Backlighting a Simworld overhead panel

[tiburon]

So I received this beautiful Simworld Overhead panel (a present from my company) and I was wondering, does anyone have experience in backlighting this panel ? I'm not sure what the best way is, a general sort of lighting or individual lighting for every panel ? I hope you can give me some ideas !

Martin

[fordgt40]

Martin

Here is one way

http://www.737ng.co.uk/djb/Overhead%20Article.pdf

David

[tiburon]

Thanks David, great document, looks like a lot of work though.

[fordgt40]

No gain without pain:) Welcome to this mad hobby

[tiburon]

How true. One more question, if you don't mind : did you use the orange led strip or is that just the photo ?

[fordgt40]

Martin

I used orange led strips. I probably had too much light but it is better that way as you can then use dimmers. If you have insufficient light to begin with then that is a big problem! I find that orange/amber backlighting is better, as white is not used on the 737 to the best of my knowledge. Also, yellow tends to be "washed out" - hence the use of orange

David

[Flight_Master]

Martin,

I had the same debate as you before and here is my observation. As you may not know when Simworld released their first panels they used slightly different technology in making panels. I believe there were made out of some white translucent plastic painted gray and laser engraved. I have my MIP made out of these panels and I used 6v incandescent light bulb (grain of wheat) to illuminate. The effect was spectacular. Bright and uniform color. It just felt like real panels. At the time when I bought MCP panel from them, they switch to different technology using clear plexi painted white and then gray and laser engraved to reveal the white lettering. No doubt that the new technology makes the panels look nicer and more real. Although the older panels were excellent too. But now it is much harder to illuminate these panels with incandescent bulb. Somehow the white paint does not allow the light to transmit in great percentage to be acceptable and it is not uniform as it used to be in the old panels. I don't know if something changed since I bought the MCP more than year ago but I'll be writing to Simworld to ask for solution. I'm in the market of OVH right now and if Simworld can provide solution to illumination problem they will have my business again as their panel quality, cost and customer service is excellent.

Peter

[tiburon]

Thanks Peter. Yes the quality is fantastic. Will you post their answer ?

[fordgt40]

Martin

The method of using clear acrylic overlayed with white and then grey paint is the preferred way and gives a better look when unlit. However, they are generally used with small incandescent bulbs which are inset into the acrylic, ie you have to remove any paint backing. As a result the "light" bounces around inside the clear acrylic, being trapped by the outer white paint

David

[tiburon]

I tried the orange strip on some Open Cockpits panels (which are white acrylic) with a 12V / 4A laptop adapter I had lying around but the lighting was rather dim. Maybe it will be brighter with the clear acrylic panels. I've asked a pilot friend what the actual backlight color is. Haven't got an answer yet.

[fordgt40]

Martin

My overhead has opaque white panels. It all depends on the light intensity of your leds. Are yours to the same specification as the ones referenced in my article?

David

[tiburon]

I don't really know. The link in your article doesn't work anymore. Anyway,with led strips there are not that many options, I believe. Mine are these :
http://www.ebay.nl/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370375560450&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:NL:1123

[fordgt40]

Martin

I just tried the link and it still works, however, the supplier is not now showing the orange strips.
The reason why you are disappointed with your led strip trial is that the light output is well below what you need. You get what you pay for :(

My led strips have, I believe circa 500 lumens per led whereas your are circa 300 per metre length.

David

[tiburon]

After a bit of research it seems there are two kinds of SMD leds, the 3528 and the 5050
The 3528 seems to have about 300 Lumenr and the 5050 about 900 lumen. Mine is the 3528 variety but obviously I should have taken the 5050.
Or am I talking complete nonsense :-) ?

[fordgt40]

Martin

I do not know the technicalities other than the led strip I used has ample light and a good spread. The docs for the led strip say "lumens.int MCD 500 per led - not per metre. Provided you keep to that spec you will be ok
David

[Flight_Master]

Martin

The method of using clear acrylic overlayed with white and then grey paint is the preferred way and gives a better look when unlit. However, they are generally used with small incandescent bulbs which are inset into the acrylic, ie you have to remove any paint backing. As a result the "light" bounces around inside the clear acrylic, being trapped by the outer white paint

David

David,

This is exactly what I did. I drilled 3mm holes into clear acrylic and strategically placed incandescent bulbs. The light was dim and not uniform. I believe the white paint used is either wrong or too thick. I wonder if something changed since the last time I bought panels form Simworld.

Peter

[fordgt40]

Peter

You could be right - too much thickness of white paint will kill the backlighting. Perhaps the only option is brighter and more bulbs:(

David

[damien]

Hi Martin,

I have been reading the discussion about backlighting the Simworld panel.

Since the last post is from March 16th I was wondering if you already succeed? Then some pictures of course would be appreciated too!

[tiburon]

Hi Damien,

I haven't been able to make much progress but at least I know which road to take : I have cut perspex back-lighting panels for all overhead panels and will use warm white led strips.

[razeer]

Good day David!

Thanks for the PDF with how you did this, but I still don´t get one thing clear. On page 3, "Picture of annunciator components", and the panel to left, the one with the text, or all the "white". I dont understand how this simple piece is done! Can you tell me how it´s done, or give me a link if you now where I can read more about this?

Cheers

[fordgt40]

Happily

The left item is a proprietary 1mm thick plastic legend with the lettering etched into it. These can be purchased from Opencockpits or others. The next item is clear 5mm perspex cut to size and sanded on each face to improve light diffusion. The edges of this piece are sprayed black and the legend piece is glued to it. This combined assembly is glued to the front face of the overhead panel using either superglue or very thin doubled sided clear adhesive. The next piece is 5mm clear plastic, sprayed black on all sides other than the one facing the rear of the panel. It is drilled to take the two leds and is tapped to take a small bolt to secure the veroboard holding the leds and diodes/resistors. This whole assembly is glued to the rear of the overhead panel.

Hope this helps

David

[razeer]

Okey, thanks for your answer!

Did search for more under the night, and found some easy (but not as good looking) ways to do backlightning. I think im going to start making some smaller panels part as the FLAP, SPOILER and Enginestart on the A320 to test, and if I will find any CNC-machine, I think im going to change to that.

[fordgt40]

Good luck

David