Backlighting the Opencockpits MCP

[fordgt40]

Seeing Jacks post about backlighting gauges has prompted me to share how I backlit the Opencockpits MCP. Others have gone before me, especially Kennair who had a good solution, but I was always reluctant to use incandescent bulbs or individual leds.

Ian Sissons kindly hosts some history on my build and the link below is to how I backlit the MCP.

Hope it is useful to someone

http://www.737ng.co.uk/opencockpitsmcpbacklighting.pdf

David

[bnepethomas]

Hi David

Nice work, in my F16 I had started with individual leds., and it was a lot of work, then one of the guys product EL sheets, phew .

How easy is it to slice and dice the led strips? Is cutting/peeling back the flexible/clear plastic much of an issue?

Cheers

Peter

[fordgt40]

Peter

It is very easy to cut the strips - just use sissors and peeling off the "backing" is simple. The rear of the strips are electronically inert and the glue is strong. There is no risk in sticking to printed circuit boards, provided that you do NOT drill through the strips where the soldered connections are made. I just soldered the connecting wires to the surface pads on the strips.

Regards

David

[hexpope]

I second that, I use them for all my backlighting needs and they run perfectly off a PC PSU. Very small and very bright, and they are so cheap, like 15$ for a 5 meter reel including shipping from Ebay.

[bnepethomas]

Excellent, thanks guys.

Cheers

Peter

[hexpope]

http://www.ebay.ie/sch/madison-computer88/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25&_trksid=p3686

Here's the seller I buy from.