hvac nobs

[ecastrorn]

Does anyone know if the 3 HVAC nobs on the center console on the 2014 Evora are suppsed to light up? They have a small looking hole on them but no light shines through. At night you cannot tell what direction the knob is in.

[Bibs]

Hi Erik and welcome. No, they don't light up I'm afraid. The small hole is meant to be tactile so you can tell where it is pointing from that.

[ecastrorn]

Thank you for your quick reply It was driving me nuts trying to figure it out!

Edited December 22, 2015 by ecastrorn

[Bibs]

Sanity re-established 

 

[ecastrorn]

I came across this pic online tho which shows the small holes lit up?

[Kalli]

I can confirm that they don't light up - or atleast mine never did. That said, the knobs are of a similar style to the Exige V6, where the 'dot' does light up. 

My Evora certainly never did though.

[Al]

All 4 of mine have definitely and without any doubt, lit up, and the present and newest of the 4, a 2011 build car has now only 2 out of 3 lit with middle one now unlit I only noticed last week.  Not the brightest things it has to be said but annoys the tits off me.  Never tried for a fix yet but will be asking Guru Craig when it is in for Service and MOT in early Feb.

[EuropaSman]

Well my knobs are fine; they light up (mine's a Launch Edition).

[ecastrorn]

Consensus seems split some light up some don't. Mine is  a 2014 so I assume it should light up. I am still under warranty, will have the Lotus tech take a look at it. Thank you guys for your help!

[Crouchy]

On 23 December 2015 at 00:13, Kalli said:

I can confirm that they don't light up - or atleast mine never did. That said, the knobs are of a similar style to the Exige V6, where the 'dot' does light up. 

My Evora certainly never did though.

Are you sure the v6 knobs light up? Mine never have. 2015 build.

[Stuno1]

My 2013 sports racer knobs light up. 

[internets]

Mine appear to light up  

 

 

[the83man]

Ah ha. Only Lotus could throw up a thread with a  conundrum like this. Some do, some don't - typical.  I shall have to check mine now as I've never worried about it before. Pendants corner - Whether they light up or not, knobs usually have a 'k' otherwise they're butter..

[Bibs]

Shows what I know! I'd swear none of mine lit up!

[the83man]

OK, I've checked - well what else is there to do while Christmas TV is on - and mine definitely light up, although no prizes for clarity. 

[EuropaSman]

I've found in Section PN of the Service Notes that the knob pips should definitely definitely be backlit (see the attachment).

I've got a theory on how it works; this panel is electroluminescent and it appears from the parts catalogue that the knobs do not have separate electrical connections for the lighted pips in them. I think there are "light rings" on the panel which pass light through the underside of the knobs (clear or maybe red opaque plastic inserts) – see the circular bands on the panels around each knob shaft.

I don’t have my car with me right now to verify so I can't pull any of my knobs off to check. Maybe if the panel is dirty the light won’t shine through to the knobs.

Edited December 25, 2015 by EuropaSman
Typographical errors corrected because Marky has had too much Jim Beam and coke.

[B430m]

The three centre controls light up on mine with lights in the knobs, the three buttons either side don't light up.

[JAWS]

They should light up when the ignition is turned on.

For ref....

On ignition,  just the 3 buttons (2 if federal) for lights should be lit up red.

When sidelights or mainlight buttons are pushed those will turn green and all other buttons including the knob lights should turn red.

When all other switchable buttons are pressed they should turn either orange or a brighter red.

[EuropaSman]

13 hours ago, B430m said:

The three centre controls light up on mine with lights in the knobs, the three buttons either side don't light up.

Here's the excerpt from the Service Notes referring to the buttons on the HVAC panel. Maybe the backlighting in the buttons on the HVAC panel on your car have gone Michael.

[madmax]

Trying to resurrect this this thread with a query - now we may have established that the rotary control graphics should illuminate with the sidelights or headlights on, on my car they DON'T - at night all i have is the four side buttons illuminated but can't tell what settings I have.

Can anyone throw and light (excuse the pun) on how to change the bulb for the electro luminescent panel?

I have a feeling it's not just going to be a straightforward case of  bulb out.....................car is a 2009 NA model Evora.

Thanks as always

[EuropaSman]

@madmax unfortuantely there is no bulb to replace in the HVAC panel. If it's anything like the electro luminescent part of the Elsie/Exige/Europa S HVAC panel, other than fiddling with connectors, it's new panel unless you can get somewhere to test/repair it.

Here's the circuit diagram.

 

[EuropaSman]

Photo of the rear of the HVAC panel from the Louts Talk forum. You could open the cover (centre right with the label on) to see if there are any internal connectors that could be cleaned and reseated.

 

 

 

[madmax]

Thanks for this - I just knew it wouldn't be as simple as replacing a bulb - why do things need to be so much more complicated these days? 😄

[mik]

@madmax I have just been out to my garage to check the car in the pitch black - the "dots" on the control knobs DO illuminate on mine (2014 Sports Racer) but the lighting is so subtle that despite owning the car for 6+ years, I was about to post on this thread to advise that my dots don't light up either. 😕

You could therefore spend time/money to get these working and remain dissapointed with the result? 

I'm off on a tangent here, but wondering if it might prove easier to fit (or get someone to fit) a tiny LED downlighter on the bit of dashboard immediately above that panel (?) If you feel underneath, there is a gap where a little light could be hidden - you'd want it to be a subtle hue only though..... 😐

 

Edit: it would be worth popping the AC control panel and checking that everything is properly plugged in. There are a number of plugs from memory. The panel is held on by 5 spring clips, and you just lever it off gently. Start with the one clip at the handbrake end of the panel, then one each side approximately in line with the temperature knob, and one each side close to the dashboard. These clips WILL drop into the space underneath when you lift the panel, but are easily recovered and pushed back onto the AC control panel "legs" for re-use.

Second edit: my first edit is essentially exactly what @EuropaSman already suggested 🤐 the image in his post above shows four of the metal retention clips - the one on the bottom left has dropped off and needs to be recovered and refitted (just slides on easily).

Edited February 15, 2023 by mik

[Spanky3]

My knobs intermittently fail to illuminate. On the days they work they stay working until I turn the lights off, so I don't think it's a loose connection.  I've tried different sequences of lights on and ignition on to see if there's some special lotus magic going on but not found a solution yet.