Return to the BUILD

“In this stage, you fit the headlight and tail light LEDs to the PCB, as well as fitting the ceiling light system.”

Another issue with a bunch of wiring! We will also be able to test most of the Ecto-1’s lighting and sounds in this stage.

Contents

Parts

Materials: All of the parts in this stage are wires, LEDs, and switches.

Build

LEDs & Ceiling Light System

Step 01

Retrieve your Chassis assembly from the previous stage. At the front group of wires, plug the Left Headlight LED (green/white wires marked ‘O’) into the PCB plug (marked ‘O’) with the matching green/white wires:

Next, plug the Right Headlight LED (green/white wires marked ‘P’) into the PCB plug (marked ‘P’) with the matching green/white wires:

Then, plug the Ceiling Light LED (black/blue wires marked ‘S’) into the PCB plug (marked ‘S’) with the matching black/blue wires:

Moving to the rear group of wires, plug the Left Tail Light LED (black/white wires marked ‘Q’) into the PCB plug (marked ‘Q’) with the matching black/white wires:

Finally, plug the Right Tail Light LED (black/white wires marked ‘R’) into the PCB plug (marked ‘R’) with the matching black/white wires:

Step 02

At the rear of the Chassis, plug the Rear Door Switch (red/red wires marked ‘T’) into the PCB plug (marked ‘T’) with the matching red/red wires:

Next, plug the Rear Left Door Switch (red/red wires marked ‘V’) into the PCB plug (marked ‘V’) with the matching red/red wires:

Then, plug the Rear Right Door Switch (red/red wires marked ‘X’) into the PCB plug (marked ‘X’) with the matching red/red wires:

At the front of the Chassis, plug the Front Left Door Switch (red/red wires marked ‘U’) into the PCB plug (marked ‘U’) with the matching red/red wires:

Finally, plug the Front Right Door Switch (red/red wires marked ‘W’) into the PCB plug (marked ‘W’) with the matching red/red wires:

Step 03

At this point, we can test the function of the Ceiling Light LED. First, install six fresh AAA batteries into the Battery Box (fuel tank) we built back in Stage 35.

I have the Power Mod (battery eliminator) installed, so I just needed to plug it in to the fuel tank socket and connect the 5V adapter to the wall:

Turn ON the main power switch at the left rear of the chassis. The markings are ‘I’ for ON and ‘O’ for OFF.

With the Power Mod installed, I no longer have this switch on my model (the image below is for demonstration purposes of what the switch looks like):

The two white LEDs on the end of the Ceiling Light LED (black/blue wires marked ‘S’) should light up:

Step 04

Gently press the Brake Pedal down…

… and the four red LEDs of both Left and Right Tail Light LEDs (black/white wires) should light up bright.

On my model, this did not work. Due to a bad PCB, the ONLY thing that worked was the Ceiling Lights – no other lights or sounds functioned at all. I had to order a replacement of this stage:

Step 05

Press the Main Light Switch (fluted button on lower left dashboard):

This should turn on your Dashboard Light LED panel:

It should also light up the four cool white LEDs across both Left and Right Headlight LEDs (green/white wires) AND dimly light up the four red LEDs across both Left and Right Tail Light LEDs (black/white wires).

Pressing the Brake Pedal again here should cause the Left and Right Tail Light LEDs to go bright:

Finally, test turning off the Ceiling Light LEDs by pushing the levers on all five Door Switches at the same time.

I used my tweezers to hold all five Door Switches down on my work surface and trigger their switches:

This turned off my Ceiling Light LEDs correctly. The idea here is that opening any door should trigger that Door Switch and cause the Ceiling Light LEDs to come on:

NOTE: If any of your lights do not work as expected, check the following areas:

• Fresh batteries installed/power connected
• All connections are secure and fully seated
• Make sure no wires are damaged or broken off from the plugs/PCB

Dashboard Controls (Sounds Test)

Most functions of our Ecto-1 are controlled via the Dashboard. This includes all of the sounds it can make. For example, the keyhole ‘ignition switch’ button plays a 32-second long recording of the start, running, and shutoff of a really old, badly running engine:

The button to the left of the radio plays a ‘horn’ sound for as long as you hold it:

The right radio button plays a 4-second clip of the startup of the iconic wailing Ectomobile siren sound. It will keep repeating until you hit the button again to turn it off:

Thoughts

Unfortunately, I was shipped a bad PCB and it took a couple weeks to get a new one. Luckily, the second one worked fine, but it did delay my release of these last four stages. Still, this stage makes great progress on our wiring and we were able to test the lighting before sealing up the Ecto-1! Some of my other partwork builds make light testing quite difficult or seem to do it too late in the build.

Next Up

Stage 67 – Roof Rack LEDs