Brightening up the Ferrari 360 Spider's Digital Clock

As usual when you buy a new car you only discover the little niggling points after you have bought it home and you start to really get to know your new mistress.

In the case of my new 360 Spider, aside from the joys of learning to use the 360’s BECKER Radio/CD player (the anti-Christ of all radio’s), I also discovered the crapy ‘dim’ digital clock readout that you could barely see with the top up and not at all with the top down.

Top down have to shade it to see anything at all !
Image Unavailable, Please Login

So I decided to do something about it. However I found little information on the FC forum so thought I would post this.

Based on some other info found on other forums sites a new LED light was the way to go so after trying a couple of different options I settled on a single output LED 12V DC T5 Wedge globe that I picked up from one of our local electronics suppliers ‘Jaycar Electronics’ here in Melbourne for $AUD 1.95 which is actually expensive for one of these however I was keen to get it done!

There are a ton of these on ebay (much cheaper) if you prefer and they come in a variety of designs. Just make sure the wedge size is ‘T5’ (5mm) and no more than 15 to 20mm long and max 10 to 15mm wide. There’s not allot of room where the globe is mounted at the back of the clock.

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Start by removing the courtesy light by simply levering the left side out which is spring-loaded and easy to do. Then the whole thing just pops out!

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Remove the 2 X 4mm allen screws, located behind the courtesy light, which secures the entire light/clock unit to the windscreen frame.

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Drop the right side of the courtesy light/clock unit down slightly first to disengage the plastic hook which holds the other side of the unit to the frame.
Now simply disconnect the the wiring connector from the entire unit so you can work with it on the bench.

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Loosen (no need to remove) the two Philips screws holding the digital clock in place

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Remove the twist mount globe holder to expose the globe. Carefully pull out the old globe and replace it with the LED

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Before mounting it back onto the car be sure to test the globe once you have plugged the wiring harness back in. If it doesn’t work then remove the LED and rotate it 180 deg and plug back in. LED electronic connections are direction specific.

At least now I can read the clock with the top down on a sunny day

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Must admit I never saw this thread. Never came up in my searches although I was using the word ‘brightening’ not ‘brightness’. Either way it never came up.

Having looked at though the clock appears to be a completely different design to mine although both cars are 360 Spiders. Mine is a Dec 2004.

Some interesting points about the LED used. I’m actually going to try a 2 SMD and 3 SMD LED as well to see how bright they are. I only used a single SMD globe and in hindsight I think it could afford to be a bit brighter still. I see in this thread they used a 3 SMD globe. I’ve ordered both types off the net. Will post my findings when I get the globes and try them out.


Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

Ahhh now I see what they did. It is the same clock (didn’t recognise it pulled apart) but they got into the guts of it and cut away the deflector part..... A good idea.

I shall do this myself


Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

I cut the shield away as descrobed and even the single SMD LED globe I used seems to be bright enough now and at around 1 Watt next to no heat generation.

Sent from my SM-N915G using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

Dont forget to remove the heat shield as per the other thread sited. It makes a significant difference.

Sent from my SM-N915G using FerrariChat.com mobile app