K1 Lighting


Recently there was a thread on the Elecraft reflector about display lighting for the K1. This was something that I had an interest in for some time, but like so many things, I just never found one of them round tuit outfits. Anyway, the thread got me thinking ... with 12 volts running around, I could light a bunch of LEDs with no current penalty over 1. I had also wondered whether I could reflect enough light on to the front of an LCD by putting something white on the back of the panel.

I fretted a while trying to find bright, T1 LEDs, or perhaps bright LEDs in some designer shape that I could fit behind the front panel, but when I opened the thing up, there was way more room than I remembered (over 7mm!).

I ended up with 4, 1900mcd bright yellow T1-3/4 LEDs, one in each corner. The result was pretty decent, and although it costs 20ma, which is about a third of what the receiver takes alone, I'm pretty content with the result.

The lighted display
Among the other equipment
In the dark
How-To Click here to see the gory details.

27 Dec 2004


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