RC Model Reviews

Just received the new 9x so set to work installing the 'Smatieparts' board.. Went well with no problems except I lost one of the mounting posts... Had some PCB mounts so used one of them... All worked fine after I sorted out the battery connector... I put in a 9v Lifo... Bit disappointed with the backlight... Have a HK $5 one on my old Tx and it is twice as bright as the smartieparts one... I was messing with the softwear trying to turn it on not realizing it WAS on... So come on, spill the beans on how to make a HK backlight work with this setup...

Yes and no Keith. Board is the same, connectors are different. They are the cheap flat connectors which I can plug in upside down. So need to sort out which way the negative goes. Which from your photo is not clear. Tomorrow is all filled up so it has to be Sunday.

Keith wrote:So come on, spill the beans on how to make a HK backlight work with this setup...

Well this is all speculation, as in I haven't tried it and I'm not planning on trying it, but if you want to be the guinea pig...

In the EL backlight troubleshooting thread, step 1 is to measure 5V between pin 17 and ground. I'm ASSUMING that this 5V is like an on/off indicator for the backlight. So again I ASSUME that if you solder the HK backlight's wires to these two points, you should be able to switch it on and off with the er9x firmware like you can the smartieparts backlight.

As I said, this is all just guessing, but for starters you could check that the 5V actually switched on and off with the er9x backlight switch.

I hope it works, and please post your progress if you try.

Oops wrote:So need to sort out which way the negative goes. Which from your photo is not clear. Tomorrow is all filled up so it has to be Sunday.

The backlight is AC, so polarity doesn't matter.
My USB plug was the 7 pin plug, so it could only fit one way after I'd plugged in the backlight. Otherwise, the pin closest to the backlight is Ground and the once furthest away is +5V.

If that doesn't help there's always the Installation Instructions

Yeah as Rogueqd said, you can only plug the seven pin in one way or you will cover the backlight pins... Make sure you plug it in before you install the board otherwise it will be almost impossible to get in... I recommend doing the 'Pre flight checks' on the Smartieparts site to make sure the BL and board is working...

rogueqd wrote:If that doesn't help there's always the Installation Instructions

Indeed rogueqd, if all else fails read the instructions. Which are clear enough.

I got the HK BL working with the Smatieparts board.... Easy really just do the normal HK installation and do not fit the Smartieparts BL when you install the board...

Don't think I have on/off control but I didn't need it as I like it on all the time... I know there are issues with the HK one using more power but with a 9.9v Lifo it should not be a problem... It's good reading the screen without having to squint and tilt it at all angles... If I had 20/20 vision it may not be a problem but age and 20 years of diabetes has taken it's toll on my eyesight... I'm happy again...

Good to read that Keith. I was thinking the same but had no opportunity yet to install.

Keith wrote:I got the HK BL working with the Smatieparts board.... Easy really just do the normal HK installation and do not fit the Smartieparts BL when you install the board...

Lol, I could have told you that would work. I thought you wanted the er9x switching.

I had the HK light installed before I got my smartieparts board and have now swapped to the EL backlight. The only problem is that you swap the foam padding to a thinner one for the HK light and the smartieparts one expects the original thick foam. At first I used my HK backlight as the backing foam (not plugged in) but it slips around a bit, so I replaced it with foam padding from some packaging and that works better.