HP-41 in the dark; A home made Porta-Lite

[Geir Isene]

Some time back, you guys asked for a picture of the little hack I did when I made a LED module for my 41.

Here are the details and pics

[Paul Dale]

Isn't this a little bit wasteful of the expensive N cell batteries :-)

Otherwise, a nice mod.

- Pauli

[Geir Isene]

As long as I can get hold of a refurbished rechargeable battery pack, I'll be fine (tried to make one, bot a botched-up soldering job led me to place a WTB-ad in the classifieds section).

[Brian Walsh]

What a flashback. Tom Hooper made and sold the Port Lite (or was it the Port-X-Lite?) back in the early 80s for the 41. It had a switch on the exposed side of the module. Mine is buried away in a box somewhere.

[Raymond Del Tondo]

Yes, that one had been offered to me back in the early eighties by my favourite HP dealer, Buero Hansen in Bonn, Germany, for those who remember;-)

I should have bought at least one unit, but back then I had to save some money for my first X-Functions module...

Later, when I had some spare funds for toys, the lites weren't available anymore.

[Alejandro Paz (Germany)]

I thought it was a LED display :(

[Diego Diaz]

Nice gadget. I also recall the referred unit from the eighties...

Just some thoughts from the HW side of my brain:

-Is its power connected to the BAT or to the +V line in the module?
(I would recommend the BAT since the +V will load the DC/DC converter chip with some unnecessary extra mAmps)

Just my two cents... :-)

Best wishes from the Caribbean Sea.

Diego.

Edited: 21 Sept 2010, 3:21 p.m.

[Geir Isene]

Damn, I'd have to do a take3 then ;-)

[Diego Diaz]

Ha, ha... upgrades, upgrades, upgrades...

You've just entered the HW geeks weird word... mind your step :-)

Mail me if you thing I can be of any help with this.

Best wishes.

Diego.