ruffrecords
Well-known member
I planned to use a pair of Sifam AL19 Retro VU meters in a Porr Man's Tube Mixer I am building. I carefully checked the datasheet and created a pair of cutouts in Front Panel Design.
I had the panel made by Schaeffer. In the meantime I ordered the meters form Canford. They were on a 6 week lead time so the panel arrived in plenty of time. When the meters arrived I mated them with the panel and to my relief all the holes lined up. However, what nobody had told me and what appears nowhere on any SIFAM datasheet is that the meters have built in LED illumination which comes out of the bottom left hand rear corner on a pair of flying leads. I had to hold the meters up to the panel cutout and by eye draw on the panel where the extra hole to take these wires needed to be. Fortunately the hole needed to be a reasonable distance from the edge of the meter so I was able to drill a 4mm hole in the panel which gave me some scope for error in the position of the hole. As luck would have it the flying leads from both meters were well withing the 4mm hole.
So, for anyone using these meters, be aware you may get ones with illumination and if you do be prepared to add an extra hole to your panel. By the way, the illumination is orange LEDs and works from a 12V supply.
Cheers
Ian
I had the panel made by Schaeffer. In the meantime I ordered the meters form Canford. They were on a 6 week lead time so the panel arrived in plenty of time. When the meters arrived I mated them with the panel and to my relief all the holes lined up. However, what nobody had told me and what appears nowhere on any SIFAM datasheet is that the meters have built in LED illumination which comes out of the bottom left hand rear corner on a pair of flying leads. I had to hold the meters up to the panel cutout and by eye draw on the panel where the extra hole to take these wires needed to be. Fortunately the hole needed to be a reasonable distance from the edge of the meter so I was able to drill a 4mm hole in the panel which gave me some scope for error in the position of the hole. As luck would have it the flying leads from both meters were well withing the 4mm hole.
So, for anyone using these meters, be aware you may get ones with illumination and if you do be prepared to add an extra hole to your panel. By the way, the illumination is orange LEDs and works from a 12V supply.
Cheers
Ian
