White LEDs for Centre Console Switch Illumination
By Jem Hayward

One fault picked up on the pre-delivery inspection of my 1990 964 4 was the fact that the lights that illuminate the three switches on the centre console were not working.  I decided that this would be an easy DIY job.

I started by dismantling the switch panel, which simply pulls out of the console.  The lights are mounted on a small printed circuit board that slides into the top of the moulding.  Mounted on here are three small 12V bulbs, connected in parallel and fed with 12V when the sidelights are on.  The bulbs are soldered in place and are not the sort of thing that your local Halfords would stock!  Although I didn’t check, I would imagine the official Porsche part would be PCB connector and bulbs as a plug in unit.  I therefore decided that I would use a solution that would last longer than filament bulbs, LEDs. 
I ordered the LEDs from Farnell who, as usual, managed to get the components to me within 24hrs with no P&P charges!  I bought 11 LEDs as this took me over the £10 minimum for credit card sales.  Part number is 352-6847 3mmm White LED.  LEDs are diodes, they only pass current one way so you need to solder them to the board the right way around, and look carefully at  the tracks on the PCB as the +ve and -ve for the “bulb” is reversed in one of the positions.  LEDs also don’t like 12V so you will need to cut the tracks and insert a resistor to limit the current, I used a 350 ohm one because it was handy, but anything from 250 400 would do fine, the lower values giving slightly brighter results.  Bend the legs of the LEDs to place them in the same position as the bulbs you have removed, and slot it back into place.  You now have lights that will last as long as your car.

Kevin Senior has since written to me (John Miles) with the following tip: