Casio CZ/ VZ/ FZ - Pro Series

Dave,

This is awesome!!! I archived your pics so I can apply this to other el-foil displays. I looked real quick online and Radio Shack has rectangular super bright blue leds that would fit in most any display. I probably could bead blast the acrylic at work too.

Thanks so much for sharing this and taking these pics!  Fran 

--- In CZsynth@yahoogroups.com, David Mochen <davidmochen@...> wrote:
>
> Hi group,
> 
> I've uploaded some pix showing my LCD mod for my CZ1. 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CZsynth/photos/album/1481989801/pic/list
> 
> Basically, I picked up 5v from pins 1 and 2 of the LCD. Got 4 5mm LEDs 
> and a resistor (55 ohm; I figured the value using an online LED 
> calculator [thanks, fran!]).
> 
> In order to have the light evenly spread below the LCD glass, I got a 
> small piece of acrylic which I sanded with a fine grain sandpaper so as 
> to be able to fit it under the LCD and also to refract the light. I 
> wanted a colored acrylic, like yellow or green, but only found 
> transparent. I placed a strip of white paper below the acrylic so that 
> light would be reflected upwards. Smooth side of the acrylic went on the 
> bottom side (in contact with the paper) while sanded side faced top 
> (right below the LCD glass).
> 
> The LEDs are blue (yellow looked good but didn't seem to be strong, so...)
> 
> Display has a "violeter" hue than in the first pix. In total darkness, 
> it is hard to read the characters if you look from above the keyboard. 
> If you look from a normal playing angle, though, it is readable indeed. 
> I set contrast to the max. If I get tired of blue I will try yellow next 
> time :)
> 
> There is some light leakage from the LEDs that you can see in the pix. I 
> fixed that later by sealing the space between LCD and plastic chassis in 
> the top panel of the CZ1.
> 
> Thanks Gordon and Fran for your input and hope you guys like it!
> 
> Dave
> 
> On 08/12/2010 08:01, narfman96 wrote:
> >
> > Hi Dave,
> >
> > My microKORG XL uses little tiny yellow LED's and acrylic so this 
> > should work. Go here to this site for all the details for driving 
> > bright LED's from a power supply voltage ->
> >
> > http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fled_info.htm 
> > <http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fled_info.htm>
> >
> > Don't forget to disconnect the inverter so nothing gets zapped. Some 
> > of them have 400 vac outputs. Let us know how it goes....
> >
> > Good luck, Fran
> > --- In CZsynth@yahoogroups.com <mailto:CZsynth%40yahoogroups.com>, 
> > "davidmochen" <davidmochen@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > I own a CZ1 with an almost dead EL backlight.
> > >
> > > What I would like to know is:
> > >
> > > 1) is there any chance to hack the inverter circuit/transformer so 
> > that it could feed a couple LEDs which I plan to place besides the 
> > LCD? (more details on that below). AFAIK the input to the inverter is 
> > VDC, so maybe disabling the transformer and doing some extra stuff 
> > would get the point.
> > >
> > > 2) if 1 above is a no-no, where can I get appropriate current from 
> > for driving a couple bright LEDs? I've seen some posts where a brand 
> > new display with built-in LED backlight was retrofitted into 
> > non-backlit models like CZ1000. The on switch was mentioned, but I 
> > also saw that also pins 1 and 2 of the LCD can be used for that. Also, 
> > could I disable the inverter circuit so as to save some power?
> > >
> > > My idea is to keep the existing LCD and fit it with a custom 
> > backlight. I've been doing some tests with a tiny rectangular piece of 
> > acrylic sanded on one side so as to diffuse light. I placed it where 
> > the EL foil used to be and lit it with a small LED lantern. Light gets 
> > effectively across it and the LCD gets softly lit so I think if I 
> > placed two strong-enough LEDs at both sides of the acrylic I would get 
> > a nice backlight.
> > >
> > > I have only very basic electronics knowledge but am not afraid of 
> > soldering stuff. :)
> > >
> > > Thanks very much in advance for any help.
> > >
> > > Dave
> > >
> >
> > 
> 
> 
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>