308 Handbrake Lever Bulb LED solution

Sorry folks. I miscalculated shipping costs. It's $6.50 and not 4.
I will send it via registered, trackable letter.
I hope it won't be too big a problem.

Best Regards
Martin

 

Hello all,

thanks once more for your numerous orders. I will order the parts and material tomorrow, Monday evening (CET). Around noon in the US. That's my deadline for the first bunch.

BTW. I also experimented a bit further this afternoon. It's kind of a low-engineered, but pragmatic solution. If it's still too bright for someone, it helps masking the face of the LEDs a little bit with the help of a waterproof black felt pen.
Makes it significantly darker, but doesn't affect the color of the light.
For me it was too dark then, but who knows. And I removed the black color again with the help of nail polish remover. Also doesn't hurt the LEDs.

Best Regards from Germany
Martin

 

I colored all four, but now that you ask. I could also try, what happens with coloring one at a time. But I fear, this might cause uneven light distribution

Best Regards
Martin

 

Just to make it clear once more. I just got a PM and was asked in a snotty way about the purpose of this project.
I didn't develop it for saving electrical power (what would be laughable), nor for any lights effects, nor any attempts to make a modern car out of our classic 308s.
The purpose was to find a solution and substitute for a hard, nearly impossible to obtain spare part. An 'Edison bulb' in exotic dimensions and wattage in green color.

I'm aware, that this solution is not for the hardcore originality purists. But even those could save their still working original bulb with replacing it with such LEDs and put the green 3W Edison bulb into a treasure chest

BTW. In my own case it took ten years of ownership until I realized, that there's a light in the handbrake lever. And only because a german car magazine reported about the 308 GTB/GTS. The author seemed to be very excited about that illumination of the center console and wrote something about 'jet fighter atmosphere' Then I searched and actually found a dead bulb.

Best Regards
Martin

 

O.k. I have ordered the material last night and await it arriving this week. I purchased parts for a few more than ordered. Just in case, something goes wrong while making them, or if there are some latecomers.
It's a lot of soldering and I will let you know, when they are ready for shipping.

Best Regards
Martin

 

Hello everyone,

got a BIG parcel full of tiny electronic parts this morning.
Will begin making them.

Best Regards
Martin

 

Brian,

I actually tried this, but this doesn't work. The light doesn't blend nicely. Problem are the chromed bezels of the heater controls. They are directly reflecting green and blue light separately. That creates some Las Vegas effects, but this was not my goal
If someone likes this, I could mix red, yellow, blue and green. At a special price

Best Regards
Martin

 

Hello together,

there's a small screw, which fixes the bulb holder on the lever. It might be necessary to open the zipper on the leather.
The small screw is a little bit fiddly and one needs a short screwdriver, even when the handbrake is fully engaged.
When the bulb holder is released, one can remove the old bulb easily and replace it with my LED board.
I'll make some pictures later or over the weekend together with showing the results with blue and yellow light.
In the meantime I have made one of each, because I was curious.

Best Regards
Martin

 

Can anyone explain, how I could place pictures within my text without using a different host?
If I use the attachment function I cannot post pictures, text, pictures, text, etc., but all pictures appear at the end of the the text.
That's not ideal for a description.
I already asked this some time ago but cannot remember how it works.

Best Regards and thank you
Martin