obsolete, read IC736 S-meter transparent instead
Icom IC-736
S-meter back light
Basically placing a white needle
in front of the dark scale can look damn cool. However the
designers missed an important thing here. It only works if the
needle is lit sufficiently. Placing the whole stuff behind a
smoked glass makes the needle almost invisible.
I wanted to turn the dimmer down a bit (to approx. 8V on the
bulbs) to save the LCD display from the heat produced by the
bulbs. At the same time I wanted to keep the back light of the
meter at its maximum. Therefore I replaced the bulb behind the
meter by the LED diode.
The diode designation is OSW4DK57E1A-LM.
The manufacturer is OptoSupply.
The diode specs: diameter 5mm, white, 140°, 1560 mcd, 3.1 V, 30
mA
To get 30 mA a rezistor 470 Ohm was necessary in series with the diode.
| The LED pushed into the
rubber piece: |
Tiny cables were soldered
onto the LED terminals and fixed by heat-shrink tubings: |
| BEFORE: |
AFTER: |