OT: digital clock works but won't "glow"

Burnt out bulb(s)

My high-end Panasonic in-dash CD/FM/MP3 job went black after a spate of rough-road driving. A flashlight revealed that the birefringent display was working, only not showing up.

Instead of what you'd guess (leds), the jerks used incandescent grain-of-wheat bulbs to illuminate the display.

LLoyd

Some cars dim or brighten those lights when your headlights are in use. They can be adjusted with the little dial that turns up your other dash lights. Is yours turned down?

No, I tried that. The dash lights brighten and dim but not the clock.

Once I took apart my wife's little battery powered digital alarm clock apart(I don't know why now, it seems kinda dumb)and put something back together backwards. Instead of black on gray it's now gray on black and hard to read. I was going to fix it but she wouldn't let me ouch it again. I haven't been messing with the car clock though. :) Randy

BTDT... Radio that came in my Mazda. Rough roads one night, and the display went black most of the time, but would flicker to life every now and then. For a while, I could get it to light up with a properly placed "THUMP" on the dashoard, but even that stopped working. Like Lloyd, putting a flashlight to it at the right angle would show me that the display was working fine, but no light was coming through. I tore it down and found that the lightbulb behind the display had died. Replacing the bulb with a red LED/resistor made it work just fine (and even nicer for night driving than the glaring yelow-white bulb it replaced)

(The folks who put it together *OBVIOUSLY* intended it to be a "throw it away and buy a new one" item... I had to unsolder/resolder *41* pins connected to the LCD module to get to the bulb behind it. Fortunately, I had nothing better to do that day, so it was a bit of time spent, and nothing more.)

You discovered one of the properties or polarized light :) You got the polarizing filter rotated.

Yup! Remember, I didn't say "fluorescent" or "neon", or even "LED" display.... I said birefringent.

That's a type of display element that merely twists light's polarization. It makes for a very low-energy, high-contrast display better suitable for backlighting that ordinary field-effect LCDs.

LLoyd

"Randy Replogle" wrote: (clip) I was going to fix it but she wouldn't let me ouch it again. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Is that a typo, or a pun? Either way, it's funny.

I meant *touch* :) My fingers don't work as well since I turned 50. Randy

Old fart syndrome? ;-)

That and I had a cervical disc removed and fused about a year ago. It was compressing my spinal cord to about half the normal diameter. My hands and fingers still aren't quite right, probably won't be after this much time has elapsed. :( Randy

Like Art Linkletter once said, "Old age isn't for sissies."

Sorry to hear about your problems with your hands. I have nerve damage in my left arm and hand, along with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in my right hand. This turns 15 minute projects into all day jobs. Recently I spent three days replacing the muffler on my 87 Ford Ranger. When I was

20 it would have taken an hour, tops. I had to cut the damaged ends of the old muffler off, but I couldn't see what I was working on. Its no fun cutting one thin pipe off another, without burning a hole in te second pipe when you can see what you're doing.

Yeah, but if you look at it another way, things you really *enjoy* doing, take extra long too..... Ken.

Michael A. Terrell wrote: "

Thanks, It's not so bad, really. It's mostly annoying. So far it hasn't affected my trumpet playing but I'll probably never play "Flight of the Bumblebee" :) Randy

At least you still have a sense of humor. Its a big help on bad days.