Beast Sapp Reel Lights

[proffesorpeter]

maplin- thats good to know thats who ill be using

[webcore]

To summarize, is it possible to install WHITE LED's instead of RGB's?

Also what size are the Beast Sapp LED's. Are they 3mm or 5mm?

Are the LED's in holders similar to standard bulbs?

I'm going to attempt this soon and I would like to know everything before I start taking apart my machine.

[pachitom]

Webcore... If you look at the very first post on this thread I have a picture of the light assembly that is behind each reel in a Beast Sapp. Each tricolor led which is housed in a package that solders in much the same way an IC solders onto a printed circuit board. I thought one could replace the tricolor leds with a single white led also. I tried using 3mm leds and then 5mm leds but the overall lighting effect was know where as good as the origional tricolor leds. It must have something to do with the led light pattern.

[wolfsblood]

Pachitom,
It sounds like you replaced some leds on your machine, was this difficult, I mean could someone not real familiar with electronics and who has never soldered anything before do this? My lights are going dead, and it doesn't sound like getting replacement light fixtures will help from what VGC says. Any information on how this would be done and the difficulty would be appreciated.

[napster]

Since I happen to own two of these type of machines, I felt the need to join this thread. First, to quickly answer Wolfsblood question. Any electronic component is relatively easy to remove and replace, as long as you have the "Soldering Skills" to do it. This takes practice, and I would not advise anyone to practice on a valued piece of equipment. You can easily damage the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) by removing the old solder and LED. And too much heat on the leads can damage the new LED when installing. Take the parts to a TV/Stereo repair shop and they can do it for you at a cheap price.

I am very surprised that so many people are having problems with these machines. I personally haven't had a problem so far with these machines. (Knock on wood). But after reading this thread I feel as if I will in the future. My questions are directed mainly to Pachitom since he has more "hands on" with this subject. First let me say that LEDs should outlive us. What does happen to LEDs overtime is that their brightness starts to fade. But this takes many years. (Some people may notice this on the display of an old VCR for example). If these LEDs are burning out it is due to excessive current. My first question is, have you verified that the LEDs are wired in series? This is not common practice with LEDs. Are you replacing just the one burnt out LED, or replacing all six? If you are replacing just the one, then indeed, the LEDs are wired in series. If you are replacing all six then the more common parallel circuit probably applies here. (Excessive current on the remaining LEDs burns them all out) Are there any LED drivers included on the circuit board? Or is it strictly LEDs? From what I have read on this thread, it is excessive current that has doomed these LEDs. Since this Circuit Board has only a single pair of wires going to it, (As you stated) then the LEDs would all share the same voltage. A solution to this problem would be to add a current limiting resistor in series with the positive wire where it connects to the circuit board. Keep in mind that the higher the value of the resistor, the dimmer the LEDs will be. Please keep me posted to any findings on this subject. Thanks,
BOB

[wolfsblood]

Thanks for your information Napster!! I will leave it up to someone who knows what they are doing to fix this. Does anyone know if these are 3mm or 5mm leds in there?

[pachitom]

wolfsblood... Look at the first post of this thread and you will see what the tricolor leds look like, they are neither 3mm or 5mm.

napster... each tricolor led has three individual leds in it, one red segment, one green segment and one blue segment. There are three red segments connected in series that is in series with a resistor mounted on the back side of the circuit board. then there is the remaining three red segments connected in series with a resistor in series with that group. This is done the same way with the blue segments and the green segments. There is a total of six resistors on the back side of the circuit board. You can see where resistor leads come through the circuit board in the picture that is shown on the first post of this thread. If I could get ahold of some new complete light assemblies I was going to try adding a extra resistor in one of the wires that feed the light assembly to lower the current but have not been successful finding any.
The next time I take the reel out of my Beast Sapp I will take a picture of the back of the circuit board.

[Frank A]

The replacement LED units just snap out and back in after loosening three machine screws to remove each reel assembly and removing the four machine screws on the back of the reel assembly itself. The wire harness just snaps in and out too. This is a good opportunity to clean the reflective white surfaces that the LED unit snaps into. My Hanabi had the yellow color and is fine now. Milt can get you the parts.

[napster]

Wolfsblood....These LEDs are in a low profile "6-Pin Dip" Package. Just like a IC (Integrated circuit)

Frank A....I assume you are replacing the entire circuit board, not the individual LED. Do you happen to know what Milt is selling these replacement parts for?

Pachitom....Thanks fot the info. It appears that the circuit uses a combination Series/Parallel configuration. My guess is that the resistors are of different values for each segment. Since these are full spectum LEDs, its these resistors that are allowing the correct amount of red, green,and blue to create the white light. A solution might be to buy one of these circuit boards from milt and remove the LEDs to repair your circuit board "s" It would be nice if he was selling these parts cheap...But I got a feeling they got a nice price tag to go along with them. Thats why I suggested to buy only one. Here is a site to check out. It may or may not help you. You need to match up part numbers/ or see if the pin layout is compatible. Click on the LEDs to see the specs. Also, you might have to copy and paste this link, due to the fact that my computer has lots of issues with this site. Let me know how you make out.
BOB
http://www.us.kingbright.com/Cham.asp

[bigbull]

I have a similiar problem with the first reel looking dimmer than the other two. I have an appointment with the folks at Stealth on Wednesday. I work near their place of business. They are going to give my Sapp a look see and fix whatever needs replacing. Also having then put in volume controls at my wife's request. Man these things are loud!

[Chris]

Bigbull welcome aboard

[Eddie]

Use this thread for fixing your LEDs . http://www.pachitalk.com/forums/show...highlight=leds If you need any help PM me.