miniature incandescent bulbs

[SteveSarre]

Hi all,

Looking to replace a number of bulbs on radios (805s, blue bulb covers) and various dash switches (heated seat etc etc).

The two Volvo parts are
Bulb (short base) 9148908
Bulb (long base) 9148906
but they are quite expensive (about £7-8 each)

Has anyone come up with a cheap alternative?
I have some miniature incandescent bulbs in various colours and some blue led bulbs, but am having trouble finding the bases, and it is proving difficult to reuse the old bases.

Not sure how leds would dim (or not).
Not sure whether I want to stick to blue for the radio bulbs.

Has anyone had any luck with this?

Thanks
Steve

[XC90Mk1]

Originally Posted by SteveSarre

Hi all,

Looking to replace a number of bulbs on radios (805s, blue bulb covers) and various dash switches (heated seat etc etc).

The two Volvo parts are
Bulb (short base) 9148908
Bulb (long base) 9148906
but they are quite expensive (about £7-8 each)

Has anyone come up with a cheap alternative?
I have some miniature incandescent bulbs in various colours and some blue led bulbs, but am having trouble finding the bases, and it is proving difficult to reuse the old bases.

Not sure how leds would dim (or not).
Not sure whether I want to stick to blue for the radio bulbs.

Has anyone had any luck with this?

Thanks
Steve

LED won’t dim based on voltage (they use modulation to alter their lighting) so I think they will be either on or off. They may also be very bright. I would excise caution on that route.

If incandescent filiment bulbs are used of the same voltage I wouldn’t worry.

[280E]

Post deleted - didn't read that you couldn't re-use the bases!

[Martin Cox]

When I did mine, I'm pretty sure I used 12V 60mA wire-ended lamps from RS, Part Number 360-7913.

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/incan...-bulbs/3607913

hey are also available from other suppliers.

Where coloured bulbs were used, it turned out these were ordinary bulbs with coloured covers. These were easily transferred to the new bulbs. I don't recall any great difficulty over re-using the bases. It was a matter of unwinding the wires from the old bulb on the base and rewinding the wires from the new bulb in the same pattern.

Part way through this thread https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/vbart...e&articleid=10 you'll find a good description of how to fit new bulbs to the old bases.

A steady hand, a pair of needle-nosed pliers and a pair of side cutters to trim off the exess wire should be all you need but at my age a bench magnifier is a great help. it may also help to gently clean the contact surface where the bulb fits with a pencil eraser.

Martin

[SteveSarre]

Hi Martin,

Yes, OK, I'll persevere with the existing bases. I have tried, but maybe I just need a cup of tea and some more persistence!

It would make it much easier if I could find a supply of new bases, but I haven't found one yet.

Steve

[pff]

LEDs will kind of work, they do dim but differently to the other bulbs.
The real trouble is that the leads are much thicker and don't really fit into the bases.

[Martin Cox]

Given how durable the original filament lamps have proved and that replacements are still readily available, it's questionable whether it's worth going down the LED route unless you prefer the look of them.

On my 23 year old V70 i've only had to replace 2 of these bulbs due to outright failure in 20 years of ownership. I've replaced a few more since they were getting rather dim but they hadn't actually failed.

These lamps were used across many different models and I doubt they are exclusive to Volvo either. If you are having trouble fitting new lamps, a trip to a scrapyard, assuming such things still exist, may yield something useful.

Martin