch along the zip strip that the canvas slides into. It looks great and really adds a new dimension to chillin on the boat. Its also super bright if you need it to be. Best part is that it draws almost no current and so the won't drain the batteries fast. Here are a few pics.

photo 1.jpg

photo 2.JPG

photo 3.JPG

Pete
 
That really looks sweet, Pete. Now I have to add this to my spring projects too! Thanks for this great info!


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Todd
 
Todd,

The LED lightstrip are made by Sylvania. They are available at Costco. Not sure where else you can get them. They come with 6 2' sections, 4 2" connectors if you want to make a sharp change in direction, a power supply you will only need to cord from, a 12VDC controller with an IR receiver, and a remote. You can run 20' from a single controller. The back of the lightstrip has a 3M peel and stick strip that works very well. I degrease the surface with some alcohol.

The dimmer can be found at FP here http://www.searay-parts.com/Instrument-panel-dimmer-p/dimmer switch.htm

I changed my dash to have two dimmers, one for the leds in the dash and the other for the instruments.

Good Luck,

Pete
 
Thanks Pete. I looked on Costco's website last night & did not see them. I definitely want to make that addition this year. I did a couple night runs to the beach last season & it was a little inconvenient trying to determine which switch did what in the dark. I had to keep a flashlight handy.


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Todd
 
Excellent Pete! Thanks again for all of the info! I'm getting excited already for this project! Now if I can just get through this next damn snow storm on Thursday........


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Todd
 
I really like that LED setup you have there so probably going to do the same. Rather than the special LED controller Carling makes this little rotary switch that will switch between RGB. Won't get all of the variations but blue to green to red would be fine for me. The Carling switch is the same size and fit as the switches in the helm so perfect...
http://www.carlingtech.com/rotary-switches-V-Series
 
peterkvs said:
You are correct, you don't use the transformer, I just cut off the wire that goes from the transformer to the control module and used that as the wire to connect it. That was handy because it has the plug on the end. $30 and the remote dims and has some other functions. I recently installed 40' of these lights in the cockpit under the seats and along the front and back of the radar arch along the zip strip that the canvas slides into. It looks great and really adds a new dimension to chillin on the boat. Its also super bright if you need it to be. Best part is that it draws almost no current and so the won't drain the batteries fast. Here are a few pics.

View attachment 34036

View attachment 34037

View attachment 34038

Pete
Click to expand...

I picked up the same Costco lights in hope that they would work, I'm glad to see that they will. Your setup looks great.

Did you use the same control module for the arch lights as you did for the under-seat lights? I imagine it would be easy to point at each IR detector and change them all to the same color, but having one controller to worry about would be nice. I wanted to try to do this by splicing into one of the elbow connectors and adding a 4-conductor wire segment to make it a few feet long and run it behind the seat, etc.

Did you tie it into the overall 12V system or did you connect to one of the unused accessory switches controlled at the Helm?

For others interested in the product, I seem to remember the back of the box had a costro discount code you could use to order extra lights. I will see if I can dig up one of the boxes this weekend.

thx.
 
According to the directions you can only use 20' of strips with a controller module. Also, I wanted to be able to run the lights on the front of arch, rear of arch and under the seats separately. That way I can have them off up front when driving at night. When I installed them I hid the little IR sensor so that it was just barely poking out under the trim. They are not even noticeable. If I stand in the middle of the cockpit I can turn them all on and off and change colors together, but if I get the remote up close to each sensor I can control them separately. I added a spare 12V breaker to the breaker panel under the helm and ran the lights from that. I debated controlling them from the helm with the accessory switch, but decided to try it first with just the remote. Since I have bought like 6 packs of these lights I have 6 remotes and will probably attach on near the rear door so that I can switch on the lights when I get there in the dark.

Good Luck,

Pete
 
Pete,

If you get a chance In the coming months I would really appreciate if you could provide a few close ups of your install. Things I'm interested in is where on the trim the lights are mounted, where the IR sensors are that you speak of and how much you needed to leave them exposed, what the strips look like on the arch in the daylight. Since my boat is surrounded by a couple feet of snow I wont be working on it too soon. As always, thanks again for all of this information! This really seems like a very affordable, really cool upgrade!


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Todd
 
I too would appreciate a few pic of the install on the helm lights behind the switches:huh:. Ours do not work and it makes me crazy. Thanks Connie
 
Is the dimmer switch required? My boat is older and has only a 'dash light' switch with two positions. I assume 'bright' and 'dim'. This weekend the transformer for the light strips went up in smoke so I need to come up with a solution. I know the electroluminesecent strips are available on the internet but then you have that transformer again. I like the 12Volt LED lights since they don't require a transformer.
 
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