Light switch differences?

[INFChief]

My ‘02 MTV M1083A1 has the sexy push button service drive / BO drive light switch.

Question: we’re the fancy light switches part of some field mod / upgrade or simply a Army wide replacement for the older switches?

Just wondering if this newer switch indicates other upgrades / enhancements to the MTV’s.

thanks

 

[simp5782]

Take that thing off and throw it in the garbage before it shorts out and burns the harness up or the truck.

Get a standard lever type 3 way switch. It is a direct swap.

 

[INFChief]

Take that thing off and throw it in the garbage before it shorts out and burns the harness up or the truck.

Get a standard lever type 3 way switch. It is a direct swap.

How does it cause the harness to burn up?

 

[simp5782]

How does it cause the harness to burn up?

Push button light switch

Believe me I've heard all the gripe about these things. But I love the look of them, I don't mind the functionality, but I would like to do everything in my power to prevent the unit from catching fire. And I got this unit used for $50. I plan on running ground wires to the gauge cluster, body...

www.steelsoldiers.com

 

[Guyfang]

Army wide. If you ordered the old type, you got the new one. I hated the darn things. Just for information, if you want to test/trouble shoot a old type, the Gama Goat TM's have a great chapter on how to test the functions.

 

[kendelrio]

Push button light switch

Believe me I've heard all the gripe about these things. But I love the look of them, I don't mind the functionality, but I would like to do everything in my power to prevent the unit from catching fire. And I got this unit used for $50. I plan on running ground wires to the gauge cluster, body...

www.steelsoldiers.com

I've always had one of the push button light switches at the back of my mind because they just seemed cool af.... I even had one that I kept meaning to install in my deuce but never got around to it and sold the deuce with it in the map box...

After reading that thread, no matter **how** well grounded, I won't be installing one in my 5 ton... even a **chance** of a fire from it is too great a risk for me. I would have heartburn every time I fired the truck up from the stress of wondering if today was the day....

 

[Suprman]

I dont like the push button ones. Havent had one burn up on me but the manual style is easy to get into the truck in pitch black and turn it on by feel.

 

[Awesomeness]

Push button light switch

Believe me I've heard all the gripe about these things. But I love the look of them, I don't mind the functionality, but I would like to do everything in my power to prevent the unit from catching fire. And I got this unit used for $50. I plan on running ground wires to the gauge cluster, body...

www.steelsoldiers.com

It doesn't seem like this is much more than edge-case anecdotal "evidence". These digital keypads are installed on 10,000's to 100,000's of military vehicles? You can find one-off cases of practically any crazy thing happening, but if it was happening with any regular frequency the military would get a different solution. And yet they have instead done away with the mechanical switches and gone to only digital? That should tell you something.

While I think that the likelihood of it burning down your truck is extremely small and can be dismissed, I do question why the military bothered to make a digital version to begin with. It seems like an overly complex solution to a simple problem (or no problem at all?). The digital keypad, while sexy, adds no capabilities or light modes, and it probably significantly more expensive to manufacture than three mechanical switches in a panel, that has 50(?) years of successful history. Were they finding the mechanical switches unreliable? Short lifespans? Easily damaged by exposure to weather / difficult to seal?

 

[coachgeo]

It doesn't seem like this is much more than edge-case anecdotal "evidence". '''

read elsewhere that an ex military mechanic told a fellow with an LMTV that switch seemed to cause issues in the FMTV line of trucks.... causing things to burn up in the more electric/computer heavy FMTV's...... then a change of some sort was made. He recommended to throw it out too. Sometimes it is wise to listen to Anecdotal.

 

[simp5782]

It doesn't seem like this is much more than edge-case anecdotal "evidence". These digital keypads are installed on 10,000's to 100,000's of military vehicles? You can find one-off cases of practically any crazy thing happening, but if it was happening with any regular frequency the military would get a different solution. And yet they have instead done away with the mechanical switches and gone to only digital? That should tell you something.

While I think that the likelihood of it burning down your truck is extremely small and can be dismissed, I do question why the military bothered to make a digital version to begin with. It seems like an overly complex solution to a simple problem (or no problem at all?). The digital keypad, while sexy, adds no capabilities or light modes, and it probably significantly more expensive to manufacture than three mechanical switches in a panel, that has 50(?) years of successful history. Were they finding the mechanical switches unreliable? Short lifespans? Easily damaged by exposure to weather / difficult to seal?

Most of our older military trucks are not smooth riding by no means or sealed well So I would chalk up most of the failures to vibration and weather intrusion.

Plenty of people can attest to them shorting out. I would be more worried on a dual voltage truck with both of them going thru the switch. Even new reconditioned trucks still get the manual levers.

Not all military trucks use the 3 lever or pushbutton switch so I wouldn't put the installation number that high.

The m915 1st generation of trucks didn't get the 3 lever style switch and I believe it's due to the dual voltage system and dual voltage trailer output and the switch didn't meet the criteria.

Electronic (push button) M-series Light Switch

OK, so I had a failure of the newer push button style blackout light switch. It has been acting up for some time, not always turning on the marker lights. At a recent event it failed in a "all lights on" condition. Upon internal inspection, 3 IC chips have overheated and burned, since the...

www.steelsoldiers.com

 

[Awesomeness]

read elsewhere that an ex military mechanic told a fellow with an LMTV...

That's practically the start of a bad joke. New people come in here asking for help understanding and the immediate response they get is a very closed-minded opinion that they need to throw it out or it's going to burn their truck down. It's reasonable to manage some risk if he wants to get one (e.g. get a newer production model, inspect the connectors for flaws, ground it well, etc.), but the reality is that the chances of it actually burning your truck down are almost immeasurably small.

Representing an opinion as a fact that the keypads are somehow dangerous is either foolish or manipulative, with little evidence. There are many thousands out there functioning quite fine. LMTVs catch fire due to electrical problems on their own, regardless of light switch. You can probably also find a true edge-case story about almost anything else burning down a truck (e.g. dragging brakes, critters eating wires, leaking fuel hoses, etc.).

 

[juanprado]

There is also more than one manufacture of the digital switch.
I have a 2nd generation of the original in my m923 and a narton which has a different depth on the face in my m998.

Ymmv

 

[Guyfang]

Awesomeness said:
While I think that the likelihood of it burning down your truck is extremely small and can be dismissed, (I have seen it several times, and every TACOM guy I ever worked with complained about problems with the new switch) I do question why the military bothered to make a digital version to begin with. It seems like an overly complex solution to a simple problem (or no problem at all?). (For the same reason we put a computer in Generators. Needed like another hole in the head. This is one of my biggest problems with the switch. The old one was simple, and we all know what KISS means) The digital keypad, while sexy, adds no capabilities or light modes, and it probably significantly more expensive to manufacture than three mechanical switches in a panel, that has 50(?) years of successful history. (So very true) Were they finding the mechanical switches unreliable? Short lifespans? Easily damaged by exposure to weather / difficult to seal? (This is something I might ask a TACOM Wiesel I know who is at least 25 years a tech Rep, and 20 years a truck guy in the Army. Will see if I can awaken the Dragon. For me, trying to use the darn thing at night proved to be mission impossible, with out a flashlight. Any idiot can use a 3 arm switch )

 

[simp5782]

Awesomeness said:
While I think that the likelihood of it burning down your truck is extremely small and can be dismissed, (I have seen it several times, and every TACOM guy I ever worked with complained about problems with the new switch) I do question why the military bothered to make a digital version to begin with. It seems like an overly complex solution to a simple problem (or no problem at all?). (For the same reason we put a computer in Generators. Needed like another hole in the head. This is one of my biggest problems with the switch. The old one was simple, and we all know what KISS means) The digital keypad, while sexy, adds no capabilities or light modes, and it probably significantly more expensive to manufacture than three mechanical switches in a panel, that has 50(?) years of successful history. (So very true) Were they finding the mechanical switches unreliable? Short lifespans? Easily damaged by exposure to weather / difficult to seal? (This is something I might ask a TACOM Wiesel I know who is at least 25 years a tech Rep, and 20 years a truck guy in the Army. Will see if I can awaken the Dragon. For me, trying to use the darn thing at night proved to be mission impossible, with out a flashlight. Any idiot can use a 3 arm switch )

I would say the likelihood on the older m35s
M809s would be greater since they have zero circuit breakers or fuses for protection and they relied on the breakers in the light switch for protection

 

[Third From Texas]

read elsewhere that an ex military mechanic told a fellow with an LMTV that switch seemed to cause issues in the FMTV line of trucks.... causing things to burn up in the more electric/computer heavy FMTV's...... then a change of some sort was made. He recommended to throw it out too. Sometimes it is wise to listen to Anecdotal.

The guy with "Bantha" got a tan A1R version.
*it should be illegal for someone to own TWO M1087s ;p

I noticed in this video he states that his mechanic told him having LEDs on an A1R will cause a fire.

I laughed my ass off.

The LEDs were all that ever came on any LMTV/MTV A1R that I've ever seen. In fact, everything that went back thru BAE for a refresh got LEDs.

I don't know who starts these rumors.

btw, it should be illegal for someone to own two M1087's (in case you missed that).

HUGE fire risk!!!!!

The odds of one bursting into flame DOUBLE.

They should give one to me for the sake of safety....

*see 05:30

 

[coachgeo]

wish they would bring back the delete

anyway.... mod please delete this post