I'm sick of changing bulbs!

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I am about to do this on a Trident ESM, so I would love to hear about this as well. Lots of VU's on that thing!

was thinking of just tossing a rectifier on the 6 (or 8 or 12V) line and using that to power all of the LED's.
 
Colour of LED light is very poor compared to real bulbs. Kinda flat looking - at least I cant live with that (other than for e.g.. SSL cut and solo). I'd prefer to just throw in slightly higher-voltage bulbs for replacement - lasts waaay longer then..

Jakob E.
 
The red jewels are pretty easy. StarLED or LEDtronics are two examples of companies that make drop-in replacements for most bulbs, both AC and DC supplied.
On a SSL 4K LED's work well on the meters because they point upwards, but in all of the switches they do not work well. I had strange connection problems, and some of the master section bulbs are IN the circuits.
I have completly LEDded the switches in older Neves, but not the meters. Even the mini-micro bulb in the gates.
With meters it is more difficult due to the LED's being directional. The UREI positioning would have the LED's shining at each other. I tried a breadboard of yellows across the top of a meter, but I didn't like the color. I have not tried any whites the same way. Same with dbx. The lights point into the front panel, so LED drop-ins would not work.
 
[quote author="gyraf"]Colour of LED light is very poor compared to real bulbs. Kinda flat looking - at least I cant live with that (other than for e.g.. SSL cut and solo). I'd prefer to just throw in slightly higher-voltage bulbs for replacement - lasts waaay longer then..

Jakob E.[/quote]

I recall seeing something about an improved spectrum "white" LED that's been developed---better mix of phosphors. There are also the multichip ones but I believe they are even more expensive. However, by adjusting the relative drive currents you could get about any color temp etc. that you might want.

Higher voltage incandescents will last longer but be a lot redder, maybe more than one likes.
 
I put some white LEDs in my old Yaesu FRG7 shortwave radio I keep on my night table. The incandescents kept going every couple years and weren't technician friendly. The white LEDs however create a very cold, bluish light compared to the warm glow of an incandescent bulb. I was going to try some colored gels used for stage lighting to try and correct the color; I'll let you know what the results are.
 
Brad, Jakob and all,

Take a look at "warm white" LEDs. When I was at my last job, one of my duties was to design a high powered LED light system for a robotic camera. I ended up learning everything there is to know about LEDs.

The "warm white" LEDs have a lot of orange/red in their spectrum and give off an incandescent halogen-like spectrum, just without the IR.

I use them for all my jewel lights and meters now.

Some of the other "white" LEDs have too much blue in their spectrum and can make a lot of colors look strange.
 

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