Push button light switch

[erasedhammer]

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, and negative shunt in the battery compartment. I heard that the most common cause of fires is power surges, what I put circuit breakers on the lines coming in from the lights?
I heard units after 2005 had the issue corrected. I don't know what serial number those were. But for some reason there are two labels with s/n info. one on the inside and one on the outside.
The pic for the inside label isn't readable, but the s/n is 33503 00912 and the model is MKE CDA. I don't know what the other number is though: 9341-15637-008/B its a bit odd for a NSN.



I do not plan on installing the unit until I am pretty sure that it is safe and won't catch fire. Also how vibration resistant are these things? I frequently go on some extremely rough roads.

 

[doghead]

Good luck, I hope you're fully insured and they don't read this thread if yours burns up.

 

[erasedhammer]

Good luck, I hope you're fully insured and they don't read this thread if yours burns up.

I'm not stupid, I am not installing the unit until I know it is safe.

 

[Suprman]

I personally don't like them. I can operate the original style in the dark by feel. I do see a lot of trucks with the electronic style though. If they really didn't work then the military wouldn't use them. The old style ones go bad also. Even if the electronic switch smokes up I don't see it causing much damage past itself. If you like the switch then use it. Put the old one in a ziplock bag under one of the seats so if the new one dies you can still have lights.

 

[doghead]

How will you know it's safe?

 

[erasedhammer]

I personally don't like them. I can operate the original style in the dark by feel. I do see a lot of trucks with the electronic style though. If they really didn't work then the military wouldn't use them. The old style ones go bad also. Even if the electronic switch smokes up I don't see it causing much damage past itself. If you like the switch then use it. Put the old one in a ziplock bag under one of the seats so if the new one dies you can still have lights.

Yeah I'll do that.
For the switch functionality, there's no reason why I could build up muscle memory of where each button is for the lights and easily be able to turn them on just by feel in the dark.

 

[erasedhammer]

How will you know it's safe?

Found this handy write up. After reading some of his other comments, I have no reason to think that these units will fail provided people take the proper precautions. No doubt the failures have been because of either A or B below.
A) To much current travels through them, possibly because bulbs break off in the light fixtures and short things out, or wiring breaks lose and touches ground. By changing to LED lighting, it reduces your chances of fire since they don't break as easy and draw less energy from the system
B) Bad grounding, if you have corrosion on your body frame that blocks the path to ground, or the strap isn't connected properly to the chassis or the switch, you force current through the lighting switch circuitry. This is known as avalanche current, and when it exceeds a certain threshold, that's when circuitry starts getting really hot and can burst into flames.
C) Combination of both

If you want to add additional lighting to your system (like bush lights), make sure you tap off into a relay first so the load isn't going through the switch. If you do all this, there is no reason why those switches should ever risk burning your truck to a crisp. Dispite what people say, they look like a perfectly safe product to me when used/installed properly.

 

[juanprado]

There is now a 2nd design of these made by NARTON that have thermal overload protection. They are physically different than the advanced micro original or 2nd generation. These switches are extra deep and fit the hmmwv dash perfectly with no modification to tabs. Pictures and more info on my thread Juan's M998.
I have one I acquired brand spanking new with no issue.

I also have the older one in my 5 ton with no issues.

Anything electrical can fail and release the magic smoke. I think the first ones did have problems and were corrected. Why would the military still use or have a 2nd design and manufacture if they were not happy? I have seen plenty of push buttons on different current military platforms.

 

[erasedhammer]

There is now a 2nd design of these made by NARTON that have thermal overload protection. They are physically different than the advanced micro original or 2nd generation. These switches are extra deep and fit the hmmwv dash perfectly with no modification to tabs. Pictures and more info on my thread Juan's M998.
I have one I acquired brand spanking new with no issue.

I also have the older one in my 5 ton with no issues.

Anything electrical can fail and release the magic smoke. I think the first ones did have problems and were corrected. Why would the military still use or have a 2nd design and manufacture if they were not happy? I have seen plenty of push buttons on different current military platforms.

I have read about the 3rd gen ones that esterline has. They have a pdf showing the thermal overload protection that the older one lacked. They listed the part numbers that were different, and I checked mine, I have the first gen. But all that means to me is that I have to take extra precautions when installing it. I'm planning on two ground wires, one leading to the body ground stud, and the other going to the alternator ground. If I see a gen 3 one for a good deal I'll pick one up for the peace of mind.

 

[86humv]

The switches are prone to ESD damage [ electrostatic discharge ].
That switch is that one pulled from inventory...and new ones got surplused, used got scraped.
They come new with an ESD cap to protect its internal circuits.
ESD is a big time concern on aircraft.
If part has no cap,...it gets turned back in.
While installing component person must have an ESD wrist strap with a wire and clip to unit.
Also, cap stays installed untill connector is ready to connect.
Take a chance.....have a fire extinguisher handy.
Sometimes when they go.....they melt the wiring just out of the switch connector.

 

[erasedhammer]

The switches are prone to ESD damage [ electrostatic discharge ].
That switch is that one pulled from inventory...and new ones got surplused, used got scraped.
They come new with an ESD cap to protect its internal circuits.
ESD is a big time concern on aircraft.
If part has no cap,...it gets turned back in.
While installing component person must have an ESD wrist strap with a wire and clip to unit.
Also, cap stays installed untill connector is ready to connect.
Take a chance.....have a fire extinguisher handy.
Sometimes when they go.....they melt the wiring just out of the switch connector.

So other than overload protection, how did the newer switch protect against external electrostatic dicharges?

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

I have one in my M931A2 tractor, every time I turn the lights on, I'm thinking the truck is going to explode the way people have talked about these light switches.....LOL

 

[Gunzy]

If ALL of the lighting on your truck is LED style you will likely never have a problem as the current draw is a LOT lower than the standard incondescent lights.

 

[Cape Coastie]

One of these switches was installed in my M923 when I bought it about 2 years ago and was warned about the issues. I figured it I ran it for awhile with no problems that it would be ok. Well at the local 4th of July parade a month ago the lights starting flashing and I tried to shut them off. Thought I did but then they started flashing again when I tried to shut them off noticed the switch was hot. Was getting so hot that I was afraid of a fire/meltdown. Reached under the dash after stopping and unplugged it. Replaced it with a new 3 lever I had. Opened the unit up and found smoked/burned relays/contacts. Hope you have better luck than I did as I liked the electronic switch.

 

[Csm Davis]

I have one in my M931A2 tractor, every time I turn the lights on, I'm thinking the truck is going to explode the way people have talked about these light switches.....LOL

I really like them but I have seen two trucks that they were installed on in service catch fire.

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[erasedhammer]

I really like them but I have seen two trucks that they were installed on in service catch fire.

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In service? Guranteed they didn't install them right. And I'm guessing those trucks weren't all LED?

 

[Csm Davis]

In service? Guranteed they didn't install them right. And I'm guessing those trucks weren't all LED?

Yeah one never made it off base, both were well grounded and no LED lights. Like I said I like them but not sure I will ever run one again.

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[erasedhammer]

Yeah one never made it off base, both were well grounded and no LED lights. Like I said I like them but not sure I will ever run one again.

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There's ways of grounding that will not suffice. As per usual in humvees the broke things come from user made errors

 

[Csm Davis]

There's ways of grounding that will not suffice. As per usual in humvees the broke things come from user made errors

I was a electronic counter measures tech many moons ago, I would say I know a proper grounded part when it it is actually grounded to the main ground under the dash with the supplied wire and coated with anti- corrosion spay. There was a good reason they recalled a large quantity of them. By the way the two I saw meltdown were in steel 939 trucks not aluminium humvee's.

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[erasedhammer]

I was a electronic counter measures tech many moons ago, I would say I know a proper grounded part when it it is actually grounded to the main ground under the dash with the supplied wire and coated with anti- corrosion spay. There was a good reason they recalled a large quantity of them. By the way the two I saw meltdown were in steel 939 trucks not aluminium humvee's.

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I was told that the units should be grounded to the body ground and alternator ground only. Guy who's been selling them has several installed and never had problems, but mostly because of the low current draw of the entire LED setup.