OK, this isn't ham radio related, but it is electrical :-) On a recent fishing trip with our little JonBoat, Debbie spotted the rear driver's side tail lamp module on our boat trailer had failed. These are sealed incandescent units, without any possible access to replace the lamp. They're not very expensive, but being the tightwad that I am, I had to set about to attempt a repair.
These have a dual filament 1157 lamp inside, with the wiring soldered to the bulb, the bulb mounted in a glob of silicon rubber adhesive, and the red lens literally glued in place. Using my Dremel tool and a carbide cutoff disc, I cut around the junction where the red lens was attached to the white plastic housing.
With the red lens removed, I scraped off the melted plastic, pulled the lamp out, and peeled the old silicone adhesive out. A new 1157 lamp (costing about a buck!) was re-soldered to the wiring, a new glob of silicone adhesive (bathtub caulking) was squirted into the middle of the white plastic base, and the new lamp was nestled down into the adhesive. Once that cured, I applied a thick bead of silicone caulking around the perimeter of the lens, and the lens was pressed back into place onto the base. The excess caulking was wiped off, and the assembly was allowed to cure.
Once cured, the light assembly was reconnected to the trailer wiring harness, and the light assembly snapped back into the gasket of the trailer. A quick test showed all to be well. Gotta love a cheap repair!
Dave WB4IUY
