Tasmin 280i Switch Panel Question
Discussion
Wedgeone said:
Just checked original owners manual. It is 3 position. Off, bright, and dim.
The Lucas tradition was Dim, Flicker and Off 
Essentially they wound several feet of panel wire into a coil and hid it behind the switch; with the extra wire in series it created extra resistance which made the dash lights dimmer. TVR used exactly the same idea to get the slow and fast speeds on teh early Tasmin's heater fan: it was only a single speed motor but with a mile of wire in line it reduced the motor speed (and heated up the wre coil behind the dash
.Later cars got a proper multispeed fan (although it was still cr4p when you compare it to what Peugeot and Renault were fitting in the early 1980s - proper fans that would give you big hair - well it was the 1980s
).
I like the idea of No.9....My 1982 280i DHC had the little pins on the door closers that turn the interior lights off...The worst one was the under dash light on the drivers side just above your right knee..I remember knocking that on getting out the car during the day...Then covering the Wedge up for a couple of days and then wondering why the battery was flat...I only twigged when i forgot something one day that i had left in the car...I had realised in the evening so when i took the cover off i could see the light on..Bugger...That bulb was removed!
Wedg1e said:
....Essentially they wound several feet of panel wire into a coil and hid it behind the switch; with the extra wire in series it created extra resistance which made the dash lights dimmer........
So that would explain this little bundle of nonsense....
Wedg1e said:
.... TVR used exactly the same idea to get the slow and fast speeds on the early Tasmin's heater fan: ......
On mine they used the brass insert from a connector block!!!!
If this is what passed for "engineering" or "design" in the 1980's then it's incredible that TVR survived as long as it did when, for 2/3rds the money, a punter could have bought a well engineered Datsun 280Z. Mind you, the same punter could have spent more on an equally dodgy Lotus
Edited by v8s4me on Tuesday 18th October 09:52
adam quantrill said:
You have to bear in mind that this was common practice (state of the art?) in the '70s .....
At TVR maybe. I can't see Porsche, Mercedes, Jaguar etc using bits from the scrap box when proper ballast resistors were readily and cheaply available. I'm wondering if it's worth doing the job properly now and fitting ballast resistors, at least to the heater. Apart from working out the correct resistance to use, I suppose the only issue is how much heat they will give off and therefore where to mount them.Any electrical wizards out there able to suggest the correct resistance to get two speeds from the heater?
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