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If anyone saved the newsletters from IOCI, there was an
article on this. The Litz wire was available from Radio Shack. If gave specific
details on the wire size. Unfortunately, I lent this issue to another club
member & he lost it.
John
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2004 5:37
PM
Subject: Re: IML: EL Instrument
Clusters
While I agree with everything here, if the gauges are fried, it
isn't worth the effort to make the needles light up. That is unless you want
to play with them as practice in working on EL stuff. That is how all of us
learned.
Just as an FYI, I was buying Imperial parts on Ebay until last
March. I bid on, and won, several new old stock gauges for '61, '62(black
background), & '63 Imperials (gray background). The winning bid prices
ranged from $100.00 to $250.00 for single gauges. You should consider this
when you begin researching the cost of having your cluster rebuilt. Even
though the cost may seem high, trying to fix one by purchasing new parts for
it over Ebay may end up costing way more money. The gauges and clusters do
come up for bid on Ebay frequently.
Paul
In an email dated Mon,
15 11 2004 9:17:18 pm GMT, "Eric" <gearhead@xxxxxxxxxxx>
writes:
>Hey Brandt,
>There are very thin, coated "Litz Wires"
that connect the high voltage AC
>power from the EL powerpack to the
gauge needles. They typically oxidize
>into a verdigris powder and lose
conductivity. I was pretty successful at
>using a flat copper tape to
replace my Litz wires, it was flexible enough
>not to interfere with
the movement of the needles, which is why the Litz
>wires were
originally used. If someone out there could shed some light as to
>where Litz wire is available, many of us would appreciate it. I didn't
find
>anything like it at my local electric supply store. JC Auto
Restoration is
>reported to fix these gauges. They are listed in the
repair vendors section.
>It sounds like your EL powerpack is pumping out
some power, thats half the
>battle. If some of the EL rods around the
speedometer are glowing, then
>sometimes the trouble is that the little
wire that is wrapped around one end
>of the rod has broken or has moved
enough to not make contact with the dab
>of gray conductive paint that
is on the plastic facia that the rods are
>screwed onto. If none of the
rods glow, then sometimes the entire cluster
>isn't making good contact
to ground due to insufficient torque on the number
>of screws that hold
the housing onto the chromed front bezel. They need to
>be tight in
order to compress the wound rod wires to the dabs of conductive
>paint.
It could be that the dabs of paint have cracked and have lost
>conductivity to their next point of electrical flow. Also, some of the
wound
>rod wires need to be pinched between the plastic facia and the
metal
>housing, I think. Been a while since I've been in one of those
clusters.
>
>Eric
>Portland,
Oregon
>*******************************************************
>Clock
glows but does not keep time.
>
>Temperature Gauge - needle does
not glow, also possibly a bad sender?
>
>Speedometer - EL light
does not work around it cannot see it at night.
>
>Oil Guage -
needle does not glow. needle goes almost all the way to
=
>high...
>
>Gas Guage - Bad sender, needle does not
glow.
>
>
>
>
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