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HOW TO: Modifying Carling Contura II SPDT for reverse operation


Adam001

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  • 1 year later...

Hi,

Sorry for the bump. I'm actually a Subaru owner, but I'm in a similar quandary with my Carling SPDT switch. I currently have LED reverse lights that are hardwired to come on with my factory reverse lights, and I want to connect them to a switch so that I can either have them work that way, or turn on manually independent of the reverse switch. Thus, I would have two inputs (the factory reverse switch and a constant 12V) and one output (to the relay for the LED lights). The only difference in my situation is that my Carling switch has 7 terminals instead of 5. I think the difference is that the lower LED in the switch is supposed to be independent (i.e., on regardless of switch position) and the upper LED is dependent (so only lit when the switch is on that side).

It sounds like I actually bought the wrong kind of switch to do what I want to do, which is only illuminate the side that is active (i.e., supplying the input to the reverse LEDs) - any comments?

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  • 6 months later...

I was about to try butchering the illumination in a Carling switch for almost the same reason (in my case controlling additional spotlights via a Carling SPDT: up on permanently / center off / down with the vehicle’s high beam).

A quick search - in case anyone had done such a small-print thing before – bought me here. The Internet still amazes me sometimes! Thanks, Adam 001, for saving me from reinventing the wheel.

I have only one comment on your excellent procedure: there’s no need to reassemble the switch body to hold the link in place before soldering. I just used a blob of Blu-tack. Whole job done in ten minutes.

This was my first use of Carling switches. They are a brilliant design: modular and very accessible, therefore modifiable. A car electrical geek’s delight! ;)

It should also be easy to change the colour of the LED/s so as not to be stuck with the standard green locating and orange function indicators. The supplied resistors are 560R – these might need to be changed for different colours, but a quick search of LED specs on rs-online.com reveals a huge range. I’ll do some research and experiments, then provide RS part numbers for the use of anyone else who might want to mess around with the indicator colours.

I bought my switches from Mud UK – their prices are competitive with online electronics suppliers. They also sell the very useful ‘Contura XIV rocker’ which has two symmetrical windows.

http://www.mudstuff.co.uk/carling-contura-xiv-rockers.html

Using this enables Carling switches to be mounted upside-down to give UK-standard up-off/down-on operation.

Brits will understand how irritating American switchgear can be :).

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  • 1 year later...

Another bump!

Really useful and interesting thread as I bought a bunch of Carling switches for my new MUD center console on a 'deal' from my local boat chandler.

Yes, they were cheap, but also non-illuminated. The information here should help me add LEDs/Resistors to my switches ALTHOUGH I will need additional springs.

Does anyone know if additional springs can be obtained or a suitable alternative? (They are awfully tiny).

Cheers, Ron.

1995 D90 CSW

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  • 5 years later...

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