[sdiy] Kawai K5m LCD backlight

[David Cornutt]

On Saturday, August 9, 2003, at 05:00  PM, Tom Arnold wrote:
>
> A little digging online should find you a nice EL power supply to use.
> Remember that EL wire is the same basic stuff as the EL backlights.
> All Electronics has typically had some small EL power supplies and you 
> can
> also find EL experimenters kits which is some cases even come with 
> trimmable
> EL sheets.

I did not realize that was an EL backlight.  I though it was 
fluorescent.
I have an EL experimenter's kit (that's where the EL wire I tried to use
came from).  It came with a little 9V battery powered inverter.  I just
went out to the garage and hooked it up.  No joy. :-(


> Something I've been experimenting with is front lighting.


So I guess the backlight itself is dead, or else this inverter hasn't
got enough oomph to drive it.  I can't see how to separate the LCD
from the backlight; it seems to be all one piece.  So I may try
front lighting.  I tried that once before, but I was trying to tape
the light source directly to the window that's built into the case,
and I found that it's not possible without obscuring some part
of the display.  Your idea about putting a piece of plastic over
the window and taping to the edge of that is a good idea.
I might even try to find a piece of sheet Pyrex to use, and then
tape some EL wire around the edge.  I've had pretty good
results in other projects using real HVAC duct tape --
not the Jeff Foxworthy stuff, but the foil-based tape with the
peel-off backing that actual HVAC people use.