fixing radio lights

fixing 850 radio lights

How to replace light in radio[850][94] Bruce Englar -- Wednesday, 10 October 2001, at 1:22 a.m.

One or more light bulb in the radio doesn't work.
Wife complains that she can't see the radio at night.
Hubby gots to fix it.

Yeah, this sounds like one of those nightmare scenarios...

I've got the radio code. I pulled out the radio (cute mechanism).
Looked all over it. Saw *NNNNOTHING* that looked like a safe way in.
As we all know, Volvo electronics are expensive so nobody wants to break them unnecessarily.

Anybody else been silly enough to change the radio light before? Can you give me pointers? Please?

TIA.
Bruce Englar

Re: How to replace light in radio[850][94] WatsonMD -- Wednesday, 10 October 2001, at 6:45 a.m.

Bruce,
It is fairly easy and to boot - cheap. A new reconditioned radio will cost $400.

What to do: Go to Radio Shack and buy the micro lamp type 7219 (SN 272-1092C), 2 bulbs per package at about $1.50.

There were 6 lights in my SC-816 (3 lights are shared between the 1-6 radio buttons) To access the bulbs:

1. Pull the radio partially out of the dash (unhook the wiring). Take inside to a well lit area. Remove the screws just behind the face plate on both sides of the radio chassis (4 screws total).
2. Remove the equalizer, fade buttons and tuning/volume buttons, they should pull right off. (don't loose these, as the tend to "pop" off and land in hard to reach places)
3. Pry the plastic retainers just behind the face plate of the radio on the top and bottom of the radio chassis and then remove the face plate.
At this point, you will see a printed circiut board which houses the 6 lights we're trying to get at.
4. Remove the 3 screws the retain the circuit board, these should be at the lower center and upper corners of the board.
5. Carefully remove the circuit board from the radio chassis and pull straight forward. The circuit board is modular and slides into a couple of multi-pin connections, so be sure not to damage. If you have difficulty removing this, try prying gently with a small putty knife.
6. With the circuit board removed, access the lights from the backside by turning the lights 1/4 turn CCW. (you can used a small screwdriver, but you should be able to turn with your fingers)
7.After removing the bulbs from your radio, remove the old bulb elements from the plastic housing and insert the new bulb in it's place. This is tedious. Try to find the end of the wire and pull up on it. Or chip away the "glue" holding to wire leads in place and wrap the new wire leads in similar fashion. However, I was able to do this with just an exacto knife (be very careful PLEASE).
In a hour or so I had replaced all of my bulbs and should be good for another 50K miles. Please note that many owners (including myself) leave their headlights on all of the time, which probably causes the bulbs to burn-out sooner. I now keep the dash lighting at 1/2 brightness.

To reassemble your radio, follow these steps in reverse, noting that the circuit board must line-up with the multi-pin connections and a couple of guide pins. As for replacing the lights themselves, follow the instructions in my previous post.

Best of Luck
Andrew T. Watson
--
'97 854 GLT, '96 Toyota 4-Runner

Re: How to replace light in radio[850][94] Tony Giverin -- Wednesday, 10 October 2001, at 10:53 a.m.

Bruce,
This topic has been covered many times and the advice given by Watson is your only choice unless you want to go the dealer trade-in route. BTW, and old trick for lasting bulbs is to dim you instrument panel a bit, say from 100% brilliance down to 90% brilliance...I have never had to replace a bulb since.
--
Tony G. '94 850GLT, '82 240DL (mint) July '99 "Rolling" cover

Re: How to replace light in radio[850][94] Mike Veglia -- Wednesday, 10 October 2001, at 12:16 p.m.

I just did this job last Saturday on ours. The lamps are 6.75VDC (a very wierd voltage) Alpine lamps. Good luck there, Alpine offers zero support whatsoever for O.E. radios (one more reason for to not like Alpine...though they do make good stuff).

I found a junked Volvo Alpine radio of a different vintage in the shop and robbed some bulbs from it...they were the right voltage and color (blue) but not quite the correct footprint for the PCB holes. A little creativity (and some solid component lead wires) solved that.

In a recent thread it was suggested to use a Radio Shack bulb. I went and got some (correct physical size at least) only to find they were way too dim (12VDC bulbs running at half voltage tend to be that way).

Removing the front panel of the radio and the front PCB is pretty basic and straightforward for anyone with car audio repair skills.

The bulbs are 6.75VDC (not sure how many ma.) and perhaps best ordered from Alpine if one can figure out an equivelent part number to an Alpine branded radio (which they do support). I am not sure since my car audio repair tends to be limited to CD players and amplifiers...we have another guy who does the routine car audio (I don't really like working on car audio much at all). I will see if I can come up with a part number, but hope the above helps.

another (older) thread;

Radio Lights - Please Post Fix Instructions Again [ALL] ... posted by WatsonMD on Monday, 26 March 2001, at 8:38 a.m.

Previously, someone was kind enough to post the instructions for fixing the backlighting on the SC-816.
This included the part #s for bulbs from Radio Shack.

PLEASE LIST THESE INSTRUCTIONS AGAIN!!!!

I am planning on breaking into the unit soon. But, I managed to loose the instructions.

Many thanks in advance
Andrew T. Watson

Re: Radio Lights - Please Post Fix Instructions Again [ALL]... posted by Terry Haywood on Monday, 26 March 2001, at 5:42 p.m. ...in response to "Radio
Lights - Please Post Fix Instructions Again" posted by WatsonMD.

Below are 2 notes I saved about replacing radio lights. I didn't write the notes and haven't done the fix
(yet) so FWIW here they are.

Good luck,

Terry Haywood

      Re: Replacement Radio Lights
                       posted by scooter
                       on Thursday, 23 November 2000, at 6:47 p.m. ...in response to "Re: Replacement
                       Radio Lights" posted by DRW.
                       Model: 850
                       Year: 1995
                       --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I finally replaced my radio lights. It was not easy.

                       Getting right to the point: To my knowledge (after many phone calls and emails)
                       replacement parts are not available from Volvo or Alpine (who makes the radios),
                       unless you want to replace the entire radio for a few hundred bucks. You might
                       get lucky at an Alpine service shop, but they were no help to me. I also tried
                       several other sources, including a post here a couple of months ago, but came
                       up empty.

                       What to do: Go to Radio Shack and buy the micro lamp type 7219 (SN 272-1092C),
                       2 bulbs per package at about $1.50. After removing the bulbs from your radio,
                       remove the old bulb elements from the plastic housing and insert the new bulb
                       in it's place. This is tedious as it requires you to chip away the "glue"
                       holding to wire leads in place and wrap the new wire leads in similar fashion.
                       However, I was able to do this with just an exacto knife (be very careful PLEASE).

                       In a hour or so I had replaced all of my bulbs and should be good for another
                       100K miles. Please note that many owners (including myself) leave their headlights
                       on all of the time, which probably causes the bulbs to burn-out sooner.

There were 6 lights in my SC-710 (3 lights are shared between the 1-6
radio buttons), but your SC-815 should be the same.

To access the bulbs,

                       1. Pull the radio partially out of the dash (no need to unhook the wiring)
                       and remove the screws just behind the face plate on both sides of the radio
                       chassis (4 screws total).

                       2. Remove the equalizer buttons and tuning/volume buttons, they should
                       pull right off. (don't loose these, as the tend to "pop" off and land in
                       hard to reach corners of the interior)

3. Pry the plastic retainers just behind the face plate of the radio on
the top and bottom of the radio chassis and then remove the face plate.

At this point, you will see a printed circuit board which houses the 6
lights we're trying to get at, this also must be removed.

4. Remove the 3 screws the retain the circuit board, these should be at
the lower center and upper corners of the board.

                       5. Carefully remove the circuit board from the radio chassis and pull
                       straight forward. The circuit board is modular and slides into a couple
                       of multi-pin connections, so be sure not to damage. If you have difficulty
                       removing this, try prying gently with a small putty knife.

                       6. With the circuit board removed, access the lights from the backside by
                       turning the lights 1/4 turn CCW. (you can used a small screwdriver, but
                       you should be able to turn with your fingers)

                       To reassemble your radio, follow these steps in reverse, noting that the
                       circuit board must line-up with the multi-pin connections and a couple of
                       guide pins. As for replacing the lights themselves, follow the instructions
                       in my previous post.

I haven't run into your PROG button problem myself, but I think your right
about something being posted for it in the past.

If you have any experiences, facts, hints comments or data that you think might be useful on the site, please

and I will post it, with an acknowledgement of your contribution (if you so wish).