Solid switch

[emax]

A snippet of how a switch in the roof panels "feels" - as far as a video can convey a feeling ;-)

"Feels" solid, imho.

 

[grenadierboy]

Yes - not the sort of switch you accidently activate by brushing your fingers lightly over it reaching for something else.

And the close up shows how very chunky they are.

I assume the little white piece of plastic on the switch is the "on" light?

Does anyone know what colour it is?

 

[ECrider]

In one pick DCPU posted they were red. whether that meant on or off not certain

 

[emax]

No idea. But IIRC there was picture somewhere with a yellowish/orange light inside.

 

[ECrider]

as posted by DCPU last week;

 

[grenadierboy]

OK. Red means off. So when the exterior lights are activated at night - then all internal switches go red.

If you turn one on - it goes green or yellow?

Love to see a night drive photo of the instruments

 

[DaveB]

Yes - not the sort of switch you accidently activate by brushing your fingers lightly over it reaching for something else.

And the close up shows how very chunky they are.

I assume the little white piece of plastic on the switch is the "on" light?

Does anyone know what colour it is?

Red

 

[DCPU]

I'm going to say they are more of an orange resistive glow. But that's having never seen them in person.

I think those in the first post are definitely early versions with no illumination but just white paint to illustrate the idea.

Hopefully, production versions live up to some abuse a bit better than these ~ although they've possibly been through a few lifetimes duty cycle by now:

 

[emax]

That's what testing is for.

 

[DaveB]

I'm going to say they are more of an orange resistive glow. But that's having never seen them in person.

I think those in the first post are definitely early versions with no illumination but just white paint to illustrate the idea.

Hopefully, production versions live up to some abuse a bit better than these ~ although they've possibly been through a few lifetimes duty cycle by now:

View attachment 7794615

Switches are typically 5-10 million mechanical operations and 100,000 or so electrical operations at full current.
That is for the switching mechanism.
Where car interiors fall down is on the life of the physical switch face.
Writing wears off, textures get worn, covers fall off.

 

[grenadierboy]

Switches are typically 5-10 million mechanical operations and 100,000 or so electrical operations at full current.
That is for the switching mechanism.
Where car interiors fall down is on the life of the physical switch face.
Writing wears off, textures get worn, covers fall off.

or in the photo above - are probably pulled off

 

[ChasingOurTrunks]

That looks reasonably solid without being annoyingly tough to activate.

I hope the resist the urge to be too bright on the interior lights like these switches though, or at least have a setting for driving at night that dims them or some similar solution. Modern car dash boards make seeing at night absolutely brutal. Most have an adjustment for interior light for some things, but things like switches can glow very bright. and are often not controlled by these dimmers Red isn't too bad, but I've experienced some switch lights that are blue and I find a bright blue light from a switch is enough to really impair my night vision and makes it harder to distinguish details on the edges of what the headlights are illuminating. I don't know why this is - you'd think the headlights would kill any adjustment of the cones in the eye; perhaps its the difference between direct light from a switch vs reflected light from the headlights hitting things ahead of you, but this has been my experience.

 

[bemax]

I guess there’s not a big problem with red lights as far as they are not to bright. I think red light doesn’t changes the opening of the iris as much as for example blue light does. That makes it easier to work at night with red lights.

 

[rovie]

I guess there’s not a big problem with red lights as far as they are not to bright. I think red light doesn’t changes the opening of the iris as much as for example blue light does. That makes it easier to work at night with red lights.

Therefore, there are some trades that operate with red light.

 

[emax]

and are often not controlled by these dimmers Red isn't too bad, but I've experienced some switch lights that are blue and I find a bright blue light from a switch is enough to really impair my night vision and makes it harder to distinguish details on the edges of what the headlights are illuminating. I don't know why this is - you'd think the headlights would kill any adjustment of the cones in the eye; perhaps its the difference between direct light from a switch vs reflected light from the headlights hitting things ahead of you, but this has been my experience.

Especially the blue light is bad for human eyes. I set my monitors, tablets and cell phones to the warmest possible tone. This may look strange at first glance, but your brain is an incredible computer and adapts to the color.

It's not for nothing that airplanes prefer to use red light for nighttime illumination, and submarines as well.

The authorities (in the EU) prescribe the size and shape of a banana or a cucumber (!!), but there are no regulations for the light issue in cars. This is a real risk that you will at the latest pay for in your old age. It is the industry and designers who want to present the fanciest lights in cars. Volkswagen and others have a lot of designs that have to do with white and blue because 'it looks so good'. Some do even 'pimp' their lights, It's un-be-liev-able!

https://www.google.com/search?q=vol...LFA0QQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1472&bih=777&dpr=1.3

Idiots at work, is all I can say, but also idiotic buyers. Cars and many other things are sold on looks, and young people in particular find such extravagant designs 'cool' and often decide on looks - rather than the technical quality of a product.

And in my opinion, it is pure ignorance that manufacturers do not include manual or automatic dimming of instrument lighting. Another 80 cents saved.

 

[rovie]

Especially the blue light is bad for human eyes. I set my monitors, tablets and cell phones to the warmest possible tone. This may look strange at first glance, but your brain is an incredible computer and adapts to the color.

It's not for nothing that airplanes prefer to use red light for nighttime illumination, and submarines as well.

The authorities (in the EU) prescribe the size and shape of a banana or a cucumber (!!), but there are no regulations for the light issue in cars. This is a real risk that you will at the latest pay for in your old age. It is the industry and designers who want to present the fanciest lights in cars. Volkswagen and others have a lot of designs that have to do with white and blue because 'it looks so good'. Some do even 'pimp' their lights, It's un-be-liev-able!

https://www.google.com/search?q=vol...LFA0QQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1472&bih=777&dpr=1.3

Idiots at work, is all I can say, but also idiotic buyers. Cars and many other things are sold on looks, and young people in particular find such extravagant designs 'cool' and often decide on looks - rather than the technical quality of a product.

And in my opinion, it is pure ignorance that manufacturers do not include manual or automatic dimming of instrument lighting. Another 80 cents saved.

That's why we buy a Grenadier and not a VW.
I don't want to drive a car that is driven by the "volk".

 

[ChasingOurTrunks]

Oh fellas, I'm a HUGE fan of red lights. When my wife was pregnant with our little one, I invested in the Phillips Hue lights for this exact reason. Our house was always basked in red inside at night so that for late night diaper changes and such, we could crawl out of bed, do what we need to, and crawl back in with minimum shock to the system. It works exceptionally well and we've continued it for the last few years for night time interior illumination, and as others have mentioned, we stole the idea from submarines. If it's good enough for them it's good enough for us!

My curiosity is specific to why interior lights being red (or very dimmed) seems to make such a huge difference when there are XYZ-million-lumen spotlights shining down the road ahead of us. In absolute darkness, red lights are much easier on the eyes and preserve night vision because of the way our eyes adjust to different levels of light. But when you are using a couple of portable suns to illuminate the road ahead (and occasionally have a few portable suns driving at you), it's not clear to me why I can see so much better in a car with red interior lights over one with blue ones. You'd think my eyes would only adapt to the headlights, and that the interior lights wouldn't make a big difference, but anecdotally it is way more comfortable and I can see way more. Maybe it's just a fatigue thing.

Of course the downside to using red lights at home is that I have to refrain from all the possible jokes I can make at my own expense on a family forum like this. There's a whole district in Amsterdam that knows whats up though!

 

[ECrider]

Especially the blue light is bad for human eyes. I set my monitors, tablets and cell phones to the warmest possible tone. This may look strange at first glance, but your brain is an incredible computer and adapts to the color.

It's not for nothing that airplanes prefer to use red light for nighttime illumination, and submarines as well.

The authorities (in the EU) prescribe the size and shape of a banana or a cucumber (!!), but there are no regulations for the light issue in cars. This is a real risk that you will at the latest pay for in your old age. It is the industry and designers who want to present the fanciest lights in cars. Volkswagen and others have a lot of designs that have to do with white and blue because 'it looks so good'. Some do even 'pimp' their lights, It's un-be-liev-able!

https://www.google.com/search?q=vol...LFA0QQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1472&bih=777&dpr=1.3

Idiots at work, is all I can say, but also idiotic buyers. Cars and many other things are sold on looks, and young people in particular find such extravagant designs 'cool' and often decide on looks - rather than the technical quality of a product.

And in my opinion, it is pure ignorance that manufacturers do not include manual or automatic dimming of instrument lighting. Another 80 cents saved.

the dipped headlights on some modern cars are so bright o don't know whether they have their main beam on or not. bloody dangerous and as i get older the glare is harder to manage. i too cannot believe they are not regulated. must cause accidents as I have to stop sometimes until they pass

 

[rovie]

Oh fellas, I'm a HUGE fan of red lights. When my wife was pregnant with our little one, I invested in the Phillips Hue lights for this exact reason. Our house was always basked in red inside at night so that for late night diaper changes and such, we could crawl out of bed, do what we need to, and crawl back in with minimum shock to the system. It works exceptionally well and we've continued it for the last few years for night time interior illumination, and as others have mentioned, we stole the idea from submarines. If it's good enough for them it's good enough for us!

My curiosity is specific to why interior lights being red (or very dimmed) seems to make such a huge difference when there are XYZ-million-lumen spotlights shining down the road ahead of us. In absolute darkness, red lights are much easier on the eyes and preserve night vision because of the way our eyes adjust to different levels of light. But when you are using a couple of portable suns to illuminate the road ahead (and occasionally have a few portable suns driving at you), it's not clear to me why I can see so much better in a car with red interior lights over one with blue ones. You'd think my eyes would only adapt to the headlights, and that the interior lights wouldn't make a big difference, but anecdotally it is way more comfortable and I can see way more. Maybe it's just a fatigue thing.

Of course the downside to using red lights at home is that I have to refrain from all the possible jokes I can make at my own expense on a family forum like this. There's a whole district in Amsterdam that knows whats up though!

...I'm sure many families with small children live there

 

[IG Pop]

Not sure this video has already been posted somewhere else. Forgive me, also I don’t understand much…
but at 3:30 he seems to go quite into detail and explains a few bits.