Upgrading the TRX's LED?

CJayC

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Auburn, WA
The other evening, I finally had a bit of a night hunt. The backlight of the Max was great. But the "light" on my TRX was abysmal.

Does anyone have any experience in replacing the little LED with a brighter one?


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The LED is board mounted inside the unit (water resistant/proof) so not likely you are going to be able to do anything with that.. Also brighter would mean a different current need which you can not control.. So maybe a head light for target recover..

Right hand side of the board at the top edge.. picture is kind of washed out with the flash
Guts.jpg
 
The LED is board mounted inside the unit (water resistant/proof) so not likely you are going to be able to do anything with that.. Also brighter would mean a different current need which you can not control.. So maybe a head light for target recover..



The TRX features a removable shell, allowing direct access the LED, so that won't be a problem. The current, on the other hand…


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The LED is board mounted inside the unit (water resistant/proof) so not likely you are going to be able to do anything with that.. Also brighter would mean a different current need which you can not control.. So maybe a head light for target recover..

Right hand side of the board at the top edge.. picture is kind of washed out with the flash
Guts.jpg

Did you glue that staple on the shaft of the Trx? If so what is the purpose is it just like tuning the garret wit a piece of metal?
 
Are there any components accessible on the other side of the board? There likely may be a resistor in series with the LED that limits current, which limits brightness (and battery drain.) Its possible a different resistor could increase current and brightness. Also, a more modern LED may be more efficient and put out more light using the same amount of current as the stock LED...
 
It is all surface mounted components

Nuts. What's Whites doing with modern technology?

I haven't shopped LEDs in years but a quick search of one site shows 5mm white LEDs from 0.7 Lumens up to 6 Lumens, drawing 20-30mA. They all draw about 0.1W. If the stock LED is woefully inefficient, an upgrade could make a substantial brightness difference using the same current.

Anyone tested the current running through the TRX LED?
 
Nuts. What's Whites doing with modern technology?

I haven't shopped LEDs in years but a quick search of one site shows 5mm white LEDs from 0.7 Lumens up to 6 Lumens, drawing 20-30mA. They all draw about 0.1W. If the stock LED is woefully inefficient, an upgrade could make a substantial brightness difference using the same current.

Anyone tested the current running through the TRX LED?

but with modern technology you can use pwm to power an LED cutting down on the current.. we don't know what they are doing.. Lets face it, if they could have made it brighter it would be, they have to balance the pros and cons of every design decision. They didn't go "hey lets make this LED so dim it is useless for anything other than a power on indicator, that should piss off the customer"! They had a reason, most likely battery life if you don't power off the pointer when not using it..
I agree, I would have like it to be brighter..
 
So thats a "No."

Even if they are using PWM, there's going to be an average current, and a ballpark number is all I'm curious about. So no one has put it on a 'scope, either.

I agree, I hope the engineers did everything they could to make the LED as bright as possible for the power consumption they deemed acceptable. But they, in my opinion, failed to make it bright enough to be USEFUL. Every time I see it I wish it was: a) brighter or b) simply an on/off indicator (red or green maybe) that was even lower power and easier to see from a wide variety of angles or c) not there at all. As it stands it mostly just wastes power.
 
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