Special fiber optic lucite wiring

SGS Welding · Guru

Special fiber optic lucite wiring

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

The Lucite fiber optics will look like a normal wire, but instead of metal conductor, it's plastic and passes light. I remember our dearly departed Rick (67rag396) eventually replaced the fibers in his 67 2+2 to light up the ashtray & lighter properly, but don't recall what all he did.

The fibers only pass light, they don't create it. So there must be a light bulb somewhere that acts as the source. Was there a bulb on the ignition switch? The fibres will actually say Lucite on the black insulating jacket.

SGS Welding · Guru

I figured it out!!! The one end has three "wires" crimped together This goes into the ignition beside the light bulb The next step is take one strand to the cigar lighter Has a special holder Next step take the other 2 strands to the top bracket of the ash tray There are 2 holders there Someone cut all these optic wires in my car But all the pieces were there so I butted them together and carefully put a heat shrink on each one It worked! Not the greatest but it is now working If anyone has an extra optic cable or knows we're to purchase a new one Please let me know Thanks Greg

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

There are 2 different diameters of the optic cable, what is the diameter of yours? I should have some kicking around here that I could send you. I put the tail light monitor in my 2+2 convertible about 15 years ago, but the cables were all cut. I had to salvage cables from Cadillac's at the local Pick N Pull and splice together.

CdnGMfan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Got any friends that work at Expertech (Bell) that run fiber optics? See what they have in the back of their truck. That is if you can't find the proper stuff at a salvage yard.

SGS Welding · Guru

The cable looked like it was approximately 1/16 of an inch diameter Do the Bell guys have the same copper ends? Seventy 2 plus 2 how did u repair your cut cables? I thought perhaps someone here might have an extra "optics loom" Awesome answers and help as usual! Thanks guys ,Greg

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

CdnGMfan wrote:
Got any friends that work at Expertech (Bell) that run fiber optics? See what they have in the back of their truck. That is if you can't find the proper stuff at a salvage yard.

I'm a telecommunications engineer. The fiber that the Expertech guys would have is completely different than what's in the GM cars.

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

SGS Welding wrote:
The cable looked like it was approximately 1/16 of an inch diameter Do the Bell guys have the same copper ends? Seventy 2 plus 2 how did u repair your cut cables? I thought perhaps someone here might have an extra "optics loom" Awesome answers and help as usual! Thanks guys ,Greg

That sounds like the thinner cables, which is what I expected to hear. I'm sure I have some, let me take a look tomorrow. I should also have some copper ends, the ones I'm envisioning are about 1/4" long.

The way I spliced mine was I went a local hobby shop and bought a small piece of brass angle iron. It's small, but used it as a trough to lay the cable in and I sliced it at the end of the angle iron so I got a nice square cut. I then got a piece of brass tubing that was just big enough to fit over the insulating jacket of the fiber. I slid the 2 pieces of fiber with square cut ends into the tubing, and used my wire strippers to basically crimp the brass tubing. Worked perfectly.

CdnGMfan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

seventy2plus2 wrote:
CdnGMfan wrote:
Got any friends that work at Expertech (Bell) that run fiber optics? See what they have in the back of their truck. That is if you can't find the proper stuff at a salvage yard.
I'm a telecommunications engineer. The fiber that the Expertech guys would have is completely different than what's in the GM cars.

Ugh, I was afraid of that. It makes sense though. Thanks for confirming, Clint!

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I found the fibers last night, they're .0875" in diameter, I'll see if I can post a photo either late today or tomorrow. Also found the practice splice I did, I'll include photos of that as well.

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Here's some photo's of a couple fibers I have. They have the brass ends on one end, the brass end is about 3/8" long. Also attached is a photo of the splice I did, mentioned above. It's a hollow brass tube from a hobby shop, cut to be about 1" long.

I ensured the ends of the fiber had a nice square cuts on them (keep the insulating jacket on the fiber), and put one fiber in about half way and crimped it with a wire stripper. Don't go overly crazy crimping, just enough pressure to make it grab the insulating jacket. The put in the other fiber so it meets the first, then crimp it the same way.

As mentioned above, the fibers (including the insulating jacket) are .0875" outside diameter. Let me know if you need some fibers with the 3/8" ends on it.