Atom 3 SPA Dash

[911tom]

Seem to have a problem with mine. The LCD started displaying odd characters at first. Disconnecting and re-connecting the battery fixed is on the occasion it did it. Now the LCD is not displaying anything, so no fuel readout, millage or coolant temperature. I have checked the earth connection to pin 5, that was my initial thought and the resistance is nice and low to the battery. Disconnect / re-connect is not fixing it. Any ideas?

[911tom]

Also tachometer is not working properly. Speed is absolutely fine.

[autobackup]

Tom

Rather than 'fishing' in the forum it might be worth your while contacting SPA Systems directly as their technical support are very helpful and knowledgable as I discovered when I had occasion to contact them last year about a problem I was having with their shift-light steering wheel.

Link to KitDash Manual :

http://www.spa-uk.co.uk/spa/docs/SPA%20KITDASH2.3%20.3MANUAL.pdf

Address
SPA Design,
The Mill House,
Packington Hayes,
Packington nr. Lichfield,
Staffordshire,
WS14 9PN

t: +44 (0)1543 434 580
f: +44 (0)1543 434 581
http://www.spa-uk.co.uk/
e: sales@spa-uk.co.uk

[wasp]

I had a similar issue with mine and it had to go back to spa.
It was due to water ingress apparently,  although my car rarely sees rain.
I sent it back via the factory and it was sorted out in a few days.

Cheers,
Stu

[911tom]

Thanks Paul and Stu. I'll leave the car dismantled for now and give SPA a call tomorrow 

[Monza]

I have experienced the same think after a big rain, dash displays disparate numbers or nothing. I have use some hair dryier on it with care not to go to high and see a first progress so i change technic : i use an old filament light and put ut under the dash and alternatively in front of it with about 15 cm distance ni to give to much heat and after several control during 3 hours the dash was working well and still working well.
This is for atom 3.5 LCD dash.

[911tom]

This does fit! It has been doing it a while (as in the odd characters) but only today with the blank display. Last time I drove it was a couple weeks ago to MOT and it got completely soaked. Will pop out to the garage in a mo and put the AC on. Hopefully that will help take the humidity out of the air.

I just presumed it was water proof...

[smokin]

If you don't use the shift light wheel, once dried out slap a bit of gaffer tape over the connector socket - I suspect this is where the moisture is getting in

[911tom]

[quote="smokin"]
If you don't use the shift light wheel, once dried out slap a bit of gaffer tape over the connector socket - I suspect this is where the moisture is getting in
[/quote]

Excellent advise 

[911tom]

Any one swapped to the race technology digital dash? I see Hamid offers a full kit... Quite a lot of cash but looks to have some cool features, all be it features I will never really use! Alex I seem to remember you saying you found your dash difficult to read in day light? Have to say the analogue dash is easily seen, all except the lights (indicators and colour changing shift for gear shifts).

Will attempt to dry mine out but if money needs to be spent repairing I may as well explore the options!

[911tom]

A bit of a development today. I got home from work a little earlier so decided to get the cluster out. I removed the back and warmed the PCB with a heat gun on low temp. It now appears to be working. Have to say no effort has been made to waterproof it at all. As Smokin suggests the biggest point of entry is the 4 pin socket for the shift lights. Also there is no gasket on the back panel. That said it should not really get that wet, especially as I have a windscreen fitted to protect my sensitive face  I have ordered some bags of silicone cells, the type you get in packaging that absorb moisture. Will tape a few of them to the inside, look at how I can seal it better and go from there.

[smokin]

Glad it's back working. Interested to hear how you get on with sealing and the silica gel. I get fogging which I'd like to eliminate

[Monza]

Good news 

[smokin]

[quote="911tom"]
...no effort has been made to waterproof it at all...
[/quote]
Indeed, just read in the manual:

INSTALLATION, DO'S & DON'TS /b]
DO ensure that the front of the instrument and the exposed plug is protected if it is likely to get any water spray
on it.

[John Scherrer]

Don't go too mad on trying to seal it - you'll never get rid of the fogging which I see sometimes just when it's cool but the sun is shining on the front cover.