Does anyone still have interest in restoring or repairing the original electroluminescent coach lamps?
After some reasearch I was able to repair mine by fabricating new foil packs on my Couger LS. I used EL blue but, I think the originals used EL white. EL white (foil packs) are available as well as other colors.
The foil packs on both were degraded/delaminted and not making light. Fortunately, both inverters were still singing. I am still reasearching the best repair method for failed inverters but, I have not found any failed inverters so far. If the inverter is working you should be able to hear a tone or a squeal that comes from the foil packs inside the lamps whether they're emitting light or not.
You can still buy EL panel from All Electronics Corp for super-cheap. Some of the panels have a series of terminals and can be cut to fit, and they have different colors and off-state colors.
Back in the '90s, I installed a "wheat grain" bulb in the base of the housing, then scuffed up a thin piece of plastic behind the stock diffuser plate. It looked great to me, but I haven't seen it in years. I never installed it on the car; I kept it on my desk in a custom housing and plugged it into the wall using a 120V-12V transformer.
The EL Coachlamps are currently working on our 85 LS:
I have a set stashed away in the garage.
Still worked when I checked them after I received them...
GearHorn, pm me with what you bought and how you did it. I have a 80 Silver Anniversary Bird that still work but my kids 83 Heritage are inop with no buzz
The problem I keep running into is finding white EL panels that are also white when they are powered off. All the white ones out there are salmon-colored when off and that will not suffice.
Like this?
(http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee79/daminc/new%20car%20parts/lighted%20emblems/IMG_4111.jpg)
I've thought of a few ways around it but would like to find white parallel electrode EL sheets that are also white when no power is applied. I've found plenty of pink ones that are white when powered but pink when off. I suppose a very thin piece of frosted Lexan or something like that could be placed over it but I haven't tried that yet because I wasn't home most of 2008.
I bought the last original inverters from the manufacturer that made them for our cars in the '80s though.
Karl, Do you still have our 2 old EL Coachlamps to work with ?? :poke:
Yeah, that's the only reason I am involved with this.
C2g,
All of the OEM coach lamps I have seen indeed have an off white opaque diffuser lens covering the foil pack. Seems like this would solve the off-pink problem.
I'm also looking to restore mine and replace the sun yellowed sheet.
and just now checking them, neither one works. looks like I going for a total rebuild now
Well, if anyone finds new parallel electrode EL sheets that are white with and without power, let me know so I can finish mercury-man's lights
I don't have lit ones, If I did I would want them to light body color.
I would love to get the ones on my cat working. I'll have to check and see if the inverters are good and try and rebuild them. Always liked how they looked.
Always wished mine worked. If I could do it cheap enough I would fix them.
C2g,
I just rechecked my source (cooltronix) and no change to the white glow foil sheets. Still pink in the off state. However, the opaque OEM diffuser lens should help mask the pink foil. I could be wrong though.
dg
So.. Does anyone have any info on replacement inverters? I just picked up a pair of Heritage Coach lamps today and they do not seem to be working...
Any updates on this?
Found the inverters to be bad on my good set also. :mad:
In fact~I've found the inverters to be bad on about 4 sets. :toilet: