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Make my VFD2041 brighter?

Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 12:50 pm
by curado
Well, I was trying to get back into doing car-puters. I bought a VFD2041 to use in my heads up display, but it's not bright enough to see when it's sunny out.

Is there any way I can physically modify it to crank the voltage? The original VFD was about 3 times brighter.

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 10:45 am
by Ray
You can't make them brighter by cranking the voltage if anything that will damage the logic board. The VFD is equipped with a set brightness command which you can use to set the brightness of the unit, see the manual for the exact command.

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 10:51 am
by curado
Ray wrote:You can't make them brighter by cranking the voltage if anything that will damage the logic board. The VFD is equipped with a set brightness command which you can use to set the brightness of the unit, see the manual for the exact command.
Well yeah. I figured it would fry the regulator or something like that. It's already on maximum brightness.

But isn't there a limiting resistor or crystal that can be unsoldered/replaced to force a faster refresh rate? Maybe even raise the output voltage somewhat?

Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 11:02 am
by Ray
No sorry, VFD's are a little more complicated then a regular lcd where it's just a resistor that determines the brightness of the backlight.