Anti Theft bulb not working

[BobSacamano]

So the last step of installing an OEM RAP module is getting this light to work when system is armed. I first thought that the bulb was bad, so I got another one the JY. Didn't work. I have continuity from the module to the cluster connector. I removed the bulb and jumpered it to the pin on the connector. It blinks as it should. I don't see any breaks in the tracers on the circuit board but I still can't get a connection when everything is connected. I lightly cleaned the board with rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush. All other functions of the cluster work fine. Any advice?

 

[superj]

multimeter time. you are going to have to follow the traces and see if maybe there is a bad or cracked joint somewhere.

i had to do that on a few old bmws i had. some of them i found with a good magnifying glass, though. then, if the traces were still solid and just cracked, i remelted them and if they were corroded and not fixable, i soldered in some very thin wire from places the traces were still good.

 

[BobSacamano]

Thank you for the reply. So I should be able to check continuity between the bulb contact and the connector contact?

 

[BobSacamano]

So I checked continuity on the circuit trace. No continuity between the connector contact and the positive side of the bulb contact. But there is continuity between the connector contact and the negative side of the bulb contact. With this information, what is going on? What’s my next step?

 

[lowspeedpursuit]

superj already told you what to do? Repair the board by taking the jumper wire and permanently installing it bypassing the bad trace.

 

[BobSacamano]

Yes sir. My apologies as I am a novice on these issues. I found that the positive side has continuity to a jumper with a resistor(not sure), so I think my traces are ok. I have a new bulb coming so I am hoping that is my issue. If not, maybe the pin #6 is not making good contact or there is an issue with that resistor.

 

[lowspeedpursuit]

No sweat, it's possible I'm not totally understanding what you've done so far. With the antitheft bulb socket screwed into the board, it doesn't work, but when you hold the socket outside of the board and jump the pins on the socket to C214-11 (RAP) and C214-Bk (GND), it works, right? And double-checking the contacts for the socket didn't help? That should indicate it's the board circuitry that's bad.

My EVTM has a note on the antitheft bulb that says "This is an LED diode and not a bulb. DO NOT probe battery voltage on circuit 343 because the LED will burn out. The RAP module limits the battery current with a resistor".

 

[lowspeedpursuit]

Okay, this is my spare cluster. I don't know where it's originally from, but it has a '98 part number. You can see antitheft has a unique socket marked for polarity, so it's still a special diode. You can also see the traces go from antitheft to the connector without passing through any other components. Looks like the pin number for GND isn't 10 anymore, so that's one of the '95 differences I was talking about:

Does yours look anything like this at all?

 

[BobSacamano]

I totally forgot to mention that I am using a 2001 Explorer Sport cluster in my 96 Ranger. I changed a few pins around to get it to work on my 96 connectors. I also got the 2001 connectors and took the pin for the antitheft light and put it in my 96 harness, as that position was open. I did what you described except for the negative side of the bulb: I grounded it to the frame. It blinked like it was supposed to. Your picture is close; I believe the negative side of the socket traced to that above jumper. When it stops raining, I will go outside and take a picture of it. Thanks for taking the time for helping.

 

[BobSacamano]

 

[lowspeedpursuit]

It's hard for me to tell with the lighting, corrosion, and my middle-aged eyes, but it looks like your cluster's antitheft socket has the opposite contact wired to pin 11 (counting from the right).

On mine, that pin goes to the bottom contact. On yours, it seems to go to the top, and then the trace for the bottom contact disappears out-of-frame to the right.

Regardless, what we're talking about with jumper wires to bypass damaged traces is to take a low-powered soldering iron and solder one pretinned end of a wire to the socket contact, and the other to the C214 pin. If it's not possible to do it while leaving enough space for the socket and C214, you can potentially try scratching the plastic mask off to expose the trace further up, but I've never tried with this particular material; I don't know how easy it would be to damage.

 

[BobSacamano]

It's hard for me to tell with the lighting, corrosion, and my middle-aged eyes, but it looks like your cluster's antitheft socket has the opposite contact wired to pin 11 (counting from the right).

On mine, that pin goes to the bottom contact. On yours, it seems to go to the top, and then the trace for the bottom contact disappears out-of-frame to the right.

Regardless, what we're talking about with jumper wires to bypass damaged traces is to take a low-powered soldering iron and solder one pretinned end of a wire to the socket contact, and the other to the C214 pin. If it's not possible to do it while leaving enough space for the socket and C214, you can potentially try scratching the plastic mask off to expose the trace further up, but I've never tried with this particular material; I don't know how easy it would be to damage.

Thank you so much. I’ll give it a try, if I mess it up, there are plenty of explorer sports in the junkyard

 

[BobSacamano]

OK. I "fixed" it. I jumpered pins 6 and 7 to the positive and negative side of the light, respectively. I was scared to solder because I'm not good at it so I put one end of the wires under the bulb connector and twisted it in. On the other end I crammed each wire into the pin connector. But I kept blowing fuse 11. So I taped over the contacts on the PCB, put the end of the wires under the bulb and twisted it in. I works great. I feel like the repair is tenuous but it works. Thanks for all of your help.

 

[bobbywalter]

play with the iron. you will figure it out.