backlight color: changable?

[usblipitor]

I am thinking about how nice it would be to change the color of the backlight on my OFA-8910 (thankfully I have button version and not donut version). It is currently a god-awful red color. Do they come in any other colors, as buying a new 8910 in blue or even green backlighting would be easiest. Alternatively, I could try that credit card trick of Rob's and attempt to open it if I thought the light could be changed without destroying the remote. I have a soldering iron and (poor) soldering skills and could do the deed on the kitchen table at 3am while my wife is sleeping (3am because if she catches me burning a hole in the tablecloth she will break my fingers and you all will never hear from me again).

[gjarboni]

The backlighting in most UEI remotes comes from an EL sheet. The sheet is what determines the color (I think we've seen white, blue, and red). Given that the sheet is customized to the shape of the remote and location of the buttons, I think it would be very hard (read nearly impossible) to make a new one. Maybe you could get out your chemistry set and change the chemicals on the EL sheet, but that seems pretty difficult too

[The Robman]

The newer OFA remotes (such as the 8910, 8811, etc) don't use an EL sheet, they use tiny little surface mount LEDs. To change the color you could remove the LEDs and replace them with LEDs of a different color.

[usblipitor]

The backlighting in most UEI remotes comes from an EL sheet.

Good to know, thanks! Um, what does EL stand for again? Electro-Luminescient is my ignorant guess. Is that like a sheet of plastic?

The newer OFA remotes (such as the 8910, 8811, etc) don't use an EL sheet, they use tiny little surface mount LEDs.

Thanks for the info! Off to search google to see who sells tiny little surface mount LEDs! And time to pick a credit card I don't use very often.

[Mark Pierson]

Electro-Luminescient is my ignorant guess. Is that like a sheet of plastic?

Yes to both.

tiny little surface mount LEDs!

First off, IMHO the LED's are better than the EL because they're more durable, and I think much less power consuming than the EL/transformer combo used in remotes like the 1994 and 2104.

I've checked my 6012w and 8810w for this very reason There's quite a few of them on the PCB (a dozen or so, I don't recall exactly). They're quite small, and are soldered very close to other traces and components.

I think it would be more trouble than it's worth, simply because there's so much to screw up. Of course, without a little risk, JP1 probably would never have come to be, and we wouldn't be having this discussion in the first place, would we? 8)

[mr_d_p_gumby]

I have a soldering iron and (poor) soldering skills

...tiny little surface mount LEDs...

You're going to have to brush up on your soldering skills if you're thinking of removing & reinstalling 30 or so surface-mount LEDs...