I'm just about to put together a custom centre console to house a 7" touchscreen for an in car PC, and to do so I wanted to reduce the space taken up by all the fiat switches and replace them with something more compact.
I've taken my spare centre console apart and have inspected all the switches/circuits to see what would need to be done, I'll post a complete shakedown of all the details when its completed, along with wiring/circuit diagrams if anyone else fancies trying this.
Initial findings:
Fan position is cable type (not electronic) so needs to be remounted not too far from where it already is unless you want to extend/replace the cable.
3 switch block for C/L, Rear demist and Alarm LED all runs off 12v (alarm LED is 12v, illumination LEDs for other buttons are LED with pull down resistor).
3 switch block for Hazards, Fr Fog, Rr Fog has a relay and diodes on the circuit for switching the indicator lights. Illumination as before (LED with pull down resistors) except the hazard light which uses a 12v white bulb (non LED) with low supply via diode/resistor from illumination source voltage and then higher supply voltage from relay when switched.
My plan is fabricating a new centre console from 2mm aluminium panel, housing the existing fans at the top, a monitor below with switches/LEDs alongside, fan pos/temp/fan speed and clock/boost gauge below that, and then an Alpine headunit/USB port/Ciggy lighter/PC power and reset buttons at the bottom.
All switches are aluminium, and I plan on etching them then spraying decals on the top of them with a stencil.
The in Car PC should be a fairly cheap effort as I've sourced a touchscreen from the US for £95 delivered, will spend £50 on an Intel Atom 270 mainboard and £35 ish on a decent in car PSU. Already got ehough memory/HD/DVD drives etc and I'll custom fabricate a case using aluminium panel (which will act as an additional heatsink)... I'm hpoing to fit it under the dash, but at a stretch might have to put it under a seat.
Once completed I'll run an in car app on the PC like RideRunner or similar, some engine diagnostic stuff, and can then add all the goodies: Live petrol prives (GPS linked), Sat Nav, Live traffic camera views (GPS linked) etc etc....
If you fancy rewiring your centre console with new switches then I'd suggest a few things:
1) Make sure you understand the little circuits in the switches and what they do... some can be ignored and new switches wired directly into the looms.. others can't and the easiest option is to resuse the existing circuit boards
2) If you get a 2nd hand centre console cheap (with switches) then you don't have to worry about wrecking your centre console switches.
3) Don't remove the fan speed/temp potentiometers from their housings as the housing is actually a part of the switch and forms part of the switch body... if you remove the back the switch comes apart and is fiddly to reassemble. If you want to mount the fan speed/temp/fan position switches differently to standard then the easiest way will be to butcher the entire switch block by cutting the plastic frame into 3 pieces and then cutting off any excess unwanted plastic.
Edit to add:
4) Reuse the existing wiring blocks so that your new centre console is a swap in/out with no hard wiring needed (if you move the fan speed/temp/fan pos then you'll also need to remove that block of switches too)
5) Think of an imagainative way to secure your new centre console so that it leaves the original mountings intact and does not snag the original console... that way you can then easily swap back to your standard console if you sell up.
I'll post up some wiring diagrams and circuit schematics once I'm done with wiring... along with some piccy's once the install is completed
so they've been returned. The only switches I could find that I likes cost £7-10 each, and I need 9 or 10... bit pricey.
