neon strip lighting on switch panels

[encantotom]

i all,

like many of you, i have switch panels that are the black plastic that have been engraved with labels. on the back there is a neon strip light that is elctroluminescence.

give the labels a nice blue green glow at night. my panel to the left of the drivers seat, the one over the microwave, the entry master panel on the stairway and the main panel in the bedroom have these strips.

3 of my 4 were making high frequency squeeling noises that were driving me nuts (although darlene wonders if i am already).

steve bare said he and russ had repaired theirs and gave me the source for them. a limo parts company near where he lived was a distributor for Californeon, the brand for them.

the company is evidently not going to stock the parts anymore. these luminescent strips take 280V AC and 650hz. so they use a special 12v inverter. it was the inverters that were squeeling. so i ordered one of the inverters and one 5' strip of the light. the inverter i got was bad so i had them ship me 3 more. they fixed the problem. so, no squeeling.

the location of the inverter was behind the panels on all except for the one for the drivers seat left panel and that one is directly under the panel mounted to the sidewall.

the one in the bedroom is on a dimmer switch and the lighting control for all the 12v lights in mine are a SCOTT Electronics unit. one for each circuit. the dimmer switch for the bedroom strip light was broken so i called mr scott to find out what pot it was. good thing i dd as it is a tapered pot and not a linear pot like you could get at radioshack.

i replaced it as well.

making progress.

tom