Sorry for the delay checking back in. The 4wd electronics in my truck spazzed and I detoured to care for that.
Back to the car…
This is a 1987 Chrysler Fifth Avenue, M-Body style. Inherited from my mother-in-law and I don’t know when these lights were last functioning.
The lights are in fact for show on the exterior, they are ‘opera lights’ that originally used EL in the late 80’s and in the early 80’s it was a sylvania or GM bulb.
I’ve checked with the dealer as well as online groups and local auto parts houses. None of the original opera lighting options are currently made. These lights only come on when the car engine is running. They are in the rear side windows and are just for show rather than any useful lighting for entering or leaving the vehicle.
Since there is already an inverter on each side of the car for these window lights, I thought I would use a multi-meter to determine if my inverters are still working and just mod on a light replacement. The car wiring is already expecting to have an inverter there and lighting there so the infrastructure to hold it is present.
A discussion I found is here: http://www.dippy.org/forum2/index.php?topic=3137.15 And there is another similar discussion with more detail and pictures here: http://www.forfmjbodiesonly.com/classic … ht=glowhut
As I understand it from my research, the LED strip technology seems to show a distinct led bulb pattern when lit; whereas the EL Tape provides a uniform light.
The inverter is to get the car’s 12 V converted to something an EL tape could use.
The concern of vibration is a fact of life with cars and one we have to ‘restore’ as needed every few years. But this is nothing different than replacing old style filament bulbs that degrade as well. Again, this is all heresay on my part from reading about this problem. The thought is to find a lighting solution that is viable for years to come rather than pay exaggerated prices for that last bulb of old technology.
This is similar to converting the cooling systems using the old R12 coolant to the currently acceptable R134a. You can buy R12 if you can find it, but it costs over $100 a can and it takes 3 cans to fill the A/C lines/compressor. But the R134a cans are 3 to 4 bucks a piece. The feds tacted on huge taxes to make it unpleasing to go with the older coolant since it was thought to adversely affect the atmosphere. Or at least more adversely than the original analysis of R134a. But I digress. Been doing too much research on several car issues.
So I am looking for any guidance or observations from you folks because you all seem to be further along the knowledge curve about the newer electronics and lighting. Is there a better solution, should I get longer tape and make my own 1 foot pieces, is there better LED diffusers/double density lighting that would be better?
My apologies for the long response, but I sincerely appreciate your help.