F-70 backlight

[knarfj]

Hey Mud and Shadowulf,

I find this project interesting, so even though I personally don't see any night hunting in my future, I couldn't help but do a little research on LEDs .

I ended up finding some on ebay that peeked my interest but the were rated at 12V. But then I noticed to demo them he was using a 9V battery. Hmmmm? If 9V lights them how about 6V as in the F70s battery pack?

What follows is correspondence I had with the seller.

Subject: Details about item: BC6 Any Scale 12 volt Led Strip lights 2" lg. Single Units #131073819357
Sent Date: Jan-08-14 17:12:47 PST

Dear gmoore606x,
I'm new to LEDs so bear with me. I see these are rated at 12V yet it looks like you get good lite with a 9V battery. I have need for a 6V light source as a back light. Will they put out enough light for that? If not is there such a thing as a 6V LED of the same size?
- xxxxx

Dear xxxxx,
Sorry I'm just getting back to you, but I've been out most of the evening...I test everything with a 9 volt battery, but since you asked the question? I hooked them up to a 1.5 volt battery and could not get anything out of them at all, then I got a 6 volt battery and I was surprised to see how well they lit up. Now have you looked at my BC84 which is the same light but 4" long instead of 2", I take the 4" and cut them in half to get the 2" units. Really the light they put out doesn't vary that much from the 6/9/12 volt power source...Hey thanks for looking..
Gary at Gary's Things
- gmoore606x

What are your thoughts? Am I barking up the wrong tree?

 

[shadowulf]

Those are the LED strips. But I would feel better if they were close to the voltage rating of your power source.
The key is to find the closest voltage that won't over tax the circuit.

I know electronic suppliers have them and should have any microswitch to activate them.

 

[mudpuppy]

Good digging Knarfj! I get these little LED keychains at trade shows all the time, they hand them out for free, I've even had cig lighters that had an LED built into them, they throw off tons of light and last for what seems like forever... they are cheap and obviously run on some sort of very small inexpensive pancake battery like in a watch or hearing aid or something...thing is, I doubt a guy needs anything near a 9v LED for this project, just enough light shot through the edge of a thin sheet of plexiglas thats been scuffed up should suffice for seeing the screen at night...my phone camera sucks! but I've been dinking around with the concept and it holds merit...for a very cheap and easy retrofit to backlight the F70..
Mud

 

[c t]

Like fish tank airline to the face of his machine with a dot of silicone. When hunting in the evenings he simply slips a lunker light into the tube to light the display works great but. Remember a lunker light is a glow stick used on a fishing line good for 4hrs or so. Cheap to use when necessary. And no mod to machine also very small maybe 1.5 in. Might work for you. HH. Best of luck 2014. C t

 

[shadowulf]

Like fish tank airline to the face of his machine with a dot of silicone. When hunting in the evenings he simply slips a lunker light into the tube to light the display works great but. Remember a lunker light is a glow stick used on a fishing line good for 4hrs or so. Cheap to use when necessary. And no mod to machine also very small maybe 1.5 in. Might work for you. HH. Best of luck 2014. C t

That's another solution.

Hey Mud, how about a short piece of plexiglass rod attached to the end of a flexi-light?
Scrub a piece and stick into a clear tube.No need to cut open the control box. Darken half so it doesn't blind you.

That would be good for those with a new/warranted machine

 

[knarfj]

Cool brain storming session! Makes me want to put something together and I don't even night hunt. But if I were to give it a go I would combine the previous suggestions along with an anti-reflective screen gaurd.

(1) Apply an anti-reflective smart phone screen guard on the detector screen. I used eBay item # 170855205751. It has to be cut to size! Each order comes with 3 individual screens. One screen is all that is needed to fit either the F5 or F70 screen. When installed on my F5 it really cut down on screen reflection in the bright sun as well as protecting the screen. I intend to install the same on my F70.

(2) As previously suggested, attach a short section of clear fish tank airline hose, darken as needed, and when the sun goes down insert an activated a "lunker light" and keep on trucking I meant to say hunting.

As a further thought a short piece of thin walled, properly sized, non-transparent hose having been cut open lengthwise so it would hold/grip the Lunker Light would/could possibly work quite well also. I think I just said what I thought I said.

 

[shadowulf]

The cool thing is we have more than a few workable ideas.
Some the OP could do themselves, others a skilled tech would make them appear factory.

 

[c t]

fit. He said lunker light works best if you use the green color lite mounted on top of display also he used a black sharpie to cover tubing that faces you so light only hits display this method worked best and causes no damage at all to the detector total cost 9 $.5$screen protectors and 4$ lunker lights 5pack. HH. Ct