Panel light fuse

[Andy4639]

I keep blowing the fuse for the cluster lights. Bottom right corner fuse. It will work for awhile but not long. I think it maybe from the wire under the light bulb I installed to ground it. I have a new printed circuit on order but hasn't arrived yet.

Are maybe something else....

I just found this, wish I'd found it last week before I ordered mine.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Printed-Cir....c100227.m3827

[dmjlambert]

I recommend remove the wire you added under the light bulb. If your gash was right next to pin 7 on the cluster connector where the ground wire goes to the cluster, then all you have to do is ignore that gash and connect a wire to the screw that is right next to the cluster connector, and attach the other end of that wire to a good ground point behind the dash.

[Getter-Done]

Are the isolators for Temp / gas /, and amp gauge okay?

Probably so /would not take long to check them/
If they are loose or ____? They could cause an issue.

Just trying to help









.

[Andy4639]

This is what I did.

All the gauges work. The fuse just keeps popping and the only thing I have done is add that wire to the bulb and then to ground.

[dmjlambert]

I thought of a better idea. Remove extra wire you added under the bulb. Notice that the copper traces of printed circuit that go down into the cluster connector hole are just places for the pins on the cluster connector to rest and make contact. Remove the piece of printed circuit including plastic and copper trace, that goes down into the cluster connector hole that is for the ground pin (pin 7). This will let the cluster connector pin 7 just make contact with the metal of the cluster.

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by dmjlambert

I thought of a better idea. Remove extra wire you added under the bulb. Notice that the copper traces of printed circuit that go down into the cluster connector hole are just places for the pins on the cluster connector to rest and make contact. Remove the piece of printed circuit including plastic and copper trace, that goes down into the cluster connector hole that is for the ground pin (pin 7). This will let the cluster connector pin 7 just make contact with the metal of the cluster.

That may work. I may try it tomorrow in the day light. I really don't want to pull the cluster again until I get the new P/C board. I should be able to do this with out pulling it.
If I do this will it ground though? The bulbs housing's will all be on the backside of the P/C board and not touching the metal of the cluster right?

[VetteVet]

Andy pull your pnl lts fuse and connect your multimeter between the clips with it set on amps and turn the cluster lights on and see how much amperage you are drawing. The 10 amp setting is what you need to set it on. You shouldn't see more than 3 amps. .

[dmjlambert]

Originally Posted by Andy4639

That may work. I may try it tomorrow in the day light. I really don't want to pull the cluster again until I get the new P/C board. I should be able to do this with out pulling it.
If I do this will it ground though? The bulbs housing's will all be on the backside of the P/C board and not touching the metal of the cluster right?

Yes, it should ground, if your black wire in the wire bundle goes to ground. The bulb holder terminals will get their grounds through the traces.

In the stock setup, the ground is provided to the cluster through the ground wire in the connector contacting the terminal with the printed circuit at contact marked with the 1. The ground then goes to the leftmost bulb using the trace. Along the way, the ground is also transferred to the metal case at screw marked with the 2. The ground then transfers from the metal case back to the printed circuit at the screw marked with the 3. The trace that contacts screw 3 provides the ground to the other bulbs.

If you cut the part of the printed circuit out that connects the ground at the place marked with the 1, the connector ground terminal will just provide ground straight to the metal case. Then screws 2 and 3 will transfer the ground to the traces and send the ground to the bulbs using the traces.

You can eliminate the extra wire you added under the bulb. That may be causing problems with your short to ground and blowing fuse. That was my line of thinking. I have not tried this, so no guarantees. Just seems logical to me.

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by VetteVet

Andy pull your pnl lts fuse and connect your multimeter between the clips with it set on amps and turn the cluster lights on and see how much amperage you are drawing. The 10 amp setting is what you need to set it on. You shouldn't see more than 3 amps. .

This could be part of the problem. Last night I was looking at all the wiring under the dash and hooked to the panel light fuse. It was the side marker lights going down the side of the bed. I disconnected it and put it on the park light wire going to the tail end. It seems to be working for now. We will see haven't drove it yet. Just got finished checking everything again.

[Andy4639]

Well back to square 1 again. The fuse blew again after about 5 minutes of driving with all the lights on. I'm just going to wait until the new printed circuit gets here and install it. Hopefully that fixes it.
This all started when I added the wire to the bulb so I'm hoping once I get it all back together with new P/C board it will work just fine.

[Andy4639]

Well I think it's fixed.
I found a brand new printed circuit board in all my parts stash. So I installed the new board and it's working so far but I haven't tried the parking lights on the fuse yet. I did hook them up to the unfused circuit just to see if they would work and they did. It got dark on me so I'm going to look at it some more tomorrow.

I took the old circuit board and I think I fixed it also. I soldered a wire into the gash on it and cleaned up all the copper contacts, it does work on my test meter.

[Andy4639]

OK, well so far so good. It hasn't blown the fuse yet. The latest update.

New P/C board installed. Normal ground wire to dash. Took the wire for the marker lights and tied it into the brown wire running the rear side marker lights. So far it seems to be working.

What I noticed to night though. The tool box I added and added a marker light to the outside of it. When I open it, the light's get bright. How does it do that?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC2LFfbYlGU

You Tube

[VetteVet]

Your toolbox light probably has a better ground than the others so they are usig its ground for less resistance.

[Andy4639]

Here is the new printed circuit board and the old one. Brown color is the new one. Looks OK but it's paper thin. Will have to be very careful installing it when I do use it. For $37.34 you can't beat that price as long as it works.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/302837960690