Emu XL-7 & MP-7 User's Group

Still probably not too expensive, Radio Shack (Tandy) has a lot of LED's 
in their catalog for pretty cheap.  I swapped out the LEDs in my car radio 
to match the interior lights after I made them all red, it was easy if 
you've got a soldier sucker.  Are the soldiered LED's colored red though, 
or do they rely on the lenses mounted to the case to provide the light? 
That'll be the real question as to how easy this is to do.  If they're 
just white LED's, it'll be dead simple to put some blue colored film or 
custom plexiglass plugs in there to make them all blue, probably just as 
easy to do with the buttons too.

I've got a P2500 Rom that should be here today or tomorrow, so I'll poke 
around a bit as long as I'm in there installing that Rom.  Damn, there 
goes my warrenty!  Fun stuff!

rEalm
(the knobs just pull right off from the board right?  Nothing tricky about 
removing them?)



The LED's in the machine actually look like little resistors soldered to 
the board.

The LEDs themselves are colored.  White LEDs are not cheap (neither are 
blue, actually).  They are very small surface mount parts, and would 
take a steady hand (and a willingness to void your warantee...)

-Aaron

erik_magrini@... wrote:

>
> Still probably not too expensive, Radio Shack (Tandy) has a lot of 
> LED's in their catalog for pretty cheap.  I swapped out the LEDs in my 
> car radio to match the interior lights after I made them all red, it 
> was easy if you've got a soldier sucker.  Are the soldiered LED's 
> colored red though, or do they rely on the lenses mounted to the case 
> to provide the light?  That'll be the real question as to how easy 
> this is to do.  If they're just white LED's, it'll be dead simple to 
> put some blue colored film or custom plexiglass plugs in there to make 
> them all blue, probably just as easy to do with the buttons too.
>
> I've got a P2500 Rom that should be here today or tomorrow, so I'll 
> poke around a bit as long as I'm in there installing that Rom.  Damn, 
> there goes my warrenty!  Fun stuff!
>
> rEalm 


>
> (the knobs just pull right off from the board right?  Nothing tricky 
> about removing them?)

yep.

Yeah an LED is actually a special kind or semiconductor chip. The 
makup and design of that chip determines the color. An LED is kind of 
like a laser in that it is one color and it can only be that one 
color. Many LEDs these days have clear housings regardless of color. 
Red, green, yellow and pretty much all colors but blue and white use 
about the same voltage (about 1.5 volts I think). Blue LEDs require 
about 3.5 volts. White LEDs are actually blue LEDs with some yellow 
phosphor that absorbs some of the blue and retransmits it as yellow 
to make it appear white. Last time I checked White LEDs run about $3 
each in small numbers. 

OK so I am not an electrical engineer but I have made my own white 
LED strip lighting for my studio. It should be possible make a blue 
LED array powered by the 12V jack on the front or change the internal 
LEDs to yellow or green but changing the internal LEDs to blue or 
white is going to be problematic.


Ezra

--- In xl7@y..., Aaron Eppolito <aarone+list@e...> wrote:
> The LEDs themselves are colored.  White LEDs are not cheap (neither 
are 
> blue, actually).  They are very small surface mount parts, and 
would 

> take a steady hand (and a willingness to void your warantee...)
> 
> -Aaron
>

Ditto after seeing those images (thanx BTW).  Still... where there's a 
will....

rEalm





"David Jones" <spec@...>
06/03/02 02:13 PM
Please respond to xl7

 
        To:     xl7@yahoogroups.com
        cc: 

        Subject:        Re: [xl7] Changing the LED color


As Aaron said, it would take a VERY steady hand to replace these.  There 
is no port for the led that goes to the other side, so it is ONLY a 
surface mount solder.  I'm having second thoughts about the blue leds ...
 
 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: David Jones 
To: xl7@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 1:49 PM
Subject: Re: [xl7] Changing the LED color

Check out these images.  Sorry they are so big.  You can actually see 
where I put some ruber cement on the case to keep the Lenses from going 
all over the place.
 
http://www.soundwarfare.net/mp7/
 

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They make very small electronics soldiering iron and wire kits, Radio 
Shack sells them for like $9.  I wish I could do this mod, I think it 
would be cool as hell looking!  The big hold up now is not so much the 
soldiering (I'd tackle it), but the differences in voltages between red 
and blue LED's.

My second thought was to take blue film and lay them over the LED's inside 
the case (Red+Blue=Purple, which would be cool too!).  Sadly, this didn't 
work either as the RED is just too bright, 4 layers of blue gel film did 
nothing to change the shade at all.  Oh well, it was a cool idea none the 
less!

rEalm



How on earth would you solder a surface mount????  What kind of soldering 
gun would you use?

Oh boy what have i started here LOLOL, well after looking at the 
pics I know I wont me messing with it just to have blue lights.  
That would be dam difficult.  I was thinking that we would be 
dealing with the larger two pin leds and thoes thing are just tiny!

well thanks for the pics David Jones the xl is one of the peices of 
gear that i have not got inside of and thats ok with me :)

i have to replace the knob and a couple of switches in my e5000 soon 
and that will be enuf fun for me.  Ps dam the controller knobs on 
emu gear burn out quick i have to say.  It seems that i have to do 
this once a year or so :( and the  datta weel on the xl is already 
starting to go.  NOT COOL.

Peace 

Mike

--- In xl7@y..., "David Jones" <spec@s...> wrote:
> Check out these images.  Sorry they are so big.  You can actually 
see where I put some ruber cement on the case to keep the Lenses 
from going all over the place.
> 
> http://www.soundwarfare.net/mp7/
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Aaron Eppolito 
>   To: xl7@y... 
>   Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 1:25 PM
>   Subject: Re: [xl7] Changing the LED color
> 
> 
>   The LEDs themselves are colored.  White LEDs are not cheap 
(neither are blue, actually).  They are very small surface mount 
parts, and would take a steady hand (and a willingness to void your 
warantee...)
> 
>   -Aaron
> 
>   erik_magrini@B... wrote:
> 
> 
>     Still probably not too expensive, Radio Shack (Tandy) has a 
lot of LED's in their catalog for pretty cheap.  I swapped out the 
LEDs in my car radio to match the interior lights after I made them 
all red, it was easy if you've got a soldier sucker.  Are the 
soldiered LED's colored red though, or do they rely on the lenses 
mounted to the case to provide the light?  That'll be the real 
question as to how easy this is to do.  If they're just white LED's, 
it'll be dead simple to put some blue colored film or custom 
plexiglass plugs in there to make them all blue, probably just as 
easy to do with the buttons too. 
> 
>     I've got a P2500 Rom that should be here today or tomorrow, so 
I'll poke around a bit as long as I'm in there installing that Rom.  
Damn, there goes my warrenty!  Fun stuff! 
> 
>     rEalm 
> 
> 
> 
>     (the knobs just pull right off from the board right?  Nothing 
tricky about removing them?) 
> 
>   yep.
> 
>   To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>   xl7-unsubscribe@y...
> 
> 
> 
>   Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of 
Service.