KX-155 LEDs

Aaron,

Thanks so much for the very detailed explanation. I will be at the 'port
tomorrow to try this on one of my KX-155. I really am grateful!

Send your snail mail address to me and I'll send along a copy of The $100
Hamburger or a t-shirt you pick!

--
John Purner
Editor - The $100 Hamburger
http://www.100dollarhamburger.com
"Aaron Coolidge" wrote in message
...
John Purner wrote:
: Aaron,

: I hate to press to much but I really need the help. How exactly do you
: remove the displays?

: Thanks very, very much

John, this is for the King Crown equipment (KX155, KN62, etc).

Take radio out of plane. Remove front bezel, there are small philips
screws on the sides or top & botton of the radio. You don't need to remove
the knobs and switches (in fact, you can't until you've removed the
bezel).

Now, you'll be looking at the display. It's the very fragile, very
expensive
glass thingy. On the bottom, you'll see a row of 20 to 60 bent silver
metal
fingers - these are the radio side of the contacts. The display contacts
are the dull silver squares that these bright metal fingers are touching.

To remove the display, carefully slide it away from the fingers. This is
hard to explain without graphics, but the display will slide a small
distance
directly away from the fingers (toward the top, on a KX-155), and then
the bottom (again on a KX-155) will pivot slightly inward and the top
slightly outward. This pivoting will allow you to take the display out
of the radio, moving it up and away from the radio.

There is a little stub on the back of the display; this is how Dale fills
them with neon. The stub is exceptionally fragile! The rest of the display
is pretty solid, though.

Now, you'll see those 20-60 silver-plated fingers on the bottom edge of
the
display. You can "burnish" them to remove the tarnish with a business
card,
a pencil eraser, or whatever your favorite burnisher is. Be careful, the
silver isn't very thick! NEVER use abrasives of any sort (well, a pencil
eraser is technically an abrasive, but it's very fine). Try not to touch
these silver-plated contacts as your finger oils & acids will tarnish
them again. Do a final cleaning with alcohol.

Now is the time to put a bead of dielectric grease on top of those silver
square contacts. If you don't have dielectric grease, you may be able
to get it at Radio Shack, a good auto parts store, or a boating store.
Don't use "white lube", it's lithium based and conductive. Don't use
"heat sink grease", or anything but silicon-based dielectric grease!

To put the display back in, reverse the process. Drop it into the plastic
carrier with the bottom angled in and the top angled out. Push the top
down
while guiding the bottom into contact with those shiny metal fingers. You
can push the left a little, then the right a little, back & forth. Soon,
the
display will pop back into place. You'll have a big glop of dielectric
grease on your dining room table, and on the front of the display.
Make sure that the display contacts and the radio shiny fingers are
properly
aligned, and not touching 2 contacts, etc.
Clean the display face with alcohol (rubbing, not bourbon). Takes off
the fingerprints, too!

Put the front bezel back on, and the radio back in the plane. Presto!
No more funky digits! (Probably.)

What if this doesn't work? Then, the display itself is probably no good.
The neon gradually leaks out, and the display gets dimmer and dimmer.
When it's cold, the display is dimmer yet. If this describes the problem
you're having, you need a new display, which will cost around $200.

Good luck! (PS, to email, remove 'spam' and 'off')
--
Aaron Coolidge (N9376J)