Astron power supply meter lights sure don’t last long (at least the “bulb in meter” style ones). It very well may be the newer backlit LED meters they sell now will last, but that’s not an option when this old Astron has worked so well, for so long. I need lights, not a new power supply. Anyway, I finally got tired enough of not having those old meter lights to let me know with a quick glance that my Astron RS-35M power supply was on, so I did a little something to correct that.
Two 3/16″ holes centered in the meter tops, a pair of modified Hy-Gain LED Iluminator KITS and a little hot glue later and voilà, I can see again!
A few pictures, before, during, and after (click to enlarge):
Modifications to the Ham Supply Hy-Gain Illuminator KITS:
Only used the center LED on each board, LEDs mounted flush on the boards
Used a single 100 Ohm resistor on the main board
Put the second meter board in series with the main board
Utilized a small left over lead to “jump” D3 on the main board
Used two sided tape to elevate the boards off the meter tops so the LED did not interrupt the meter needle movement
Used hot glue to set the board to the two sided tape (did not use Illuminator kit standoffs)
Wired into 12VDC on main power supply board
And now we’ll have light for a long, long time!
See ya’!
N0UN
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