Backstory: My rear, LH illuminated scuff / tread plate stopped working. Started to bug me. SWB replacements are nearly impossible to find and/or are stupidly expensive.
Technology: Electroluminescent (EL) panels are reasonable robust but the EL Driver / Inverters are not. These drivers convert the cars' 12Vdc to approx. 80ac to drive the panel.

So . . . thought I would dive in and try to replace the driver / inverter. Come along for the journey.

 

Concise and informative! Perhaps the Admins can place this in the tips and how to area?

 

Bumping this thread from the grave because the OP @Maxpower seems to still be active on the forums. What is the part number of the 12v inverter/driver module and where did you obtain it? Trying to attempt this repair not but I can't find an inverter module that has the dimensions that fit.

Our treadplates were manufactured by "GSM Industrial Graphics" which is still in business. I have reached out to them, but as they were acquired by another business and this was over a decade ago, I doubt they'll be much help.

 

You can purchase them from here: https://elpanelandtape.co.uk/product/silent-100cm2/

Post some pics of your repair to keep the community thriving!

 

I have looked for this part number EVERYWHERE. Thanks for following up- I'll post back when I get a chance to make this repair.

 

Update- I fixed my treadplate illumination today on my 2013 XJL Supersport using the part Maxpower posted above. I had quite a time as I accidentally ripped two of the foil tape connections. Some very delicate work with the soldering iron put me back on track. The 12v power wire coming from the kick panel on my car was yellow/violet as also indicated on the wiring diagram, most years of X351 should be similar.

 

Congratulations! Yeah, that is good reminder about the foil tape connections, glad you were able to recover. Remember to drink a beer and/or your favourite beverage.

 

Hey guys. I have used a soldering iron before but I was wondering if there was a video or a more detailed version of this? I looked at the list and wasn’t sure what power supply to order. And the foil tape, I couldn’t tell which line it was referring to.
I would like to fix it myself but trying to prepare before I get in there and destroy things.

 

I don't have any video of the repair but to answer your purchasing question, below is what you want ('Features'=Standard, 'Power Input' = Only Inverter)

The 'foil tape' is the two connections label 'AC Connections' in the first image.

Post pics of your repair!

 

My foil tape ripped right where the large white plastic bracket (that has the clips that actually attach the treadplate to the car) is adhered to the plate itself. To access a fresh length of foil tape on which to make a new connection, I had to split the plastic housing by prying it away from the plate using brute force. I soldered new connections to the actual electroluminescent tape (carefully to avoid burn through) and re-adhered the treadplate to the mounting bracket using new double sided tape after cleaning it up.

The vendor that sells the EL driver used for this repair also sells lengths of electroluminescent tape. I suppose if you completely buggered the job you could just adhere new EL tape underneath the plate. I'm sure there is a way that cars without this option could create their own illuminated treadplates or kick panels using this tape. Does anyone know if their XJ that was NOT optioned with illuminated tread plates still has the wiring harness underneath?

 

Be VERY CAREFUL with the foil tape. Handle it like you would handle an improvised explosive. After ripping two of the foil tape connections I was much more careful with the third. To extract this from the hot-glued mess of the factory EL driver, I heated up a flathead screwdriver blade with a torch lighter and used that to gently melt and prise away the hot glue and wiring.

 

Hey everyone, this thread gave me hope that I can repair my illuminated tread plates. But I've never really done any soldering.

The foil tape references worry me. I'm not 100% sure I understand how the foil tape works or how to solder to it. Any suggestions on how I can get some more insights? Is the foil tape just what attaches to the illumination strips? I.e. I've got to solder the wire to the tape?

I ordered the parts recommended in the thread last week and they arrived this week.

Let me know if you can offer any other advice as no task is ever too simple if I'm involved.

Thanks,
Bryan

 

Hey there @bmitchell. I don't have any additional advice to share beyond what I have already posted but I wanted to encourage you to be curious and not be overly concerned.

To get your curiosity fired-up, lift up a treadplate and take a look. The foil tape connections are good quality and as another member pointed out, you can recover from any mistake you might make.

The other option is to buy new / used replacements treadplates. Less fun, more expensive. Give yourself something to brag about, be bold! :-)

 

How many tread plates do you have thats damaged?

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I must say, without this thread I'd be out of luck.

I'm going to give it a shot this weekend and will post photos and the outcome.

Thanks again! I can't wait to see if I can pull this off.

Bryan

 

Hey everyone,
So I lucked out and a friend of mine that worked or NASA (electrical engineer) agree to help me with my repair. Three out of four tread plates were not functioning on my XJL Super Sport. He came over today and it's done. All three were repaired. interestingly, two had bad inverters (the black boxes above) and the third had a bad solder on a working inverter. Here's some key learnings from our efforts.

1. As you are prepping the replacement inverter, leave extra wire in case you make a mistake. I.e. keep each piece long
2. Use a hot glue gun to resecure any resoldered wires or the inverters themselves. Keeps you from having to reuse the wax and once glued down you get structural strength with each join
3. My buddy tested everything multiple times, so I'll upload the device he used to replicate 12v current
4. The advice above on which parts to order was absolutely spot on. What I received looked a little different, but worked perfectly
5. The front and rear tread plates are not identical. Check out my pics to see the different wiring configs
6. Put a little solder onto you iron and touch to leads to desolder. Helps heat each joint
7. Presolder (put a little solder on each wire before joining) each wire before applying solder. That will help the connection




























Let me know if any of you have questions. Happy to share what I learned if I can.