I was awakened by flashing blue lights!

[Snackchaser]

Sounds like click bait, but it’s true!  During a recent trip, the master switch on the main panel started flickering on and off, and that caused the blue LED indicator lights for other switches to flash.  It turns out that one of the spade terminals for the switch had loosened from the strain of the tangled mass of wires that were tightly stuffed in behind the switches.  Many of the wires were individual grounds for the LED switch indicators, and there just isn’t enough room for all of them.  The wires are oversized and stiff, and they used bulky splices to connect them all together.

So I cut the mass of yellow wires out and replaced them with a single smaller wire that was daisy chained to each switch.   That space is much less tangled now, and there is more room and less strain on the switches.  Now I have room for a new switch for a future project.

While I was in there, I decided to address another peeve.  I’ve always thought that those blue LED’s were too bright, so I soldered a 47K ohm resistor on the termination end of the new LED ground jumper.  This dimmed the LEDs by about 50%. . . so much better!

If anyone’s interested in doing this, Amazon carries a 525 piece resistor assortment for $8 so you can experiment with various levels of dimness.  Only one resistor is needed for all the switches, so you could do a little twisted resistor art with the leftovers.

I hope that someone finds this useful.  Cheers! Geoff

[Boudicca908]

Not feeling very confident to do any rewiring, I live with blue painters tape on a lot of the little lights inside my Oliver. Maybe one day I will find someone to help me do this project for reducing the glow. 

[Dave and Kimberly]

   See now I must just be different?   I like all the little lights inside at night... the way they reflect in multiple places, bouncing from curve to curve around the interior.   I think of them as my Ollies star-lights!  🙂

    That said... I really appreciate the nice neat daisy chained ground wires!  Good job!

Edited 15 hours ago by Dave and Kimberly

[Mountainman198]

54 minutes ago, Dave and Kimberly said:

   See now I must just be different?   I like all the little lights inside at night... the way they reflect in multiple places, bouncing from curve to curve around the interior.   I think of them as my Ollies star-lights!  🙂

    That said... I really appreciate the nice neat daisy chained ground wires!  Good job!

You are not alone in enjoying the way light bounces across the Oliver interior. 

[jd1923]

2 hours ago, Boudicca908 said:

Not feeling very confident to do any rewiring, I live with blue painters tape on a lot of the little lights inside my Oliver. Maybe one day I will find someone to help me do this project for reducing the glow. 

Nice work Geoff!

Not sure I would like all those night lights! No blue LEDs on switches in this old hull! 

@Snackchaser, as an answer to this, could the yellow wires be disconnected at the ground to kill the blue LEDs? This could be the simple answer for @Boudicca908.

[Boudicca908]

1 hour ago, jd1923 said:

to kill the blue LEDs?

Maybe to be more specific .... I have painters tape on the control panels of the Microwave, SeaLevel2 control panel, and the Norcold fridge; I close up the usb ports, and then I put a jacket on the floor near front dinette seat (to cover the bright light at the CO2 monitor) and I have thought about taping paper over the Solar Charge Controller!  I haven't had the flashing blue lights occur. :)

[Snackchaser]

2 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Nice work Geoff!

Not sure I would like all those night lights! No blue LEDs on switches in this old hull! 

@Snackchaser, as an answer to this, could the yellow wires be disconnected at the ground to kill the blue LEDs? This could be the simple answer for @Boudicca908.

Thanks JD.  Yes, if you disconnect the grounds the LEDs won’t work, but switches will still work.  Also, if you want the blue lights, then you can replace your switches with LED types available at AZ.

i like the blue lights, just not so bright!

Geoff

[Patriot]

When my eyes are closed, I see no lights and sleep well. 🤣 So no issues here. 

[SeaDawg]

3 minutes ago, Patriot said:

When my eyes are closed, I see no lights and sleep well. 🤣 So no issues here. 

My eyelids must be thin, according to my husband.  

I'm another one who blocks out little lights at night. 

Fortunately, very few in a 2008.