Casio CZ/ VZ/ FZ - Pro Series

Just to explain why I am even messing with LED backlights:

I have a small blue one obtained for free from an old MP3 player which stopped working,plus a larger white one which was at the back of a broken LCD I just found.
My RZ1 used to have a blue backlight which failed - which I believe is of the inverter/foil type and it seemed on the face of it that the small blue one might have solved the problem - it is seemingly nigh on impossible to replace the RZ1 whole display with an LED backlit one since the display,although 16x1 is laid out in an 8x2 matrix - resulting (as I found) in only half the info appearing on the display. So the RZ1 seemed like a cheap fix with a free LED backlight - albeit too short. It looks now as if replacing the existing foil one is a better idea,assuming it is not the inverter that is dead.

Since I have old Casio CZ and Yamaha DX displays over from replacing them with modern LED backlit ones,it seemed it maybe possible to have stuck the larger white one behind one of those,with a view to either selling the resultant display or having it in hand should another one need updating. Now it is looking like the whole thing could butcher the displays.
BTW I also have an FZ1 with no backlight - I presume this has the inverter/foil also and thus it is better to follow the 'replace efoil' instructions?



      From: "Daniel Forró danforcz@... [CZsynth]" <CZsynth@yahoogroups.com>
 To: CZsynth@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Friday, 16 September 2016, 11:23
 Subject: Re: [CZsynth] VZ-10m display
   
    Somebody did this difficult task with removing reflective foil, I try to remember where I have seen it... Maybe I have the file somewhere on my hard disk...
...googling...Found it:
www.compsys1.com/support/docs/ELbacklight_Guide.pdf‎

Rather difficult job, and if I remember well he used EL foil, there was no place for LED backlight.
I doubt it's possible to modify standard display for LED backlight. If it's possible technically it would be a big effort which has no sense when we can use cheap new display with LED backlight. If the original display uses usual standards for displays (not all were standard) and inside the instrument is enough space (LED backlit displays are thicker) then the modification is not so difficult. Just remove inverter and its circuit, solder limiting resistor and bring +5 Volts...  Even size of display and holes for screwing it are standard. See for example here:
http://www.wolzow.com/analog/mdf2.htm
Some users even used VFD or OLED displays successfully...
...googling...
Here is something similar:
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-LCD-backlight/?ALLSTEPS
http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=945.0
So the point is to remove only reflective foil, not polarizing foil.
Another problem is to align elastomer zebra contacts to proper position not to lose some rows of pixels.... I did this more times and it's pretty difficult. I lost two big graphic displays because I couldn't find the right position. Maybe with simple alphanumerc display it can be done.
Daniel Forro


On Sep 16, 2016, at 6:39 PM, Lee templarser@....uk [CZsynth] wrote:


Does anyone have any idea where to actually put a replacement light?My understanding is that retro equipment used an inverter which is used in 'foil' displays: I have access to a couple of LED flat lights,but slipping them behind the LCD causes no light through the LCD.An online article suggested the display needed the backing removing before the light would shine through.Has anyone any experience of altering backlights?